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Only one at ESPN puts Hogs in bowl … barely

Andy Hodges
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Only

Just one game into the season and folks are already putting the bowl projections out there and ESPN isn’t giving Arkansas much respect.

In the first week of projections for the postseason bowl games, only one of the two picking has the Razorbacks in a bowl game and barely at that.

Kyle Bonagura and David M. Hale made their projections Friday and Hale put the Hogs in the Birmingham Bowl against Memphis.

The Hogs have played two bowl games in Birmingham and one that will forever live in the minds of many in the media as the worst trip in school history.

Going into the final week of the season in 1980, Lou Holtz had guaranteed the bowl people in Birmingham the Hogs would beat Texas Tech to finish 6-5 on the season if they would take them.

Arkansas beat the Red Raiders, the Hall of Fame matched them against Tulane and everybody assembled in Birmingham on Christmas Day and the day after. Nobody was messing up the holidays for THAT matchup.

It was freezing cold, including the game when for some reason unknown to anyone there was no heat in the Legion Field pressbox for the game.

The Hogs won the game, 34-15, and some of the fastest stories in Razorback history were filed afterwards so everybody could get out of there and to some heat.

The only other time the Hogs played a bowl game in Birmingham was 1948, pulling out a 21-19 squeaker over William & Mary.

It is early and it will be surprising if the Hogs don’t creep up a little bit in those weekly projections, but it is interesting to see where they’re starting.

Talking about Arkansas’ 49-7 opening night win

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Tyler Wilson talks about sluggish first half in opener

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3 in The Lane with Nick Mason: Friday edition

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Bielema talks about Hogs’ opener win over Florida A&M

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Hogs put away Rattlers after slow-developing first half

Andy Hodges
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ESPN VIDEO

If you were a little nervous at halftime, join the crowd.

Oh, nobody expected Arkansas to lose to Florida A&M but they did expect things to be a little more separated than the 21-0 score.

Not that it mattered as the Razorbacks put 28 on the board in the second half for a 49-7 win over the Rattlers before a small, intimate gathering announced at 36,055.

That attendance total obviously included a few thousand fans disguised as empty seats.

Bielema was just glad to come out with a win.

“We had some speed bumps in that first half,” he said later, “which was good to overcome, get those out of our way.”

At least the fans are hoping they are out of the way.

The Hogs’ offense sputtered, with three punts and an interception before the first score, a 5-yard run up the middle by Devwah Whaley with 1:15 left in the first quarter that finally produced a 7-0 lead.

Quarterback Austin Allen struggled, mainly with a pass rush that got to him several times and even though Florida A&M had just one sack, many times they were arriving as he delivered the pass.

“He was good, but he’s got some things he needs work through,” Bielema said.

It was attributed to new receivers.

“New wide receivers, new tight ends, a couple new offensive linemen,” Bielema said.

Youth at the wide receiver was cited.

“Those guys need to understand that’s not just a dropped pass, that’s a dropped possession,” he said.

Which goes back to one of our big questions: How is the football IQ of the young wide receivers?

“One of the things that we’re constantly on our guys about is football IQ,” he said. “We have to raise our awareness on third downs, especially offensively.”

Early that was obvious.

It took until midway through the second quarter for the offense to click as Allen found Deon Stewart wide open in the end zone for a 16-yard score and a 14-0 lead with 7:54 before halftime.

“We were a bit rusty early,” Allen said later.

David Williams added a late score with 1:21 left in the half on a 4-yard run, the first of two scores for the graduate transfer. That made it 21-0.

Nobody knows what defensive coordinator said at halftime, but the defense came out charged up in the second half.

On a third-and-20 on the first series of the third quarter, Gabe Richardson blasted the Rattlers’ Hans Supre, Henre Tolliver picked it up and ran in from 18 yards out.

That made it 28-0 and things started clicking.

