FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said he approached quarterback Austin Allen on the sideline after No. 15 TCU scored a touchdown to go ahead 28-20 with 2:05 remaining last Saturday.
Bielema wanted to assure Allen, who had already shown significant progress in his second college start, that the upcoming two-minute drill would be just like the ones the Razorbacks run at the end of practice every Tuesday and Wednesday.
"I thought I was gonna have to loosen him up," Bielema at his Monday news conference, two days after Arkansas' 41-38 victory in double overtime. "He's standing on the sideline by himself and I said, 'Hey bro, it's Wednesday. You're down by eight. You've got four downs. You have one timeout, you have a minute whatever it was.' And as an added pressure, I said, 'Not only do you have to score, but you've got a two-point conversion to follow it up.'
"He just smiled and said, 'I got you coach.' Just that moment, I walked away. He was smiling, I was smiling. I'm like, 'That bro don't have no problems right now.' "
Allen, a redshirt junior, did not have a problem leading the Razorbacks to a touchdown in 56 seconds. He completed 4 of 4 passes for 63 yards in the two-minute drill.
"It's something we work on a lot ... and I think our guys are confident in it," Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos said. "I thought our offensive line really rose to the occasion. Everybody in the stadium knew we were throwing the football and they were able to protect.
"And I thought our receivers and Austin and all did a great job of getting open and finding the guys."
Allen hit Drew Morgan twice for 30 yards, completed a throw to Jared Cornelius for 17 yards, then finished the drive with a 16-yard touchdown strike to Keon Hatcher. The two swapped roles seconds later when Hatcher took a reverse at left end and lofted a tying two-point conversion pass to his quarterback.
Speaking to Dari Nowkah on the SEC Network on Monday night, Allen said he was mildly concerned he was running too close to the boundary before catching Hatcher's pass.
"I tried to throttle it down there about 5 yards in the end zone," Allen said. "The ball he threw, I don't think anyone could have thrown a better ball right there. It just worked out to perfection for us."
Allen also scored the game-winning touchdown. He took a Shotgun snap around right end for a 5-yard score, breaking a couple of tackles and refusing to go down on the hard-nosed sweep.
"Honestly, I don't think I could have gotten in there without Frank Ragnow helping me float across the goal really," Allen said to Nowkah.
"A long time ago a coach told me, 'In critical situations, sometimes it's important to think player, not play,' " Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos said, when asked to explain why he called a run with Allen on third and goal. "Get the ball in a guy's hands that you know is going to give you 100 percent and they're going to do what they can to score."
Enos said the quarterback run was different than the two-point conversion Brandon Allen ran last year to beat Ole Miss 53-52 in overtime, but the character of the competitive Allen brothers was similar.
"Certainly Brandon in that game and Austin in this game we felt really good that those guys were going to score or die trying," Enos said. "They certainly did that."
Allen's late-game heroics and composure under fire led to his selection as SEC offensive player of the week on Monday.
Allen, 6-1, 209 pounds, completed 17 of 29 passes for 223 yards and 3 touchdowns in the victory.
Allen is 2-0 in his career as a starter in college. His completion rate of 63.8 percent is best among SEC quarterbacks.
His cool under fire -- Allen has led four touchdowns drives in the fourth quarter or later on which the Razorbacks had to score or lose -- has earned the respect of his teammates.
"Man, he's the leader of this team," running back Rawleigh Williams said. "He fought through a lot of adversity and made plays when we needed them the most. That shows a lot about him as a player and as a person."
The winning run in overtime last Saturday is a play that stands out.
"He just ducks his head and wants it so bad," said linebacker Brooks Ellis, a former teammate at Fayetteville High. "He doesn't worry about what happened in the past. He's just going to the next play. That was huge for our team."
Allen spiked the football a few moments after the winning score.
"I honestly couldn't even tell you where that spike came from," Allen said on the SEC Network. "That was a rush of emotion right there and I thought the proper thing to do was spike the ball. I was excited right there."
Allen said he heard from Brandon Allen, who is on the Jacksonville Jaguars roster, after the wild finish in Fort Worth.
"Brandon texted me ... telling me he's proud of me and everything like that," Allen said. "We're our biggest fans for each other."
Sports on 09/13/2016