All Hogs

Razorbacks' Nightmare: Hogs' Secondary Facing Texas Offense

Even Pittman knows it's not a good matchup and don't ask him who will even be playing where for Arkansas

Andy Hodges

Arkansas Razorbacks' defensive back Jayden Johnson struggles to get a handle on Ole Miss wide receiver Jordan Watkins at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
Arkansas Razorbacks' defensive back Jayden Johnson struggles to get a handle on Ole Miss wide receiver Jordan Watkins at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. / Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Sam Pittman wasn't even trying to do a lot of dancing around the question about his secondary ahead of Saturday's game against Texas.

"If you ask me who’s going to start at safety, I would say, ‘Let’s wait a couple more days,’" he told the media Monday. "We’ve made it that much of a battle. Same thing at the corner spot. I think you have to do that. You’ll lose your room if you don’t.

"If you don’t challenge with guys that are 2's, they’re going to be going, ‘Well, I just watched the tape and maybe I should have an opportunity.’ So we certainly are doing that. Not just with, ‘Well, we may get you in the game,’ (but) with going out there first, with starting. We’ve done that with at least three of the five positions, possibly four."

When you remember this is the 10th game of the year and coaches are holding an in-season equivalent of spring practice, that's not good. It brought back memories of what Frank Broyles said starting the 1970 season when Jim Plunkett and Stanford lit up the Razorbacks' defense in the first half.

"When you see folks huddled up on the sidelines, that's not a good sign," Broyles said about the in-game meetings going on down on the sidelines in Little Rock at that game. Drastic changes came, the quality of competition dropped off and they won eight in a row before, well, Texas that year.

It's the same thing now as LSU beat them with short throws, inching down the field. Ole Miss bombed away almost at will without their No. 1 receiver on the field and quarterback Jaxson Dart wasn't missing many throws.

"It was almost like they knew exactly what we were going to do defensively and could combat it because Dart was certainly on," Pittman said. "We couldn’t get to him, and you know, we had a hard time covering them."

Now they face a team with starting quarterback Quinn Ewers being in talks about the Heisman since the summer and Arch Manning as the backup. He would start at nearly every other SEC school.

"You look at them, they’re scary," Pittman said. "They’re dangerous at wide out and running back out of the backfield, and Ewers throwing the football. He has one of the fastest releases of guys I’ve seen. He can throw a bubble screen, it’s halfway there and you haven’t even seen him throw it. He’s really, really talented."

Maybe even more scary is what happens if Ewers goes out of the game. The much-heralded Manning would then come in and he's scary for different reasons.

"He’s got the confidence of Jaxson Dart, you know, that type of confidence," Pittman said. "He has great belief in his o-line. You can just feel it. You can feel it on the film. His wideouts are incredible. Running backs used as wideouts, bubble screens. So I think he has a lot of talent around him, but I think he has a lot, a lot of confidence. He probably has since he was a young man. He’s very accurate and has got an incredibly strong arm."

The Hogs haven't done well against talented, experienced quarterbacks this year. They really haven't developed defensively and weaknesses on both lines of scrimmage are getting exposed now.

Back in September, I said they were not able to get consistent pressure on other teams or keep defenses from pressuring the Razorbacks' quarterback. That's why they are making plays running simply because they've had to do that.

It's not a great combination heading into a nationally-televised game on ABC at 11 a.m. from Razorback Stadium. Fans can listen to the game on the Arkansas Radio Network.

HOGS FEED:

• Pittman trying to use Longhorn rivalry to Razorbacks' advantage

• Razorbacks have shot to dramatically impact playoff race

• Razorback fans shouldn't melt down over loss | Locked on Razorbacks

• Arkansas hoping early season test pays dividends down road

• Razorbacks facing motivated Texas team for first time in long time

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Andy Hodges
ANDY HODGES

Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.

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