East Carolina University field goal kicker Ben Hartman missed two field goals from 39 yards at the end of regulation to win it for the Pirates. He then missed from 35 yards out in the first overtime.

"He stepped up and made a big play. The team stuck behind him when all you guys were yapping at him," said sophomore quarterback Ryan Mallett.

The Conference USA champion Pirates know it should have never come down to field goals.

East Carolina (9-5) outgained the Hogs 393 to 283 yards. They also ran 32 more plays. And they won the time of possession by more than fifteen minutes.

Head coach Skip Holtz noted none of that mattered.

"This hurts, it hurts bad. I hurt for them. (They) go out there and do what they did statistically, that's why It hurts so bad."

The buzz before the game was whether Ryan Mallett will leave the Hogs after only one season for the NFL. The talk after the game was how ECU's defense limited Mallett's passing numbers. Mallet was 15 of 36 for 202 yards and one touchdown.

"We really didn’t get into a rhythm. They made plays and we didn't," said Mallett.

"They were flying around today," said Holtz about the Pirates defense.

The biggest offensive stat of the night was Arkansas' success rate on third down, or lack thereof. Arkansas (8-5) went 0 for 13 on third down. That's a rarity in blowout losses.

"We didn’t execute well on third down. We had chances to make catches and we didn’t do it," said Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino.

Again for the Hogs, the stat that mattered was the final score.

"It was a great bowl experience for us. We were able to get our young guys a lot of work," Petrino said after the win.

What's next for Arkansas? Spring practice. Will Ryan Mallett be a part of those drills? Time will tell.

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