Have you ever heard the saying that no matter how good you are there is somebody who is better? It’s usually true there is probably somebody who is better because a lot of people are really good at one thing. It’s like they were born to do that one thing. Tiger Woods was born to hit drives, Lebron James was born to shoot baskets, Roger Federer was born to hit back hands and Arkansas football was “born” to win overtimes.
In the history of Arkansas Razorback football they have tied thirty-nine times and it seems they were tired of it. In 1996 College football adopted a new overtime system and the Arkansas Razorbacks decided they would take advantage of it. Since overtime began the Arkansas Razorbacks have gone 6-1 in overtime games, including the three longest overtime games in history. To make things even more difficult the Arkansas Razorbacks only played at home in one of their seven overtime games.
The most recent overtime win for the Arkansas Razorbacks came at home against Alabama earlier this year. Thanks to some kicking woes from the Alabama Crimson Tide regulation ended in a 17 – 17 tie. In the first overtime the Arkansas Razorbacks failed to score and Alabama kicker Leigh Tiffin missed a field goal that would’ve won it to force a second overtime. After a 1 yard pass by John Parker Wilson to take a 23 – 17 lead the kicking woes bit Alabama again as Leigh Tiffin missed the extra point. It might have looked like a simple botched extra point, but no doubt the mighty Arkansas overtime powers were at work. The Arkansas Razorbacks had the ball third and long when receiver Ben Cleveland got away from the defender and Mitch Mustain found him open for the touchdown. Jeremy Davis made the extra point to win the game 24 – 23. The Arkansas Razorbacks won the double over time, but should we be surprised? Two overtimes is nothing, the Arkansas Razorbacks are used to playing six or seven overtimes.
On November 1st, 2003 the Arkansas Razorbacks played the Kentucky Wildcats in the longest and highest scoring football game in NCAA history; a 71 – 63 seven overtime win for the Arkansas Razorbacks.. The Kentucky Wildcats forced overtime with a 13 yard touchdown pass from Jared Lorenzen to Chris Bernard with 1:38 left capping a 14 point rally. The Kentucky Wildcats and Arkansas Razorbacks exchanged touchdowns in every overtime except for the third when they swapped field goals instead. In the fourth and sixth overtimes the teams also added 2 point conversions to their touchdowns. The Wildcats had their best chance to win in the third overtime. The Arkansas Razorbacks had to settle for a field goal to make the score 41 – 38. The Kentucky Wildcats just needed a touchdown to win and got the ball down to 4th and 1 on the goal line. The Wildcats were going to go for it before Draak Davis was penalized for an illegal substitution. Since they were no longer on the goal line the Kentucky Wildcats decided to kick the field goal instead. The game finally came to an end in the seventh overtime when DeCori Birmingham scored on a 25 yard run and the Razorbacks followed with a 2 point conversion to make it 71-63. The Kentucky Wildcats had the ball down to the 5 yard line on their possession but failed to convert when Jared Lorenzen fumbled the ball.
The seven overtime victory for the Arkansas Razorbacks wasn’t even the first seven overtime game. The Arkansas Razorbacks also defeated the Ole Miss Rebels in a seven overtime game on November 3, 2001, winning the game 58 – 56. In 2003 the Arkansas Razorbacks also played Tennessee in a six overtime game but they lost that game 41 – 38. After their seven overtime victory against Kentucky the Razorbacks’ coach Houston Nutt was asked about their overtime history to which he replied, “As long as we get to seven overtimes, its ok.”
