“We got screwed by the referees! If it wasn’t for those damn officials we would have won that game.”
It’s a tale as old as time. Every fanbase has their moments of perceived highway robbery – Arkansas certainly among them. Many will point to the infamous calls from Marc Curles when the Razorbacks took on Florida in 2009. Or the controversial ending to the Hoop Hogs’ clash with North Carolina in the 2017 NCAA Tournament that led the Arkansas senate to introduce a resolution condemning the officials – it just means more.
A more recent and more blatant theft came on that fateful night on the Plains in 2020. Close your eyes and think back…year one of the Sam Pittman era, fresh off the program’s first SEC win in years. The Hogs marched into Jordan-Hare Stadium to take on the 13th-ranked Auburn Tigers, and were on the precipice of pulling off the upset.
And then…the spike (read: fumble) heard round the world.
In the waning moments of the fourth quarter, with the Hogs leading by one point, former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix rushed to the line of scrimmage to spike the ball and stop the clock as the Tigers hunted for a game-winning field goal. Except he didn’t spike it. He threw the ball behind him – by definition a fumble. Don’t take it from me, take it from highbrow ESPN rules analyst Bill Lemonnier. (SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also later admitted the refs blew the call.)
“To me this is a clear backward pass,” Lemonnier said. “Replay should have reversed this and given Arkansas the ball.”
Sigh. Eventually, Auburn finished its drive with a field goal that gave the Tigers a 30-28 win. The officials are lucky that game was 1) not in Fayetteville and 2) during the pandemic when stadiums were not at full capacity.
Nix is still winning to this day as a rookie quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He’s played well out of the gates in the NFL preseason, leading the team to a 2-0 record after being selected 12th overall in April’s draft. Grant Gordon of NFL.com called his performances “dazzling,” gushing that “so far, the preseason has belonged to Bo Nix.”
With Nix now finally removed from the college game, it turns out there’s a little-known fact about him that adds an extra bit of spice to the previous debacle with Arkansas.
Bo Nix’s Secret Arkansas Roots Add Fuel to Fire
Arkansas fans are already well aware of an infamous Natural State connection to Auburn – that being the former Tigers head coach Gus Malzahn, an Arkansas alum and former offensive coordinator of the Razorbacks. Every time the post of Head Hog comes open, Malzahn is invariably floated as a leading candidate – but it’s never come to fruition.
Instead, Gus played the role of tormentor of the Razorbacks from his position on the Plains.
The Hogs managed just one win against Malzahn during his tenure at Auburn, which came in a 54-46 shootout in 2015. All the other matchups went the way of Springdale’s finest. That included a whopping six losses by three scores or more, spearheaded by 56-3 and 51-10 massacres in 2016 and 2019, respectively.
Rubbing salt in the wound was the fact that Springdale native Rhett Lashlee was serving as Auburn’s offensive coordinator from 2013-16, meaning there were multiple Northwest Arkansas guys driving the Gus Bus that ran over the Hogs.
So the Razorbacks got the better of their “prodigal son that never was” just once, and the only other time they ever even got close was cut down at the hands of Nix.
Yet it turns out that the Arkansas-related buck doesn’t stop with Malzahn and Harsin. Indeed, Auburn’s longtime quarterback, golden boy, legacy recruit and perennial Heisman “contender” was – brace yourself – born in Arkansas.
Nix’s bios at Auburn and Oregon, where he finished his college career, both listed him as a native of Pinson, Ala., where he grew up and attended high school. But he was actually born in Arkadelphia while his dad was the head coach at Henderson State.
Judging by the life story on his personal website, it’s clear Arkansas doesn’t really hold a special place in Nix’s heart. Coaching is a rough and tumble industry that forces people to move frequently. As such, the Natural State was just a stop on a childhood road trip for him – Alabama is where he really sees his roots.
“I was born in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and spent much of my childhood living wherever my dad Patrick was coaching football,” his website states. “For the most part, that meant living in the South, and Alabama in particular. I fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing college football at Auburn…football is in our family’s blood.”
