Poor block root cause of FG miss

Arkansas kicker Cole Hedlund has his field goal attempt blocked by Mississippi State defenders in the final seconds of the fourth quarter Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015, at Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas kicker Cole Hedlund has his field goal attempt blocked by Mississippi State defenders in the final seconds of the fourth quarter Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015, at Razorback Stadium.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Bret Bielema said on Monday he was "legitimately pissed off" and went "through the roof" over the ending of Saturday's 51-50 loss to Mississippi State.

The shootout loss snapped Arkansas' four-game winning streak and might have cost the Razorbacks a shot at playing in a Florida-based bowl.

"I met with our kids while our coaches were working on Missouri prep and for the first time I've been here I was legitimately pissed off on Saturday night and Sunday," Bielema said of the Sunday meeting.

"Mississippi State played well, but we easily could have had that game in the [win] column and you can't give away a win. We just need to execute in the last minute on a chip-shot field goal and we'd be there. We didn't."

Mississippi State's Beniquez Brown slid past right end Alex Voelzke to get in front of Cole Hedlund's 29-yard field goal with 39 seconds left in the game. The ball caromed off Brown's upper chest and he fell on it to seal the Bulldogs' fourth victory in a row over Arkansas.

Bielema said he had to compose himself to talk to the team late Saturday night, then do a series of media interviews before he got a chance to watch a replay of the blocked field goal.

"It's like 11:30 or whatever and I'm just dying," Bielema said. "So I go watch the field goal clip and I just go through the roof. My wife tried to calm me down a little, but I was like a little bit beside myself Saturday night."

Bielema said the broken foot sustained by Mitchell Loewen against LSU put Dan Skipper in at the left end spot for placekicks and moved Voelzke to right end. Brown got penetration across Voelzke's face on the play.

"That was really a breakdown in protection," Bielema said. "It wasn't anything to do with the kick. I should say this, you really didn't know about the kick because the ball got taken off his foot, basically, before it ever really got in the air."

No second guess

Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Dan Enos said Monday they had no regrets about playing for a field goal in the final minute after quarterback Brandon Allen had gone 5 for 5 for 70 yards and moved Arkansas from its 11 to the Bulldogs' 19 in about two minutes.

"The last series, you've got to think about what's on the clock," Bielema said. "I don't need to go into great detail, but they'd had a lot of success scoring and they had two timeouts. ... It was apparent to me they were stopping it because they wanted to have time on the clock when we kicked the field goal.

"Look at the results at what could happen and you felt good about keeping the ball on the ground in guys' hands and making a routine field goal. We hadn't been great on field goals, but from that distance [29 yards] we've been all right, especially as of late, so I wouldn't change anything else."

Enos said the decision to run three times once Arkansas reached the Mississippi State 19 was made in agreement between Bielema and himself.

"Once we got inside the 15 we felt like we were in great shape to win the game," Enos said. "Let's make them use all their timeouts. I thought from a time-management standpoint, Coach Bielema was an A-plus there with everything.

"Obviously we were trying to get a first down ... but we felt really good where we were at that point. What you have to understand is we didn't need a field goal to tie, we needed a field goal to win.

"Let's say you throw the ball there three straight plays and you get sacked. Well, you're out of field-goal range. Let's say the ball gets tipped in the air and it gets intercepted. How are you going to face your team when you're in field-goal range to win the game and you do that? So a lot of things go into it."

New trophy

Arkansas gained another trophy game on Monday as officials revealed the new Battle Line Trophy to be presented to the winner of Saturday's regular-season finale with Missouri.

The silver trophy, in the outline of Arkansas and Missouri, stands 4 feet, 4 inches, weighs 180 pounds and has two interchangeable 25-pound "Battle Line" border pieces that come in the colors of the Razorbacks and Tigers and slots into the border area of the trophy. The trophy was created by former Arkansas linebacker David Bazzel, the Little Rock entrepreneur who also started the Broyles Award and created the Golden Boot trophy for the Arkansas-LSU rivalry.

"I haven't seen it live, but I saw some pictures this morning," Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. "Pretty cool. Heavy sucker, 4 foot, 180, like a midget 3-technique. I like the looks of it. Looks classy."

Missouri won the first "Battle Line" game 21-14 last year in Columbia, Mo.

Common foes

Arkansas and Missouri have played only two common opponents this season, Mississippi State and Tennessee. The Tigers are 0-2 against those teams, losing at home to both the Bulldogs (31-13) on Nov. 5, and the Volunteers (19-8) last Saturday.

Arkansas is 1-1 against those teams, defeating Tennessee 24-20 on the road on Oct. 3, and falling at home to Mississippi State 51-50 last Saturday.

Weather update

The four-day forecast is calling for a 90-percent chance of rain on Friday's game day, with a high temperature of 46 degrees. The rain accumulation is projected to be around one-quarter inch, according to weather.com.

Schedule shakeup

Bret Bielema said the Razorbacks juggled their practice schedule due to the shorter week leading up to Friday's game.

Arkansas, which normally has Mondays off, was scheduled to practice at about 6:30 p.m. on Monday, followed by a practice at their normal time today. Bielema said practice would be earlier than normal on Wednesday, with school out, and the Razorbacks would gather for a team meal for Thanksgiving on Wednesday evening before letting the 50 players who are not on the travel roster make it home for Thanksgiving.

"I don't want to be the Grinch who steals Thanksgiving," Bielema said. "Whoever he is, I don't want to be that guy."

Extra points

• Linebacker Brooks Ellis played all 86 defensive snaps in Saturday's 51-50 loss to Mississippi State, defensive coordinator Robb Smith said.

Bret Bielema said freshman fullback Kendrick Jackson would likely return to linebacker, the position he was recruited to play, for upcoming bowl practices as the Razorbacks look to extend their linebacker depth for 2016.

Sports on 11/24/2015

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