East Carolina Couldn't Kick Arkansas in The Liberty Bowl

You may not be able to teach an hog new tricks, but if you're East Carolina, you can't teach an old Pirate to make his kicks. Such was the fate of Skip Holtz and his East Carolina Pirates tonight in the 2010 Liberty Bowl.

Arkansas just couldn't get the offense going tonight, finishing with over 100 total yards less than the Pirates but they managed to hang around while East Carolina failed time and time again to put the game away.

Alex Tejada made the second of his three attempts to win the game in overtime shortly after Hartman missed his forth. "It wasn't pretty, but it was a win." said Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino after the game.

That may have been an understatement. Poor Ben Hartman made only one of five field goals and this was a game that quite literally will make this player kick himself for years to come.

But the Pirates have plenty of blame to go around. Pinkney's two interceptions and a costly fumble all ended drives as well.

East Carolina held the ball over one quarter more than Arkansas as Arkansas did as many 1-2-3-kicks as the Rockettes. It was not a good performance for Ryan Mallet who may have been thinking about leaving early for the NFL.

However, with this as the last game the scouts see, the NFL may not want him to leave early.

For the Razorbacks and the SEC, it was a much needed win to hold up conference pride, for Skip Holtz and East Carolina, it was a chance to gain a little pride for Conference USA.

Arkansas ends up at 8-5 for the season and East Carolina missed a big 10-win season with four missed field goals and finished 9-5.

Receivers were dropping balls, the line couldn't open holes for the running backs who only managed a total 81 yards for the night and Mallet was only 15-of-36 for the night, but they did just enough to hang around and after Hartman's last two attempts to give the Hogs the game on silver platter, they finally took it.

Though Arkansas won the game, there were many questions concerning their ability to move the ball and when you have a quarterback that's supposed to be a hot shot, that could spell trouble if they can't fix it.