What’s more important, fly fishing or football?
I know what you are thinking: this guy is crazy for fly fishing.
But right now, the obvious answer is football. New head coach Sam Pittman changed the mood not just for a sportswriter, but also for most of the state of Arkansas.
Pittman did it in short order. In Week 1, the Hogs played tough against Georgia, leading for more than a half. Then, in Week 2, they ended a 20-game SEC losing streak with a 21-14 victory at Mississippi State.
Arkansas football is fun again.
Last winter, someone asked how long football would remain unappealing in Razorback Nation. The answer was simple: as soon as there is an SEC victory, people will care again.
Playing hard against Georgia got people to thinking something good was possible under Pittman’s watch, but winning at Starkville to end the SEC losing streak got them hoping a hurricane would not spoil a trip to Auburn.
In recent years, Arkansas fans hoped that a hurricane would materialize out of nowhere and stop Gus Malzahn from calling a fly sweep or a fullback plunge. Both were deadly against the Razorbacks’ paltry defense.
When you can’t tackle, it really doesn’t matter what play is called because they all work. When you can tackle, none work consistently well.
I’m amazed at how well the Razorbacks have tackled through two games, especially after no spring practice and limited scrimmage time in the strange August start of camp because of covid-19 quarantines.
That’s where Arkansas appears to be headed — to a good tackling team — with Pittman’s hire of Barry Odom to coordinate the defense. And, as Pittman seemed to accurately predict after the 21-14 victory over then-No. 16 Mississippi State, they are just at the beginning.
This is still not the finished product. Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles needs more time to polish execution and the offensive line can get a lot better if it stays healthy and together. Quarterback Feleipe Franks will continue to improve, if he has enough healthy playmakers.
That’s the good news on the cloudy injury front; offensive linemen have stayed out of the injury tent. The tent popped up at an alarming rate at Davis Wade Stadium. But it also did as Georgia thumped Auburn. The Tigers have just as many dings and nicks as the Razorbacks. Linebacker K.J. Britt, who leads Auburn with 23 tackles, is doubtful for the game against the Hogs.
The best news is that Auburn is rebuilding just as much as Arkansas, especially in the trenches. That’s where the Tigers have had a superior edge in talent for most of the Malzahn years. It’s slipped just enough to give the Hogs some hope of an upset of the No. 13 Tigers this year.
Most realize that defensive linemen Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson are in the NFL now. But what they probably didn’t realize is that Auburn was wiped out by graduation on the offensive line.
Not only did the Tigers have to retool in the offensive line, they had to replace veteran line coach J.B. Grimes, now in retirement in Arkansas on DeGray Lake. He quit at Auburn.
The new coach, Jack Bicknell, is the former head coach at Boston College. He inherited a group that was not exactly highly recruited.
The center, Nick Brahms, missed his senior year in high school with a broken leg. He is the only returning starter this season.
The best player is right tackle Brodarius Hamm, a second team all-stater in high school. Right guard Brandon Council is a graduate transfer from Akron and lightly recruited in high school when he played for a private school in North Carolina. The left side of the line are converted three-star defensive tackles.
The Tigers are playing hard in the O-line, just not well. It’s a group that pass blocks better than it run blocks, not usually the case with a Malzahn offensive line. The Tigers mostly have played with low pad level and blocked well for the run. It’s a unit that has been criticized by fans this season as the Tigers have run for 91 yards against Kentucky and 39 against Georgia.
That group will face an Arkansas defense that has improved under Odom. Malzahn has noticed.
In my opinion, the essence of coaching is can you get your team to play hard. Obviously, Pittman can do that.
When asked what traits stand out in his tape study of Arkansas, Malzahn was quick to answer.
“What stands out to me is they’re playing extremely hard,” Malzahn said. “When you’ve got a team that’s playing extremely hard, I believe that’s coaching, so hat’s off to those guys.”
It’s the trait that I wanted to check for the Mississippi State game. Over the last three to four years, the Hogs have raised their effort in some weeks only to slip to a lackluster performance in the next few weeks. Tackling would slip and the defense would give up chunk yardage and rushing touchdowns.
To play hard in back-to-back weeks to start the Pittman era is noteworthy. Obviously, the next thing to watch: Can the Hogs do that for three weeks in a row?
