Texas Bowl Report

UA coach reiterates his respect

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema celebrates with players following the Razorbacks' 31-7 win over Texas in the Texas Bowl on Monday, Dec. 29, 2014 at NRG Stadium in Houston.

HOUSTON -- Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema reiterated after Monday's 31-7 Texas Bowl victory over Texas that his two-fingered twitch Saturday was not a downward Hook 'em Horns sign.

Bielema twice referenced the photo and videos that showed the ring and middle finger of his downward-pointed left hand quickly twitch up and back as he was shaking right hands with Texas Coach Charlie Strong following a news conference photo opportunity Saturday.

"You've got to watch everything you're doing because people capture things on pictures that don't exist," Bielema said while discussing his light-hearted comments to injured defensive end Mitchell Loewen in the second half of Monday's game. "I still don't know how that happened."

Later, Bielema brought up the incident again while praising Strong's character.

"Texas is obviously a team that's on the rebuild right now," he said. "Charlie Strong is an incredible person. That's why I kind of joke about [the hand images]. I mean, I no way did what was kind of implied out there. I have so much respect for him and his program."

Strong's postgame handshake was extremely brief. A reporter asked him if the quick handshake and departure had anything to do with Bielema's twitch.

"It had nothing to do with that," Strong said. "I got beat, so what am I going to do? Go over and talk and tell jokes?"

Strong words

Texas Coach Charlie Strong (Batesville) had harsh words for his team during his opening statements in the NRG Stadium media room following Monday night's game.

"It falls on the head of the coach and the coaches, but at some point too we've got to develop and we've got to get the pride back in this program," Strong said. "Texas has got to mean something. Right now, it doesn't mean much.

"You have to play with passion. You've got to play with energy. You have to have an edge to you. We don't have that right now."

Allen MVP

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen pulled down Texas Bowl MVP honors, but there were several Razorbacks who played well enough to win the award.

Tailback Jonathan Williams had a 1-yard touchdown run with 11:41 remaining after many media members had already cast their votes earlier in the quarter, then added a 25-yard run late in the game to push his total to 105 yards.

Defensive end Trey Flowers was on the ballot of several media members after the senior had a 19-yard sack, two tackles for loss and helped disrupt the attempted recovery of Texas' blown handoff that resulted in Taiwan Johnson's fumble recovery touchdown for the Hogs.

Allen completed 12 of 23 passes for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns, but could have had more scores as he missed end zone throws for Keon Hatcher in the first quarter and Hunter Henry in the third quarter.

"There's always room for improvement," Allen said. "You want to be the best in everything you do, and for me, I'm the hardest critic on myself. So we'll watch this whole season. I'll critique myself and try to improve on everything that I've done wrong on the season."

Wanting more

Tailback Jonathan Williams said the NFL has changed its draft grade format for underclassmen and that his report didn't really influence his Christmas Eve announcement to return for his senior year.

"It changed [and] they only give first- and second-round grades," Williams said. "Really the draft grade didn't have anything to do with my decision. I already knew what it was going to say, just because of the way they draft running backs now. So the draft grade thing didn't really help me a whole lot."

Williams finished the year with 1,190 yards and 12 touchdowns.

UA keepsake

Linebacker Martrell Spaight wore his shoulder pads and game jersey into postgame interviews nearly a half-hour after the Texas Bowl's conclusion while his teammates Brandon Allen and Trey Flowers had their undershirts on.

Spaight was asked if he was just trying to savor as much time in the jersey as he could.

"I don't want to say it out loud," he replied. "I don't want anyone to hear me, but I hope I will be able to keep this jersey. I know it's something I hope I can have and tell my kids I played in this jersey way back in the day.

"It's been fun, and hopefully I'll be able to keep this jersey."

Henry's help

Keon Hatcher credited the presence of tight end Hunter Henry for helping free up his 5-yard touchdown catch from Brandon Allen with 24 seconds left in the second quarter.

"The safety came up and grabbed Hunter," Hatcher said. "Hunter being a big aspect of our offense, they really doubled him and I got inside on the corner and B.A. put the ball on the money."

Henry came up with one of the game's weirder plays, a pop-up fumble by receiver Jared Cornelius that advanced forward to Henry and allowed him to gain 8 more yards during a first-quarter field goal drive.

Aussie rules

Arkansas punter Sam Irwin-Hill had a final game to remember. All four of the Aussie's punts were downed inside the Texas 20-yard line, three were at the Texas 10 or better, and only one was returned, for 4 yards.

Not pressing

Arkansas' Brandon Allen said Texas' tendency to play off of receivers wound up helping the Razorbacks.

Allen said the Razorbacks had studied film of Texas and knew that press coverage wasn't something the Longhorns used.

"They play off, and we knew that coming in," Allen said. "We went through the first few plays and realized they still weren't going to press, so we were able to do some certain things, call some certain plays that would work for soft coverage."

Taking control

Arkansas converted 9 of 17 third-down plays and moved up to No. 16 in the country with 88 of 187 third-down conversions (.471) on the season.

Conversely, Texas managed just 3 of 11 third-down conversions, helping create Arkansas' massive edge (41:10 to 18:50) in time of possession.

The Razorbacks moved up to fourth in the FBS in time of possession with an average of better than 34 minutes per game.

Injury report

Multiple players from both teams went down with injuries, although none of the ones suffered by Razorbacks appeared to be serious.

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said defensive end Mitchell Loewen came off the field with a shoulder that popped out of its socket, and Loewen will undergo surgery next week. Defensive end JaMichael Winston did not return after a second-quarter injury that Bielema called a strained quad muscle.

Arkansas' Jared Collins, Denver Kirkland and Mitch Smothers all missed time after going down with injuries. Smothers returned at center after giving way to freshman Frank Ragnow for a series and a half. The injuries and status of Collins and Kirkland have not been updated.

Bowled over

Charlie Strong's first bowl game at Texas didn't go much better than predecessor Mack Brown's last bowl.

Oregon beat Texas 30-7 in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio last year in Brown's farewell game.

The Longhorns have lost bowl games in their home state in back-to-back seasons by a combined score of 61-14.

Worth noting

• Jonathan Williams' 105-yard game marked his ninth career 100-yard rushing game.

• Arkansas improved to 3-1 in its past four bowl games, and the lone loss -- the 31-26 setback to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl after the 2010 season -- was vacated by the NCAA after the Buckeyes Tattoogate scandal.

• The Houston Texans media relations staff that administers the Texas Bowl said it granted 180 credentials and denied another 60 to 70 requests after the bowl averaged around 50 credential requests in previous years. The bowl also set an attendance record with a crowd of 71,115, which included an estimated 30,000-plus Arkansas fans.

Sports on 12/31/2014