Hogs' Houston finally grabs hold of interceptions

By RON HIGGINS
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Finally, 30 games into his college career, a football floated into Arkansas junior cornerback Chris Houston's hands ... and it stuck.

Mississippi State quarterback Michael Henig didn't see Houston, one of the Southeastern Conference's best cover corners, and Houston collected his first interception on Saturday wearing a Razorback uniform.

He zigged and zagged 15 yards to the Mississippi State 27 in the first quarter before being tackled. As he got to his feet, he was beyond fired up ... until the interception was nullified by a defensive holding penalty.

"I was like, 'Oh man, I can't believe I get one and then they take it away,'" Houston said. "After that, I just tried to focus even harder. I knew I'd probably get my opportunity because they were running the same routes that I had studied on film. I knew if I played a little harder, it would come."

He was right. Six plays later, with State on the verge of tying the game at 7-7, Houston made his first official interception since his junior year of high school a memorable one. Houston baited Henig again, and this time Houston saw nothing but open field on an 87-yard interception touchdown return that got the once-beaten No. 5 Hogs rolling toward a 28-14 victory.

"I cut underneath the wide receiver, and the defense did a great job of getting pressure on the quarterback," Houston said. "I knew once I got the ball and I was running, I wasn't going to let anybody catch me. It felt great. Everybody kept telling me it was going to come in a big game when we needed it the most, and I just kept believing."

And the first interception felt so good, Houston got another one on State's final play of the game with 27 seconds left.

He picked off State's Omarr Conner at the Arkansas goal line, and it would have been easy _ and maybe smart _ for Houston to run just a few yards and hit the deck.

But he couldn't help himself. Starved all this time for interceptions, he returned his second pick 42 yards before fumbling and recovering. In total, Houston's 129 interception return yards on the day set a single-game school record, breaking the old mark of 99 yards set by Orlando Watters in 1993.

"I thought I might (score on the second interception)," said Houston, who was named the SEC's Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. "But I ran into my teammate, I ran into Keith (Jackson), and he knocked the ball out of my hands. The ball just kind of hit his butt. He said, his bad, and we just kind of laughed it off."

Arkansas coach Houston Nutt wasn't surprised that Houston came up big.

"His performance was huge," Nutt said. "He helped us win the ballgame. He scores for us and intercepts a crucial ball there at the end to seal the victory. I mean it was just outstanding."

Nutt said the fact that Houston, who has 10 pass breakups this season, doesn't have a lot of interceptions isn't an indication of his talent. Houston has had to take on every big-time opposing receiver this year _ Dwayne Jarrett of USC, Earl Bennett of Vanderbilt, Sidney Rice of South Carolina and Robert Meachem of Tennessee.

"Chris has locked down just about every big-time receiver throughout the season," Nutt said. "We ask him to play man-to-man a lot. He's locked into that receiver.

"Zone guys are going to have more chances to intercept more balls. Your eyes are locked on to the quarterback's eyes. Maybe Chris has missed a chance on two or three balls."

Houston's challenge on Friday against No. 8 LSU is probably the SEC's best pass-catch combo, 6-6 Tigers' quarterback JaMarcus Russell (2,587 yards passing, 24 touchdowns, 68.9 completion percentage) and 6-3 wide receiver Dwayne Bowe (55 catches for 844 yards and 11 touchdowns).

"JaMarcus Russell is a load," Houston said. "He can run, and he can throw. If we can keep pressure on him and have him throw the ball up, hopefully me and the secondary can make plays on the ball.

"We've got to gang-tackle JaMarcus. We can't have too many people trying to tackle him one-on-one, because that's not good with a 6-6, 260-pound dude."