Texas Tech Athletics
8-5 , 6-3
Arkansas
7-6 , 3-5
Red Raiders fall in Liberty Bowl to Arkansas
December 27, 2024 | Football
J’Koby Williams rushed for 123 yards and a TD, while Will Hammond threw for 280 yards and a touchdown in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Taylen Green threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 81 yards in Arkansas' 39-26 victory over Texas Tech on Friday night in the Liberty Bowl.
Green completed 11 of 21 passes and Arkansas (7-6) had 573 yards of total offense.
"All the stats you see, I didn't do it by myself," Green said.
J'Koby Williams rushed for 123 yards and a TD for Texas Tech (8-5). Will Hammond threw for 280 yards and a touchdown.
The Red Raiders took a shot before game time when leading running back Tahj Brooks, who rushed for 1,505 yards, opted not to play for "personal reasons."
"We didn't do a good job of executing," Texas Tech Joey McGuire said. "I thought Arkansas, at the end of the day, it comes down to, they out-executed (us)."
The first half was highlighted by big scoring plays, including a 54-yard run by Williams and a 94-yard pass from Green to receiver Dazmin James, the longest pass play in Liberty Bowl history.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said all around it was a good performance by his team and may get them some attention.
"We've got good players," Pittman said. "Just because you guys don't know about 'em, doesn't mean they're not good players."
Those long first-half plays gave Arkansas an early 21-3 lead. Despite letting the Red Raiders pull back into the game before halftime, the Razorbacks controlled the second half, by upping its offense. Meanwhile the Razorbacks held Texas Tech scoreless over the final two quarters until the closing minutes.
Arkansas made some defensive adjustments at halftime. They worried about Hammond running the football, and changed their defense to force the Texas Tech to throw more.
But one of the things the Razorbacks wanted to do was make Green more two-dimensional to loosen up the Texas Tech offense.
"We went in the game planning on running him a little bit more and put in some new plays for him to run," Pittman said.
For Texas Tech, the inexperience of a new quarterback and too many mistakes took them out of the game in the second half.
"I thought at times, we did some really good things," McGuire said. "And then some of the things that showed up all year long showed up again. We gave up too many big plays."
TAKEAWAYS
Texas Tech: Hammond, a true freshman, drew the start after regular quarterback Behren Morton opted for shoulder surgery after the regular season. Morton threw for 3,335 yards and 27 touchdowns this season.
Arkansas: The Hogs took advantage of the weak Texas Tech secondary that was last in the Big 12 allowing 305 passing yards a game. Green's 341 yards was more than the Red Raiders allowed on average.
Team Stats
TTU 0, ARK 7
ARK - Green,Taylen 12 yd run (Shipley,Matthew kick), 3 plays, 84 yards, TOP 01:29
TTU 3, ARK 7
TTU - Garcia,Gino 37 yd field goal 6 plays, 56 yards, TOP 03:09
TTU 3, ARK 14
ARK - Russell,Braylen 1 yd run (Shipley,Matthew kick), 3 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:05
TTU 3, ARK 21
ARK - James,Dazmin 94 yd pass from Green,Taylen (Shipley,Matthew kick) 3 plays, 96 yards, TOP 01:23
TTU 5, ARK 21
TTU - Smith,Isaac 0 yd safety
TTU 12, ARK 21
TTU - Williams,J'Koby 54 yd run (Garcia,Gino kick), 5 plays, 69 yards, TOP 02:10
TTU 19, ARK 21
TTU - Conyers,Jalin 2 yd run (Garcia,Gino kick), 8 plays, 98 yards, TOP 03:54
TTU 19, ARK 24
ARK - Shipley,Matthew 40 yd field goal 11 plays, 53 yards, TOP 01:58
TTU 19, ARK 27
ARK - Shipley,Matthew 34 yd field goal 10 plays, 78 yards, TOP 04:04
TTU 19, ARK 34
ARK - Reed Jr.,Tyrell 47 yd pass from Green,Taylen (Shipley,Matthew kick) 4 plays, 77 yards, TOP 02:17
TTU 19, ARK 36
ARK - Juncaj,Anton 0 yd safety
TTU 19, ARK 39
ARK - Shipley,Matthew 43 yd field goal 7 plays, -1 yards, TOP 03:53
TTU 26, ARK 39
TTU - Eakin,Coy 15 yd pass from Hammond,Will (Garcia,Gino kick) 6 plays, 70 yards, TOP 01:56
