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Arkansas ends BCS chance for Tulsa

Nov 1, 2008 - 11:58 PM FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas (Ticker) -- Arkansas' defensive stand squashed Tulsa's Bowl Championship Series hopes.

Dennis Johnson returned a kickoff for a touchdown and the Razorbacks handed No. 18 Tulsa its first loss of the season, holding on for a 30-23 victory Saturday.

David Johnson drove Tulsa down to the 5-yard-line with less than two minutes to play, but his fourth-down pass fell incomplete and the Golden Hurricane (8-1) failed to beat a BCS Conference team for the first time since 1998.

"It really took our players' positive attitudes to win this game today," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. "We just came out of two tough losses, and Tulsa is a very good team.

"I was really proud of the defense for holding their offense to 23 points when they are usually making 50-to-60 points a game."

Dennis Johnson snapped a 23-23 tie late in the third quarter with 96-yard kickoff return for a score, and Arkansas' defense clamped down from there.

Tulsa brought the top-ranked offense in the nation to Fayetteville, but it was Arkansas' offense that looked unstoppable in this one.

Casey Dick passed for career-high 385 yards and a touchdown with an interception for the Razorbacks (4-5), who had lost five of their previous six contests.

"We thought we could do a lot more running the ball, but Casey had to throw it," Petrino said. "He distributed the ball and he really understood the coverage and progression."

For the first time since 1997, the Razorbacks had a pair of receivers with over 100 yards in a game as D.J. Williams finished with 129 and Jarius Wright had 112.

"It was a great momentum boost to come out and score early in the game," Williams said. "Everybody thought we would be down after those two losses, but we said we were tired of this and we wanted a win."

Dick, however, made a critical mistake in the fourth quarter, throwing an interception in the end zone from the Tulsa 15 when a field goal would have put the game out of reach.

The Golden Hurricane took over with 3:04 remaining and nearly made Arkansas pay for its miscue. David Johnson completed three straight passes to bring Tulsa down to the 12-yard-line.

After 7-yard run by Damaris Johnson, A.J. Whitmore was stuffed on back-to-back runs to set up a fourth-and-5 from the Arkansas 7. David Johnson attempt a short fade route to Trae Johnson, but it landed harmlessly out of bounds with 41 seconds remaining.

"Arkansas came out and played very aggressively on both sides of the ball," Tulsa coach Todd Graham said. "They had their guys ready to play today. The crowd was unbelievable. This is a very difficult atmosphere to come into and play."

It marked the 17th straight win in the series for Arkansas, which jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter.