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In case you didn’t watch Arkansas’ Texas Bowl win over Texas on Monday night, let me sum it up for you with one word: defense.
The Razorbacks defense produced a record-setting evening against the Longhorns, allowing the fewest total yards of offense in a bowl game since the 1965 Cotton Bowl. The Hogs surrendered 168 yards of offense in a 10-7 win over Nebraska 50 years ago.
Allow me to put tonight’s effort in perspective for you.
Texas had 46 yards of offense at halftime. The Longhorns had 13 yards in the second half.
Texas, a team that had success running the football this season and intermittently in the pass, but Robb Smith put together a fantastic plan and Arkansas executed well. The Hogs’ trio of Trey Flowers, Darius Philon and Martrell Spaight terrorized the Longhorns up front.
Arkansas set the tone early. Texas produced one first down on its first drive of the game. After the Longhorns moved the chains, on first down, Spaight came off the left side and delivered a blow to Malcolm Brown for a loss. Two plays later, Philon came off a stunt in the middle to sack Texas quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, forcing a punt.
Texas’ offensive line got push up front early, but the Razorbacks’ three-headed monster, along with complimentary pieces in Taiwan Johnson, JaMichael Winston and Brooks Ellis got into a rhythm and kept the Longhorns on edge the rest of the night. Smith did a great job bringing blitz packages and forcing Texas into the calls he wanted through disguises.
The first-year coordinator capped a miraculous turnaround with the most dominant performance of the season. Smith arrived from the NFL this past winter and took a defense near the bottom of the SEC that had given up a mind-boggling amount of big plays, and transformed it into a fast, physical and adaptable unit that relentlessly wears down its opponent.
Arkansas got stronger as the 2014 season waned. The Hogs had their way in a 17-0 win over then-No. 17 LSU last month, allowing just 123 yards of offense, following that performance up with a shutout of then-No. 8 Ole Miss and a solid effort against SEC East champ Missouri. Monday night’s effort was the statement, however. Arkansas dominated in primetime, on national television and against a better offense. Texas — led by co-offensive coordinators Shawn Watson and Joe Wickline — had relied on the run and a few breakout games from Swoopes this season. From the outset on Monday night, however, the Longhorns shot themselves in the foot.
And when Texas didn’t hurt itself, Arkansas was plenty happy to. To take care of the task, Smith and head coach Bret Bielema turned to its cornerstone pieces for an exclamation-point type of outing. Not only did Flowers, Philon and Spaight fill the stat sheet, but the three made the defense better.
Up 10-0 midway through the second quarter from its own 4-yard line, Texas running back Johnathan Gray and Swoopes went opposite directions on an attempted handoff, causing a fumble. Flowers found himself in the backfield, along with Johnson who recovered the fumble in the end zone to extend the Razorbacks lead to 17-0. It was the third defensive touchdown of the season for Arkansas.
The Arkansas fan base ought to have relished tonight’s performance. It might be sometime before the Razorbacks faithful see a defensive performance like that put on display in Houston.
Flowers and Spaight are gone, which will have a huge impact on the defense. Philon, a redshirt sophomore, is faced with the decision of whether or not to leave. Smith and Bielema have pieces that can be developed behind them, but depth is needed. Tonight’s performance showed the success of the Arkansas defense — which during the last four weeks of the regular season was one of the best in the SEC — is predicated upon the impact of Flowers, Philon and Spaight.
The Longhorns didn’t have any kind of success until garbage time. A true freshmen sealed the game for the Razorbacks. Cornerback Henre Toliver intercepted Swoopes with 3:19 left to play. Toliver returned the pick 47 yards, nearly accounting for as many total yards as Texas.
If anything, Bielema has proven his punishing style of football can work in the SEC, and it can work nationally.
Tonight was about Arkansas. The Razorbacks capped its season much like it ended its regular season. In dominant fashion.
Yet all on the shoulders of an elite defense.
After living in Birmingham, Ala., Jordan left the ground zero of SEC Nation to head south to Florida to tell the unique stories of the renowned tradition of SEC football. In his free time, his mission is to find the best locales around.
