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Classy Bielema departs after heartbreaker

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema, left, watches as defensive back Kevin Richardson takes the field during Senior Day ceremonies prior to a game against Missouri on Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Fayetteville.
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema, left, watches as defensive back Kevin Richardson takes the field during Senior Day ceremonies prior to a game against Missouri on Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Fans in cars were leaving the game, backed up for blocks, when the news release was handed out that Bret Bielema had been terminated as the head football coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Bielema said he was informed of the decision by interim athletic director Julie Cromer Peoples while coming off the field after a 48-45 loss Friday to the Missouri Tigers. He finishes his five years at Arkansas 29-34 overall and 11-29 in SEC play.

Bielema handled it with class and dignity.

He opened his postgame news conference with "Happy Thanksgiving," and later said he never had been terminated before. He said this was new territory for him, but everyone had been good to him. He got emotional when he talked about his dealings with the media.

"I love people who love their job, and you have a job to do," he said.

Now the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville will move forward at a time when it is also searching for a new athletic Director. Jeff Long, who hired Bielema, was fired Nov. 15.

If the UA ever had vacancies for its head football coach and AD at the same time, it was so long ago no one can remember it.

Bielema's fate obviously was settled before the game, but the players have to deal with the loss of their coach and a loss to the Missouri Tigers after leading 28-14 before letting the Tigers score 17 unanswered points in the second quarter.

Usually a team in the SEC is celebrating when it has 446 yards of offense and 45 points on the scoreboard, unless that team gives up 696 yards on 102 plays.

Arkansas tied it at 45-45 with 5:00 to play, but against a team that twice scored touchdowns in 80 seconds and also had two 92-yard drives, that was just way too much time. The Razorbacks did put the Tigers in a third and 7, but they gave up a 24-yard pass completion.

The Tigers just had too many weapons.

Quarterback Drew Lock completed 25 of 42 passes for 448 yards and 5 touchdowns. The Arkansas defense has struggled to get teams off the field on third down, and the Tigers converted 10 of 18. The Hogs have given up big plays, and Lock had touchdown passes of 56 and 55 yards.

The Razorbacks don't score 45 points -- their most since the season opener against Florida A&M when they won 49-7 -- without some good plays too, and it was a crazily officiated game when the referees seemed to miss more calls than a dead cellphone.

Austin Allen passed for 313 yards and two touchdowns. David Williams, a senior transfer from South Carolina, rushed for 75 yards and two touchdowns. He caught a 24-yard touchdown pass, too.

Redshirt freshman Jordan Jones had a 65-yard catch and a 57-yard touchdown reception.

Senior defensive back Henre Toliver had two interceptions and a 33-yard punt return.

In the end, the biggest news was Bielema's dismissal. When he was hired from Wisconsin, where he was 68-24 overall and 37-19 in Big Ten play, he looked like a home run.

He took over a program in disarray after the firing of Bobby Petrino and a year under interim head coach John L. Smith, but by his second season he had the Hogs in the first of three bowl games.

H was 8-5 in his third season and appeared to turn the corner. He was given a raise and new contract that will be much discussed in days to come, but for whatever reasons it started to slip and slide until he was told Friday night -- moments after another heartbreaking loss -- he was terminated.

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Sports on 11/25/2017

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