FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman was not thrilled with the number of missed tackles in last Thursday’s season opener, so the Razorbacks concentrated on that area in Saturday’s practice.
For good reason. Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon, the reigning Doak Walker Award winner as the nation’s top running back, is one of the top tackle-breaking runners in the country.
The Razorbacks face Gordon and the well-regarded Cowboys at 11 a.m. Central on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla.
The Hogs’ one extra practice Saturday, following their season-opening 70-0 victory of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, was a key reason why school officials agreed to move the opener to a Thursday.
Arkansas finished practice in time Saturday to watch Oklahoma State’s 44-20 win over FCS powerhouse South Dakota State live.
“Well, our tackling is something that we needed to get better just from our Thursday night game,” Pittman said at his Monday news conference. “On Saturday we had a tacking circuit, so we’re trying to address that.”
Gordon’s ability to generate yards after contact is one of the reasons the 6-2, 225-pound dynamo from Fort Worth earned All-America honors last season.
“If they get him 2 or 3 yards, he’s going to get 6 or 7 or more,” Pittman said. “We’re going to have to tackle him one-on-one, but we’re going to have to get a lot of guys around the ball.
“We definitely understand how good he is and the other thing, too, is they have some dynamic skill [players] that are difficult to get on the ground as well. So our tackling is going to have to be better. We’re making a big emphasis on that this week.”
The Razorbacks will wind up facing both of the first-team All-America running backs from 2023 in a span of three games. Missouri’s Cody Schrader, who shared the first-team honors with Gordon and won the Burlsworth Trophy, ravaged the Razorbacks for 217 rushing yards in last year’s season finale.
The Razorbacks might get a key weapon back this week in receiver Andrew Armstrong, but they will definitely be without guard Patrick Kutas, who has been out with a back issue since the second day of training camp. Little Rock native E’Marion Harris made his first college start at left guard last week and received good reviews from Pittman.
Armstrong sat out the season opener after tweaking a hamstring during training camp. He traveled to Little Rock for Thursday’s opener but did not suit up.
“Andrew, I’ll say, is questionable,” Pittman said Monday while not volunteering anything additional on roster updates.
Asked about transfer safety Miguel Mitchell, who did not travel for the opener, Pittman said, “He’s just out for right now.”
Pittman was asked to compare the game against the Golden Lions to the Hogs’ 45-3 win over UAPB in 2021, when the second unit did not score in the second half with a running clock. Each of the quarters in the second half were shortened by five minutes last Thursday but the teams did not operate with a running clock.
He said the circumstances in 2021, with the Razorbacks heading into a bye week in late October after facing the Golden Lions, were much different this time. Pittman said the game plan was to give the second and third units substantial playing time in the second half if the Razorbacks had a handy lead. They did as quarterback Taylen Green and the starters built up a 49-0 lead at halftime.
“It’s the first game of the year, so … if we were fortunate enough to get ahead, we were going to run our offense and let these kids see what Malachi [Singleton] could do, and if it got to KJ [Jackson], see what the threes could do,” Pittman said.
“I know the score got a little out of hand, but at the same time, we had to worry about our team more than we did anybody else. For us to go down and score that many times and shut them out with our threes on defense, as well, I thought that was a really good sign for us.”
Pittman said he watched the Oklahoma State game live Saturday, then also on the cut-ups that just show the plays.
“It was more about getting the benefit of the atmosphere and the juice of their team and how they play off their crowd and the speed,” Pittman said of watching the live broadcast. “Watching games live, they came out and they went fast pace early. You don’t necessarily, as you’re watching cut-ups, get that feel.
“So we certainly have to be ready for their fast-paced offense. They don’t run it all the time, but we have to be ready for that. He opened the game with it, Coach [Mike] Gundy did, last week.”
Pittman said his takeaway from watching the veteran Cowboys operate so efficiently at home was pretty simple.
“As I’m watching, I go, ‘Man, they’ve got a really good team,’ ” Pittman said.
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Publish date : 2024-09-02 20:00:00
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