FAYETTEVILLE — Robb Smith interjected a quick thought with a wry smile into the middle of a question during his Monday afternoon press conference.
The Arkansas defensive coordinator was asked about what he remembered about the Razorbacks wins over Ole Miss the last two years. The victories: a 30-0 win thanks to six forced turnovers in 2014 and a 53-52 overtime thriller last year.
“Let’s go back to ’14, huh?,” Smith said.
He was only speaking about the Ole Miss games, but the statement works on a broader level, too. A return to that 2014 form was supposed to be in store for the Razorback defense this fall. They’ve fallen woefully short of that mark to this point.
In 2014, the Razorbacks ranked No. 9 in the nation in scoring defense, No. 10 in total defense and No. 12 in run defense, the result of a late-season surge that included back-to-back shutouts of Ole Miss and LSU.
The defense slipped last season, still ranking No. 12 in run defense but dropping to No. 58 in total defense and No. 68 in scoring defense with a ghastly No. 117 pass defense.
These Razorbacks were supposed to be more like their 2014 counterparts. Coaches were high on them before the season, touting the nine returning starters and personnel that gave them a chance to return to being one of the better units in the SEC. Players who struggled as inexperienced underclassmen in 2015 were a year older and wiser.
But Arkansas’ defense has been plain bad this year. The Razorbacks again rank No. 68 in scoring defense (27.5 points), are No. 63 in total defense and have fallen all the way to No. 83 in run defense.
The Hogs have been worse against SEC competition. Texas A&M averaged 10 yards per play while scoring 45 points. Saturday, Alabama averaged 10.1. Both teams are in the top five and comparing matchups from different years aren’t equal, but Arkansas allowed an average of 27.5 points and 6.5 against the two teams last year. Still not good, but much, much better than this season.
Big plays have been a common theme, even against nonconference opponents. Arkansas has allowed eight plays of 50 or more yards in six games, 13 of 40 or more and 20 of 30-plus. Saturday was the worst case, with six 30-plus gainers allowed and four of 50 or more.
“Obviously the expectation was to play better, but the reality of the film, I can see why people scored,” coach Bret Bielema said. “The reality of us not being able to do certain things, it’s easy to see why points and yards have happened.”
It’s year four of Bielema’s tenure at Arkansas. Eight of the 11 defensive starters are his players — Deatrich Wise, Jared Collins and Taiwan Johnson are not. The two-deep is almost entirely comprised of Bielema recruits.
Is athleticism the issue? Are the Razorbacks physically outmatched?
“I think we’re more at an SEC-caliber defense type of defense than we’ve ever (had) here,” Bielema said.
Assuming that’s the case, it leaves execution or scheme as the possible culprits. Or both. Those were the conversations had in the 48 hours after Alabama rolled up 517 yards of offense, including 396 on just 34 first-half snaps.
“A lot of those were self-inflicted, getting guys lined up in the right spot, getting guys setting the edge,” Bielema said. “And as coaches, being able to put them in the right spots. Had some nice conversations with Robb on exactly our approach and what we could do better philosophically to get them in a better position before the snap. That’s been really healthy.”
How much can the defense improve and what fixes are necessary become the questions. The task isn’t made easier with the loss of weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw for four to six weeks with a broken foot, leaving junior reserve Dwayne Eugene and inexperienced true freshman De’Jon Harris to fill the void.
The run defense has been putrid so far. It has fallen all the way to No. 83 in the nation as a result of the Hogs allowing 5.7 yards per carry, which ranks 124th out of 128 teams.
Texas A&M gashed Arkansas for 366 yards, including 157 from quarterback Trevor Knight. Defending against running quarterbacks was arguably the biggest problem area for the defense through five games, which made fixing the issue especially important heading into a matchup with Alabama’s Jalen Hurts. The Hogs held Hurts to 20 yards on eight carries, but Alabama’s three main backs ran for 235 yards, averaging 10.2 yards per carry.
The Crimson Tide found running lanes outside the tackles all night. Bielema harped on setting the edge. A few times, it was set too far inside or not at all, allowing the Alabama backs to get the corner. More often, it was set too far outside, creating cutback lanes.
“A lot of times we’re the guys setting the edge,” senior cornerback Jared Collins said. “Setting it too far out got us a couple times and being aligned wrong really got us. We’re focusing on aligning well so we can do our job.
“As far as setting the edge, (we were) just aligning too tight, so we couldn’t just send the ball back to our defense. Being in our proper alignment and leverage outside will help a lot.”
When there were cutback lanes, Arkansas’ linebackers were too often unable to fill their gap and make a play after being walled off inside. On some plays, false steps were the issue. Other times, the linebackers were just slow to react or couldn’t get off blocks.
“We had some gap responsibility things that didn’t go like they were supposed to,” linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves said. “Against a really good team, they’ll expose you if you’re in the wrong spot. We did a couple times and paid for it.”
Arkansas’ safeties didn’t help matters. They were rarely able to get downhill in time to make plays near the line of scrimmage. Even when they did, they struggled to wrap up. Free safety Josh Liddell whiffed on several tackles after being in position to make a stop. Without Santos Ramirez able to go, De’Andre Coley was the only option at strong safety and Liddell the only one at free safety.
The poor tackling and shoddy angles, the result of bad alignment at times, have been a troubling theme at times for the safeties this season. The defense has done a lot tackling drills this week.
“We were in position and then we gave up that position on several cases,” secondary coach Paul Rhoads said. “What I mean by that is speaking from a position of leverage. You don’t want to have to two-way tackle a guy if you don’t have to. Like you and I facing each other square on, you can go to my right or you can go to my left. I’d rather be over here (right side) and let you got to my left and go from there.
“We had those positions and we gave them up or lost them and so that’s been a high point of focus with us as we worked on tackling drills today and we’ll do the same tomorrow.”
The Hogs will make an effort to fix the issues. Ole Miss presents new problems, including arguably the best quarterback in the league in senior Chad Kelly. Kelly has the best arm in the conference, but can also hurt teams with his legs. Arkansas will have to be prepared for both, in addition to run-pass options.
“You get what you emphasize,” Smith said. “That’s a great quality in our players. We’ve got to really be smart about what we emphasize to them and how we do it.”
Smith said that in reference to the Hogs stopping the quarterback run against Alabama. They slowed Hurts, but other issues arose.
The Razorbacks are trying to fix the mistakes. Getting back to the 2014 version is likely unattainable, especially given Greenlaw’s extended absence.
But the Hogs will be in trouble if they can’t at least get back to being as good as last season. That’s not a position they expected to be in heading into the season, but it’s become a disappointing reality.