FAYETTEVILLE - When Bret Bielema and Chris Ash questioned this summer the way clock rules should apply when defenses face hurry-up offenses, the Arkansas coaches made sure to point out they weren’t intimidated by that offensive scheme, which typically doesn’t huddle and tries to create confusing personnel situations and mismatches.
If Saturday’s opener was any indication, the new Arkansas brain trust has a handle on how to deploy and set loose its personnel on at least one brand of the hurry-up.
Louisiana-Lafayette had early success moving the chains and scoring behind dual-threat quarterback Terrance Broadway, but the Razorbacks’ coaches quickly got a read on some subtle changes the Cajuns made from last season. Arkansas adjusted, situated its players on the tweaks and before long the Razorbacks were frequently in Broadway’s face while crimping the Cajuns’ run game and throttling its passing success.
“I think the coaches did a good job of game planning and scheming against them so we could get after him some,” said end Trey Flowers, who was named SEC’s defensive lineman of the week after posting two sacks and a forced fumble in Arkansas’ 34-14 victory.
“They switched up on us a little bit,” end Chris Smith said of Louisiana-Lafayette’s schemes to open the game. “Everybody on the front had a run-first mind-set, which you should have. Once we stopped them on the run, we were able to lay our ears back and just go pass rush.”
Arkansas’ defensive line crew came through with a vengeance.
In addition to Flowers’ two sacks for 16 lost yards, Smith had a 7-yard sack and Deatrich Wise combined with linebacker Jarrett Lake for another 7-yard sack. Smith also batted a Broadway pass in the air that was snared by end JaMichael Winston for a fourth-quarter takeaway.
Broadway fizzled after his hot start, compiling a 91.81 efficiency rating after the Cajuns’ first two series.
“When you’re going against two great defensive ends like they have, you’ve got to try to stay out of third and long, because that’s what they do,” Broadway said. “That’s their specialty.”
In the third quarter, with Arkansas ahead 20-7, Flowers swatted the ball away after Broadway pulled it back to throw and Austin Jones pounced on the loose ball, the takeaway coming two plays after the Cajuns had forced the first turnover of the game.
“That was probably the breaking point right there,” Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Mark Hudspeth said. “If we could have capitalized on that turnover, our defense had been getting better. … If we could’ve went down and scored, it could’ve been a little more interesting. … Those two ends they’ve got are pretty good. They’re hard to handle.”
Arkansas used some interesting defensive formations in the opener, such as a look where none of the front four had a hand on the ground and were bouncing around trying to confuse the blocking scheme.
Corralling running quarterbacks wasn’t a strength of Arkansas’ defense last year. Neither was slowing down top-notch passing games. Broadway’s hot start made it look like those trouble spots had lingered through the off season.
Broadway completed his first five passes and was 8 of 11 for 84 yards with an efficiency rating of 136.87 after the Ragin’ Cajuns’ first two drives, which resulted in a short missed field goal and a touchdown. But on their next four possessions, the Ragin’ Cajuns managed just 21 yards on 15 plays as Arkansas seized command of the game in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
“It was exciting, especially how they took their play to another level in the second half,” defensive line coach Charlie Partridge said.
Broadway, who averaged 78.6 rushing yards in the final seven games last season, had early runs of 6 and 5 yards to help move the chains, but the Razorbacks sacked him on the second and third plays of the second half and he finished with minus-1 yard on 13 attempts.
“The four guys up front and the linebackers worked well together to hold a team like that to 87 yards rushing, and also were able to keep their point totals down compared to last year, ” linebackers coach Randy Shannon said.
Bielema said he thought the Razorbacks’ “got in their head a little bit” and intimidated their attack to some degree. He also warned there are more prolific hurry-up offenses lurking.
“There’ll be teams that run it a little bit faster than they do,” Bielema said.
Up next ARKANSAS VS. SAMFORD WHEN 6 p.m. Saturday WHERE War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock TV Pay-per-view
Sports, Pages 19 on 09/04/2013