FORT WORTH, Texas -- Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen received plenty of help from his teammates on his 5-yard game-ending touchdown run over right end on third down in double overtime.
At the snap, tight end Austin Cantrell released to push defensive end James McFarland wide off the edge, and pulling tackle Colton Jackson joined him to wipe McFarland out of the play. Center Frank Ragnow also pulled and made contact with a defender as right guard Jake Raulerson drove defensive tackle Aaron Curry to the ground for a pancake block.
Receiver Dominique Reed engaged cornerback Jeff Gladney for a moment, though Reed's defender released and became part of the group that hit Allen before the goal line.
TCU linebacker Sammy Douglas diagnosed the play from the middle, looped around the Raulerson block, and hit Allen at the 2. But Douglas did not square up on the tackle, and Allen kept his momentum going toward the goal, even as Gladney came in and delivered a shot.
Ragnow, noticing that Allen was being held up just short of the goal plane by TCU safety Nick Orr, drove into the pileup, helping his quarterback cross the line.
Allen, who had both feet off the ground momentarily as he was being held up by the opposing forces, was never tackled on the play.
His teammates mobbed him as he scooted through the end zone.
TCU Coach Gary Patterson said he had an idea what the Razorbacks were up to on the game-ending play.
"I even knew what the last play was going to be," Patterson said. "I was slanting that way. We hit him at the 4-, 5-yard line, we just didn't tackle him."
Poll position
Arkansas entered both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls at No. 24 after beating No. 15 TCU 41-38 in double overtime.
The Razorbacks' last previous AP ranking was No. 18 heading into Week 2 last season before a 16-12 loss to Toledo.
Arkansas is one of two teams to notch a road victory against a Top 25 opponent this season, joining Central Michigan, which defeated Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Arkansas received 198 points by AP voters, seven behind No. 23 Florida and one point ahead of Miami, Fla. TCU fell out of the top 25, but is the first team behind Miami among teams receiving votes.
The SEC has eight teams in the AP poll, the most of any conference. The Big Ten is next with five.
Roses
Bret Bielema, feeling giddy during his postgame remarks, pointed out his interactions with a heckler at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
"I had some guy yelling 'Rose Bowl' at me every time I ran into the locker room," Bielema said, referencing TCU's 21-19 victory over Wisconsin after the 2011 season. "I was looking for him at the end of the game, couldn't find him. But otherwise a cool environment."
Titanic Toby
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema will have a problem today if his senior punter Toby Baker isn't named SEC special teams player of the week.
Baker averaged 50.7 yards on six punts against TCU, including a long punt of 59 yards.
"If Toby Baker doesn't get SEC special teams player of the week, I'm going to quit," Bielema said. "That kid flipped the field position against a great return man."
Arkansas ranks No. 24 in the nation in net punting (42.2), a statistic that includes long punt returns by Louisiana Tech's Trent Taylor and TCU's KaVontae Turpin against the Hogs.
Throat goat
Kenny Hill triggered the Frogs' comeback from a 20-7 deficit in the fourth quarter with three touchdown drives in a span of 7:40, but he didn't help his team when receiving an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty after scoring to put TCU ahead 28-20 with 2:05 remaining.
Hill made a throat-slash gesture, caught by the ESPN cameras and the SEC officiating crew, and TCU was hit with a 15-yard penalty that was assessed on the ensuing kickoff, which Dominique Reed returned to the Arkansas 42.
Austin Allen went 4 for 4 from that point, hitting Keon Hatcher for a 16-yard touchdown pass, then catching the tying 2-point conversion from Hatcher with 1:03 remaining.
TCU Coach Gary Patterson was asked if he had seen Hill's throat-slash move.
"All I know is he got a penalty," Patterson said. "Now I'm even more unhappy. Thanks."
Hands to face
The SEC officiating crew didn't throw flags on two occasions when it appeared defenders from each team got their hands on the face mask of an offensive player in the first half.
Arkansas defensive lineman Jeremiah Ledbetter's outstretched left hand clearly swiped the face mask of TCU running back Deante' Gray on a first-period run. Gray fumbled on the play and Arkansas linebacker Dre Greenlaw recovered at the Hogs' 4. When the replay was shown at Carter Stadium, the TCU fans booed loud and long.
TCU defensive end James McFarland smacked his left hand through the face mask of Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen on a pass in the second quarter.
Captain Dan
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema sent only one captain, offensive tackle Dan Skipper, to midfield for the coin toss in overtime.
"Dan is like a 3.9 student," Bielema said. "I don't want anybody screwing it up. I remember at other places we actually had to give our guys a card to tell them what to do."
Sack switch
TCU has sacked an opposing quarterback in 32 consecutive games, the nation's second-longest streak. But the Horned Frogs got only one -- Josh Carraway's 6-yard sack of Austin Allen in the first quarter. Arkansas allowed three fewer sacks against TCU than it did in the opener against Louisiana Tech.
On the other side, the Razorbacks sacked TCU's Kenny Hill three times. Deatrich Wise and McTelvin Agim had one each, and Jeremiah Ledbetter and Randy Ramsey combined for another.
Most notable was Agim's sack for an 8-yard loss, which came on a blindside hit.
Cool mil
Arkansas will pay nonconference opponent Texas State $1 million for Saturday's game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Louisiana Tech's guarantee for the opener was $925,000, a contract that was agreed upon in 2010 and remained the same after both sides agreed to move the game out of Little Rock and up to campus.
Sports on 09/12/2016