As late as midway through the third quarter, it appeared Alabama’s players were going to follow-up their head coach’s “six-feet under” blast directed at the media by grabbing some shovels and digging their own postseason graves. Instead, they dug deep and pulled themselves out of their hole.
Thanks to some timely big-play offense and their always-stout defense, ‘Bama was able to overcome their nearly three-quarter malaise and pull away from Arkansas in a 27-14 win. Two sequences, one late in the third and the other early in the fourth, caused a monumental shift in momentum and keyed the comeback from a 7-3 halftime deficit.
Largely lethargic on offense throughout the game, an Arkansas punt gave the Tide the ball back at their own 19-yard line. 81 yards later, Jake Coker‘s pass to Calvin Ridley, following a sublime double-move on Ridley’s part, reignited the Bryant-Denny crowd and gave the Tide their first lead, at 10-7, since 3-0 in the middle of the first quarter.
On the Razorbacks’ ensuing possession, a failed fourth-and-two from their own 41-yard line handed the ball back to the Tide. Eight plays later, Coker hit Richard Mullaney from three yards out to, given how the combination of the Tide’s defense and Razorbacks’ offense were performing, effectively put the game out of reach at 17-7.
Adding the icing to the top of the cake, Brandon Allen was intercepted by Eddie Jackson on the next series, with the return setting the Tide up at the Hogs’ 13-yard line. While they failed to punch it across the goal line, Adam Griffith‘s second field goal of the game gave the Tide a 20-7 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth.
The cherry on top of that iced cake began with Cyrus Jones’ 27-yard punt return to the Hogs’ 16-yard line and ended with Derrick Henry‘s one-yard touchdown run that was set up by his 15-yard run on the previous play. The three-score deficit officially put the final nail in the road UA’s coffin.
The Hogs, though, at least tried to make things interesting as Allen hit Dominique Reed on a 54-yard touchdown pass with 1:37 remaining. The onside kick was recovered by the Tide, though, and the home team was able to run out the remainder of the clock
The Tide was able to limit the Razorbacks to just 220 yards of offense. Putting a statistical emphasis on the Tide’s defensive dominance, the Hogs averaged just five yards per pass attempt and 1.8 yards per rush attempt.
Coker followed up his two first-half interceptions with the pair of second-half scoring tosses. His 249 passing yards were a ‘Bama and career-high for the transfer from Florida State.
Henry, with 95 yards, was held under 100 for the third time in six games this season, although he has now rushed for at least one touchdown in 11 straight games dating back to last season.