LITTLE ROCK - Chris Gragg, Greg Childs and Jarius Wright have been playing football together since seventh graders in 2002.
Together, they have played around 100 games, though no one can say exactly how many. After junior high, the trio starred together at Warren High School in southeast Arkansas and have spent four years helping the Razorbacks shatter preexisting passing records.
But never in those games had they combined to perform the way they did Saturday, especially not with so much on the line.
Gragg, Wright and Childs combined to catch 19 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown as the No. 6 Razorbacks easily beat Mississippi State 44-17 at War Memorial Stadium.
“It’s just fun when you go out there and see Jarius and Greg, and me catching balls and making plays,” Gragg said. “It’s like when we were young in the backyard.”
VIDEOS: Arkansas-Mississippi State Postgame
Gragg, a redshirt junior tight end, was especially impressive in the win. The tight end set career-highs for receptions (8) and yards (119), and caught a 2-yard touchdown to extend the Razorbacks’ lead to 31-10 midway through the third quarter.
Gragg had five catches by halftime and 40 yards on a drive that ended with a Zach Hocker field goal 5 seconds before the intermission, giving the Razorbacks a 24-10 halftime lead.
“I think this is a good role for Chris,” Childs said. “He’s becoming a real good tight end.”
Arkansas had eight different players catch passes in the win as quarterback Tyler Wilson set a new school record with 32 completions. Wilson passed for 365 yards and three touchdowns.
“We spread them out a little bit right before halftime,” Wilson said. “We just kind of walked the ball down the field at times, it seemed like. It was nice to do that.”
Wilson’s favorite targets were the Warren boys. Gragg and Wright each had eight catches, while Childs added three.
Childs, a senior, had only nine receptions all season entering the game, obviously not the same player prior to a season-ending knee injury last year.
“They’re all great players,” said Wilson, who played a classification higher than the trio in high school. “It’s a tribute to them and everything they do for us. It puts us in a great situation to win and I’m glad I have those guys on my team.
“And I’m glad I lived on the other side of the state and never had to play against them.”
The group won 35 games together in three years at Warren and now have 33 wins in their careers at Arkansas. Their latest helped the Razorbacks set up a match-up against undefeated LSU next week with significant BCS implications.
Arkansas (10-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) would do wonders for its BCS resume with a win over the Tigers and is still in the hunt for a national championship as one of the best one-loss teams in the country.
The Razorbacks have now won seven straight games since a late September loss to Alabama.
“They remember in November,” Gragg said. “We still have some goals that we set and we can still accomplish them.
“Today was a complete team win. The offense dominated, the defense dominated and we won special teams.”
While fans have held their breath for the game for the entire month of November, the players have taken care of business by outscoring South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi State by a combined 137-52.
“It obviously shows maturity on our part,” Wilson said. “You saw last night with Oklahoma State, a lot of times you maybe get caught up sometimes. I’m glad our guys prepared well this week and had a good performance.
“This has been a stretch at home where we’ve been able to get our feet underneath us and perform.”
You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.
And they never lost in tha Rock! Impressive.
I love going to the games in Little Rock. It was nice to sit here in Durango and listen to the crowd “CALL THEM HOGS”. I broke out in goose bumps.
GO HOGS, BEAT LSU!!!
C’mon, Hogs — BEAT LSU!! The whole state will be pulling for you!
usc is pounding oregon, baylor tied oklahoma in third, 4th and 1 from THEIR own 30 and the idiot baylor coach goes for it, doesn,t make it and okla. scores on one play.
just think, oregon loose’s, okla. loose’s or looks bad, and it’s LSU
ALABAMA
ARKANSAS
1,2, and 3 in the country.
BCS would hate it, but would hate it even more after we whup LSU.
GO HOGS.
WPS! We will be #3 in bcs. If we take down LSU we will play for nat championship without playing for conference championship! My hats off to Bobby and his boys for gutting out this season through all the injuries. Our defense has improved enough and the offense is balanced. All the experts dont think we can do it, but I know we can do it! All those recruits that are watching and reading, its time to commit to the Hogs! This program has the foundation to be real good for a long time and we want you to be apart and help contribute to much success.
One Tv anchor doing a game today,said LSU had two Big Games left,Arkansas and the SEC CG,Good thing no women and Children were around when he said that,i called him everything but a Human Being.
HOLY TOMATO!!!!
1 LSU
2 ALABAMA
3 ARKANSAS
boy you think the BCS doesn’t have it’s drawers in a knot!!!!!
we have beat lsu 3 of the last 4.
against alabama we had no running game. DJ is back.
against alabama our young offensive line had no chance.
our young offensive line is not young anymore.
against alabama our senior receivers didn’t show up.
they will against LSU
AGAINST ALABAMA our defense was AWOL
against LSU they will stop an anemic offense.
what a mess we could create by beating LSU and not playing in the SEC championship and missing out on the national championship game, and not even playing in a BCS BOWL.
the hogs may change the BCS as we know it.
we get the chance to play for it all!
Man! When Robert Griffin III threw that T.D. to beat Oklahoma, he put the Hogs in a place we’ve never been. How freakin’ tough is the SEC West, that 3 teams from the same division are the three top teams (or are going to be) in the BCS?!
I think we beat LSU without much trouble. Then, as I figure it, we are at lest back in the BCS (probably the Sugar).
I remember after we lost to Tennessee, in 1989, in the Cotton Bowl, thinking, “I wonder if we’ll ever be this good again?”. It only took 20 years, but good gosh it feels AWESOME!!!
GO HOGS BABY!!!! WPS!!
Any update on the health of Joe, Jarius, and Tevin Mitchell? That’s probably my biggest concern against LSU, is our starters being healthy.
GeezerHog,what all this means is Its time for a playoff system.
You ain’t seen nothin yet. The men from Warren are going to roll in Baton Rouge.
As an aside, this Razorback fan is sure proud of that bunch. They (and other AR boys mentioned elsewhere) have brought us back to prominence. Thanks Greg, Jarius and Chris!
AW YEA HOGS,YOUR ROCKIN MY WORLD.
It’s exhausting to search out knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re speaking about! Thanks
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