Texas 52, Arkansas 10

"Pulled Pork, Texas Style." That was the headline on the front of The Morning News' sports page Sunday morning plastered above my five-column photo of Casey Dick getting stripped of the football. That's exactly how it went down in Austin on Saturday afternoon. No illusions. It was a fabulous disaster.


Early in the first quarter linebacker Jerry Franklin made a sweet play breaking up a pass to one of Texas' tight ends. The thought that the Hogs might get something going this time around actually crossed my mind.


D.J. Williams breaks loose after a catch for a first down.


I thought I was dreaming when London Crawford made this catch. It was an amazing catch. It was London Crawford! Again, I thought Arkansas might actually hang with the Longhorns in this one.


I was wrong. The Longhorn defense shut down the Razorbacks' running game. Michael Smith only had 42 yards on the ground.


Whenever Arkansas did complete passes there was always a Texas defender there making a quick tackle. Joe Adams only had 29 yards off two catches.


Arkansas' defense had a hard time stopping the Longhorns on the ground.


And in the air.


Bill Murray had a great time, even though he's not a Longhorn fan. He's from Illinois. He did get to meet Bevo and bang on Big Bertha, the big ass drum in the north end zone.


I think the Texas Cowboys even let Murray fire off Smokey. They fired that damned cannon off at least 20 times during the course of the game. Needless to say it got old.


Really old!

Next up for Arkansas is Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators. Oh Boy! By now you've probably heard they were beat by Houston Nutt's Rebels by one point on Saturday?

"Would you like a half slab or full slab Mr. Tebow?"

The A-Team Meets Bevo

The Hogs were destroyed 52-10 by Texas on Saturday. At least Z-Man and I got a shot with Bevo. Of course we had to throw a little hate Texas' way at the same time. :)

Hawgs Illustrated: Vol. 17, Issue 12

Coming to your home soon....if you're a subscriber that is.

Alabama 49, Arkansas 14

The score pretty much says it all. Saturday's game in Fayetteville was a disaster, a total breakdown. The Hogs' lopsided loss to Bama was the worst they've suffered in years. The Crimson Tide scored 49 points, but the Razorbacks gave them 14 of those points in returned interceptions. In all Alabama picked off four passes, the lead photo being the last one of the game. Casey Dick was picked off three times and accounted for the two Bama touchdown returns. After a game like Saturday's it's really hard to optimistic about Arkansas' chances for the rest of the season.


Arkansas freshman wide receiver Jarius Wright loses the football just short of the goal line.


Arkansas linebacker Freddy Burton tackles Alabama wide receiver Mike McCoy.


Arkansas tight end Andrew Davie hauls in the Razorbacks' first touchdown of the game.


Arkansas freshman Dennis Johnson returns a kickoff.


Arkansas safety Jerico Nelson sacks Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson.


Arkansas wide receiver Greg Childs pulls down a pass from quarterback Casey Dick.


Arkansas tailback Michael Smith was the one solid element of the Razorbacks' offense. Smith had 91 yards on 19 carries, caught six passes for 67 yards and had one touchdown.


Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino and quarterback Casey Dick have a chat during a timeout. I hope Casey keeps his confidence in check for this weekend's game against Texas. Otherwise Saturday's game will pale in comparison to what could be in store in Austin.


Hope you enjoyed your Saturday off Z-Man. The A-Team gets back to work this Saturday. Let's pray those Texas fans are as friendly as the fans at LSU. I'm sure we'll be needing a couple of cold ones after the game. I doubt they'll be serving "Razorback Red" though.

Beauty By Ike

Dusted off my shutter release cable and tripod yesterday and headed to the Lake Ann waterfall here in Bella Vista for some post-Ike action. It was really flowing. This was my first time to photograph the waterfall at the bottom. I posted some photos of the upper waterfall last year. It's a bit of a pain to get to the bottom of the waterfall. Had to do some 4-wheeling, climbing and bushwacking to get the shot. But it was worth it.

Deluged

Last night's Bentonville High School football game versus Fort Zumwalt, Mo., High School was hit with a heavy downpour during the first quarter that felt like Hurricane Ike had decided to skip its arrival in South Texas and head straight to Northwest Arkansas. In my 12 years of shooting football I've never had to work in rain like that. Of course I had checked the forecast before heading to the game and was prepared for wet weather. I had a rain parka stuffed in my cargo pants. My camera bag system has built in raincovers you can deploy in case of rain cover. I had a clear plastic bag taped over my camera body with a 70-200mm lens attached, which is the body that this frame was shot with. And, as luck would have it, we had just purchased Think Tank Hydrophobia raincoats for The Morning News' two 400mm f2.8 lenses, of which one I was using last night in Bentonville. Unlike most sports, football is one that is played in any weather condition unless lightning or extremely strong winds are involved. If you don't show up prepared for the kind of weather that hit last night you can surely miss a good shot.

My Last NWA Business Journal Shoot

Didn't know it when I shot it but this portrait of Bob Killion, an executive V.P. of a local electrical contractor, turned out to be my last assignment for the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal. Kinda sad because I have shot for them since arriving in NWA back in the summer of 2002. Due to a conflict with my employer I had to bring my freelance relationship with the twice-monthly to an end. The work I did for the NWABJ wasn't really about the money, it was good practice. The regular editorial shoots of local business people I got out of them helped me to grow as a photographer and created some of the images I have in my portfolio today. Thanks for the work guys. Cheers.

Hawgs Illustrated: Vol. 17, Issue 11

It's out. Nuff said.

Arkansas 28, Louisiana-Monroe 27

The Hogs had to come back from behind again for the second consecutive week against an opponent that was supposed to be a "gimme win" on their schedule. This time Arkansas had to dig themselves out of an 18-point deficit and in the end pray for a missed 45-yard field goal by ULM to escape with their "gimme." Somebody upstairs was listening. The kicker shanked it wide right and really didn't put enough leg on it. Disaster averted, again.


Michael Smith made his return after missing the Razorbacks' first game on a suspension. Smith carried the ball for 157 yards and had two touchdowns.


Joe Adams had seven catches for 87 yards. He also had a mean, D-Mac-looking stiff arm.


Arkansas' defense wasn't the force everyone expected them to be, especially up front, but they still had their moments.


Casey Dick had a career night throwing 22 for 34 for 323 yards. He also had 17 yards rushing.


Of course the biggest factor in the game was tight end D.J. Williams. He had 124 yards on five catches and scored two touchdowns.


Williams lets off some steam after a 76-yard reception that fell just four yards short of the end zone. He almost had three touchdowns Saturday night.


Bobby Petrino is going to be a fun coach to shoot. He gets MAD. Just like John Pelphrey, and we all know how I feel about Pelphrey.


A quick snapshot of Henning and Lehr, The Morning News' A-Team, just before gettin' it done in "The Rock" on Saturday. (I should've had my shades on too. I'm just way too squinty in the photo.)

Arkansas faces the Longhorns in Austin, Texas, next Saturday. There's not going to be a come from behind victory against Texas. If the Hogs don't bring their A-Game, by the way it will be me and Z-Man again for this one, then it could get really ugly, really fast.

Hawgs Illustrated: Vol. 17, Issue 10

The latest issue of Hawgs Illustrated Magazine is out there. Get one. Please. It pays my salary.

Roadkill

Poor guy never had a chance.