Razorbacks, Pittman Ready for "Slobberknocker" Up Front

New Hogs' offensive line face massive test against Cowboys in Saturday's match-up

Arkansas Razorbacks offensive lineman Fernando Carmona drops back in pass protection against UAPB at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark. / Ted McClenning-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Sam Pittman stated the obvious at his press conference coming off a 70-0 win over UAPB.

"We’re not going to play anybody like that the rest of the year," he said Monday. "The only thing we can do is, did we play hard? Did we play smart? Did we play physical? Did we want to score every time? Did we want to shut them out?"

Specifically, the offensive line will be tested for the first time. The team is once again likely without left guard Patrick Kutas.

Pittman described his status as "probably doubtful." The game features a battle of two young defensive coordinators, both in their second season with their respective teams.

Travis Williams will be looking to build upon last year's leap forward defensively for the Razorbacks and Bryan Nardo will be tasked with matching wits with Bobby Petrino for the Cowboys. As for the Arkansas offensive line, it will have to deal with Nardo's 3-3-5 scheme.

The Razorbacks have to contend with the two-headed monster of Colin Oliver and Nick Martin, both linebackers who combined for 12 sacks and 31.5 tackles for loss, with almost identical stats between the two of them.

"[UAPB] didn’t pressure us either," Pittman said. "We’re going to get pressured Saturday, there is no doubt in my mind. They’re going to see if we can protect."

Similar to Week 1, Oklahoma State's two-deep on defense is littered with returners. Only two members of this week's two-deep on defense are new to Nardo's system, something Pittman knows his team must contend with.

"They've got a lot of starters coming back," Pittman said. "They’re not going to make mistakes. They’re going to play sound football, hard and physical. To win, you're going to have to physically go out and try to be more physical than they are because they’re a well, well-coached football team."

Pittman says his unit can hang with the uptick in competition. For one, four of the five starters against UAPB were not part of the struggles a year ago, allowing for a fresh start.

"You're going to have to go whip somebody physically to win," Pittman said. "I don't think there's going to be a whole lot of mistakes. I just think there's going to be a slobberknocker a little bit.”

Pittman is up for the fight, planning for offensive linemen to hold up against the Cowboys in an old-fashioned trench battle.

"I thought we looked like a well-coached football team [Thursday]," Pittman said. "We had limited mistakes. Therefore, we can play pretty good up front if we do that."  

The Razorbacks and Cowboys kickoff 11 a.m. Saturday from Boone-Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla. The game will be broadcast on ABC.

HOGS FEED:

• Pittman gets unique perspective taking in Oklahoma State on TV

• SEC Shorts honors Hogs, then immediately slights them with pair of oversights in Week 1 sketch

• Green receives high marks against UAPB; real test coming

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