The suspicion is that they can. That’s Pittman’s body of work speaking. His offensive lines traditionally play hard.
That’s what makes it easy to put up the fly rods for the fall and easier to write this keys to victory this week. I was reminded that I came up with more than my usual 10 last week. This week’s begins with toughness.
Tough Enough
Arkansas produced great effort in its last trip to Auburn, a 34-3 loss that featured horrible mistakes in special teams by the visitors.
Blocked punts, punt returns and kickoff returns set up almost all of the Auburn points. Auburn’s defense smacked around Ty Storey for four quarters, leaving the quarterback with a grass stained and bloodied jersey that most recall.
But the Hogs did compete well on defense, in probably one of the highlight performance by John Chavis as defensive coordinator. The Tigers were limited to just 225 total yards, 91 on the ground.
The Hogs were tough enough on that trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium, just not good enough. They will be more closely matched this time and the game may hinge on which team plays tougher.
So far, the Hogs have been tough and resilient for most of their first two games. Will they be still celebrating the victory over Mississippi State, or in their tough mindset? Pittman didn’t seem to be worried about that as he talked on his weekly radio show. He said there is only one mindset to winning football, it’s a strong work ethic.
“Everyone likes that feeling of winning,” Pittman said. “But you have to go back to practice (to win). You can’t win the lottery in the game of football. You have to go to work.”
The Slop
Do Hogs really prefer the slop? That’s an old adage and with Hurricane Delta projected to come close to southeast Alabama, the field may well be sloppy. The field is sand based and drains well. Normally, it’s mowed short and is a fast surface.
Auburn is favored and it is said sloppy conditions even the chances. So that could be a good thing for the Razorbacks.
The Hogs have not practiced in the rain. It’s been an almost perfect preseason camp and dry conditions have prevailed in September and so far this month in the Ozarks.
However, Franks is used to wet conditions. Pop up showers were common during his time in Gainesville as the Florida quarterback. He should feel at home if there is rain for the game.
The possibility of a muddy field was discussed Wednesday night during Pittman’s statewide radio show. Pittman said he showed video of the school mascot, Tusk, wallowing in the mud.
“He got up and his tail was wagging,” Pittman said. “I said, ‘Well, that’s us.’”
Depth
Injuries are a major factor going into the game and will be something to watch as the game develops. It promises to be a hard-hitting affair.
Auburn gets safety Smoke Monday back after missing most of the Georgia game on a targeting call. But wide receivers Eli Stove and Seth Williams, running back Shaun Shivers and Britt, the linebacker, are questionable because of injuries. All are key players.
For Arkansas, tailback Rakeem Boyd will be a game-time decision after suffering a foot injury at Starkville. Many other Razorbacks are beat up, but should play. Linebacker Grant Morgan did not miss any practice after sustaining an elbow injury.
Cornerback Montaric Brown did not practice at full speed, but should play. Defensive end Dorian Gerald missed last week with an ankle injury and may play in this game.
The key will be to rotate players, something the Hogs did against Mississippi State. Pittman said a decision was made on Sunday night of last week to take 15 defensive backs to Starkville and most played. He said that means you commit in practice to getting them ready.
Adjustments
It’s not clear who will call plays this week. Malzahn said in preseason that new offensive coordinator Chad Morris is the Auburn play caller, but that seemed to be in doubt after the style of play changed sharply during last week’s Georgia game.
Malzahn has been consistently stingy with the play calling. There are many cases of coordinators falling out of favor with a bad quarter and the head coach reclaiming the role of calling plays.
There is no doubt that Malzahn is a run-first play caller. Pittman said the Hogs expect a heavy diet of run calls, much different than the first two games when the Tigers threw the ball on obvious run downs.
“We think they are going to try to run it on us,” Pittman said. “Especially if it rains, it’s the team that can run the ball (will have success).”
It may be that Malzahn has something new for the Odom defense. And, veteran Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele throws some new wrinkles at Briles.
“We will see how we match up,” Pittman said. “We may have to make adjustments on both sides. We do expect them to play fast ball against us.”
Width
One of the adjustments might be against the fly sweep. Auburn wide receiver Anthony Swartz has Olympic speed. Georgia had a man deployed to stop the wide plays throughout the game last week.
Without question, the key to the Malzahn offense is the way it makes defenses play the width of the field and keep from getting beat vertically. That makes it a challenge for corners and safeties.
