Hogs (2-4) embrace good bye

Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema pleads his case to an official following a penalty on a blocked punt during the third quarter against Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema pleads his case to an official following a penalty on a blocked punt during the third quarter against Alabama on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The Arkansas Razorbacks can use a break after leading Alabama at Denny-Bryant Stadium for much of Saturday night's game before the Crimson Tide rallied to win 27-14.

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said his players were "devastated" to lose after holding a 7-3 lead late on the third quarter.

"They came over here with the expectation of winning," Bielema said. "I think at halftime, every one of our guys in that locker room, every coach, expected to have success and win the football game.

"When it doesn't pan out that way it gets frustrating. Frustration can go to a lot of different levels and a lot of different places.

"We just ask them to hold on to the rope and not let go and see what we get on the agenda for the next week."

The Razorbacks (2-4, 0-2 SEC) have their only open date this week before resuming SEC play against Auburn Oct. 24 in Fayetteville.

"Unfortunately, we're a 2-4 team and that doesn't settle well with me, our players, our fans and everybody," Bielema said. "But I know we're getting better."

Bielema said the Razorbacks' goal is to continue to improve in the second half of the season and hopefully put themselves in position to play in a bowl game for the second year in a row.

The Razorbacks need to go at least 4-2 the rest of the season and finish no worse than 4-4 in SEC play to qualify for a bowl.

Arkansas should have no problem with Tennessee-Martin -- Ole Miss beat the Skyhawks 76-3 to open the season -- but the Razorbacks' five remaining SEC opponents are a combined 21-7.

The Razorbacks play Auburn after the open date, then play their final nonconference game against Tennessee-Martin. They finish with road games at Ole Miss and LSU and home games against Mississippi State and Missouri.

"We're a better football team now than when we started," Arkansas senior quarterback Brandon Allen said. "I'm excited to see what the second half of the season holds for us.

"This bye week will be good for us. A lot of guys are banged up after playing six straight games. We can get a lot of guys healthy in two weeks."

Alabama held Arkansas to 220 yards on 57 snaps, but the Razorbacks' defense might have played its best game of the season.

Arkansas ended Alabama's streak of scoring 34 or more points at nine games, but the defense finally gave out after the Razorbacks failed to convert on a fake punt, Allen threw an interception and Cyrus Jones had a 27-yard punt return and the Tide had to go 43 yards for a touchdown, 4 yards for a field goal and 16 yards for a touchdown to take a 27-7 lead.

"Our defense I thought had a good game plan," Bielema said. "We had a lot of good plays."

Alabama began taking control of the game after Jake Coker's 81-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Ridley with 1:39 left in the third quarter put the Tide ahead 10-7.

"To be winning with seven points in the third quarter is a credit to what our defense was doing," Allen said. "Offensively we needed to make more big plays and get a groove going, and we couldn't do it."

Alabama (5-1, 2-1 SEC) beat Arkansas for the ninth consecutive season since Nick Saban became the Tide's coach.

"I thought we grew certain steps last week and definitely continued to grow this week," Bielema said. "Unfortunately, we just didn't do enough things in the second half to give us a win."

Bielema said the Razorbacks need to take advantage of their open date.

"We've got to get some guys healthy," he said. "We're banged up at certain positions. We've got to be smart about that as coaches, but continue to get better at the areas of need."

Sports on 10/12/2015

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