As was the case for most of the season, Arkansas' defense had a ‘bend, but don’t break’ mentality in the Outback Bowl on Saturday.
The Razorbacks had their fair share of blown coverages and mistakes on defense, but two interceptions and relentless pursuit of the football proved to be too much in their 24-10 win over Penn State.
Benefitting from a missed field goal, Arkansas forced a pair of punts and Greg Brooks Jr. made an impressive interception in the first quarter, when the Nittany Lions managed just 57 yards and two first downs.
Penn State then gained more yards in the second quarter alone than it did in the other three combined. It racked up 172 total yards — including a 42-yard bomb from quarterback Sean Clifford to a wide open KeAndre Lambert-Smith — and scored 10 points to take a 10-7 advantage into halftime.
“In the first half I thought we played well, we just gave up a big play, which it happens,” Arkansas linebacker Bumper Pool said. “But we’ve got to lock those things up whenever we’re in coverage.”
And lock up the coverage the Hogs did. Arkansas allowed just 26 yards through the air in the second half. Clifford seemed to be running for his life for most of the half and he was eventually replaced by freshman Christian Veilleux, a move Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin attributed to an undisclosed injury.
The Razorbacks' defense may have lost momentum in the second quarter, but they came out with a vengeance in the third quarter.
“We did it against Rice, we did it at LSU,” Arkansas linebacker Grant Morgan said. “We found ways to win, and we were built because we work so hard. It's not just starting in August. We worked so hard since January, and that builds us for moments like this.”
Arkansas did not just play well in the second half - it played phenomenal. The Hogs shut the Nittany Lions out and allowed just 94 total yards and 3.25 yards per play.
It was just the fourth scoreless half of play by Arkansas' defense this season, with the others being first-half shutouts against Texas and UAPB and a second-half shutout against Georgia Southern.
“It's been great to say we were able to say we came back and shut them out,” Morgan said. “It just shows how confident we are in ourselves that we aren't going to give up just because we're down."
The offense did its part in scoring 17 points in the third quarter, but it was the defense that continued to hold. The Nittany Lions carried a nice drive into the start of the fourth quarter in hopes of narrowing the Razorback lead to seven points.
A gutsy 7-yard scramble by Clifford on fourth down extended the drive, and a few plays later Penn State was within 10 yards of the end zone.
Clifford dropped back to pass and was immediately forced to evade the Arkansas pressure, causing him to throw an ill-advised pass that was picked off by safety Joe Foucha. That play put the writing on the wall and all but guaranteed an Outback Bowl victory for the Hogs.
“We sent a lot of blitzes in the second half,” Foucha said. “We didn’t want him sitting back comfortable in the pocket. So we went after him a lot. He was throwing the ball and as you saw, he was overthrowing guys and as you see that was helping us out a lot.”
Something can be said for defense turning into offense. The momentum created by the strong, physical play of the Razorback defense encouraged the offense to find success of its own.
“Extremely proud of those guys,” quarterback KJ Jefferson said. “Having guys like that, knowing they had our back, we picked it up second half and had their backs. Able to be a team effort.”
Foucha was the defensive MVP Saturday. He led the team with six tackles, a sack and the interception. The trio of Pool, Morgan and senior linebacker Hayden Henry combined for 15 tackles.
“It's amazing how those guys rotate and they love each other,” head coach Sam Pittman said. “Never happens like that. Three guys rotating in, one of them doesn't like the other guy, I'm better than you. How they go in there and play together like that, it's amazing. It's really great to see. It shows a lot about their character.”
It was the perfect ending to the season and a great way to start 2022 for Arkansas, which improved its scoring defense by nearly 12 points per game from last year.