He specifically mentions his dad’s career at Auburn as a driving force in his pride for the school. Nix’s vocal admiration for Auburn and the state of Alabama has kept his Arkansas roots relatively under wraps, despite the fact it’s available for all to see on Nix’s Wikipedia page. I, for one, was completely unaware of this until recently.
When he makes his NFL regular season debut for the Denver Broncos this fall, he will become the eighth Arkansas native quarterback to make it to the highest level. So what about the other seven?
Nix’s Path Mirrors That of Ryan Mallett
An Arkansas native and a coach’s son who attended high school out of state and became a highly-touted prospect, eventually transferring from their original school and enjoying great success at their new destination. Sound familiar?
That’s the story of the late Ryan Mallett, a Batesville native who attended Texas High School, just outside Arkansas’ borders in the twin-state city of Texarkana. He was rated as the No. 2 quarterback and No. 4 overall prospect in the nation by Rivals in the Class of 2006, and decided to take his talents to Michigan.
After two seasons in Ann Arbor, Mallett decided to transfer after the Wolverines made a coaching change – and he ended up coming home to Arkansas and becoming a legend.
He led the Razorbacks to some of their best successes in the modern era under head coach Bobby Petrino, which included multiple 10-win seasons and a Sugar Bowl appearance. Mallett broke over a dozen school records, and garnered numerous awards at both the conference and national level.
After spending six years as a backup in the NFL, Mallett started his coaching career at the high school level in Mountain Home and White Hall. Last year, his tragic death by drowning in Florida sent shockwaves through the state.
Nix’s winding path during his college career mirrors that of Mallett, as a blue-chip recruit who had to transfer to a different school to find his footing. The sky was the limit for Nix after winning SEC Freshman of the Year in 2019, but he never really lived up to it after that. He was always a decent college quarterback, but he was never really viewed as a legitimate pro prospect.
That was until he transferred to Oregon, where he helped fuel the Ducks’ offensive juggernaut by leading the country in pass completions, completion percentage and passing touchdowns in the 2023 season. He ended up finishing third in the Heisman Trophy voting in the final season of his seemingly-endless college career.
Other Pro Hog Signal Callers
After serving as the face of the Bret Bielema era at Arkansas – for better or worse – Brandon Allen has carved out a respectable NFL career as a backup quarterback. Entering the ninth year of his professional career, Allen has played for five different franchises and been on the roster of three Super Bowl teams. Unfortunately, he’s been on the losing end of all of those contests.
Nick Mullens, a Little Rock native who attended Southern Miss, has also carved out a steady career in a backup role. He’s entering his seventh overall season in the league, and his third with the Minnesota VIkings.
Henry Burris was born in Fort Smith and attended Temple before playing one season in the NFL in 2002. He completed 35% of his passes and threw three touchdowns and five interceptions. Mike Cherry spent a couple seasons at Arkansas before transferring to Murray State. The Texarkana native spent two seasons as the New York Giants’ backup signal caller. After that, he moved to the Canadian Football League, where he played for nearly two decades and won multiple most outstanding player awards.
Breaking open the archives and looking back to the Stone Age, there’s Scott Bull from Camden. Cross-listed as a running back and quarterback, Bull played for the Hogs from 1976-78 before spending three seasons with San Francisco. Dave Mays of Pine Bluff spent his college days at Texas Southern, eventually appearing in 12 NFL games across a three-year professional career.
Nix’s NFL Preseason Poses Uncomfortable Possibility for Arkansas Fans
Still, the state of Arkansas has yet to produce a bona fide franchise quarterback in the NFL – perhaps Nix can break the mold with the Broncos. It appears he’s won the battle to become QB1 this season, and working with quarterback-whisperer head coach Sean Payton will certainly aid his development.
How ironic would it be for the Natural State’s bastard son, hated by so many in the Razorback fanbase, to become the first Arkansas-born signal caller to star in the NFL?
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I thought about putting in the highlights from the 2020 Arkansas-Auburn matchup. For the sake of everyone’s blood pressure, here’s 25 minutes of Ryan Mallett torching defenses instead:
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Pat McAfee talks Bo Nix’s potential as a signal caller and whether he can finally fill the Broncos’ QB needs:
More coverage of Arkansas football from BoAS:
