Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Longtime Arkansas fans no doubt remember when College Football Hall of Famer John Robinson brought his UNLV program to Little Rock and War Memorial Stadium to open the 2001 season. In a game that may have set offensive football back a half-century Arkansas pulled out a 14-10 win on a Thursday night ESPN telecast.

We've covered some of the particulars here. Houston Nutt managed to play four quarterbacks, none of whom were named Matt Jones (who sat the entire game on the bench), in the first half. The Hogs barely had 100 yards of offense until the final minute, and it was unlikely they could drive 80 yards in that last minute to pull out the win.

UNLV had to help them out.

"I made one of the biggest coaching blunders of my career that night," the likeable Robinson recalled for the crowd Monday at the Little Rock Touchdown Club's weekly meeting at the Embassy Suites ballroom.

Robinson's regular punter wasn't having the greatest of nights, but his replacement was a mere kid "who looked about 14," Robinson said, and the coach was willing to give him a chance to kick the ball away with UNLV at midfield. Even a 30-yard punt would have put the inept Arkansas offense behind the proverbial 8-ball.

Sure enough, the punter let the snap go through his hands and hit him in the helmet, and Arkansas took over in Rebels' territory. The Hogs managed to cover the short distance with just 18 seconds to spare as Cedric Cobbs ran around right end untouched from one yard.

"If I had had a gun, I'd had committed suicide," Robinson cracked.

That wasn't Robinson's only trip to Little Rock until Monday. He was offensive coordinator for Southern Cal in 1972 when the Trojans ruined a promising Arkansas season from the start, pulling away from a 3-all halftime tie to roll 31-10, the first of 12 straight wins.

"That was maybe the best Southern Cal team they ever had," sad Robinson, who had the dependable Mike Rae at quarterback and the likes of future NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann at receiver.

Two years later, Southern Cal was expected to contend for a national title, while Arkansas was nowhere to be seen in the national polls, having hit the low ebb of Frank Broyles' coaching career. But Arkansas had a fanatical defensive effort led by Dennis Winston's 22 tackles from the linebacker spot and the Hogs shocked the Trojans and head coach John McKay 22-7.

"We came in here ranked and got the hell kicked out of us," the salty Robinson said. "The entire coaching staff was fired on the way home, three different times."

But Southern Cal, then led by quarterback Pat Haden and running back/kick returner Anthony Davis, didn't let the loss destroy its season. The Trojans finished 11-1-1, rallied from a 24-0 deficit against Notre Dame to win 55-24, and claimed another national championship for McKay.