Razorbacks Report

Bielema: Lateral was sign

Arkansas tight end Hunter Henry prepares to lateral a football during a game against Ole Miss on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.
Arkansas tight end Hunter Henry prepares to lateral a football during a game against Ole Miss on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema could not label last Saturday's 53-52 victory at No. 18 Ole Miss as the greatest game he'd been a part of, but he bestowed an all-timer award to the lateral play in overtime.

"Of the plays in my career, that was probably one of the most astonishing, rewarding, fulfilling, but also in its own weird kind of way, not surprising," Bielema said Wednesday on the SEC coaches' teleconference.

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Facing fourth and 25 from the Ole Miss 40 in overtime, Hunter Henry caught Brandon Allen's pass about 11 yards short of a first down, lateraled blindly over his head to Alex Collins, who picked up a tailor-made bounce off lineman Dan Skipper's hand at the Ole Miss 42 and ran 31 yards for a first down.

The Razorbacks scored a touchdown two plays later and won it on Allen's plunge on a second-chance two-point conversion.

"We've been through so much," Bielema said. "These kids have been through some bounces of the ball, some calls, some breaks -- some almost unexplainable -- and to have that little segue right there that led to, it's almost awesome that it didn't go for the touchdown so we had a couple of more plays to relish.

"When that play happened and when it was under review, I went to all my coaches and players on offense and said, 'Hey, when we score this touchdown, we're going for two. Everybody stay on the field and we're going to walk out of here with a W.'

"It wasn't like a confidence-builder. It was like a fact. I just thought at that point, we've got this one. We can't have that happen and walk out short.

No secret

Arkansas defensive tackle DeMarcus Hodge said there is no secret to succeeding Saturday in Baton Rouge.

"We've got to go in and stop the run," Hodge said. "We've got to stop No. 7 [Leonard Fournette]."

Hodge said the Razorbacks were able to hold Fournette and all the LSU running backs down last season because the Hogs were playing vertical.

"We were attacking our gaps and we were meeting him in the backfield," Hodge said. "Because once he gets past that first level, that's where he does what he does best."

Injury report

Bret Bielema said linebacker Dwayne Eugene, who missed last week's game with a thumb injury, has changed out his casts and will likely have the opportunity to play against LSU.

"I'm going to have a hard cast on there making sure that thing's nice and protected," Eugene said.

The Razorbacks expect to use three linebackers more against LSU than they have in most games this year.

"There's definitely going to be a lot of base run this game," Eugene said. "It's going to be physical."

Receiver Cody Hollister is getting closer to being game ready, Bielema said.

"He was cleared for practice last week but he just wasn't quite there yet," Bielema said. "This week we've repped him in there a little bit more."

Here and there

Jeremiah Ledbetter took snaps against Ole Miss at nose tackle, defensive tackle, defensive end and even linebacker.

Ledbetter, who played some linebacker in high school, had to drop into coverage on a couple of the five or so plays when Arkansas ran the new package.

"They were wanting to give different looks to the offense ... so we could get confusion and wondering what I'm doing in these different places," Ledbetter said.

A blitz from the linebacker spot by Ledbetter led to pressure on Ole Miss' Chad Kelly on a fourth-down stop with nine seconds left in regulation, Ledbetter said.

Their Brandon

The Arkansas defense, carved up by 110 rushing yards by Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly last week, faces another quality scrambler in LSU's Brandon Harris.

"He does a great job of extending plays," Arkansas defensive backs coach Clay Jennings said. "You watch not only game film but cutups, the one thing that he's done, he gets outside of contain and their guys slip behind guys.

"When he starts to scramble, we've got to make sure we have five bodies on the five eligibles and give our defensive line the opportunity to wrap him up and get him corralled."

Henry honored

Arkansas tight end Hunter Henry was named an honorable mention selection for the John Mackey tight end of the week honor.

Henry caught six passes for 60 yards in Arkansas' 53-52 overtime victory over Ole Miss. The junior from Little Rock triggered Arkansas' spectacular conversion on fourth and 25 when he lateraled to Alex Collins for a 31-yard gain.

Henry has 99 career receptions, the most among active SEC tight ends, and has not dropped a pass all season. He has 34 receptions for 469 yards, best among SEC tight ends.

Allen honors

Quarterback Brandon Allen's honors for his performance in Saturday's 53-52 overtime victory at Ole Miss poured in throughout the week. Allen passed for a career-high 442 yards and an Arkansas-record six touchdowns and ran in the winning two-point conversion to end the game.

Allen is one of eight players up for Manning Award quarterback of the week recognition, which is decided by a fan vote that ends at 11 a.m. today. Fans can vote by going to the Allstate Sugar Bowl page on Facebook and "liking" the page to cast a ballot.

Allen's performance pulled down national offensive player of the week honors by the Football Writers Association of America, SEC offensive player of the week honors and a spot in the "Great 8" quarterback performances of Week 10 by the Davey O'Brien Award.

Film room

Bret Bielema said David Greene, the former Georgia quarterback, was on campus early this week working on a segment for his SEC Film Room series with the Razorbacks.

Last year, Hogs linebacker Martrell Spaight was featured on the series pointing out how his film study helped him make several key plays in Arkansas' 17-0 victory over LSU.

Sports on 11/12/2015

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