Pittman frustrated by Hogs’ performance against Georgia
ATHENS, Ga. — Sam Pittman was frustrated a couple of times during his postgame remarks on Saturday.
The second-year University of Arkansas coach was put out after a 37-0 loss to No. 2 Georgia, with his team’s outbreak of penalties and with the No. 8 Razorbacks’ inability to hang in the trenches with the brutish Bulldogs. In the Razorbacks’ first true road game with full capacity under Pittman, it was clear the 92,000-plus fans rattled his team.
As Pittman pointed out, the Razorbacks (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) played the Bulldogs better last year in his first game as a Power 5 head coach, a 3710 result in which Arkansas held a third quarter lead.
“There’s just a lot of stuff we have to fix,” Pittman said. “That’s why I’m a coach. We’ve got to fix stuff. We’ve got to get better. All these questions you guys are asking me — hell, I know. I saw the same things you guys have. It’s my job to get it fixed, and that’s what we’ll do.”
The Razorbacks fell five spots to No. 13 in Sunday’s Associated Press poll. Pittman said re-grouping to face Ole Miss in another 11 a.m. game on Saturday will not be a problem. The Rebels (3-1, 0-1 SEC) dropped five spots to No. 17 after a 42-21 road loss at No. 1 Alabama.
“We won four games in a row, beat a 15th-ranked team, beat a 7th-ranked football team,” Pittman said. “We’ve got a good football team. Georgia is a hell of a lot better than us today, a hell of a lot better than us.”
Pittman said his message to the team included the point that Arkansas’ path to an SEC West title is still in their hands.
“Everything we’re trying to get accomplished this year, nothing was lost on today’s game,” Pittman said. “We still have an opportunity to get back and play Georgia again if we can win out on our side.
“Our pride got crushed. Our ego got crushed. But, it’s one ball game against a team on the East. We’re still right where we need to be on the West.”
Said senior linebacker Grant Morgan, “We don’t play the games to keep it close and be happy about 4-1. We are happy. We are realistic.
“We know that we’re light years ahead of what we could be or what we should be right now as an Arkansas team, but we don’t care about that. We want to be able to be in every single game. Our goals are still there at the end of the year of what we want to do. We’d love to play Georgia again, and that’s our goal.”
Arkansas must now prepare to face a revenge-minded Ole Miss team that committed seven turnovers in a 33-21 loss in Fayetteville last season.
“His entire message is we can’t let one (loss) turn into two,” senior tackle Dalton Wagner said regarding Pittman’s post-game remarks. “Our goals are still our goals. This loss has nothing to do with changing those goals. We still have opponents in the West we can go after, and we cannot dwell on this.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart braced his team and Bulldog fans for the challenge of facing a rejuvenated Arkansas squad in the noon Eastern Time kickoff.
“I thought it was extremely loud and impactful,” Smart said. “To be that loud at noon, it’s beyond elite.
“Let’s call it like we see it. We challenged the fans because I knew we needed them. They answered the bell. The players answered the bell. Total team unity and effort and buy in from the fan base and everyone else.”
In addition to responding poorly to the hostile road atmosphere, there are some
bitter realities the Razorbacks must face.
Georgia gashed the defense for 273 rushing yards and throttled the offense to 75 rushing yards, 87 passing yards and 10 first downs.
For a brief time in the fourth quarter, Arkansas had nearly as many penalty yards (100) as total yards (105).
The Arkansas penalties truly ran the gamut.
On offense, there were false starts, an ineligible receiver downfield, an illegal snap, holding and even a pass interference on ace wideout Treylon Burks.
On defense, the Razorbacks jumped offsides, had an illegal substitution, had a holding call that was offset and was flagged for a pass interference that might should have been a no-call.
The defense had three penalties on one third-down play and two on another on the same Georgia drive.
“Had a guy offsides, had a guy hold somebody, and had pass interference all in the same play,” Pittman said. “I don’t know, guys. I mean, what’s the answer? Don’t jump offsides, don’t hold a guy, and don’t pass interference a guy? Hell, I don’t know. I wish I did, we wouldn’t be doing it. We’re trying to fix it.”
Pittman praised Georgia for being the most physical unit he has seen this year.
“In all honesty, we physically got whipped,” Pittman said. “That’s what happened, and we also poured dirt on the wound because we messed it up in penalties.
“If we can stop the penalties, we’ll have a much better chance to win ball games. There’s not a whole lot of teams like that one we just played physically. We’ve got to get that fixed real fast, and if we do, I think our kids will respond and play well versus a really good Ole Miss team.”
Morgan put the loss and the projected aftermath in perspective.
“We’re going to bounce back because that’s what we do,” Morgan said. “That’s what good football teams do, and we’re a good football team.
“Just because of how this game went today, that doesn’t define us. It defines our game against Georgia. But that doesn’t define who as a football team that we are.”
Said Pittman, “As long as we go back and fight and work this week, we’ll field a good football team next week, and I believe that’s what we’ll do.”