FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas came out and got off to a sluggish start against Louisiana Tech, but gained bowl eligibility with a 35-14 win on Senior Day at Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas (6-5, 3-4) had 455 yards of total offense on Saturday compared to just 229 for Tech. For the first time this season, the Razorbacks lost the turnover battle 3-1, but won the game. The Hogs were penalized eight times for 78 yards including a holding call on the game's opening kickoff that wiped out a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Rodney Hill. Sam Pittman talked about the Hogs still being able to escape with a win.
"We knew coming in that Louisiana Tech had a good defense," Pittman said. "They had, you know, done some really good things there. And we knew that they had struggled just a little bit offensively, but Sonny had his team ready to play and they played extremely hard. And congratulations to them. I told our team at the end of, in the locker room, that I was most proud of how the defense stayed together early because we were struggling so much offensively and how they stayed together. There was no pointing here, this, this, this, this. Big fourth down stops. You know, they had first and goal at one point, and got no points out of it.
"Then the offense started getting rolling a little bit more. We weren't as consistent as we'd like to be, but – and of course we've got to address the special teams. There was four big, big plays on special teams that we have to get fixed. But to get bowl eligible. The locker room was excited. Happy to be bowl eligible. Four of our first five years here is a lot of fun. And we got Larry out and the kids had a lot of fun with it. You know guys, that's not the goal of our football team. That's one of them, though. There's a lot of power four teams that are not bowl eligible after today, and won't get bowl eligible and some of them happen to be in our league. So, it is an accomplishment, not our ultimate goal. So, I'm proud that we're going bowling."
The Hogs escaped a real scoring threat by Tech in the first quarter. Jacob Fields picked off a Taylen Green pass and returned it to the Hogs 19. Arkansas' defense stiffened and kept Tech out of the end zone. Buck Buchanan missed a 43-yard field goal attempt wide left.
The Razorbacks finally got on the scoreboard in the second quarter with a 13-play, 80-yard drive with 5:49 before intermission. The Hogs scored when Green found wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa for an 11-yard touchdown pass.
Arkansas then stopped Tech on its next possession forcing a punt. It didn't take Green long to put the Hogs up 14-0. On a fourth-and-4 play at the Tech 41, Green forced some missed tackles and followed a TeSlaa block into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
Green finished the day 20 of 37 passing for 222 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. He also rushed 6 times for 61 yards and 2 touchdowns. Green did miss some open passes. Was the wind a factor?
"No I don’t think so," Pittman said. "I think the protection was a little bit of a problem early. I think you know, we busted a couple of routes early to be honest with you and we just gotta play better around him. But he did miss – he threw high a couple of times, which I think Dan Marino might’ve done that a time or two in his career so. But he ended up getting it back and so we’re really pleased with the way he ended up for his entire day, it was a good day."
Pittman was asked what got the offense going in the second quarter after not doing much the first 15 minutes?
"Basically, we found zone stretch and we found it," Pittman said. "And it was in the second quarter. We were trying to run wham. A little bit of a play and they got us. I mean, to run wham, you're 'whamming' the nose, so your center is not zoning through to backside linebacker. We couldn't get to it. So, there's a three-yard loss. And schematically they did some internals where they were – a lot of them, they were doing them on the same side, coming internal. This one was what I call bozo, a cross dog. And we finally decided, 'Hey, if we can just zone through that we feel like we can get a hat on a hat. And we had good enough athletes to do that, so that's when the running back or the running game started a little bit, but part of it was, 'Let's go to some zone read and let Taylen run the football and try to loosen them up a little bit."
Safety TJ Metcalf set the Hogs for its touchdown in the third quarter. Metcalf stopped Jimmy Holiday for a negative three yards on fourth down. On the very first play on offense following that, Green once again found TeSlaa this time for a 27-yard touchdown pass and catch.
Now trailing 21-0, Louisiana Tech finally got its offense jumpstarted. They drove 42 yards in 8 plays that ended with Evan Bullock finding Eli Finley for a 2-yard touchdown catch. That allowed Tech to pull within 21-7 with 3:59 remaining in the third quarter.
Arkansas answered that touchdown with one of its own. Green ran in for an 8-yard touchdown with 14:50 remaining in the game. The drive was a 12-play, 75-yard one that took 4:45 off the clock. The Hogs now held a 28-7 advantage.
Bullard then helped lead Tech to within 28-14. It was an 8-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Bullock hitting Holiday for a 16-yard touchdown with 5:58 left in the game.
The Razorbacks then put together a very impressive 7-play, 86-yard drive that was all running plays. Rashod Dubinion had the first six carries for Arkansas on the drive. The drive started at the Arkansas 14-yard line. Dubinion reeled off runs of 18, 15, 14, 16, 3 and 8 yards. Pittman then inserted Ja'Quinden Jackson into the game. The senior powered his way in from the 13 for the game's final score.
Dubinion easily had his best game of the season. He rushed 15 times for 112 yards. He also caught 3 passes for 24 more yards. Jackson rushed 16 times for 55 yards and the touchdown. Andrew Armstrong led the team with 8 catches for 81 yards. TeSlaa had 5 receptions for 54 yards and 2 touchdowns.
One of the two fumbles by Arkansas was once again a blocker running into punt returner Isaiah Sategna. The same thing happened against Oklahoma State. It seemed the Hogs had this issue fixed for a few games.
"Well, man we’re trying to fix it," Pittman said. "I think we were too deep with Isaiah to be honest with you. He’s running up 20 yards and we were acting like the guy was Ray Guy back there you know, punting into the wind we didn’t move him up which it’s lot easier to protect the guy when he has a five to six to eight-yard step up. Isaiah was coming up 15 or 20 yards, you have to peek the punter, you have to as a blocker and there was too many close calls and one of them caused it. There’s times, it’s all the time to answer your question. That situation where he’s coming up 20, we have not worked that. We’ve worked the five and the seven yards."
Brad Spence led the Arkansas defense with 8 tackles, 1 for loss, and a pass breakup. Landon Jackson had 6 tackles, 4 solo, 2 for loss, 1 sack, 1 pass breakup and 1 quarterback hurry. Arkansas' defense limited Tech's offense to 229 yards including 190 through the air on the day.
Former Razorback Zach Zimos topped Tech with 10 tackles, 1.5 for loss and 2 quarterback hurries. Bullock completed 26 of 43 passes for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Arkansas (6-5, 3-4) will be at Missouri on Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on the SEC Network. Missouri (8-3, 4-3) beat Mississippi State 39-20 on Saturday.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
