Hogs look closely at doing own jobs

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema said it after Saturday’s disappointing 28-7 loss to No. 23 TCU, then he repeated it at Wednesday’s news conference.

The Razorbacks need to perform on game day as they have in practice and the desired outcome will follow, Bielema stressed.

“Some of our positional leaders and I had a meeting [Tuesday], and I really need them to understand this: I don’t need Superman to show up on Saturday,” Bielema said. “I don’t need someone to play at a level higher than they’ve ever played at. I just need them to play like I’ve seen them do during the course of the week and that will lead to good results.”

Linebacker Dre Greenlaw said Bielema is right.

“We don’t need guys to go out there and try to do this or that and try to do everything,” Greenlaw said. “We just need everybody to do their jobs. Once everybody does their jobs and understands what they’re doing … then the doors are just going to open up.”

Said tight end Cheyenne O’Grady, “If you start worrying about other people’s assignments, you’re going to get thrown off. So if you do your own job and do what you know

you can do, we’ll be fine.”

Quarterback Austin Allen said Thursday he’s acting on that advice.

“I think the first two games I’ve put too much pressure on myself. I was just trying to be perfect, trying to hit the big play every single time and trying to put the ball in the perfect spot,” Allen said.

Allen said he picked up on that while watching film Sunday.

“I’m looking for things to get open instead of throwing it open, where last year I was just letting it rip,” he said. “I think this week I’ve gone out to practice where I just throw it. Just throw the ball.”

The Razorbacks’ plan for recovery, Bielema said, will include a more detailed look at the assignments given to players.

“I also asked my coaches to take great detail in what we’re asking certain guys to do,” Bielema said. “Certain players do certain things better than the other guy. What we’ve got to do to win games is put our best players in the best position to do what they do best and minimize what they don’t do best. So that’s been a big point here.”

Arkansas drove to the TCU 5 late in the first quarter of a 7-7 game and came away with no points.

Trailing 14-7, the Hogs reached first and goal from the TCU 3 late in the third quarter and were completely rebuffed again.

Offensive coordinator Dan Enos called several deep passes, but Allen and his receivers did not connect on anything longer than a medium-depth bootleg pass that Jonathan Nance turned into a 49-yard touchdown.

Deep throws for Deon Stewart, La’Michael Pettway and Jordan Jones went for incompletions.

Enos said he pointed out a mechanical issue to Allen on how he was releasing his

deep passes.

“Obviously a picture is worth 1,000 words,” Enos said. “We showed him on film how he was throwing his deep balls and a couple of times on Saturday he was short. … It wasn’t anything other than his mechanics.”

Allen said during training camp that he had been throwing long passes with great accuracy, but it changed against the Horned Frogs.

“I overthrew the first one and it kind of got in my head where I can’t overthrow this one, so I tried to place the next two and they fell short,” he said. “Fall camp I was just throwing it and letting my guys run underneath it. I’ve watched film on that and seeing my release … and I’m cutting the ball off halfway on those deep balls and I’ve just got to let it rip.”

On the first play of the fourth quarter, with Arkansas facing third and goal from the TCU 2, tight end Austin Cantrell was open while crossing at the back of the end zone on a play-action pass.

Cantrell caught Allen’s throw, but he had drifted out of bounds while tracking right to left to the pass.

“That last play was a touchdown waiting to happen, but we ran out of bounds,” Bielema said.

Allen had Deon Stewart open deep down the Arkansas sideline in the third quarter, but his under thrown ball allowed cornerback Ranthony Texada to charge into the play. The Razorbacks got a 15-yard pass interference flag, but it could have been a 40-yard touchdown.

“I think the ability to make a play when it matters is really big,” Bielema said. “I think we missed out on several key big-play opportunities on Saturday that from an offensive standpoint would have really helped us, and defensively, too.

“We had a number of thirdand-shorts, that if we could just make one or two of those stops, it ends a drive. Every player has to play every play at his best.”