FAYETTEVILLE -- The story of the University of Arkansas' kicking game the past two seasons is a winding road with a few major potholes that eventually let out into a fertile, happy valley.
The Razorbacks enter the Outback Bowl under special teams coordinator Scott Fountain in as stout of a spot in the kicking game as the program has seen in many years.
The consistency of freshman place kicker Cam Little has a lot to do with the Hogs' special teams momentum, as does the success of fake field goals in back-to-back road games triggered by holder (and punter) Reid Bauer at LSU and Alabama.
Add in precision deep snaps by senior Jordan Silver, a solid return game -- headlined by Nathan Parodi, AJ Green and LaDarrius Bishop -- and phenomenal kickoffs by Vito Calvaruso and the Razorbacks are kicking it as they point toward a showdown with Penn State on Jan. 1 in Tampa, Fla.
"They got better, you know?" Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said on his radio show Tuesday.
"I thought it was really good," Little said of special teams overall. "We had a couple hiccups with some weird looks that were given by other teams, but I feel like we've been super prepared in the special teams department this year.
"I think when we've taken advantage of our plays in special teams, it's really impacted the game greatly. It's given us a really good shot to win the game."
Bauer touted the work of Fountain.
"Since Coach Fountain got here, I think he's really helped out our special teams room with all the units," Bauer said. "He's a tough coach, but sometimes that's what you need. It's nice that he keeps us accountable and keeps us on the right track doing what we need to be doing."
For a while this season, the jury was still out on whether special teams had made progress.
After a shaky kicking game debut under Pittman and Fountain in 2020, the Razorbacks promptly gave up a blocked punt in the season opener against Rice when blocking back Shane Clenin did not block out on rusher Kenneth Orji. The Owls recovered at the Arkansas 21 and turned the block into a field goal that created momentum and an eventual lead for the Owls.
Things settled down for a few weeks as Little opened the season 8 for 8 on field-goal attempts during the Razorbacks' 4-0 start and the program's rise to No. 8 in The Associated Press poll.
But Little had his first miss of the season, a 37-yard try, during a 37-0 shutout at Georgia, and that wasn't the worst part of it for the Arkansas kicking game against the then-No. 2 Bulldogs.
Georgia's Dan Jackson swarmed in to block another Bauer punt which was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown by Zamir White as part of the Bulldogs' 21-0 first-quarter blitz.
"Georgia exposed us with some hanging guys back there," Pittman said, later describing Jackson and another rusher as "floaters. ... We weren't counting them."
Said Bauer, "It was definitely tough to get punts blocked and start off slow. But we knew we could never waver in our confidence. Coach Fountain did a great job keeping us confident and keeping us moving forward and focusing on the next game."
Since week 6 at Ole Miss, the Razorbacks have been noticeably cleaner on special teams. The punting has improved and the return game even produced a touchdown on Parodi's 80-yard punt return score in a 45-3 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
"After [the Georgia game], we've been really, really solid," Pittman said on his radio show. "As a matter of fact, I'd say we probably won more special teams battles from game six on than we lost.
"We might have won almost all of them. The return game from our opponents was almost nothing. Of course, Parodi did a really nice job along with the punt return team."
The Razorbacks will have to replace Calvaruso for the bowl game after the sophomore entered the transfer portal with the hopes of adding field-goal kicking to his workload in 2022. Calvaruso had touchbacks on 63 of 74 kickoffs, a rate of 85.1% that ranks fifth in the nation.
Little and backup punter Sam Loy are competing to take over kickoff duties against Penn State.
Arkansas saved some of its top special teams work for late in the season.
While No. 17 Mississippi State was having a field-goal meltdown at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Nov. 6, Little went 3 for 3, connecting from 46, 48 and 51 yards.
Then the Razorbacks got tricky with their fake field goals.
Bauer converted a fake field goal on fourth and 6 against LSU, turning a would-be 53-yard field goal try into a 23-yard run. That set up a much-shorter field goal, a 27-yarder, four plays later for a 13-10 Arkansas lead in a game the Razorbacks would win 16-13 in overtime.
"We'd been working the one we used at LSU probably since week one or two, maybe even a little bit in fall camp," Little said. "I was super excited when we got to use it, because we'd been working that thing forever."
Little got to stroke a walk-off field goal from 37 yards in overtime in that game. As he sprinted one direction with teammates chasing him, a huge chunk of Razorbacks raced into the opposite end zone to grab the Golden Boot Trophy.
The following week at No. 2 Alabama, Little was lined up for a 49-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter when Bauer popped up with the snap for another fake. Bauer threw a jump pass to Blake Kern, who reached behind him to make a one-hand catch for a 32-yard touchdown to draw Arkansas within 34-28.
"The two fakes helped us," Pittman said on his radio show. "Cam might have made the [53]-yarder against LSU, but we were trying to score a touchdown. We didn't do it, but we did get the three points. Then certainly the fake against Alabama was a lot of fun."
Little called the Bauer-to-Kern touchdown against Alabama "crazy."
"To see us do that against Alabama, one of the biggest teams in the country, if not the biggest team in the country right now, it was a surreal feeling," Little said.
"When I saw Blake catch it with his back hand and then pull it in and saw him run, I was like, 'Oh yeah, we're going to score on this.' "
Little noted the role of special teams in helping Arkansas solidify its spot as an 8-4 team with a 4-4 SEC record.
"You look back at a couple games, LSU specifically, special teams put up 10 points," he said. "Reid has given us great field position with his punts. In SEC games, where you know they're going to be close, that really matters. In the [Texas] A&M game, our special teams really stepped up."
The postseason honors affirmed the belief Arkansas had moved up in the kicking department.
Little was selected to the SEC's All-Freshman team along with tailback Raheim Sanders. Bauer is a finalist for the Mortell Award, which is given to the top holder in college football.
Silver has accepted an invitation to snap in the Senior Bowl next month in Mobile, Ala.