Nine Straight Runs: Inside the Drive That Beat LSU in 2010

Arkansas beat LSU 31-23 on Nov. 27, 2010 inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium, and the possession that put it away never once went through the air. Fifteen years later, DJ Williams took the tape apart play by play and landed on a conclusion that had nothing to do with recruiting stars.

Williams, the senior tight end on that team and the 2010 John Mackey Award winner, walked viewers through roughly seven plays from a single drive. He said he could have spent four hours on them.

"This is typically how we watch film in the meeting rooms when we're with our coaches, when we're with Petrino," Williams said.

The Setup: A Gutsy Fourth Down, Then a Punt

The sequence starts with the play everybody remembers. On fourth-and-3, Bobby Petrino kept the offense on the field and Ryan Mallett found Joe Adams for a 39-yard touchdown, with LSU true freshman Tyrann Mathieu in coverage. Adams beat the Honey Badger on a double move to make it 28-20.

Williams said the call was less of a gamble than it looked.

"Petrino is a savant of knowing what the defense is going to bring to the table, especially in specific situations," Williams said. "He knew exactly what the defense was going to be and he told Joe, hit that double move and it's a touchdown."

The Arkansas defense then did its part, forcing Les Miles into a fourth-and-3 on LSU's side of the field. The Tigers punted. Arkansas took over just inside its own 10 with 12:12 left, leading by eight, needing a field goal to force LSU into a two-score hole.

What followed was a 6:03 drive that ended with a 19-yard Zach Hocker field goal at 6:09 for a 31-20 lead.

Four-Minute Offense, Not Two-Minute Offense

Arkansas in 2010 was built to throw it. Mallett threw for 3,592 yards that season. Williams said the drive mattered precisely because none of that was the point.

"What makes a really good offense is when you need to control the game and go to your four-minute offense and not your two-minute offense," Williams said. "You can do all the flashy stuff, but when it comes down to the ground and pound up front in the trenches, can you get the job done? It really comes down to the character of your team of who wants it more."

The first snap was a play-action throw to Williams that picked up about 13 yards. After that, by his count, Arkansas ran the ball nine straight times against a defense that knew it was coming. LSU entered the game ranked No. 6 nationally, with Arkansas at No. 12, though Williams recalled the Tigers as the No. 5 team in the country on the broadcast.

Watch: the full 4th & Five breakdown.

Watch Everything Except the Ball

Williams' central coaching point was that the story of the drive lives away from the football.

"Most people watch the ball when watching film," he said. "I encourage y'all to go back and look at some of your favorite moments in Razorback football history and watch something else besides the ball."

His No. 1 highlight was left tackle DeMarcus Love. On what Williams called his favorite play of the drive, Love pass set to bait the defensive end upfield, slapped him past the pocket, then chased him down and finished him off well after the assignment was complete.

"A lot of guys, offensive linemen, would say, okay, I did my job," Williams said. "Not D Love."

He also pointed to Love hunting a body downfield on the opening play-action, a block Williams said was the difference in an extra eight yards.

The Co-Host on the Tape

Grant Cook, now the show's co-host and analyst, shows up repeatedly on the drive as an offensive lineman on the field for those snaps.

On one play, Cook was assigned to kick out the LSU defender wearing 89, but the defender chased tight end Ben Cleveland down the line and took himself out of the play. Cook passed him up and found other work.

"So many times I've seen offensive linemen just waste blocks because, well, that's my guy," Williams said. "Well, your guy's not even a part of the play."

Cook also drew praise for a legal cut block downfield on the play-action, and for the pre-snap responsibility Williams said Cook has talked about on the show.

"A center's job is so important because they're down in a three-point stance, but they got to keep their eyes up because they need to see what's going on in the secondary as well," Williams said.

Everybody Blocked Somebody

Center Travis Swanson repeatedly climbed to the second level while still handling the snap, and Williams highlighted a play where Swanson ignored an unblocked defender to his left because he trusted the scheme and knew Williams and Love were working up to him.

Wide receivers turned up in the box. Jarius Wright sprinted in from outside the numbers to knock a defender off track. Cobi Hamilton, who had already scored two 80-yard touchdowns in the game, chased a defensive back 40 yards from the football.

The one that stopped Williams cold came from right tackle Ray Dominguez.

Peterson was a consensus All-American and the 2010 Thorpe Award winner. Dominguez went looking for him from the backside of a run play.

Petrino's Language

Williams pulled back the curtain on terminology he said he used to keep to himself while Petrino was still on staff.

Per Williams, Petrino labeled receivers X, Z and Y for the tight end, and used W instead of H for the slot, which is where Adams lived. A second tight end was the T or the F.

Arkansas played most of the drive in 12 personnel, adding Van Stumon in a fullback role for what Williams described as 13 or 22 personnel looks. He cited two calls specifically:

• "Eat", an end and tackle combination block where the tight end and tackle set the edge together before climbing to the linebacker.
• "Down stretch choice", a run where Arkansas broke the huddle knowing only the direction. Williams read the defensive end's alignment, called out the technique to Mallett, and Mallett checked the play at the line.

On that call, Williams jab stepped at the end to freeze him, climbed to the linebacker, and let the pulling guard kick the end out. Broderick Green nearly took it to the end zone before getting tripped up.

The Backs Held the Ball Right

Sophomore Knile Davis, who rushed for 1,183 yards in 2010, carried most of the load. Williams kept coming back to two things: Davis making one man miss, and Davis carrying the ball high and tight.

"Ball security is going to be the most important thing right here," Williams said, noting that any competent LSU staff would be coaching its defenders to punch at the football on every tackle attempt.

The design, he explained, was simple. Every run was schemed to leave the back with one defender to beat.

Why the Show Sounds So Picky

Williams used the tape to answer a criticism the show hears often.

He acknowledged the odds of Hamilton's 40-yard chase ever mattering were close to zero. That was not the standard.

"For us, it was always like, you never know what will happen, give 100 percent all the time," Williams said.

The Point Williams Was Actually Making

Asked constantly whether the current Razorbacks have the talent and the pieces, Williams said the drive answers a different question.

His list was three items long: know your job, play with relentless effort, and do more than what is expected of you.

"I didn't see one person watching any of this tape take one play off," Williams said. "We were a team that was dynamic for throwing the football, and we did all that and didn't throw the football in that one time."

Williams said these old-tape sessions are becoming a regular Wednesday night feature on the show. The standard he pulled off that 2010 reel, eleven players finishing plays nobody would have noticed, is the one worth measuring this Arkansas team against.