FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' Bret Bielema cherishes trophy games as much as any head coach.
He was understandably perturbed Friday when the Razorbacks gave up a 24-7 halftime lead and lost 28-24 to Missouri, giving the Tigers the three-year-old Battle Line Trophy.
"I think the fact this one is a rivalry game, the [Battle Line] trophy and all the things that we talk about and embrace and try to stress to our guys," Bielema said when asked how tough of a loss it was.
"Eight wins sounds a heck of a lot better than seven. We still have an opportunity to get to eight, but to not be able to close out ... our definition has really been, in years past, what I believe in is finishing. Finishing the season, finishing the game, finishing the drive, finishing the series, finishing a play. We just weren't able to do that today, and that's very frustrating."
The Arkansas players who conducted postgame interviews -- Austin Allen, Josh Liddell and Rawleigh Williams -- said they were amazed that the Razorbacks squandered a big lead and numerous scoring chances in the second half.
"For me personally, this is probably the most disappointing loss of my career, honestly," Liddell said.
"We just didn't play our game in the second half, and it hurts," Williams said.
"We felt like we were going to come back and do what we did in the first half, but it just didn't happen," Allen said.
Arkansas lost the Golden Boot Trophy to LSU in a 38-10 loss Nov. 12 before losing the Battle Line Trophy on Friday.
"Our guys are hurting," Bielema said. "They should. I got after them pretty good."
Allen for 3,000
Austin Allen became the fourth Arkansas quarterback to pass for more than 3,000 yards in a season with his 348 yards at Missouri, joining Ryan Mallett, Tyler Wilson and his older brother Brandon Allen.
Allen, in his first year as a starter, has passed for 3,152 yards, sixth on Arkansas' single-season list.
Mallett owns the school record with 3,869 yards in 2010. The others ahead of Allen are Wilson (3,638 in 2011), Mallett (3,624 in 2009), Brandon Allen (3,440 in 2015) and Wilson (3,387 in 2012).
Passing statistics in Arkansas' bowl game will count toward his season total.
Tigers turnaround
Arkansas held Missouri, the SEC's top offense, to five first downs and 137 total yards while taking a 24-7 lead into halftime Friday. Quarterback Drew Lock was 7 of 11 for 56 yards at halftime for an average of 8 yards per completion.
The Tigers, who ran 110 plays while amassing 740 yards at Tennessee last week, had 19 plays in the first half while Arkansas won the time of possession battle 24:20 to 5:40.
In the second half, the Tigers cranked out 262 total yards on 37 plays, including pass plays by Lock for 48, 18, 67 and 49 yards.
"Defensively, obviously big pass plays hit us a little bit. Well, they hit us big," Bret Bielema said.
Arkansas safety Josh Liddell said the drastic defensive swing between the two halves was a combination of several factors.
"Their quarterback has a really good arm," Liddell said. "I give him a lot of credit. Those guys were fast and we were there on most of the plays.
"But they had a step here and there, and they just connected. They made the plays that we didn't make."
Second-half blues
Arkansas has been outscored 36-0 in the second half of its two SEC games at Missouri.
The Tigers had a 21-0 edge in the second half Friday to rally for a 28-24 victory. They had an 15-0 edge in 2014 when they beat the Razorbacks 21-14 in 2014.
Not this time
Arkansas' six-game winning streak in games where Rawleigh Williams rushed for more than 100 yards ended Friday.
The streak included victories over TCU, when Williams rushed for 137 yards, Texas State (121), Alcorn State (126), Ole Miss (180), Florida (128) and Mississippi State (205).
That changed as Arkansas lost to Missouri despite Williams' 117 yards on 25 carries. He also had a 52-yard gain on a screen pass.
Big comeback
Missouri staged its second-largest comeback victory when the Tigers overcame a 24-7 halftime deficit to beat the Razorbacks.
The Tigers' largest comeback victory was 38-31 over South Carolina in the 2005 Independence Bowl, when the Gamecocks couldn't hold a 28-7 lead in the second quarter.
No field goal
Bret Bielema decided against kicking a field goal on fourth and goal from the Missouri 5 with Arkansas trailing 28-24 with a little more than four minutes left in the game.
The Razorbacks had a second and goal at the 1 before Rawleigh Williams lost a yard and Austin Allen lost three yards on the next play.
On fourth down, Allen's pass for Dominique Reed at the back of the end zone was intercepted by Aarion Penton.
"I'll go back to last week, when we missed a PAT, and we missed a field goal at the end of the half," Bielema said, noting Adam McFain's missed 48-yard field goal on the final play of the first half Friday. "We had a bad snap on a PAT in the second quarter as well.
"I just didn't have a good enough confidence [about kicking] and I felt really confident about scoring points. I told them going down there we were going to go four-down territory and hopefully get another opportunity to win.
"Different things just popped in my head. We just felt a lot more aggressive. The thinking was if we didn't get it on fourth down they'd have the ball inside the 5-yard line. I wasn't counting on the interception."
Liddell recovers
Arkansas safety Josh Liddell was down for a few moments after Missouri's fifth offensive play, an 82-yard run by Johnathon Johnson.
"The guy came across on a jet sweep and the blocker came and kind of cut my knee up," Liddell said. "It was a little scary, but I'm all right. I'm fine."
Liddell, a junior from Pine Bluff Dollarway, was able to return quickly.
Players of the week
Offense
RB Rawleigh Williams and WR Keon Hatcher
Williams, a sophomore from Dallas, rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Hatcher, a senior from Owasso, Okla., caught three passes for 106 yards, including a 66-yard catch and run on Arkansas' first snap of the game.
Defense
CB Ryan Pulley
Pulley, a sophomore from Fort Myers, Fla., had a team-high 7 tackles, including 5 unassisted. Pulley also had a pass breakup, and he sprinted across the field to tackle Missouri receiver Johnathon Johnson at the end of an 82-yard run at the Arkansas 8.
Sports on 11/27/2016