These Guys Hardly Hog the Headlines : Despite 10-1 Record, Arkansas Gets the Underdog Role Against UCLA

DALLAS —  It’s some high Cotton that those Arkansas Razorbacks are rolling around in now, and not such a small achievement, either, for a team that almost went broke in the recognition department.

Arkansas is probably one of worst-publicized, least-noticed, most-talented 10-1 teams ever to come tumbling out of the Ozarks, or anywhere else for that matter. So, the Razorbacks have landed in the Cotton Bowl to take on UCLA, and already the Hogs are calling for that coveted underdog role for which both teams clearly yearn.

Be fair, though. Coach Ken Hatfield’s Razorbacks deserve it. This is an image they have carefully cultivated, although they very nearly blew their cover by just barely losing to Miami in the last game of the regular season, 18-16.

No, the Hogs of Hatfield prefer to lie low, to wallow in low key. Why, only this year, after four years at the school, cornerback Anthoney Cooney notified the sports information department that the correct spelling of his first name includes an E.

But why rush into things? After all, it’s been a long time since the Cotton Bowl had an Arkansas team.

The last such occasion was in 1976, a 31-10 victory over Georgia. But now the Razorbacks are back and they are fielding a team that’s roundly underrated and resoundingly quick.

Chief among these players are those playing defense, which until last week was anchored by 6-foot 5-inch, 285-pound tackle Wayne Martin. He spent most of the season in the other team’s backfield, but is going to spend the Cotton Bowl in street clothes. Martin, who made 18 tackles for 110 yards in losses and was one of 8 senior starters on defense, got himself suspended from the Bowl because he broke a team rule.

Another starter, offensive guard Freddie Childress, was suspended along with Martin. Jamie Morris will move from left guard to Childress’ right guard spot and redshirt freshman Mark Henry will start at left guard in the spot vacated by Morris.

Martin may be impossible to replace, but Hatfield is going to try. Tony Ollison, who has been Martin’s backup, becomes his successor at starter now. But whomever plays on the Arkansas defense, there’s not a slow one in the bunch.

As Hatfield said of his defensive team speed: “We’ve got folks who run to the football well.”

Martin and kicker Kendall Trainor, who finished the season by making 23 consecutive field goals, are the first two Razorback first-team Associated Press All-Americans since Billy Ray Smith and Steve Korte in 1982.

The Razorback defense was one of the most opportunistic and the offense one of the most error-free in the country. Arkansas led the nation in turnover margin, +2 a game. Quarterback Quinn Grovey, an All-Southwest Conference selection as a sophomore, led the SWC in passing efficiency and in the 12 games he has started, the Hogs have never been beaten.

They only lost once this year, at Miami on Thanksgiving weekend, but they probably shouldn’t have. As usual, few gave them a chance to win, but if safety Steve Atwater had held onto what seemed a sure interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter, it might have been different.

Arkansas led, 16-15, with just under five minutes to play and Miami had third down at the Hogs’ 4. Steve Walsh threw right into Atwater’s hands, but he dropped the ball. On fourth down, Miami kicked the winning field goal.

Hatfield refused to emphasize the bad timing for Atwater, regarded as one of the better safeties in college football, to develop bad hands and pointed instead to other shortcomings: Arkansas gave up 2 points on a safety; a 15-yard piling-on penalty that allowed Miami to keep alive a drive that led to a field goal just before the half; a fumble on a drive into Miami territory.

Otherwise, though, the Hogs were just about perfect this season. They wrapped up the SWC title on Oct. 29, the earliest clinching date in conference history. They beat everybody they had to, including Texas A & M, even though they didn’t really have to beat the Aggies since A & M was on probation and couldn’t go to the Cotton Bowl anyway.

But for the conference title to be legitimate, the Aggies had to fall, and they did as Hatfield guided Arkansas through an undefeated and, outside of the Ozarks, largely unremarked on season. And he doesn’t mind if few think much of the Razorbacks’ chances in the Cotton Bowl.

“We don’t have any inferiority complex,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about it. Y’all folks are going to come on down for one game and see us and go on back to Los Angeles. The rest of the people that are here all the time, they still know us. Your mother and your pet dog, they’re going to love us, no matter what happens.

“No doubt about it, we’re the underdog. (Troy) Aikman, everybody says, he’s the No. 1 draft choice, the first quarterback chosen, All-American. They were ranked No. 1 for two weeks, there’s no team I’ve known in a long time that was ahead of Nebraska, 28-0, in the first quarter. I think they definitely are the favorite.”

And what about the Hogs?

“We’re a team that just kind of played close the whole year,” Hatfield said.

The Razorbacks might have played it close but they also played it well. Led by Grovey, the offense didn’t exactly generate megawatts of electricity, but it was effective nonetheless. The Arkansas offensive formation is called the flexbone, which is something of a combination between a triple-option wishbone and a slotback formation that uses the backs as receivers. It is similar to Arizona’s offense and Grovey makes it go.

Grovey may pass in certain situations to tight end Billy Winston or split end Derek Russell, or hand off to backs Barry Foster, JuJu Harshaw, or James Rouse.

But Arkansas really is all about defense. That is where Martin has excelled, and the Arkansas game plan will revolve around putting pressure on Aikman.

“Martin has had that kind of year you hope every player has,” Hatfield said. “He saved his best for his senior year. He plays hard each and every play. He’s just a very devastating pass rusher and just a great player.”

Arkansas will be trying to restore flagging SWC prestige. The conference has been more noted for its trouble with the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. than its football in recent years. When A&M; staggered out of the gate with losses to Nebraska and LSU, and when Texas was sandblasted by BYU, conference pride sagged even more.

But the Razorbacks came out and played and won, even if there weren’t too many noticing at any one time. Hatfield said it was worse at the beginning of the year because of what had happened to A&M; and Texas.

“I think a lot of people said, ‘If these are the best two teams down there, nobody else is any good,’ ” Hatfield said. “They just pretty much kind of marked the whole conference off. At the same time, we weren’t on national TV until the last game at Miami.”

And we know what happened then.

“We just came up one play short,” Hatfield said of the 18-16 loss.

They’ve got another game to make it up.