Arkansas defense picked on by A&M
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Areas where the University of Arkansas had struggled through four games, like its running attack, got well on Saturday at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field.
But other areas where the Razorbacks had been successful, such as avoiding significant penalties, snagging takeaways, defensive pass efficiency and third-down defense, suffered in their 42-31 loss to the No. 8 Aggies.
First-year Coach Sam Pittman said he sees improvement and areas that still need to be addressed as the Razorbacks (2-3) prepare to open the second half of their shortened season on Saturday against Tennessee.
Arkansas did not notch a takeaway or a sack against senior quarterback Kellen Mond, who operated with efficiency and was hardly put off rhythm while operating with comfort behind the Aggies’ veteran grabby offensive front.
Arkansas had a plus-5 turnover margin in its last game and led the country with 10 interceptions, but the Razorbacks got their hands on only a couple of Mond’s five incomplete throws, and they could not yank the ball free from the Aggies’ skill players.
“Turnovers … sometimes they’re momentum [or even] seven points,” Pittman said. “We needed a few of those. We’ve really been living on those.
“We’ve been living on some goal-line stands. We’ve been living on fourth and one. We just didn’t get them tonight, that’s all. But we’ll bounce back. We’ll be fine. We’ll bounce back. But we’re certainly a better team when we get turnovers.”
The Razorbacks will be facing an opponent in Tennessee (2-3) that will be coming off an open date to prepare for the game.
Arkansas at least created some momentum heading into the second half of the year by producing its best running game of the season against the Aggies. Rakeem Boyd had 100 yards on 18 carries and Feleipe Franks added a career-high 91 yards that included 18 lost yards on 4 sacks.
“Continuing to get better is the most important thing right now,” said Franks, who completed 23 of 31 passes for 239 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. “Coach Pittman stresses it, and we try to stress it offensively, just continue improving.”
The Razorbacks drove into scoring range on five of their first six possessions but missed a couple of long field goals. Arkansas, which outgained the Aggies 461-422 in total offense, drove into Texas A&M territory on eight of its 11 possessions in the game.
“We’ve just got to execute a little more in the red zone,” Franks said. “Little things like that we’ve got to clean up and give us a chance to win another game.”
The Arkansas offense also got in gear from the jump, driving 87 yards for a touchdown on its first sequence of the game to take a 7-0 lead on Franks’ 6-yard pass to Treylon Burks.
“That was a big emphasis for us. … Texas A&M has a great team, coached really well,” Franks said of the fast start. “You’ve got to get out there and you’ve got to start fast when you’re playing teams like that.
“They did a great job … defensively scheme wise and offensively. Just one of those games where we needed to come out and start fast and we did a good job on that the first drive. We’ve got to maintain that throughout the game.”
The Aggies worked over the Razorbacks’ defensive schemes, which coordinator Barry Odom mixed up more than he had in Arkansas’ 33-21 win over Ole Miss, when the Hogs relied on a sticky zone defense to net seven turnovers, including six interceptions.
“We were zone dropping, we were man covering and we were bringing blitzes,” Pittman said. “We were trying … we weren’t just sitting back there going, ‘OK we give up.’ We tried a lot of different things and they seemed to pick up every blitz. We brought some safety blitzes, some corner blitzes and they seemed to do a nice job and Kellen was on.”
Said linebacker Bumper Pool, who had a game-high 14 tackles, “I thought A&M had a good game plan coming in. Obviously they had two weeks, just like us, and we didn’t make enough plays.
“I thought we were a little undisciplined in our zones, which is uncharacteristic of us, but at the end of the day, they’re a good team.”