[Tuck4Bama]

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Miracle on Markham, the name given to Arkansas' last-play victory over defending SEC champion LSU on Nov. 29, 2002, still ranks as one of the most thrilling finishes in college football history.

The Razorbacks moved 81 yards in three plays to score that dramatic touchdown - a 31-yard pass from Matt Jones to a falling DeCori Birmingham - on their way to the SEC Championship Game.

However, since the Miracle on Markham, last-minute Razorbacks rallies have been practically nonexistent. In fact, since Jones directed a 71-yard drive that ended with his 3-yard touchdown pass to Richard Smith with 27 seconds left to tie the 2003 game at Alabama - a game the Razorbacks eventually won in double overtime - Arkansas has been an offensive bust late on fourth-quarter possessions when the pressure was on.

In 13 games since then in which the Razorbacks took possession of the ball while trailing or tied with a chance to tie or take the lead, they have spun their wheels.

This season, Arkansas' twominute drill has looked more like a Chinese fire drill than a confident, chain-moving operation. On the drives in which the Razorbacks have held a fourthquarter lead and needed to burn up the clock, they also have come up lacking.


Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt points to lack of experience and the absence of the team's best receiver, senior Marcus Monk, as the top reasons for the Razorbacks' late-game struggles.

"Just experience," Nutt said. "We'll get better at it next time.

Dead ends