Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

LOUISVILLE 34, ARKANSAS STATE 24
Why ASU Lost
Arkansas State is giving up 501 yards per game, and at home on Saturday night the Red Wolves surrendered 575 yards to a 1-2 Lousville team, including nearly 400 in the first half. ASU trailed 31-7 at intermission, which was identical to its situation at Louisiana-Lafayette and fit the pattern of the season of not playing one half, playing the other. ASU did play better in the second half and trailed by 10, 31-21, entering the final quarter but failed to score touchdowns on two possessions deep in Louisville territory. ASU lost two fumbles and had two passes intercepted.

Gamebreaker
Only Louisville had stopped Louisville in the early going, but with the score 10-7 in the second quarter the Red Wolves' defense had risen up to force a fourth-and-7 situation for the Cardinals from the ASU 47. No one in the stadium guessed "fake punt," which made the call by UL head coach Charlie Strong's staff brilliant. ASU was fooled, and speedy Bilal Powell, the Cardinals' regular tailback, took the short snap, had a hole on the left side of his line, then veered to the left sideline and ran in touched. With the momentum back in its favor, Louisville added two more touchdowns in the second quarter for a 31-7 lead.

Letting the Cats Loose
Both teams called upon athletes other than their starting quarterbacks to run versions of the "wildcat" formation at various times on Saturday night. Louisville had three different backs line up to take the short snap from center: starting tailback Balil Powell was the most successful, but Victor Anderson and Dominique Brown also took wildcat snaps. ASU also countered with its wildcat, with receiver R.J. Fleming giving the Red Wolves a quick, change of pace look.

Petrino Would Approve
Louisville was known for its throwing under Bobby Petrino from 2003-2006, before Petrino made a detour to the NFL's Atlanta Falcons for a year and then went back to college coaching at Arkansas in 2008. Petrino would have enjoyed the first-half show put on by the Cardinals and starting quarterback Adam Froman, a senior from Santa Rose, Calif. Froman was 15 of 20 for 248 yards in the first half, with three touchdown passes. His long of 57 yards went on a "wheel" route, a favorite Petrino play of late, to tailback Bilal Powell. Josh Bellamy was on the receiving end of scoring passes of 11 and 21 yards.

Louisville's second-half offense seemed right out of the Petrino playbook, with an emphasis on power running to eat the clock. Froman only had 60 passing yards in the second half and was intercepted once, by ASU safety Kelcie McCray.

ASU's Ryan Aplin passed for 209 yards on 12 of 25 passes with two interceptions and three touchdowns. Allen Muse was on the receiving end of scoring tossed of 33 and 15 yards, the latter using Muse's height over a short cornerback. Taylor Stockemer also caught a similar pass, a pinpoint accurate toss that only he could catch over a short cornerback.

Drawing a Crowd

The announced crowd at ASU Stadium was 25,219, but nearly half of those were gone by halftime of the Red Wolves' homecoming game. They missed another ASU second-half rally that came up short.

Gutsy Kick
ASU recovered a Louisville fumble in the fourth quarter that put the Red Wolves in position to cut what seemed like an insurmountable lead to three with 8:08 to go. But the Red Wolves managed just eight yards after the recovery and called upon freshman Bobby Zalud to try another field goal in the wind. He'd missed one on ASU's second possession of the game, but this time Zalud converted from 35 yards to bring the Red Wolves within seven, 31-24. ASU would not get the ball back until the Cardinals had pushed back out by 10 following Chris Philpott's 46-yard field goal (with the wind) with 3:54 to play.

Seeking Him Out
Louisville secondary coach Larry Slade made a point to visit the Arkansas State dressing room after the game, seeking out "Number 23." That would be Demario Davis, the ASU linebacker who made several big defensive stops and a huge special teams hit in the second half.

"He is one fine football player, that Number 23. We didn't block him all night," UL's Slade said.

Quotable
"We played one half of football again. We've been doing that in every game. We cannot play only one half of football, we have to come out and play two halves."
—ASU Coach Steve Roberts

"We had been working on a fake punt, and we needed to fake a punt just because of the way we lined up in our punt formations ... it was a huge turning point."
—Louisville Coach Charlie Strong

Up Next
ASU will join the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area, venturing to Denton to play North Texas in a 6 p.m. Sun Belt Conference game.