FAYETTEVILLE -- There will be much more than a revived rivalry at stake when Arkansas takes on Texas on Dec. 29 in the Texas Bowl in Houston.
The Razorbacks (6-6) have a winning season and conference pride on the line, as well as a chance to go into their offseason program with momentum and start generating a buzz for 2015.
Texas Bowl
ARKANSAS VS. TEXAS
WHEN 8 p.m. Central Dec. 29
WHERE NRG Stadium, Houston
RECORDS Arkansas 6-6; Texas 6-6
TV ESPN
SEC individual awards
The SEC announced its 2014 individual football awards Wednesday. The awards were voted on by the league’s 14 head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own players.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
AMARI COOPER Alabama’s junior wide receiver, one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy, caught a school- and SEC-record 115 passes for 1,656 yards and 14 touchdowns and helped the Crimson Tide earn a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
SHANE RAY Missouri’s redshirt junior defensive lineman set a school record with 14 sacks and had 21 tackles for loss and recorded 61 tackles for the SEC East champions.
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
MARCUS MURPHY Missouri’s senior return specialist ranked second in the SEC in all-purpose average (131.9 yards) and is the only player in the nation who scored touchdowns in all four all-purpose categories (rushing, receiving, kickoff return and punt return).
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
NICK CHUBB The Georgia running back rushed for 1,281 yards and 12 touchdowns and ranked second in the SEC in rushing yards per game with 106.8.
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
CHRIS CONLEY Georgia’s senior receiver at Georgia has a 3.32 GPA and is on track to receive his bachelor’s degree in journalism.
JACOBS BLOCKING TROPHY
LA’EL COLLINS The senior offensive tackle became the first LSU lineman to earn the trophy since Ciron Black won it in 2009. He helped the Tigers rank fifth in the SEC in rushing offense (219.5 yards per game).
COACH OF THE YEAR
GARY PINKEL In his 14th season at Missouri, Pinkel led the Tigers to their second consecutive SEC East title. Missouri will play Minnesota on Jan. 1 in the Citrus Bowl.
"I know this last game is going to be a statement game just for the Razorback program, to let the world know that we're a program to be reckoned with next year," senior linebacker Martrell Spaight said. "It's huge for us, just the history behind Arkansas vs. Texas."
Running back Alex Collins said the work the Razorbacks put in to improve over the past year has paid off in time to benefit the team's seniors.
"We've got a good chance to give these guys a good bowl game win," Collins said. "That's kind of what we're focused on, having a good season and just to send the seniors out good."
Tight end Hunter Henry received a call from his father, Mark, on Monday to wish him a happy birthday and the chat evolved into the importance of playing Texas. Mark Henry was an Arkansas team captain in 1991, the Razorbacks' final season in the Southwest Conference.
"We started talking about the game, and we talked about it just going back to his days," Henry said. "That was a big rivalry for him. He has a strong hatred towards Texas, so he was excited."
Henry wants a bowl victory for other reasons.
"It's going to be huge, especially because that will give us a winning season for [Coach Bret Bielema] and for ourselves," he said. "That would be big momentum, just having that behind us knowing what we can do next year and just having that confidence."
The Razorbacks also can send Texas (6-6) to a losing season with a victory at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Running back Jonathan Williams, a native of Allen, Texas, has been getting a crash course on the rivalry.
"Growing up, I didn't watch a whole bunch of Arkansas football so I'm not too familiar," Williams said. "I've seen the fans are pretty excited about it on Twitter and different social media websites, so I think I'm just going to get on the bandwagon and hate UT as well."
The Razorbacks got in their second bowl practice Wednesday afternoon, continuing to focus on fundamentals and improving their own schemes.
"Nothing crazy," defensive coordinator Robb Smith said. "Just get out there and take on blocks, work on tackling, do some team stuff against our offense. ... Just kind of get back in football shape a little bit."
Smith said his tape study of Texas is in its early stages since he's been out of town recruiting.
"Today was the first day I really had the chance to jump into them," he said. "The plan right now is for these next few days to get a better grasp of them. I have had the chance to watch very limited film at this point in time, but by the time we get to the weekend we will have a pretty good plan in place."
Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said the Razorbacks have improvement on their minds during bowl practices.
"I think individual players can," he said. "I think they can really drill down over the next 10 practices ... and really become a better football player. As a football team, I think, yes, we can make improvements and I'm hoping we'll be able to do that."
Sports on 12/11/2014