Big Interception Number Not What Hog Fans Making It Out to Be

Petrino intentionally created conditions for his quarterbacks to struggle

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Taylen Green during a spring practice March 30, 2024, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A lot of Hogs fans woke up this morning fretting over Arkansas coach Sam Pittman bemoaning eight interceptions in Thursday's scrimmage.

And, yes, when the headlines throw up such a large number, it's easy to get emotional and assume the worst. It's the simple nature of being a Razorback football fan to look at such a number and think "Well, that tracks."

However, a deeper look shows the world of Arkansas football hasn't suddenly drifted back to Thanksgiving levels of doom and gloom. For starters, a large number of those interceptions were made by walk-ons in the secondary.

Unless defensive coordinator Travis Williams was getting highly experimental, walk-ons aren't picking off passes from either Taylen Green or Malachi Singleton.

A couple of days ago, offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino said he asked Green what plays he wanted to focus on the most in coming practices while having one particular route in mind. He was pleased to see that his list was made up of plays Green needed more reps with to improve, including the one with his worst route at the top.

Petrino made it clear those plays would be the focus, as would forcing his quarterbacks to make high risk throws to figure out which ones they can hit with the game on the line at a time when there's not as much pressure to fear interceptions. It stands to reason that if that's a point of emphasis that interceptions will come.

Against Auburn last season, the Hogs ran 52 offensive plays, plus eight punts and a field goal. That means Thursday's 150-play scrimmage is just shy of three games worth of stats, so immediately the average per game falls to right around three interceptions.

Couple that with the assumption that at least half of the interceptions came from third string or lower quarterbacks and a max of 1.6 per game can be attributed to either Green or Singleton. But there are even more factors that lower the bar on how much fans should panic.

One such element to consider is Petrino is not only intentionally calling plays he knows his quarterbacks struggle with this week, but he is doing so against a defense that now knows not only the playbook, but how the Arkansas offense makes adjustments during the play to account for the defensive alignment.

"It gets a little bit old going against them all the time because they start knowing some of your plays, some of your calls. It makes it harder and harder. The more you go against the defense the more advantage they have. It causes us to switch it up a little bit, you know, change up our checks and what certain things are."

Translation: Petrino is looking to put his quarterbacks in what is close to a worst-case scenario. The only thing that could make life more difficult is to try to do it without key starters at wide receiver.

Pittman was willing to oblige as he had Andrew Armstrong and Tyrone Broden, two projected starters, held out at wide receiver. That was in addition to key personell missing in the starting offensive line.

So, with all that perspective factored in, it's not as bad as it seems on the surface. Nothing about this scrimmage should have Arkansas fans thinking the Hogs are going to go out and ring up six to eight turnovers in SEC play or against Oklahoma State in Stillwater. At worst, Green is accountable for possibly one interception over a game's worth of snaps under less than ideal conditions, and many of those interceptions thrown Thursday were balls that simply weren't caught.

That's not the recipe for doom and gloom so many people want to make it out to be. It's just Petrino doing the little things to make sure his quarterbacks are as ready as possible on game day when he's calling plays to win rather than sabotage under much more favorable conditions.

HOGS FEED:

• Viral video continues momentum while Williams finally addresses it

• Three takeaways from Arkansas' final closed door scrimmage

• Williams' defense finds diamond in G5 transfer who stood out

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