MEMPHIS — Liberty was accompanied by fireworks Friday night.
Arkansas racked up the yards and lit up the scoreboard at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, defeating Texas Tech 39-26 in a Liberty Bowl game that at times resembled the shootouts when these teams were members of the Southwest Conference.
The Razorbacks — shorthanded due to dozens of players opting out or entering the transfer portal — capped a 7-6 campaign and claimed their third bowl trophy since 2021. Arkansas improved its all-time Liberty Bowl record to 4-3, with all wins coming since the 2009 season.
“The bottom line is that we've got a good football team…and I'm really proud of the kids,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. “A lot of times people will ask you, 'Are you ready to play in a bowl game?' Hell, yeah. We're going into a bowl game. It's exciting. It's hard to get to, and they're awful hard to win. Fortunately, we were able to win tonight.”
Playing without his three top pass catchers from the regular season, Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green completed 11 of 21 passes for 341 yards and 2 touchdowns to earn the bowl’s most valuable player award. He also rushed 15 times for 81 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown carry on the Razorbacks’ opening drive.
“Taylen took over,” Pittman said. “We have Taylen Green, a lot of teams don't, and it gives us an opportunity to win.”
Green’s 422 all-purpose yards led a 559-yard output for Arkansas. The Razorbacks had 500-plus yards for the fourth time under first-year offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.
Texas Tech had 497 yards on offense.
Arkansas scored on its first three possessions. All were aided by chunk plays.
Green’s touchdown run came one play following a 70-yard run by Rodney Hill on the Razorbacks’ second offensive snap.
The Red Raiders answered with a 37-yard field goal by Gino Garcia to cut the deficit to 7-3, but Green found Isaac TeSlaa for gains of 18 and 56 yards to quickly move Arkansas to the Texas Tech 1. Braylen Russell ran for a 1-yard touchdown to give the Razorbacks a 14-3 lead.
Texas Tech (8-5) came away empty handed in the red zone on its ensuing possession. Facing fourth-and-goal at the Arkansas 5, quarterback Will Hammond threw incomplete to Coy Eakin with Kee’yon Stewart in coverage in the end zone.
Three plays later, Green threw a 94-yard touchdown pass to Dazmin James to put the Razorbacks ahead 21-3. James caught a third-and-9 slant at the 15.
“If you go back, on the season I think we were worst in the country on giving up explosive plays,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “That’s something that’s got to be a big deal during winter football school, it’s got to be a big deal in the spring and we’ve got to get better at that.”
James broke a tackle at the 24, was aided by a downfield block by Krosse Johnson, then broke another tackle attempt near the Texas Tech 15.
It was the first career reception for James, who broke the program’s record for longest touchdown catch. The previous record of 92 yards from Matt Jones to Richard Smith was set in 2002 at Tennessee.
“My first catch ever as a collegiate athlete to catch the ball and go 94 yards, it feels amazing,” James said.
James caught 3 passes for 137 yards, all before halftime. He appeared to injure his knee on a 24-yard catch early in the second quarter, but returned to make a 19-yard catch on Arkansas’ final offensive snap of the half. That catch set up Matthew Shipley’s 40-yard field goal as time expired to give the Razorbacks a 24-19 halftime lead.
“It was tough, right there in the end, to give up that field goal going into half because they had kind of grabbed the momentum back,” McGuire said. “It felt like we had gotten some momentum going and then they grabbed it back.”
Shipley added a 36-yard field goal on the first drive of the second half to put Arkansas ahead 27-19.
Green threw complete to CJ Brown for 31 yards on third-and-11, then 47 yards to running back Tyrell Reed for a touchdown to increase the lead to 34-19 with 7:15 to play in the third quarter.
Like James, Reed’s touchdown catch doubled as the first reception of his career.
“Just because you guys don't know about them doesn't mean that they're not good players,” Pittman said. “But now you know about them a little bit.”
A 43-yard field goal by Shipley with 5:02 left in the fourth quarter increased the Razorbacks’ lead to 39-19.
Hammond threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Eakin with 3:06 to play. The Red Raiders’ onside kick attempt went out of bounds and Arkansas ran out the clock, taking a knee inside the red zone to end the game.
