If they gave the Heisman Trophy out after two weeks of football, Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen would have a nice prize to go along with his bumps and bruises Saturday night in a stirring 41-38 victory over top-15 Texas Christian at their place.
Allen wouldn’t be denied on the last play. Down three, on third down, the Hogs opted for a safe call. Run Allen off the right side of the line, get him a block at the point of a attack if you can, and see what happens. At worst, it’s a field goal kick.
Allen got past the line of scrimmage and then found no company other than TCU defenders. Allen lowered the head down and went into them, Bo Jackson style, and after momentum was gained, got a little help from his friends en route to the end zone. Ball game. Arkansas wins.
It’s hard to think a game that was a snore at halftime … 13-7 Arkansas on a pick 6 … would wind up this way, but … college football, eh?
The junior quarterback, brother of previous Hogs’ signal caller Brandon Allen, was on his way to an incredible finish that puts the Hogs in the crosshairs for some national recognition.
The younger Austin caught a two-point conversion, tiptoeing the end line to stay in as if wide receiver is his natural position, threw several brilliant passes, most notably in the clutch to Jeremy Sprinkle from 25-yards out, and ran the aforementioned in.
The stats overall won’t look as anything to get all this bent out of shape about. He threw for 223 yards and three scores, plus ran for two yards and another. But its not about what you do … but when you do it, and there was no one better on Saturday (in spite of his counterpart Kenny Hill’s best efforts) than Allen.
The kicker is where do the Hogs go from here. After starting out the season with a mostly meandering one-point home win against Louisiana Tech that raised more issues than it solved, this win was a shot in the arm for a team that probably expects to compete in the SEC West for the top of it.
For most of the game, it had Bret Bielema’s paws all over it as he inexplicably stalked the sidelines in a full sleeved jacket in Texas in September. If you see your coach doing that, just go with what he says.
Then, up 20-7 in the second half, all hell broke loose. Arkansas missed a field goal, and TCU went on to three quick touchdowns to set up the drama and send it into overtime.
Truth be told, there will be more amazing plays, games, and moments that make us forget about the ones that happened beforehand, but the performance by Allen was truly special tonight. The Hogs can rest easy, knowing they won a game where half of it, they had to play lock down defense … and the other half of it, they needed to be mid-2000s Boise State.
Woooo Pig, Wheweeeee. Watch out SEC West. These pigs won’t go down easily.
