2003 Arkansas vs. Kentucky football game
| Longest game in NCAA Division I-A history | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | November 1, 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Commonwealth Stadium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Lexington, KY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2003 Arkansas vs. Kentucky football game was a college football game played on November 1, 2003 between the University of Arkansas and the University of Kentucky; it tied a NCAA record for the longest football game ever played. The game included seven overtime periods. Arkansas led the game all but a few minutes of regulation until a Kentucky touchdown drive in the last few minutes. Both teams had a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown, another rarity. The game ended in the seventh overtime period when Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen fumbled the football on a quarterback keeper play, ending the game.
Coincidentally, Arkansas played a 7 overtime game against Ole Miss on November 3, 2001 - winning that game 58-56. Arkansas also lost a 6 overtime game to Tennessee in 2002, 41-38. Former Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt has been recorded as saying about overtime, "Winning is always fun, but when you win in overtime, where your players had to go that extra mile, it's really gratifying and special." Nutt continued to say, "I always like our chances in overtime."
Kentucky's head man Rich Brooks has said of overtime, "[Nutt has] obviously been through a lot of them, and when you get through them and know you've had success and your team knows you've had success, I think mentally that goes a long ways in helping you get the victory ultimately whether it goes one, two, three, four or seven overtimes."
Kentucky was 1-1 in overtime coming into this contest, beating Alabama and losing to Louisville both by the score of 40-34, both being only one overtime affairs.
The game began at 7:00 pm eastern time on November 1, 2003, but would continue into November 2. The game opened with three punts before Decori Birmingham ran for a ten-yard score for Arkansas to give the Hogs a 7-0 lead. Another three punts before Arkansas' had their punt blocked, to be recovered by Kentucky's Andrew Hopewell for a touchdown to tie the game 7-7.
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