Leading up to the 2023 season fans’ excitement for football will continue to ramp up. For the next few weeks, we will write about some of the greatest wins by the Arkansas football program since 2000.
Why 2000 though? To properly recap past games one must actually remember the setting, storylines and meaning of certain games. Before 2000, there isn’t much I remember. Certain moments like Clint Stoerner to Anthony Lucas against Tennessee comes to mind. However, there is no way I can go into detail about anything else than the biggest highlight.
Today, we’ll go back the 2007 season and remember Arkansas’ upset of no. 1 LSU in Baton Rouge.
The Setting
It was a beautiful day in south Louisiana. Tiger Stadium, Death Valley was anticipating their SEC Championship game and National title hopes. The Tigers had been a cardiac team it seemed. Head coach Les Miles was dubbed the nickname ‘The Riverboat Gambler’ due to his fourth down, clock management and late game decisions.
Nothing was different for the Tigers in this one except they didn’t see the motivated Arkansas team that was visiting actually coming.
These group of wild Razorback hogs actually had something to play for. Something to actually prove like the were talented enough to compete at high level. Folks around the country were high on a Razorback team returned a Heisman finalist and won 10-games in 2006. The setup was there for Arkansas to be one of the best teams in the country for 2007.
Things never went south but close losses to Alabama, Kentucky and Auburn really put a damper on a promising season. However, they put it all together in the regular season finale and stunned a crowd of over 92,000 sitting pretty with a nation leading 19-game home winning streak.
The Game
Things didn’t start out so pretty with both teams exchanging defensive stops. LSU would score 6 points off of two Colt David field goals before Darren McFadden put Arkansas in the lead with a 16-yard touchdown.
At halftime the Razorbacks went into the locker room with the utmost of confidence up 7-6 but no one knew the three overtime thriller that was coming.
LSU punted the ball away after a 6 play, 25 yard drive that milked 3:25 off the clock. The Tigers pushed the Hogs into a negative play on first down. And on 2nd and 13, Darren McFadden took the ball 73-yards to the house to push the Hogs to a 14-6 lead.
The very next drive LSU would respond with Jacob Hester driving hard to the goal line for a 16-yard touchdown. Matt Flynn would take a quarterback sneak for the tying two point conversion. With 7:48 left in the third quarter the thriller was finally underway tied at 14.
Arkansas would answer again with Peyton Hillis running up the middle of the LSU defense for a 65 yard touchdown run. There was so much respect for McFadden and Felix Jones that LSU forgot about Hillis and he made them pay.
A marathon third quarter continued as LSU drove down the field once again in the third quarter. Flynn threw a slant pattern to Demetrius Byrd for a 7-yard touchdown to tie the game at 21 apiece.
Both teams traded a pair of punts during the fourth quarter before McFadden found Hillis this time with a pass over the top for a 24-yard touchdown, quieting the crowd in Death Valley. They were all in shock, their national title hopes nearly dashed.
With a 13-play, 79 yard drive LSU marched down the field to tie the game once again. Flynn once again found Byrd for a 3-yard touchdown before the game went into overtime.
Overtime Heroics
There is honestly no way to describe the heroics that Arkansas pulled off in the upset. The Arkansas offense was unstoppable and McFadden wasn’t leaving without a victory.
Arkansas’ star tailback ran for 31 yards and a touchdown in overtime. But, it was Peyton Hillis’ heroics that helped push Arkansas over the top.
Hillis caught two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown. Plus, 2 carries for 5 yards and a touchdown. In his final game as a Hog his final stat line as a whole was 11 carries for 89 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. He also pulled in 5 passes for 62 yards and 2 scores. As storied as McFadden’s performance was you can’t forget about how clutch Hillis was in this one. An all-time performance by another central Arkansas kid.
Without further ado, let’s relive the final moments of one of the greatest games in college football history:
Then after the game, the famous Houston Nutt plea to Heisman voters that McFadden deserved to be in New York to not only be a finalist but win it. Although it didn’t happen, the legend of DMAC will live forever. So will the upset of upsets, a surprise over the top ranked team in the country, LSU, 50-48 in 3 overtimes.
Final Stats
Casey Dick: 10-18 94 yards and 1 touchdown
Darren McFadden: 3-6 34 yards and 1 touchdown
McFadden: 32 carries 206 yards and 3 touchdowns
Jones: 9 carries 85 yards
Matt Hewitt: 16 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 2 FF
Freddie Fairchild: 11 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, FF
Matterral Richardson: 11 tackles, game winning INT
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