Chris Leak helps Florida take a big lead. Then Channing Crowder ends the Razorbacks' rally in the final minutes.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published October 3, 2004
[Times photo: James Borchuck]
Dallas Baker and Chris Leak celebrate their late 2-yard touchdown pass. Baker's 34-yard catch put the Gators up 17-7 in the second quarter.
GAINESVILLE - Senior safety Cory Bailey rushed to the sideline late in the fourth quarter, grabbed teammate Channing Crowder by the shoulders and uttered two simple words.
"Thank you."
It most likely was the sentiment of every other Florida player and thousands of Gator fans sitting at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
With a 31-point lead reduced to eight and Arkansas driving for the tying score, Crowder intercepted a pass by Matt Jones and returned it 22 yards to the Arkansas 26 with 4:24 left.
The interception set up a seven-play drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass from Chris Leak to Dallas Baker that helped Florida hang on for a 45-30 victory in front of 90,014 Saturday afternoon.
"It's kind of typical of (Crowder)," Gators defensive coordinator Charlie Strong said. "We needed somebody to step up."
Did they ever.
The Gators led 38-7 with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter but allowed the Razorbacks to score 23 unanswered points.
The Razorbacks were moving toward the tying touchdown when Crowder's interception sealed the victory. It was reminiscent of last season's game in Fayetteville, when the Razorbacks trailed 33-7 in the third quarter and scored 21 unanswered points before Florida held on to win 33-28.
"Creepy," Bailey said to describe the feeling. "It's always creepy when something like that starts happening.
"You look at the game, and you never imagine, coming out of halftime, something like that is going to happen."
Saturday, it looked like there was no way "that" could happen. Florida led 7-0 on a 1-yard run by Ciatrick Fason (18 carries for 62 yards) despite a sluggish first quarter.
In the second quarter, Florida scored 28 points. Receiver Andre Caldwell ran for a 61-yard touchdown, the first of his career. Leak threw touchdowns of 34 and 48 yards to Baker and Jemalle Cornelius, respectively. And Fason added a 3-yard run, giving the Gators a 35-7 lead at halftime.
"What happened in the first half is exactly what we did not want to happen, for them to get out," Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. "In the second half, there weren't any adjustments. We talked about putting your heart on the line and playing as hard as you can."
So they did.
With 51 seconds remaining in the third quarter, tailback DeCori Birmingham capped an 80-yard drive with a 12-yard run that pulled Arkansas to within 38-14.
Then 3:44 into the fourth quarter, Jones scored on a 25-yard run. His pass to Birmingham on the two-point conversion made it 38-22. Marcus Monk scored on a 7-yard pass from Jones with 6:47 left, and the two-point conversion made it 38-30.
Florida ran just 51 seconds off the clock with two incomplete passes and a 7-yard run by DeShawn Wynn, giving the Razorbacks the ball back with 5:46 left.
Three plays later, Crowder stepped in.
"We were sitting back in Cover 2, and their player came across. And I just did my job," Crowder said. "The ball got tipped right into my stomach, and I just took off running."
"That's one where you wished he'd just let it go, but he was trying to make a play," Jones said of Carlos Ousley tipping the ball. "It was still my fault, but he got a hand on it and knocked it to the linebacker."
Florida scored its final touchdown on a 2-yard pass from Leak to Baker. It was the first fourth-quarter points Arkansas had allowed in seven games.
Leak was 23-of-38 for 322 yards and three touchdowns, the first 300-yard game of his career. Jones, who entered the game as the SEC's leader in total offense, was 23-of-39 for 252 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for a team-high 68 yards.
"We have to be able to play the whole game the way we played in the second quarter," Florida coach Ron Zook said.
"If I had the answer to why we didn't play like we did that first half, I probably wouldn't be coaching. We were fortunate to get out of it the way we did, and we made the play we had to make when we needed to."
