Hogs need to hit ground running
FAYETTEVILLE — In planning for Saturday’s game at Ole Miss, Arkansas Razorbacks offensive coordinator Dan Enos had a no-brainer: Attack the Rebels on the ground.
Ole Miss ranks 126th among the 129 FBS teams by allowing 260.6 rushing yards per game. The Rebels were shredded on the ground by SEC opponents Alabama, Auburn and LSU for at least 326 yards per game, and Tennessee-Martin of the FCS managed 219 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns in a loss to Ole Miss.
Rebels interim Coach Matt Luke said he thinks he knows what the Hogs have in mind.
“We’ve had our struggles in stopping the run, and that’s what they’re good at,” Luke said. “They’re going to get the run game going early and get big personnel in there.
“We’ve got to do a good job at loading the box and trying to get some stops on first and second down and try to force them into passing situations. And if we do, I think the advantage shifts back to us. We have some really good pass rushers.”
The Hogs’ running game has been inconsistent. They had 226 rushing yards in their first SEC game against Texas A&M — with a boost from
the first appearance of the WildHog and Steamboat packages — but they ran for just 106 yards at South Carolina and followed that with 27 yards at Alabama.
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Coach Bret Bielema and his offensive assistants looked at the 171 rushing yards in last week’s 52-20 loss to Auburn, which entered with the nation’s 25th-ranked run defense, and saw some positives.
“We probably sat back on Sunday [and said] we probably should have run the ball a little more, especially in the first half,” Bielema said. “At times we did very well with it.”
David Williams rushed for a season-high 86 yards against Auburn, while Devwah Whaley ran for 31 yards and a touchdown. Add in Chase Hayden’s 42 yards on two carries, and Arkansas’ threeman tailback group averaged a healthy 6.4 yards per carry against the Tigers.
The Razorbacks suffered two key personnel losses last week that will have a bearing on their run production, however, with preseason All-America center Frank Ragnow and the dynamic freshman Hayden out for the rest of the regular season.
Still, the idea of controlling the clock and the game tempo is appealing for a unit that has given up 11 sacks in the last two games and has struggled to overcome injuries to key personnel like Ragnow, Hayden, top receiver Jared Cornelius and quarterback Austin Allen, who is questionable for the Ole Miss game with a shoulder injury.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of running the ball and we’re going to get back to trying to run the ball,” running backs coach Reggie Mitchell said. “We’re looking forward to it. They’ll present some problems for us with what they do schematically.”
Sophomore T.J. Hammonds is expected to assume a larger role after moving back into the tailback corps from receiver.
Only three teams have given up more than Ole Miss’ 5.79 yards per carry. As a comparison, the Rebels are only slightly ahead of the 5.9 yards per carry given up by the Razorbacks last season in what was likely the worst statistical season for an Arkansas run defense.
Offensive line coach Kurt Anderson said the rushing numbers given up by the Ole Miss defense aren’t relative to this game.
“It doesn’t matter in my opinion what the numbers say,” Anderson said. “It’s gonna be about toughness. It’s gonna be about grit. It’s gonna be about getting off the ball.
“Obviously we’d like to establish the run, but you know we’re not in a position as a 2-5 football team to be licking our chops about anybody. We’ve got to focus on us. It’s not about Ole Miss. It’s about the Arkansas Razorbacks. If you look at what we were able to do running the ball last week, we were effective running the ball. But we’ve got to put a complete game together.”
Junior guard Hjalte Froholdt called the Ole Miss front — led by ends Breeland Speaks, a converted tackle, and Marquis Haynes — quick and physical.
“They do a lot of moving on the line,” Froholdt said. “They do a lot of blitzing. I feel like it’s always about a
strong defensive front when you go against an SEC team. No team we’ve played has a weak defensive front.
“They’re all big and strong guys. We’ve just got to prepare each week like it’s the freaking Super Bowl.”
Freshman quarterback Cole Kelley was encouraged by the run game against Auburn.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I thought our offensive line opened up some really big holes and our running backs made really good cuts.
“Our tight ends and wide receivers did a really good job blocking downfield. They made it really easy for me and the running backs to get some good runs.”
Luke has seen the tape on Kelley’s power-running on scrambles and set quarterback runs.
“They’ve always done a great job of getting in big personnel against us and being able to run the football,” he said. “With the added dimension of [Kelley] being a threat in the run game, they don’t do it a whole bunch, but when he does do it, he’s a big, strong guy. So that’s what I’m expecting is for them to lean on the run against us.”