The Traveler

Issue date: 10/20/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jonathan Gibson Arkansas gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a span of 2:26 to fall 21-20 to Kentucky. Wildcat quarterback Mike Hartline went 4-for-4 with 76 yards and two touchdowns on the two drives.

It was a tale of two halves Saturday night in Lexington.

After a first half that looked like Arkansas was in complete control, the Razorbacks came out flat and uninspired in the second, scoring only six points while allowing Kentucky to mount a comeback and defeat the Hogs 21-20.

"That's a hard one on us," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. "Give credit to Kentucky. They hung in there and made the plays at the end of the game and we didn't."

Costly mistakes and penalties were the downfall of the Razorback offense, negating another strong effort by the defense after last week's solid performance at Auburn.

But the defense couldn't hang on in this one, as Randall Cobb got free in the Arkansas secondary twice in the final five minutes to bring it within 20-14 and eventually take the lead.

Arkansas (3-4, 1-3 SEC) had its chances to close it out, but with 4:56 to go, De'Anthony Curtis fumbled the ball away on first down after Ramon Broadway had picked off a Mike Hartline pass, and the Wildcats recovered at the Arkansas 41.

"We had our chances in the end to run the clock out and fumbled it back," Petrino said. "Obviously we feel like our defense has to come up with the stop at that time and we couldn't do it."

Earlier, the offense, nursing a three-point lead, ran a misdirection play and quarterback Casey Dick rolled out weak-side on a bootleg, apparently scoring a touchdown that put the game out of reach.

But there was a yellow flag on the play for an illegal shift by Arkansas, putting the Hogs' back to the UK 7, on a drive that saw yellow markers fly constantly.

The Razorbacks managed only a 23-yard Shay Haddock field goal.

"We had a lot of chances to win that football game, starting in the first quarter when we had the ball down in there and didn't get any points, and fumbled on the one and threw an interception on the one," Petrino said. "All of those things add up and end up hurting you."

Arkansas received another stellar effort from tailback Michael Smith.

Continued...

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