FAYETTEVILLE — Here’s what Arkansas players and coaches are saying after the Razorbacks’ 73-7 win over Nicholls.
Head coach Bret Bielema on snapping a 10-game losing streak: “We lost 10 straight. I'm not ignoring that. I'm going to wrap my arms around it and kiss it and make it as best I can. But it's nothing I enjoyed. It's nothing I liked. It's nothing I want to repeat again in my life. But it's something that we had to do. It's something that we earned. And to now feel the success of it, to taste that success, especially with young players, I think is critical. And then that just builds confidence for you in the future."
Junior quarterback Brandon Allen on breaking the losing streak: "I think it's just what we needed. It couldn't have been timed any better for us. I think it's just going to turn a lot of things around for us."
Bielema on the post-game experience: “I’ve got to work on that (fight) song, too. I don’t know it. It was fun to go over there and dance with our guys and pay tribute to our students. They’ve been awesome since I’ve been here. But to get in there in the locker room and have that celebration was awesome. Lot of smiles.”
Bielema on sophomore running back Korliss Marshall not playing: "He will go next week. Got no issues, concerns there."
Bielema on the Razorbacks’ five one-play touchdown drives and the running backs’ role in rushing for 495 yards in the win: “That's an awesome stat. I think Collins, J-Will and then of course when we get Korliss in there, they are three very explosive players. They feed well off one another. It's fun to see.”
Bielema on junior receiver Keon Hatcher having three touches for 179 yards in the win: “He does everything we ask him to do. … There’ll be so many times during the summer I’ll pop in on a Sunday or during the spring and he’s running routes on his own or working on his footwork.”
Hatcher on his reaction when the first play was called for him (his rush resulted in an 82-yard touchdown): “Don't get caught. Go score for the team.”
Hatcher on what having the first play called for him after having the rough drop at Auburn meant: “The coaches have a lot of confidence in me.”
Allen on Hatcher’s big play to bounce back from the Auburn game: “I never lost confidence in Keon one bit and he didn’t lose confidence in himself. I don’t think either of us were thinking about that pass before. And I know that Keon is going to catch the ball when I throw him the ball and he did just that today.”
Bielema on whether having the starters play early in the second half with a 56-0 lead was a result of a poor second half at Auburn: “Yeah. And still a work in progress, because defensively they came out and moved the ball on us a little bit and obviously put it in the end zone. We really need to just continue to emphasize it. And that’s on me.”
Bielema on the new intro video: “I was kind of excited about it. I think our kids were really into that. We walked through that on Thursday and I thought they brought great energy. We want our home stadium to be an advantage.”
Bielema on sophomore cornerback D.J. Dean running to the sideline and handing him the football after a third-quarter interception: “I actually cleared it with the officials. … It’s escaping me which coach brought it up, but they said, ‘If we get one of those turnovers, run that ball up to Coach B and give it to him.’ Because we always talk about, it’s all about the ball. So I was nervous last week and this week that we’d get an interception or fumble recovery and the refs are asking for the ball and our guys take it off the field and run it over to me. We kind of have a little trophy case. If I’m getting balls handed to me on the sideline, that’s a really good thing.”
Bielema on deciding to challenge a first-down spot with a big lead. (The first down was upheld): “I was just doing it cause I’m in it to win it. I don’t want to give up anything. I didn’t want to have a first down be handed to them that wasn’t there, so that’s why I challenged it. And they proved me wrong.”
Bielema on senior transfer offensive lineman Cameron Jefferson lining up at fullback in the second half: “I think he can start for us. But we put him in at that big tight end, put him at fullback, he is so athletic. He does everything right.”
Bielema on redshirt freshman Austin Allen going 4 of 9 for 72 yards while rushing four times for 18 yards a touchdown in his collegiate debut: “It was nice to get an athletic quarterback in there for a change-up. We were really beating (Brandon) up on the sideline. I think Austin did a nice job making some decisions at the line of scrimmage. You know, he hadn’t played for two years. The last time he played he had a (Fayetteville) Bulldog on his helmet. He’s in his hometown, so for him to go out and play as well as he did. … Made some good decisions. First ball was a completion. With that interception, he’s got to get the ball over that guys head. I really thought he did some good things. It was good to see him get that game experience. That’s critical to get your No. 2 quarterback that many plays.
Bielema on his response when people ask what the team needs to do to step forward: “Without a doubt, it’s our O-line and D-line depth in our program that has to continue to grow.”
Bielema on the plethora of big plays: “I think we've got a lot of explosive players in the run game, throw game.”
Bielema on traveling to face Texas Tech in another nonconference matchup next week: “I think this is the bonus of us playing at Auburn, to be quite honest. If that game had been at home or we hadn't had that game in our hip pocket right now, we wouldn't be as prepared as we're going to be this week to do that. The blessing in disguise was we've been on the road already. Had some success, but we've had failures and kids learned a lot about themselves."