LITTLE ROCK July is a slow month for Razorback-related football news on the field, but a creative person like Steve Sullivan can figure out a way to stretch a theme for weeks.
It was Sullivan, the sports director at KATV, who put together two dozen items for a countdown he cleverly labeled the 16 "Most Memorable Moments from Arkansas' 16 Years in the SEC" and who handed me a ballot.
Winnowing out the top five did not take long, but just to double-check a perspective that is sometimes jaded, two in-office followers of Razorback doings were asked for their top three. Their three were included in my five.
Before arranging the final quintet in order, remember the criteria. With that in mind, one person's top five:
No. 5, Nov. 23, 2007, Materral Richardson jumped on a slant route and intercepted Matt Flynn's pass in the third overtime to preserve Arkansas' 50-48 victory over then-No. 1 LSU.
Although Flynn was the winning quarterback in the national championship game a few weeks later, he told Packers.com that the loss is the one game he will never forget. The victory was Arkansas' first over a top-ranked team since 41-11 against Texas in 1981, but the triumph was never properly celebrated because of the hub-bub over the status of soon-to-be-gone Houston Nutt.
No. 4, Nov. 13, 1999, Clint Stoerner threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Lucas with 3:44 remaining for a 28-24 victory over then-No. 3 Tennessee. A year earlier, it was Tennessee 28, Arkansas 24.
Paul Eells' call of the touchdown pass is one of the most requested from the archive of the former Voice of the Razorbacks. It is on YouTube with the teaser, "Stoerner to Lucas nuff said."
The victory helped put the Razorbacks in the Cotton Bowl, where they beat Texas.
No. 3, Nov. 3, 2001, Jermaine Petty tackled Ole Miss tight end Doug Zeigler at the 2-yard line to preserve Arkansas' 58-56 victory over Ole Miss in a record-setting seventh overtime.
The two teams set an NCAA record with a total of 80 points in the overtimes and the game was an immediate ESPN Classic.
It was so riveting that a baby-sitting gig extended deep into the night when the parents dared not leave a party until there was a winner in Oxford.
No. 2, Nov. 29, 2002, Matt Jones threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to DeCori Birmingham with nine seconds to play and David Carlton added a long extra point as Arkansas beat LSU 21-20.
The reward was a spot in the SEC championship game, but it was the 59 1-2 minute prelude that made it such a stunner.
Until that point, Jones had completed only two passes and his attempts included an end zone interception from the LSU 9. On the play prior to the TD pass, Jones threw a 50-yarder to Richard Smith.
No. 1, Nov. 14, 1998, Clint Stoerner's fumble that led to Tennessee 28, Arkansas 24. Nothing says the most memorable moments must be positive ones.
Unbeaten Arkansas was leading No. 1 Tennessee 24-22 and trying to run out the final 1:47 when it happened on second-and-12 bootleg from the Arkansas 49. The Razorbacks had run the play several times without a bobble, but this time, Stoerner's left foot tangled with the right foot of guard Brandon Burlsworth.
The stand-up Burlsworth later went to Stoerner and apologized; Stoerner said he should have held onto the ball anyway.
Arkansas was 8-0 at the time and it is the tantalizing "what-if" that keeps the fumble alive and at the top of the list.
Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
