(17) Florida 33, Arkansas 28

1234T
#17FLA (5-3)01313733
ARK (4-2)7002128

Final

3:30 PM ET, October 18, 2003
Razorback Stadium
FAYETTEVILLE, AR

Receivers run with Leak's short passes

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Team Stat Comparison
 
1st Downs1926
Total Yards411529
Passing269343
Rushing142186
Penalties9-8812-118
3rd Down Conversions5-155-16
4th Down Conversions0-02-3
Turnovers13
Possession30:2729:33
Individual Leaders
Florida Passing
 C/ATTYDSTDINT
Leak20/3426911
Arkansas Passing
 C/ATTYDSTDINT
Jones20/3029932
Sorahan4/154401
Florida Rushing
 CARYDSTDLG
Fason1198175
Wynn1252117
Walker6803
Arkansas Rushing
 CARYDSTDLG
Cobbs1488131
Jones657026
Pierce932012
Florida Receiving
 RECYDSTDLG
Troupe553029
Perez356042
Wynn327017
Fason232133
Arkansas Receiving
 RECYDSTDLG
Wilson792026
Smith6123250
Birmingham424011
Harris355031
Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTERFLAARK
TD2:46CEDRIC COBBS 7 YD RUN (CHRIS BALSEIRO KICK)
Drive info: 4 plays, 69 yards.
07
SECOND QUARTERFLAARK
FG11:42MATT LEACH 33 YD FG
Drive info: 6 plays, 31 yards.
37
TD6:59CIATRICK FASON 33 YD PASS FROM CHRIS LEAK (MATT LEACH KICK)
Drive info: 5 plays, 64 yards.
107
FG5:15MATT LEACH 39 YD FG
Drive info: 7 plays, 26 yards.
137
THIRD QUARTERFLAARK
TD14:41CIATRICK FASON 75 YD RUN (FAILED 2PT PASS)
Drive info: 1 plays, 75 yards.
197
TD2:03DESHAWN WYNN 17 YD RUN (MATT LEACH KICK)
Drive info: 6 plays, 62 yards.
267
FOURTH QUARTERFLAARK
TD8:46KEIWAN RATLIFF 44 YD INTERCEPTION RETURN (MATT LEACH KICK)337
TD7:21RICHARD SMITH 12 YD PASS FROM MATT JONES (CHRIS BALSEIRO KICK)
Drive info: 5 plays, 64 yards.
3314
TD5:09JASON PETERS 8 YD PASS FROM MATT JONES (CHRIS BALSEIRO KICK)
Drive info: 3 plays, 82 yards.
3321
TD3:11RICHARD SMITH 10 YD PASS FROM MATT JONES (CHRIS BALSEIRO KICK)
Drive info: 5 plays, 34 yards.
3328

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- Arkansas was in rally mode again until a roughing-the-passer penalty saved a victory for Florida.

The Gators nearly blew a 26-point lead, but held on for a 33-28 win over the 11th-ranked Razorbacks on Saturday when Arkansas safety Tony Bua went for Chris Leak's head on a sack attempt with a minute left.

The blow wiped out Sam Olajubutu's interception and let the Gators run out the clock.

Jemalle Cornelius fumbled when tackled by Jimar Gallon of Arkansas at the end of this 33-yard pass play.

"You are going to take blows that you don't want to take, but sometimes it works in your favor," Leak said.

With three touchdowns in a four-minute stretch of the last quarter, Arkansas erased nearly all of a 33-7 Florida lead. On a third-and-5 at midfield, Bua chased Leak toward the sideline and Leak dumped a weak pass right into Olajubutu's hands.

The Gators ran out the clock after officials counted off 30 yards in penalties against the Razorbacks -- 15 for complaining about the call.

"It doesn't matter. The yellow flag was there. You know I can't say anything," Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said after being asked about the call after the game.

Three weeks ago, Arkansas trailed Alabama by 21 in the third quarter. The Razorbacks tied the game in regulation and won in two overtimes.

"If you let your guard down, they'll get you," Florida coach Ron Zook said.

Leak, a true freshman, had led the Gators to a big lead by throwing short and letting his receivers and ball carriers run long in the Gators' second straight road win over a ranked team.

