During my four years at the University of Arkansas, I had a chance to witness some great games thanks to a lanky and elusive quarterback named Matt Jones. Jones, who moonlighted as a basketball forward with the Razorbacks and now is a wide receiver for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, participated in three of the longest games in college football history -- seven-overtime affairs against Kentucky and Ole Miss and one six-overtime marathon against Tennessee (I wasn't there for the first two but I was in Knoxville for the last one -- Jones' only loss in the four overtime games he played). The man liked to run around and sixty minutes of football apparently didn't sate his appetite.

 'I've got it.'

But as much as Jones is remembered for his ability to improvise and make plays with his feet, his most memorable moment (and my personal favorite) with the Hogs was a 31-yard touchdown pass to DeCori Birmingham with nine seconds left that gave Arkansas a 21-20 win over LSU and the opportunity to go to the 2002 Southeastern Conference championship game. It was the most electrifying conclusion to a sporting event I witnessed in person and I was fortunate enough to see the play on the sidelines. At the time, I was working for The Arkansas Traveler, the campus newspaper for the university. I was well aware that Jones had a flair for the dramatic. He rescued Arkansas time and time again. For instance, Jones came off the bench in the fourth quarter in the seven-overtime thriller wth Ole Miss in 2001 and amassed 171 yards of total offense. But in that game he led the Hogs to a win mostly by using his legs.

This time he had no time to outrun LSU's defense. There were 34 seconds left on the clock and the Razorbacks were 81 yards away from the endzone with no timeouts in hand. Before that drive, Jones was having a horrible day. He was 2-of-13 passing and the Tigers' defense was giving Arkansas fits. LSU led 17-7 at with 5:34 to go in the third quarter and there was no sign that the Razorbacks were going to break out of their offensive malaise. But with less than seven minutes left in regulation, Arkansas' diminutive tailback Fred Talley burst through a seam and scampered 56 yards for a touchdown to cut LSU's lead to three, 17-14. By that point, however, some fans had left Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium. They would end up being sorry. After LSU drove down and kicked a field goal to increase its advantage to six points, the Razorbacks retrieved the ensuing kickoff and returned the ball to the 19-yard-line with less than 35 seconds on the clock.

That is when the so-called "Miracle on Markham" took place. Jones, whose throwing mechanics were somewhat unorthodox, was going to have to start chucking the ball. After completing only two of the thirteen passes he attempted, this did not seem like an ideal scenario. But he didn't seem to mind. Arkansas coach Houston Nutt later recalled that the 6-6 quarterback with blazing speed was whistling when Nutt told him the plays Arkansas was going to run with little time left. Jones, displaying an attitude more befitting of Joe Namath, simply said, "I've got it."

Sure enough, he did. On the first play of the drive, Jones connected with wide receiver Richard Smith for a 50-yard completion. Smith found a hole in LSU's porous prevent defense and caught Jones' spiral while the Tigers' defensive backs were asleep. The crowd climbed to its feet and 55,000 spectators were yelling in unison. The Razorbacks charged to the line of scrimmage. A play after Jones was unable to hook up with wide receiver Carlos Ousley, Jones dropped back and heaved a pass that would have made Peyton Manning do a double-take.

Meanwhile, Birmingham, who played running back and flanker, was in the slot and ran a post play to the endzone. By the time he arrived there, he was greeted by two defenders that sandwiched him. It appeared there was no way the ball was going to arrive at its intended destination. And then it did. As Birmingham dove and crashed into the turf, it landed in his gut. The game was tied 20-20, and mass hysteria broke out at War Memorial Stadium, where the fans were ready to celebrate. So were the players, and moments after Birmingham scored the touchdown, they spilled onto the field to embrace the heroes. The referees took note and assessed the Razorbacks a 15-yard celebration penalty.

With kicker David Carlton's sure-thing extra point attempt now a 35-yard try, every Arkansas fan was suddenly overcome by nervousness. Carlton didn't do much to ease their worries when he uncurled his leg. After he made contact, the ball spun like a boomerang and barely snuck inside the left post.

When the two referees raised their arms high in the air to indicate the kick was good, the fans went into pandemonium and Arkansas had a 21-20 lead. With less than 10 seconds left, LSU's quarterback Marcus Randall needed to pull off his own miracle. But it didn't happen. He was sacked to end the game, and Arkansas was ready to pack its bags for Atlanta, while Jones had etched his name in Razorback history...yet again.

It didn't take long for Arkansas fans to call for Stan Heath's ouster. Fourteen games into the season and the Razorbacks basketball coach is already being excoriated for his perceived failures. Tempers flared after the Hogs lost their conference opener Saturday to Mississippi State, a team that many thought would be a pushover this season after several players graduated and its point guard, Gary Ervin, transferred to Arkansas during a tumultuous offseason.

  Three's Company

For a team that started the season with a promising 11-2 nonconference record, the 69-67 loss to the Bulldogs is still cause for worry. We have seen here before, after all. Last year, Arkansas jumped out of the gates with a 12-1 record, before going 6-10 in conference play and declining an invitation to the N.I.T. because the players were "tired." Fans were angry, and many said that Heath would be fired after this season if he didn't steer the Razorbacks to March's NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.

