State of the Hogs: Missed opportunities disgusting

Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen (8) is stopped short of the goal line by Missouri defenders on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016, at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo., during the third quarter.

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— Arkansas started the season winning by inches with fourth-quarter rallies against Louisiana Tech and TCU. The Razorbacks went down at Missouri when they couldn't make hardly an inch in the low red zone on three chances in the second half.

Down 24-7 at halftime, Missouri hit three bombs in the second half and capitalized for three touchdowns in a 28-24 victory Friday at Faurot Field.

It smacked of a similar loss two years ago, but that was to a good Missouri team that wrapped up the SEC East championship with the win. That time Arkansas jumped to a 14-3 lead before losing 21-14.

This bunch of Tigers were considered one of the SEC East's bottom feeders, losing 63-37 last week at Tennessee. The Tigers had beaten only Vanderbilt in seven SEC games this season. They had also lost to Middle Tennessee.

Still, the Hogs had their chances at the end with two first-and-goal possessions in the final four minutes. They had second-and-goal from the 1-yard line on the first chance before Rawleigh Williams lost 1, Austin Allen lost 3 and Allen was intercepted on fourth down trying for Dominique Reed.

“It was a game of inches,” Allen said. “We were down there. We couldn't put it in, by inches sometimes.

“It was a tale of two halves and we missed too many opportunities. We had our chances and we let them get away. It's kind of disgusting.”

Allen was intercepted on a third-down sprint out from the Mizzou 3-yard line on the Hogs' first possession of the second half.

“It was a sprint out and my first two options were covered,” Allen said. “I saw Drew (Morgan) come open and I got hit just as I released it. It fluttered. I have to throw that one away. I get it away an inch sooner and it's probably a touchdown.”

The last possession did come down to inches. The Hogs reached the Mizzou 9-yard line before a holding penalty moved them back to their 19. The first down play, a pass to Dominique Reed in the flats, lost 1 yard.

Indeed, the Hogs came up inches short on their next two plays. On second down, Allen put the ball into the corner for Keon Hatcher. The senior wideout caught the ball, but it was judged the ball wasn't tucked away as he drug a toe.

On third down, Allen went back to almost the same spot, giving tight end Jeremy Sprinkle just a little more room. The ball flashed between his arms and off his chest as a Missouri safeties arm flicked past the ball. The ball fell incomplete.

On fourth down, Allen was swarmed and didn't make it back to the line of scrimmage for an intentional grounding call.

“I thought Keon got a toe down,” Allen said. “I thought I got the ball in to Jeremy, but maybe a defender got a hand in there to tip it. Those were two big plays. We missed by an inch. I thought I had Keon and I thought I had Jeremy on the next one.

“It's a game of inches. I thought Keon's toe was down. Oh, well, it's a game of inches.”

The Hogs didn't look they would need anything by an inch in the first half. They gobbled up 9 minutes and 5:36 on touchdown marches of 91 and 45 to keep the ball for all but 1:45 of the second quarter.

The Tigers didn't back down. The league's No. 1 offense finally got some help from its defense in the second half. They changed their front, slanting away from the field – their usual tendency – to take away the Arkansas boundary runs. The Hogs finished with 155 yards rushing, but only 35 after halftime.

Quarterback Drew Lock attacked the UA corners down the boundary for big plays. He'd barely missed on three such bombs in the first half. They began to click after halftime.

The Tigers overcame third-and-11 and third-and-15 on their first drive of the second half, rolling 63 yards in nine plays. Allen answered by erasing third-and-16 with a strike to Hatcher, but they came away empty after a first-and-goal from the MU 8-yard line.

After the interception at the 4-yard line, Missouri grabbed the momentum with a 6-play, 96-yard drive, successfully faking a punt from its own end zone. Up-back Anthony Sherrils went for 14 yards on fourth-and-7 from his own 7-yard line.

The Tigers also were prepared to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 28 on the final play of the fourth quarter. Nose tackle Bijhon Jackson touched the ball just before the snap, leading to a kneel-down by Lock and automatic first down. That was the play that seemed to upset Arkansas coach Bret Bielema the most. He went down to that lack of discipline twice in his post game.

“We touched the ball, unnecessary and unforced,” he said. “We jumped off sides on third-and-1 in the first half, by Dominique Reed. We had a couple of holding penalties that hurt us at the end down in the low red zone.

“Our guys are hurting, but I got after them. It's hard to swallow.”

Allen said Bielema's post-game remarks were as harsh as he could remember.

“I understand,” Allen said. “Give credit to Missouri, but turning it over in the red zone is how you lose. We thought we would score every time we touched the ball. But we didn't take advantage. We'd get a nice drive, but we didn't make plays to score.

“They made plays against us, but we couldn't punch it in. We threw away opportunities. Like I said, I'm kind of disgusted.”

Except for a jet sweep out of motion for 82 yards to start the game, the Arkansas defense corrected some flaws in its run defense. The Tigers, averaging 211.8 rushing yards, made just 49 yards on their final 28 running plays. However, Lock completed 16 of 26 passes for 268 yards. Many of his throws were for the distance.

“The stats showed that they take the biggest amount of (deep) shots as anyone,” Bielema said. “They just hadn't completed many of them. They got behind us. The concerns today were the deep balls down the boundary.”

Bielema was asked twice about possible staff changes. Clearly, he knows that a 7-5 regular season, a repeat of last year, and 3-5 SEC record is a stall of momentum.

“Eight wins sounds a heck of a lot better than seven,” he said. “We definitely talk about in our program how you finish. You finish drives, you finish plays and you finish the season.”

The Hogs didn't, but Bielema didn't balk when asked if he would change his staff.

“No changes,” he said twice. “Yes we always evaluate after the season.”

After saying the finish was “hard to swallow,” he again said there would be no changes. But as far as staff changes, sometimes things take care of themselves.

Except for a few plays missed by inches at the end, the conversations might be more pleasant. As it is, the Hogs have to wait to see how much losing to Missouri hurts them in the bowl discussions.

Allen also said it was “tough to swallow and we didn't play well in the second half.”

No one will argue either point.