Taylen Green threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more to help Arkansas defeat Louisiana Tech 35-14 on Saturday.
With the win, the Razorbacks secured bowl eligibility for the fourth time in coach Sam Pittman’s five seasons.
“To be bowl-eligible four of our first five years here is a lot of fun,” Pittman said. “That’s not the goal of our football team. That’s one of them, though. There’s a lot of power-four teams that are not bowl-eligible after today and won’t get bowl eligible. Some of them are in our league. It is an accomplishment, but not our ultimate goal.”
After a slow first quarter where Arkansas gained just 25 yards, Green and the offense took charge in the second quarter. They started with a 13-play, 80-yard drive to score with 5:54 left in the half. On the next drive, Green ran for a 41-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-3 play, giving Arkansas a comfortable lead.
Louisiana Tech (4-7) struggled to move the ball, failing to gain more than 20 yards on any drive until late in the third quarter. That’s when Evan Bullock connected with Eli Finley on a 42-yard drive to score their first touchdown, which only happened after a targeting penalty negated an Arkansas interception earlier in the game.
Green finished the game with 221 passing yards on 20-of-37 attempts and ran for 61 yards on six carries. He scored his second rushing touchdown on the Razorbacks’ next drive. Louisiana Tech’s Bullock threw a 20-yard touchdown to Jimmy Holiday in the fourth quarter, which was their final score.
Isaac TeSlaa, in his last home game, caught both of Green’s touchdown passes. Ja’Quinden Jackson added a 13-yard rushing touchdown with 3:01 left to close out the game.
Louisiana Tech only gained 229 yards of total offense, with just 43 yards at halftime.
“I was most proud of how the defense stayed together early because we were struggling so much offensively. There was no pointing,” Pittman said. “They had 1st-and-goal at one point and got no points out of it, then the offense started getting rolling a little bit more.”