However, after Keiwan Ratliff's 44-yard interception return put Florida up 33-7 early in the fourth quarter, Arkansas scored 21 points in three quick drives. Quarterback Matt Jones was 8-of-11 for 132 yards and carried once for 26 yards in the late flurry.

"Give credit to Arkansas. They never gave up and kept fighting," Gators safety Daryl Dixon said. "They showed that a game is 60 minutes long."

Leak completed 20 of 34 passes -- most of them short tosses to the wing that spread out the Arkansas defense. Ciatrick Fason turned a screen pass into a 33-yard score and also had a 75-yard TD run.

"We knew Arkansas was going to bring a lot of pressure so we tried to use the screen against them," Leak said. "It is something we have always had but we decided to use it a little more this week."

Florida (5-3, 3-2 SEC) and Arkansas (4-2, 1-2) are still alive to win their Southeastern Conference divisions.

The Gators won at No. 6 LSU 19-7 last week. Florida has won 42 of its 51 conference road games since the league expanded to 12 teams in 1992. Until Saturday, Arkansas had never scored more than seven points against the Gators in an SEC game.

The three touchdowns came when it appeared the Razorbacks were already out of it. Jones hit Richard Smith for 12 and 10 yards and Jason Peters for 8 before nearly getting a chance for more.

"The guys gave great effort and we stopped ourselves," Nutt said. "It's a disappointing loss. It's very hard to swallow."

Until Arkansas' late rally, Leak had made a shamble of Arkansas, hitting passes on 5- and 7-yard patterns that receivers turned into a 269 yards of offense.

"We knew we were going to face a good team," Nutt said. "The way they went into Baton Rouge and came out with a win (against LSU), you could tell their freshman quarterback was gaining confidence."

The screen pass to Fason gave Florida a 10-7 lead -- two plays after Leak hit Ben Troupe for 29 yards on a third-and-5. On Florida's next drive, Leak hit Jemalle Cornelius for 21 yards on third-and-5 to set up Matt Leach's field goal.

Fason ran 75 yards for a score on the first play of the second half, putting Florida up 19-7. DeShawn Wynn scored from the 17 later in the period to end a drive set up when Ratliff intercepted Jones' pass at the Florida 25 and returned to the 38.

Ratliff's 44-yard TD return appeared to seal the game for Florida at 33-7, but Arkansas moved 64 yards in five plays to begin narrowing the gap. Smith's 12-yard catch made it 33-14, then two more drives of less than a minute cut Florida's lead to five.

Arkansas' Cedric Cobbs had 88 yards before leaving with a pulled hamstring, but the Razorbacks' offense often followed a nice set of plays with a general malaise.

Jones and backup Ryan Sorahan were 9-of-9 passing for 86 yards to open the game, but the Razorbacks' only early score came on a sharp-looking Cobbs-led drive that put Arkansas up 7-0. Cobbs carried between the tackles for 31 and 13 yards and scored from the 7 after hit George Wilson on the right side for 18.

Later in the first half, Jones hit Steven Harris for 31 yards on a third-and-7 to the Florida 35, but Chris Balseiro missed a 53-yard field goal.

Following the miss, Florida drove 64 yards in five plays for Fason's screen pass TD.

College Football Scores

Other Scores:

Saturday, October 18th
1 USC 45 Final
Notre Dame 14
2 LSU 33 Final
South Carolina 7
Missouri 13 Final
3 Oklahoma 34
Illinois 14 Final
4 Michigan 56
5 Texas 40 Final
Iowa State 19
12 Iowa 10 Final
6 Ohio State 19
8 Florida State 19 Final
Virginia 14
Temple 14 Final
9 Miami (FL) 52
Colorado 20 Final
10 Kansas State 49
11 Georgia 27 Final
Vanderbilt 8
13 Purdue 26 Final
Wisconsin 23
14 Washington State 24 Final
Stanford 14
15 Miami (OH) 49 Final
Ball State 3
16 Boise State 45 Final
Southern Methodist 3
17 Florida 33 Final
Arkansas 28
Alabama 28 Final
18 Mississippi 43
UAB 24 Final
19 TCU 27
Michigan State 44 Final
20 Minnesota 38
Texas A&M 12 Final
21 Nebraska 48
Texas Tech 49 Final
22 Oklahoma State 51
25 Utah 28 Final
UNLV 10