It's OK to Disagree, but Comments by Kelly Say Pittman Was Right

Decision to not let LSU score touchdown quickly was right thought process in situation where there was no winning solution

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The field goal had barely sailed through the uprights to hand the Razorbacks another close loss that will be part of a stat hammered in the off-season about how good this team could have been when a text notification rang out on the phone. 

It was a Razorback fan who had been stuck on a family outing who had been tracking everything on his phone. Despite the limited information that was obviously available, he had still been able to ascertain that Arkansas could have let LSU score and give quarterback KJ Jefferson one more shot at overcoming the odds in Death Valley. 

"Why did he not just let them score? Give KJ the chance to go win the game. What was he thinking!!!"

Fortunately, Pittman addressed his thought process in the postgame press conference because my wife bent my ear a minute later with the same question and it looked like half of Arkansas and solid chunks of Texas and Oklahoma were asking the same question on social media. 

"Before somebody asks, did I think about letting them score, yes, but I don't think they would have," Pittman said. "I don't think they would have scored. We talked about it because I was out of timeouts. And then I decided to come all out and try to jar a fumble, so we went after them in those last plays. 

"Could we have let them score? Absolutely. We talked about it. I thought our chances would be better off at that point with no timeouts try to jar it lose and-or block or miss a field goal."

While Pittman was explaining his thought process, not too far away, deep in the bowels of Tiger Stadium, LSU head coach Brian Kelly was doing his best to prove to the Arkansas fan base Pittman was right. 

"It's just one of those games where we were the last one to have the football and I wasn't interested in letting Arkansas have another chance," Kelly said.

A few minutes later, he drove home the point even deeper, leaving no doubt he was aware of the Razorbacks' situation and would leave a strip or botched field goal attempt as the only hope for an Arkansas win.

"That was obviously the drive that we got into what we call barrier, which is, they had no timeouts," Kelly said. "I think we ate over five minutes off the clock. I had no intention of giving them the ball back. I don't know if you guys wanted to, but I didn't. So, it was really just a matter of when we call barrier, we're not looking to score, or looking to score a touchdown in that instance. We wanted to take time off the clock and put ourselves in a good position. We have great faith in Ramos, our field goal kicker. Put him in a good position. Take as much time off the clock. We got it down to five seconds and it worked out pretty good."

Kelly went on to say he had a plan calculated down to the second for when he was going to ask his players to stop trying not to score to allow time for his field goal team to run onto the field. More importantly, he had players who were prepared to go out and make it happen.

After watching such sloppy play from a discipline standpoint the last two weeks, it might be difficult for Razorback fans to envision being able to execute a plan that required such precision, but there's a reason why it was so shocking to see the Tigers ruin a big play with a block in the back late in the game. LSU rarely makes critical mistakes when the game is on the line.

There was talk about pulling the running back into the end zone to force a score, but short of picking him up off the ground and carrying him into the end zone, there is no way he doesn't get his knee down short of the goal line. 

Pittman knew what Kelly was going to do. His staff has stared at tape until their eyes glazed over looking for tendencies. How coaches approach things with the lead in the final minute of the game isn't exactly something that gets hidden. It's there on film for anyone to see.

He also knew if Kelly told his players to do something, they have the focus needed to ensure it happens. There are always potential pitfalls that cost a Kelly led team a chance to win it all, but focus and discipline isn't one. 

Arkansas was always going to lose that game if something drastic didn't happen and Pittman knew it. He called for the only way his team might have the slightest chance.

 There can be debate on whether the final play was the best way to try to score a winning touchdown in that situation, but there is no argument to be had on the decisions in the final few minutes that led up to that Hail Mary.
Pittman knew what he was doing and it was the right call regardless of anyone else's feelings. 

HOGS FEED:

LAW OF AVERAGES SAY SOMETHING NOT RIGHT WHEN IT COMES TO CLOSE GAMES FOR ARKANSAS

FAMILIAR THEMES IN YET ANOTHER CLOSE LOSS TO LSU

HOGS HEAD COACH GETS RID OF SOCIAL MEDIA AT AN INTERESTING TIME

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