Sam Pittman, Hogs excited for Liberty Bowl

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas and Texas Tech will meet in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Friday, Dec. 27, in Memphis.

Arkansas (6-6) and Texas Tech (8-4) were chosen to play in the game over several other teams from their conference. The two teams have one common opponent. Arkansas lost to Oklahoma State 39-31 in two overtimes on Saturday, Sept. 7. The Red Raiders beat the Cowboys 56-48 on Saturday, Nov. 23.

The Red Raiders enter the Liberty Bowl having defeated both teams that played in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. Texas Tech downed Arizona State 30-22 and Iowa State 23-22. Arkansas owns a win over Tennessee 19-14 with the Vols being one of the 12 teams in the College Football Playoffs.

This will be the seventh Liberty Bowl for Arkansas. The Razorbacks are 3-3 in the six previous games having won the past three in a row. Arkansas defeated Kansas 55-53 in three overtimes on Dec. 28, 2022.

Joey McGuire is the head coach at Texas Tech. McGuire revealed he grew up a Razorback fan.

“I told Kirby (Hocutt) earlier today it’s a dream for me,” McGuire said. “I was born in Texarkana. I had season tickets to War Memorial Stadium. I grew up a Razorback fan so this is a real cool deal for me to be able to coach against such great program and such great coach.”

Sam Pittman stated he was excited to accept an invite to the bowl game.

“It’s a great for the fans of Arkansas,” Pittman said. “We’re very close. We had big attendance there a couple of years back. The kids are excited about it. What a wonderful job they have done at Texas Tech. Three bowl games in three years coaching. They hired the right guy.”

McGuire said he may have a Hog Hat in his closet still. Despite just playing in this bowl two year’s ago Pittman said this is where the team wanted to go.

“This is the one we pushed for,” Pittman said. “We had great attendance last time we were there. We will bus there, have a good time and lots of familiar faces in the crowd.”

Pittman said he isn’t able to walk without his walker yet, but is close. He had hip replacement surgery on Tuesday. Due to construction, the Liberty Bowl will be limited to 42,000 fans this game.

McGuire paid tribute to Arkansas and expects a tough game.

“We know they’re going to be really good up front,” McGuire said. “Coach Pittman being an offensive line coach. I worked with Coach (Eric) Mateos whenever he was at Baylor. We went against each other every day. I was coaching the D-line and linebackers and he was coaching the O-line. They’re going to be physical and very well coached.”

The kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and televised on ESPN.