Hogs begin November push against Chanticleers

FAYETTEVILLE — Coming off its first Southeastern Conference win, Arkansas celebrates homecoming today against Sun Belt newcomer Coastal Carolina.

Kickoff is 3 p.m. at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on the SEC Network alternate channel (Resort Channel 80).

After beating Ole Miss 38-37 last week, Arkansas (3-5, 1-4 SEC) begins its November push with three of the four games played in Fayetteville. Coastal Carolina has lost seven straight since a season-opening win over Massachusetts, 38-28.

Coastal Carolina interim coach Jamey Chadwell knows the Chanticleers face a tough task in Fayetteville.

“Obviously, trying to still get over the hump going to play Arkansas,” Chadwell said. “They’ve got a 3-5 record, but they’re a good football team.

“You’re watching them thinking, ‘Hey, maybe we can do this.’ And then you’re seeing they’re playing Alabama and some of those people.”

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema wants his team thinking of Coastal Carolina and nothing beyond.

“Obviously a team that hasn’t had a lot of victories, but (has) played a lot of really close games,” Bielema said. “They have a variety of different players. Use multiple quarterbacks, running backs. Defensively … bring a lot of different pressures, a lot of blitzes that we have to be on our toes and be able to execute.

“The task at hand is the challenge in front of us and that’s where we’re at. We’re not going to talk anything other than what’s in front of us this Saturday.”

Chadwell prefers a Spread option attack but says “we’re throwing the ball more than probably we’d like to.” Defensively, “We play quite a bit of man-to-man coverage and try to bring some different blitzes out of a four-down (linemen) deal,” Chadwell said.

Arkansas’ Paul Rhoads is putting together a defensive plan to limit the success of Coastal Carolina’s offense.

“They’re an option team,” Rhoads said. “That sticks out very much right in front of my face because you’re not used to defending that. You have to really be disciplined in what you do. It’s triple-option, so somebody has to have the dive, somebody has to have the quarterback and somebody has to have the pitch.

“You have to be leveraged correctly to do that. You have to be able to get off blocks and they use a number of different blocking schemes to try to create issues and problems for you so you can’t always be in all of those spots. They’re going to create some unique practice preparation for us this week.”

Facing the triple option means the Hogs will be in base defense maybe more than usual. If so then they will have two outside linebackers on the field. Chad Walker coaches that unit and explained what problems the triple option poses.

“You prepare for it,” Walker said. “You do your research as a coach and then you prepare for what you see there and you teach the scheme. … You play your base rules and then there’s different unique looks, but it always comes down to fundamentals. Once you’re in the right spot and being disciplined and playing with good eye discipline, it comes down to getting off blocks and tackling and making the play.”

Senior safety Josh Liddell had a big interception just before halftime last week to help swing the momentum to the Razorbacks. He knows the offense Coastal Carolina puts on the field will be different than others the Hogs have faced.

“You definitely have to be assignment-sound,” Liddell said. “What I mean by that is each guy has to take care of his gap first and know his job. Me being a safety, we’re the last line of defense back there. Whatever breaks loose, whenever a breakdown may happen, we have to be able to get that down and do our job.”