Well. I'm not going to lie. This loss hurt me more than any I can remember from recent history. A few tears were shed; things were thrown (and thrown up). It's not so much the loss (although I really hate Bret Bielema and can't stand to give him the satisfaction of winning); it's that we were down by two touchdowns pretty early in the game; fought hard to come back from that; and ended up losing in the FOURTH overtime.
I hate "noon" games. We play like crap before noon, and the "noon" game is at 11:00 in Auburn (and in Arkansas). During the first quarter, our receivers literally could not catch a ball. There were at least four perfectly-thrown passes (I'm talking hit-you-in-the-numbers passes) that were inexplicably dropped. Later in the game, those same receivers who dropped the perfect passes made some really great, HARD catches (looking at you, Ricardo Louis). So it's not like they suck. I have no idea why none of them could hold onto the ball in the first quarter, but I blame it on the whole "before noon" thing. Anyway, like I said, Ricardo stepped up and made some great catches later in the game to redeem himself and to put us back in the ballgame.
When Arkansas scored to take the lead with just over a minute to go in regulation, I was pretty nervous that we were going to lose the game. A minute isn't a lot of time; we had no time-outs; and we had to go pretty much the length of the entire field to score and tie the game. But the guys really put together a great drive, and they did it! Once we scored to send the game to overtime, I pretty much knew we were going to win. I mean, this is what we do. These are the games we win. Our guys were looking good, and we had some good momentum from that last quick drive.
Unfortunately, however, it was not to be, which was just devastating. My fear is that what was a completely demoralizing loss for me will also be a demoralizing loss for my guys and that it will hurt us in the rest of the season. I hope, alternatively, that they all realize how great they played (outside of the first quarter) and what they are really capable of, and I hope it just makes them hungrier to win. They played well enough to win this game (again, outside of the first quarter), and I hope they know that.
So, Weagles: Peyton Barber gets a Weagle for rushing 37 times for 120 yards and 4 touchdowns. Kris Frost gets a Weagle for bringing in an interception. Sean White gets two Weagles for throwing for 254 yards and orchestrating that fast-paced final drive in regulation. He also kept his cool throughout the game and made pretty good decisions (and throws!) under pressure. Ricardo Louis ultimately had 6 catches for 79 yards, so he gets a Weagle in spite of a couple of drops early in the game. Really, that final drive in regulation was the Sean-and-Ricardo show, and it was beautiful. One Weagle each goes to Melvin Ray and Jason Smith for catching 2-3 passes for 55-ish yards each. Carlton Davis, a true Freshman, gets two Weagles. He played outstanding defense in this game and broke up several passes that would have almost certainly resulted in Arkansas touchdowns, and never once got called for pass interference.
I'm moving on from this loss (hoping my boys do the same) and getting ready for Ole Miss at Auburn this weekend, where the game begins at (you guessed it) 11:00. I'm ready to turn around our before-noon luck.
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