Arkansas enters short week on emotional high

Posted 6:19PM on Monday 3rd November 2003 ( 21 years ago )

LITTLE ROCK - The most amazing number to come out of Arkansas' seven-overtime, 71-63 victory over Kentucky wasn't in the game summary. It was in the training room. The Razorbacks had plenty of sore legs in need of attention Sunday and Monday, but not one player suffered a new injury. ``For seven overtimes, we came out in remarkably good shape,'' Arkansas sports information director Kevin Trainor said. Now, Arkansas (5-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) has to refresh those weary legs for South Carolina (5-4, 2-4) this Thursday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. ``These guys are young enough where if they do work at it with the whirlpool, the rehab and you run, within two days, if nothing's too serious, they'll come around,'' Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said Monday. ``But this is my first true experience with Thursday night coming off a Saturday night game.'' South Carolina also had a frantic game last week, falling 43-40 at Ole Miss after scoring the final 26 points of the game. The Gamecocks arrived home in time to see most of the Arkansas-Kentucky classic on ESPN2, but they are the team making two road trips in seven days. South Carolina coach Lou Holtz, who coached seven years at Arkansas from 1977-1983, didn't put much stock in his team's play after trailing 43-14 late in the third quarter. ``I'm not going to congratulate our comeback,'' he said. ``You are supposed to play 60 minutes.'' Nutt could have said the same thing about his team's performance during the first 60 minutes, especially since the Razorbacks led 21-7 in the third quarter. However, Arkansas turned the ball over twice in the fourth quarter and penalties either gave field position back to Kentucky or put the Wildcats in position to tie the game. Arkansas made up for those mistakes in overtime. Quarterback Matt Jones threw two touchdowns and he rushed for another on fourth down. He completed a pair of 2-point conversion passes, one to Mark Pierce to extend the game to the fifth overtime and one to George Wilson to send it to the final overtime. Jones, who has played in 22 overtimes periods in three seasons and the three longest games in NCAA history, finished the game with a school record 372 yards of total offense. He passed for 260 yards and rushed for 112, the fifth 100-yard rushing game of his career. ``When defenses get tired and you start to hit your 95th and 100th plays, (Jones is) still in good enough shape he can still run,'' Nutt said. ``It helps you when people start to bring pressure because he can escape pressure. He is one of the reasons why we're very good in overtime.'' Arkansas is 4-1 in overtime games with Nutt and 3-1 with Jones at quarterback. The only loss was to Tennessee 41-38 in six overtimes in 2002. The Razorbacks are 3-1 following their overtime games under Nutt, with the only loss to Auburn this year, two weeks after beating Alabama in two overtimes. The off week took the air out of Arkansas' momentum after the Alabama victory, something Nutt said has been essential to playing well after overtime games. ``You're always concerned with how many people are in the training room and this is the time of year when you've got a lot of people beat up,'' Nutt said. ``But it seems to re-energize us. It seems to give us a lift we've needed in recent years.''

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