Cats scratch 'back

By John Clay / Herald-Leader Sports Columnist

Video highlights of UK-Arkansas

You gave up, didn't you?

If you were at Commonwealth Stadium, sometime in the second half you departed into the deep, dark night, cursing the pop-gun offense of your do-nothing Cats.

If you were at home, watching it on TV, admit it: In pure disgust, you grabbed the remote and flipped over to catch the Red Sox and Rays.

Oh ye of little Blue faith.

Haven't you heard?

This is New Kentucky.

Old Kentucky used to lose games the way New Kentucky miraculously won last night, scoring two touchdowns in the final five minutes to stun Arkansas 21-20 on Saturday night, before — and we're being generous here — a stadium less than half full.

Guess old habits are hard to break.

But oh, the miracle you missed.

Trailing 20-7 with less than five minutes remaining, the Cats first recovered a fumble by Arkansas' backup tailback De'Anthony Curtis on his own 41-yard line. Two plays later, out of the clear Blue, quarterback Mike Hartline found wideout and part-time quarterback Randall Cobb with a 32-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to six with 4:15 remaining.

Then, less than two minutes later, Hartline and Cobb did it again. On the second play after an Arkansas punt, Hartline found Cobb running open in an Arkansas seam for what turned out to be the game-winning score, a 21-yard touchdown pass with 2:21 remaining.

"I've been around some strange games," UK coach Rich Brooks admitted, "but this one ranks right up there."

It was the first time in five tries that a Brooks-coach team has beaten a Bobby Petrino-coached team.

"That's a hard one on us," said Petrino, the former Louisville coach, who now heads the Hogs.

See, it wasn't just that Kentucky was down 20-7 with less than five minutes remaining; it was that the Cats looked so down. No offense. Little defense. No spark. If the Cats weren't officially beaten, they sure looked beaten.

Arkansas had all but dominated the previous 35 minutes. Michael Smith, the Razorbacks' 5-foot-7 motorman of a running back, had rushed for 192 yards on 35 carries.

On one amazing, clock-chewing second-half drive, Bobby Petrino's club had hoarded the football for nearly 10 minutes before kicking a field goal to go up by 13 with exactly 10 minutes remaining.

You thought that clinched it, didn't you?

After all, Kentucky's offense had done little or nothing. Hartline's passes had been high and wobbly. UK receivers had dropped passes. The running game had been mediocre, at best.

Take away Alfonso Smith's 71-yard catch-and-run off a Hartline flair pass that finally put the Cats on the board, and there was little to make you believe Kentucky could stage a comeback.

But ...

"Our players believed they could do it," Brooks said.

On this night, anyway, maybe it was that belief made all the difference. In the old days, with Old Kentucky, the Cats would be the ones to dominate for three and a half quarters only to find a way to lose, to give the game away at the end.

Remember the night in 1993 when the Cats intercepted Steve Spurrier-coached Florida seven times only to lose the game on a touchdown pass in the final 10 seconds?

Remember the 1988 game against Bill Curry and Alabama, when Jerry Claiborne's Cats led 24-7 in the fourth quarter only to lose 31-27?

Remember the Bluegrass Miracle — that 33-30 loss to LSU on the final-play Hail Mary in 2002 — even though you don't want to?

Old Kentucky didn't steal victories; it had them stolen.

But those memories are being replaced by these, just this year: the Sept. 13 game when Middle Tennessee nearly scored on the final play on Sept. 13, only to have Robbie McAtee tackle the Blue Raider receiver at the end of a 61-yard pass play at the 1-yard line to save the Cats' 20-14 victory.

And now Saturday night, when a team that was so easy to give up on, in the end proved very hard to beat.

On this night, anyway. New Kentucky, indeed.

Reach John Clay at 859-231-3226 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3226, or jclay@herald-leader.com. Read his blog at johnclay.bloginky.com.