Sam Pittman and the Arkansas Razorbacks cruised to a 24-10 victory over Penn State in the Outback Bowl on Saturday afternoon in Tampa.

That means the Hogs finished the year at 9-4, which is no small task based on where this program was a couple of years ago.

After the game, Pittman said he’s so happy for his players and the entire state of Arkansas:

“I’m just so proud for the state of Arkansas and these kids,” Pittman said. “To get to 9 wins, first time in 10 years. You look at all these guys right up here, all these Arkansas Razorback fans, we appreciate every one of them. I’m so proud for these kids.”

He praised his team’s fight in the back half of the season, during which they lost only to Alabama:

“I think we won 5 of the last 6 at the end and got beat by a team that’s in the College Football Playoff, in the championship game,” he said. “I’m real happy for them, for us, our state and our kids.”

As for the Outback Bowl, Pittman said the halftime adjustments worked out and the Hogs played hard in the final 2 quarters:

“The biggest adjustment we made at halftime was the run game,” he said. “We figured out what they were doing and made that adjustment, needed to run KJ a little bit more, things like that. The bottom line is I told them we were down 10-7 against Rice. Let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill. I said we can’t play worse than we did in the first half, so let’s just go out and play and have fun. We made the adjustments and came out and played really hard.”

The future is bright in Fayetteville. We’ll see what 2022 brings to the Hogs, but it certainly got off to a great start!