But there is reason to believe that won't happen. And that has a lot to do with two people: Heath's predecessor Nolan Richardson and Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt. Richardson, of course, was fired in 2002 and claimed that the university racially discriminated against him and infringed on his free-speech rights during the dismissal process.

He then brought his case to federal court in a lawsuit that was dismissed in July 2004 by U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson Jr. He has since appealed the decision and asked his arguments be reinstated by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis and those presiding over the case have yet to uphold or overturn the ruling. So what does this have to do with Nutt or Heath?

Among the claims Richardson made was that Nutt was treated better than him when both were coaching at Arkansas. If you compared just the individual accomplishments of both men, it's hard to argue with Richardson, who won a national championship and took his teams to three Final Fours. He was given a seven-year, $7.21 million contract. Nutt, meanwhile, has never won ten games in a season or come close to leading Arkansas to a BCS Bowl berth. But after his flirtations with Nebraska in 2003 he was able to leverage a $1.05-million contract with incentives. To his credit, Nutt does graduate players and has never publicly asked the university to buy him out (Richardson didn't do the former, but did the latter).

Apparently, that means a lot to the athletic director Frank Broyles, who has tolerated Nutt's back-to-back losing seasons in 2004 and 2005. Broyles didn't even ask Nutt to provide a written evaluation of the program after the football team went 4-7 this season. Of course, Heath was subjected to this embarrassing exercise after his team compiled a winning record last season.

In fact, Heath's teams have improved each year, whereas it can be argued that Nutt's best season was his first in 1998. That year, Arkansas went 9-3 and reached the Citrus Bowl. The Razorbacks have shown flashes of brilliance since, but have given fans little to cheer about the last two years.

As a result, even if Heath somehow botched this season and could only qualify his team for the NIT, the university would have a hard time getting rid of him. How can Broyles fire one coach who has produced better results each of the last three seasons when he didn't remove the other coach who has seen his program deteriorate during the same period of time?

He can't, not unless he wants to give Richardson's claims more legitimacy. Broyles has been backed into a corner and he only has himself to blame, while Richardson has inadvertently helped his replacement and at the same time stuck it to his former boss. The result? Heath can now sit back and relax -- no matter how bad things get.

In a city that is still recovering from the devastating blow delivered by Hurricane Katrina, few things are certain anymore. Will New Orleans retain the same character that made it so interesting? Will its population ever return to its pre-disaster level? Is New Orleans going to be ready for the next big storm? These questions still have open-ended answers. But for the time being residents of the Big Easy have been assured that they won't have to wonder if their pro football team is leaving them.

The NFL announced Friday that the New Orleans Saints will remain in Louisiana for the 2006 season and will play games at both the Superdome and Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. It's a smart move by the league and Saints owner Tom Benson, who appeared anxious to relocate his franchise to either San Antonio or sunny Los Angeles both before and after Katrina's wrath.

 Is he sincere?

Courtesy WWLTV

The Saints certainly would not have engendered any good will in New Orleans or elsewhere had they left when times were rough. Such a move would have been deemed selfish and inappropriate while making the NFL guilty by association. League commissioner Paul Tagliabue realized this and made clear he wanted the Saints to stay put. 

But it seems unlikely that the city's marriage with the Saints will last beyond next year. In the last three decades, New Orleans fans have not been exactly come out in droves to support a franchise that has won one playoff game since being founded 38 years ago. This season, the Saints averaged only 42,897 fans in their first three games in Baton Rouge. Even a Times-Picayune editorial suggested that more games should be played at the Saints' other temporary home -- San Antonio. That way, the NFL could see that when the novelty of having a professional football team wears off fans will stop coming and empty seats will become common there because no one is willing to support a loser. It's a fair argument, but not one usually made by a city looking to hold onto its favorite franchise.

In reality, by making the Saints play in New Orleans the NFL is actually giving Benson an opportunity to make his case for moving his team. Fan attendance will likely suffer next year for several reasons. If games are played in the Superdome, some people will not go there for the simple fact that it is common knowledge that unspeakable acts were committed there after residents were evacuated during the hurricane. Too many bad memories are associated with the Superdome. Fans will also not make the two-hour drive to Baton Rouge next season if they didn't this year. They would rather watch LSU, the most popular team in the state and one that has experienced a resurgency in recent years at the same time the Saints have struggled mightily.

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said that while he would welcome the return of the Saints, he said he was only "somewhat encouraged" by the decision, according to an AP article. “We are happy that New Orleanians who have lost so much will have an NFL team next season to call their own, "he said. "...We look forward to the day when the Saints organization will fully commit to this community and be a vital part of our recovery for many years to come.”

Don't hold your breath, Mr. Nagin. Benson doesn't want his team in your city and the fans don't seem overly happy that the Saints are coming back. This latest decision to stay for the time being just appears to be a prelude to an end.