College Football World Reacts to Frenetic Finish in Liberty Bowl

The Jayhawks and Razorbacks combined for one of the most chaotic bowl games in recent memory.

To anyone foolish enough to believe that there are too many bowl games, may I present to you this retort: the 2022 Liberty Bowl.

The casual fan might not get too excited about a matchup between a pair of 6–6 teams, but the real ones know that this is exactly the type of game to jump off the rails on a random December weeknight and captivate the college football viewing world. It happens every year, and this one needed to be seen to be believed.

The Razorbacks raced out to a 31-7 lead in the second quarter and held a 38–20 advantage heading into the fourth. From there, chaos reigned.

The Jayhawks—appearing in their first bowl game since the 2008 Insight Bowl—ripped off an 18–0 run, aided by an onside kick recovery that led to a pair of touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the game’s final 65 seconds to force overtime. The two teams traded touchdowns for the first two periods, setting up dueling two-point attempts for the third overtime.

After Arkansas quarterback K.J. Jefferson found Rashod Dubinion for the conversion, Kansas was stopped on a reverse pass attempt, sealing a wild 55–53 win for the Hogs.

WHAT. A. GAME.

Arkansas wins the Liberty Bowl in a 3OT thriller, 55-53‼️🐗

(@RazorbackFB) https://t.co/IWVdGgNR4T

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 29, 2022

Given the frantic nature of the finish, there was plenty to talk about on social media in the aftermath of this one. Check out the best of the bunch below.

Arkansas has approached the entire second half as if it had a flight to catch and Kansas has treated them like Southwest passengers.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) December 29, 2022

TOUCHDOWN KANSAS BLOCKED BY A SAD ARKANSAS FAN IN A HOG ONESIE?? https://t.co/x7weQFEDzK

— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) December 29, 2022

This might be the single greatest shot in football history. https://t.co/7UPGjPaDEy

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) December 29, 2022

Arkansas had the ball, up 38-23 with 2:43 left, and its opponent out of timeouts.

We are entering the third overtime.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 29, 2022

Arkansas gets revenge after 116 long years

— Matt Brown (@MattBrownCFB) December 29, 2022

Mood of this Kansas/Arkansas game pic.twitter.com/EO1nJc3GpE

— Cody Tapp (@codybtapp) December 29, 2022

pic.twitter.com/jWbms1PAwD

— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) December 29, 2022

It’s been an underwhelming bowl season so far in terms of drama and excitement. Liberty Bowl did its part to make up for it.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) December 29, 2022

“The Playoff has made the Bowls bori—“ pic.twitter.com/ylfMUzBo8p

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 29, 2022

respect to everybody out there sweating the end of Arkansas-Kansas to settle whether the take is "SEC rules" or "nobody cares about bowl games"

— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) December 29, 2022

Kansas and Arkansas going to PKs.

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) December 29, 2022