The middle of the field was the key area against Mississippi State’s offense. Odom knew that from the get go, and started practice to begin the week with linebackers playing eight yards deep.
“We thought we could get the receiver down or the runner down in two, four, five yards, playing eight yards deep,” Pittman said. “We were going to live with that. But on Monday, Barry decided we were a little deep. We moved up.”
That worked with linebackers Pool making 20 tackles, Morgan 15.
“That’s a lot of tackling for our linebackers,” Pittman said.
Tackling
That brings us to one of the game’s biggest keys. Will either side break tackles?
Arkansas running back Trelon Smith did break tackles in the game. At just 5-9, 185 pounds, Smith is generally thought to be a slippery runner. But once he gets a defender off balance, he will run through tackles.
“Trelon runs extremely hard,” Pittman said.
So does Auburn back Tank Bigsby. At 6-0, 204, Bigsby isn’t the biggest, either.
But both Malzahn and Pittman praised Bigsby for his effort against Georgia.
“He played extremely hard,” Malzahn said.
“He runs hard,” Pittman said. “That’s what makes a good back. I remember some we had at Georgia like Nick Chubb. They ran hard. This guy is like that.”
Turnovers
With a wet field likely, holding onto the football will be a huge key. Arkansas lost the turnover battle against Georgia, and then won it against Mississippi State.
A pick-six played prominent roles in the first two weeks for the Hogs. Georgia got one against Franks. Greg Brooks got one for Arkansas against Mississippi State’s K.J. Costello.
Ball security has been the focus of practices in both camps this week, with wet ball drills the routine. Who holds onto the football and avoids field position breaks that put the defense in a bind?
Quarterback Pressure
Who can make the other quarterback uncomfortable? Auburn’s Bo Nix is a solid runner and will flush from the pocket. So will Franks, although that’s not his primary focus.
The quarterback counter is one of the staples of the Malzahn offense. Morris used it while at Arkansas. It should be expected that it’s a release for too many blitzes. Can the Hogs get to Nix without leaving their middle open for those quarterback scampers?
Auburn does still have pass rushers. Big Kat Bryant, who wears No. 1, is the best edge rusher. But the Hogs will have to account for defensive tackle Tyrone Truesdell as well.
Franks played better against State’s defense. Briles, the offensive coordinator, seemed to have a better grasp of what his team can do in week two.
Will there be some growth in the offense this week while avoiding the Auburn pressure? Arkansas quarterbacks had no time the last two years against Steele’s defense.
“We have not reached what we are capable of yet,” Pittman said of the offense. “We are closer. The line played better and the wideouts played better. We have to continue to strain.
“Our timing has to get better. It was better this week (in practice), but will it show up (in the game)?”
Matchups
That’s a great transition from the last key. Truesdale might not be Derrick Brown, the great nose tackle from the last four years. But he’s still a load.
Truesdale (6-2, 326) will move around giving all three of the UA interior linemen a shot at blocking him. How well can the youngsters (Brady Latham, Ricky Stromberg and Beaux Limmer) handle Truesdale, or will he push his way into the pocket to frustrate Franks.
Latham, Stromberg and Limmer made improvement in the second week against a different style of front at Mississippi State.
“The future of our offensive line is going to be better,” Pittman said. “They have gotten better.
“But you are still seeing freshman mistakes. But the good thing in the future, they will see some things coming. The only way to get there is to get game experience. I’m proud that they play hard.
“The first week they played against probably the best front in the country. Then, last week, they played a moving, twisting front and played better.”
Intangibles
How do the Arkansas players view playing against Morris, their old coach? Many were recruited by Morris.
Pittman was blunt about that early in the week. He said some “liked” Morris, and some “probably did not.” That may be an over simplification.
But it’s a strange week because of the Malzahn-Morris dynamics. Malzahn isn’t loved by Arkansas fans because of his flirtation when the Arkansas job has been open. Hiring Morris was a little salt in the wound, although it did save the Razorback Foundation $750,000 annually on the Morris buyout. Should it have been more?
It’s been sort of funny reading the Malzahn quotes about the obvious improvement in coaching he’s seen in the Arkansas team. Is that a slap to his new coordinator, or just a compliment to the Pittman staff?
It can’t be one without the other.
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