After allowing 346 yards to Texas Tech before halftime, Arkansas’ defense clamped down for most of the second half. Defensive backs Marquise Robinson and Miguel Mitchell each intercepted Hammond — Robinson’s at the Arkansas 7 after the Red Raiders entered the red zone.
The Razorbacks also recorded their first safety since 2022 when Anton Juncaj sacked Hammond in the end zone with 14:21 remaining in the fourth quarter. The safety was set up when Devin Bale’s punt was fair caught by Jordan Brown at the Texas Tech 2.
The Red Raiders outscored Arkansas 16-3 in the second quarter. Isaac Smith sacked Green for a safety early in the quarter and J’Koby Williams had a 54-yard touchdown run on the next drive to cut the lead to 21-12.
Receiver Jalin Conyers added a 2-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation with 1:58 remaining before the half to make the score 21-19.
But Green led a solid 2-minute drive to put the Razorbacks in scoring position. He scrambled 3 times for 22 yards on the possession before finding James to set up the field goal.
James and TeSlaa (3 catches for 107 yards) became the first Arkansas receiving tandem to go over 100 yards in a bowl game since Chuck Dicus and Bruce Maxwell at the Sugar Bowl to end the 1969 season.
Hill rushed for 81 yards on 8 carries. Russell had 20 carries for 50 yards a week after removing his name from the transfer portal.
Green rushed for 97 yards when adjusted for sacks. He was sacked twice for 16 yards lost.
Hammond, a freshman who made his first career start, completed 20 of 34 passes for 280 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Caleb Douglas was his top receiver with 5 catches for 115 yards.
Williams led Texas Tech with 15 carries for 123 yards. The Red Raiders’ leading rusher, Tahj Brooks, elected not to play in the game after traveling with the team to Memphis.
Why Arkansas Won
The Razorbacks had 15 offensive plays with double-digit yardage, including 6 plays of 31 yards or more against one of college football’s worst defenses.
Texas Tech outgained Arkansas 346-341 during the first half, but the Razorbacks made more defensive stops after halftime.
Player of the Game: Arkansas QB Taylen Green
Green had pass plays of 18, 56, 94, 24, 19, 33, 31 and 47 yards, and run plays of 12, 13, 27 and 15 yards.
He had 422 all-purpose yards and accounted for 4 touchdowns. It was the fourth time he rushed for a touchdown and passed for a touchdown in the same game this season — the type of dual-threat performance that made Green attractive to Arkansas coaches when the former Boise State quarterback entered the transfer portal last offseason.
With 341 passing yards, Green broke the Arkansas program record passing yards in a bowl game, previously set when Bill Montgomery passed for 338 yards during a 27-22 loss to Ole Miss at the Sugar Bowl to end the 1969 season.
The last Arkansas quarterback to pass for 300 yards in a bowl game was Brandon Allen, who had 315 yards during a 45-23 victory over Kansas State at the Liberty Bowl to end the 2015 season.
3-0
Sam Pittman became the first Arkansas coach to win his first three bowl games.
Pittman led the Razorbacks to their second Liberty Bowl victory. Arkansas defeated Kansas 55-53 in triple overtime in Memphis in 2022.
In Pittman’s first bowl game, the Razorbacks defeated Penn State 24-10 at the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla.
Prior to Pittman, the only Arkansas coach to win his first two bowl games was Bret Bielema, with wins of 31-7 over Texas at the 2014 Texas Bowl and the 45-23 win over Kansas State at the Liberty Bowl to end the 2015 season. Pittman was an assistant for both of those teams, but did not coach in the latter of the two bowls because he had left to be an assistant coach at Georgia by that time.
Pittman, who concluded his fifth season as Arkansas’ coach Friday, has a 30-31 overall record. The Razorbacks posted their third season with a winning record during his tenure.
Pittman coached Friday's game while using a cane. He was 24 days removed from hip replacement surgery.
Texas Tech Series
Arkansas improved its all-time record against Texas Tech to 30-8.
The teams are scheduled to play again in 2030 in Lubbock, Texas, and 2031 in Fayetteville.
Up Next
Arkansas is scheduled to open the 2025 season with an Aug. 30 game against Alabama A&M in Fayetteville. It will be the third consecutive season the Razorbacks open with an opponent from the Football Championship Subdivision.
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