PITTMAN spots some negatives after Texas A&M loss.
FAYETTEVILLE — After reviewing the game tape Sunday, Coach Sam Pittman and his staff made some key observations from Saturday’s 42-31 loss at No. 8 Texas A&M.
“We didn’t tackle well,” Pittman said on his Monday video conference. “Third down, we had some missed assignments on some coverages. We got baited a couple of times in the deep third at corner that we saw on tape.
“I did think that our D-line played better than what I was thinking during the game. I thought Julius Coates had his best game. And of course Jon Marshall is a guy that we certainly can count on. But as the game wore on, I thought our tackling was worse. We missed too many tackles.”
Three Razorbacks had shots to bring down freshman running back Devon Achane on his 30-yard touchdown run for the Aggies’ final score late in the third quarter.
Pittman also thought the Razorbacks needed to have better offensive success on first downs.
“On offense, obviously we left too many points out there,” he said. “We have to win first down. We get behind the sticks, and we have a hard time converting first downs at that point.
“Certainly our red-zone offense was not up to standard, and we’ve got to score seven instead of attempting three when we get down close and get in field goal range.”
Health update
The Razorbacks are getting healthier to open the second half of the season, with both cornerback Montaric Brown and linebacker Bumper Pool returning to significant action last week and defensive end Dorian Gerald easing back into the fray
Pool led the game with 14 tackles, including three tackles for loss in his first game back after suffering two broken ribs against Auburn. Brown contributed three tackles in his first game since a Week 2 victory at Mississippi State.
Gerald, playing on a sore right ankle for the first time since the season opener, had one tackle in limited duty.
“Dorian … I talked to him last night and he was very, very happy that he played,” Coach Sam Pittman said Monday. “I’m not going to tell you that he felt like he was 100% ready to play, but when are you in Game 5?
“I’m glad that he was glad that he played, because I think that gave him some confidence and I think it’ll help for this week. I don’t think he played like he was full speed, but I was glad he got the opportunity to play.”
Voting today
The Razorbacks will not conduct practice today so in-state players have the opportunity to vote in person.
The normal Tuesday media interviews for the players will be pushed to Wednesday.
Because the coaching staff knew the gap in the game-week schedule was coming, they adjusted accordingly, starting during their open date two weeks ago
The Razorbacks practiced Sunday, which is normally a nonpractice day, without pads on, then they resumed full-pad work Monday.
“We practiced last night,” Coach Sam Pittman said Monday. “It went very well.
“We were ready for that practice because in our off week we started [video prep] with Tennessee. We wanted to have that practice ready to go because we knew they weren’t going to play. They were off, so we had all the film that they have shown this year.”
Tube talk
The kickoff time and network was announced Monday by the SEC office for the Razorbacks’ road game Nov. 14 at Florida.
The Razorbacks and the No. 8 Gators will kick off at 6 p.m. from The Swamp in Gainesville, Fla., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
The teams will play for just the 12th time, with Florida holding a 9-2 lead in the series. The Razorbacks won the last meeting, 31-10, over the No. 11 Gators in 2016.
QB update
Tennessee is struggling at quarterback, where senior Jarrett Guarantano ranks ninth in the SEC in passing efficiency and recently had six turnovers in a two-game stretch against Georgia and Kentucky. Coach Jeremy Pruitt said Monday backs rotated a trio reps of quarter- during the Vols’ open date last week, but he wasn’t real specific about who rotated and how the reps were split up. Backups. Brian Maurer and J.T. Shrout, both sophomores, and freshman Harrison Bailey have played one series each while Tennessee has suffered through three consecutive lopsided losses to Georgia, Kentucky and Alabama.
“We repped three groups went back last and week, didn’t so we have enough to do four, but we did do three groups, so we split the quarterbacks amongst those three groups and got them a lot of reps there,” Pruitt said.
Asked later if the trio of Maurer, Bailey and Shrout got more snaps than in a usual week, Pruitt said, “Well, yeah, we went back to fall camp. In fall camp, we usually work four groups all the time and everybody gets the same amount of reps, at every position. That’s why we believe that players develop. It’s because we spend that much time working on four groups.”
Bowl projections
ments With for eligibility postseason require- games waived, but also a guaranteed five fewer bowl games, this is going to make for a strange holiday bowl season in college football.
The Razorbacks, with no postseason invitations since the 2016 Belk Bowl, are appearing on many midseason bowl projections. College Football News projected Arkansas to face Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl. The same site projects Tennessee to meet Penn State in the Music City Bowl, and Arkansas State to take on Florida At
lantic in the Cure Bowl. CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm projected Arkansas to be pitted against Indiana in the Music City Bowl; Tennessee to meet Kansas State in the Texas Bowl; and Arkansas State to face Central Michigan in the Lending Tree Bowl. At ESPN.com, Mark Schlabach also projects an Arkansas-Indiana game, but he sees the showdown happening in the Outback Bowl. Kyle Bonagura projects Arkansas vs. Oklahoma in the Texas Bowl. Schlabach has Tennessee matching up against West Virginia in the Liberty Bowl, while Bonagura has Tennessee paired against Purdue in the Music City Bowl. Neither ticketed Arkansas State for a bowl game.