Hayden added another touchdown on the Hogs’ next possession to make it 35-0, then Williams added his second score on the first play of the final period for a 42-0 lead.

From there it was a matter of playing it out. Cole Kelley got a late 7-yard scoring pass to Cheyenne O’Grady that made it 49-0.

It ended up a big Razorback victory.

But you wonder if some questions were answered.

By seeing the number of times Allen finished passes on his back, that wasn’t a good sign.

No matter what Bielema said, Florida A&M is not even in the same league as a non-Power 5 team.

To be honest, it wasn’t an impressive 49-7 win.

 

 

Hogs’ quarterback Austin Allen after win over Rattlers

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Defensive back Henre Tolliver on key fumble recovery

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RB David Williams on pair of TDs in first Razorback game

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LB Scoota Harris on Razorbacks’ debut of new defense

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First win in Manhattan lifts Razorbacks to 4-0

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MANHATTAN, Kan. — In search of the program’s first-ever road win at Kansas State, Arkansas delivered with a five-set win Friday night over the host Wildcats.

Redshirt senior Pilar Victoria recorded the fourth 30-kill performance of her career, tallying a match-high 34 kills to go along with 14 digs for a double-double.

Setter Rachel Rippee dished out a career-high 57 assists while Hailey Dirrigl and Reagan Robinson posted 11 and 10 kills, respectively.

Kansas State was the first of two weekend opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

The Razorbacks return to the court Friday evening for day two of the K-State Invitational, taking on sixth-ranked Wisconsin at 5:30 p.m.

Sunday’s weekend finale against Syracuse is scheduled for 11 a.m. Arkansas’ next home match is Sept. 5 against Oral Roberts at Barnhill Arena.

FINAL
Arkansas 3, Kansas State 2 (21-25, 25-14, 25-23, 15-25, 15-9) | Box Score
Attendance: 1,528 | Time: 2:13
Ahearn Field House (Manhattan, Kan.)

#RazorStats
Leaders at Kansas State

• Kills: Pilar Victoria – 34 (fourth 30-kill performance, first against a non-conference opponent)

• Digs: Okiana Valle – 15

• Blocks: Kelly O’Brien – 3.0 (0-3)

On the first point of the decisive fifth set, Arkansas (4-0) set the tone with a tandem block by Rippee and Elizabeth Pamphile.

The teams traded points until the score was tied at 5-all and Robinson put down back-to-back kills to push the lead to 7-5 and force a Kansas State timeout.

The Razorbacks went up 13-9 after a successful challenge by coach Jason Watson reversed a no-net call and gave Victoria her final kill of the night.

With the help of errors by Kansas State (2-2) on the next two plays, Arkansas secured the five-set victory. Robinson tallied three of her 10 kills in the fifth set. Collectively, the Razorbacks posted a .550 hitting percentage in the fifth set with no attack errors.

After a slow start and dropping the first set, Arkansas jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the second set and forced Kansas State into a timeout after an ace by Rippee.

With a pair of Victoria kills and a tandem block by Dirrigl and Kelly O’Brien, Arkansas led 17-9. Robinson served up an ace to give the Razorbacks a handful of set points at 24-13, and on the second opportunity, Victoria evened the match with her 11th kill of the set.

The home team won four of the first five points of the third set before Arkansas steadied and pulled even at 10-all with back-to-back kills by Victoria.

The Razorbacks used a 7-1 run to turn the scoreboard in their favor and won 10 of 12 points for a 17-12 lead after a kill by Dirrigl. The freshman attacker was held without a kill for the first two sets but responded with six in the third set.

Kansas State pulled to within one late but Robinson found the floor on set point for the 2-1 match lead.

The Wildcats controlled the early stages of the fourth set, winning nine of the first 12 points of the frame. Their lead reached 11 at 23-12, and went on to force a fifth set.

Friday’s five setter was the fourth in the all-time series between Arkansas and Kansas State. The Razorbacks have won their last two five-set matches against K-State.

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