FAYETTEVILLE — A trip to the film room to break down five key observations from Arkansas’ 21-20 win over Louisiana Tech in its season opener Saturday.
— Rawleigh Williams impresses in return
In a largely underwhelming opener, sophomore running back Rawleigh Williams was a bright spot in his return to action, running for a game-high 96 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. It was fitting that he scored Arkansas’ first touchdown of the season on a gritty run up the middle.
Williams had a number of tough, hard-nosed runs in which he bounced off would-be tacklers and made key yards after contact, showing he’s fully back, mentally and physically recovered from his neck injury.
He had five straight carries on what would become Arkansas’ game-winning touchdown drive, playing the role of bellcow for a Razorback team with depth in the backfield. Senior Kody Walker had six carries, true freshman Devwah Whaley just two. Arkansas inexplicably went away from the run for a long period of the game, but Williams and the offensive line got the job done in the fourth quarter as Arkansas avoided a disheartening upset.
— Austin Allen’s up-and-down day
Allen had an at-times great, at-times turbulent first start. He finished 20 of 29 for 191 yards and two touchdowns, showcasing touch and playmaking ability on a number of throws late on Arkansas’ go-ahead score in the fourth. He also threw two ill-advised interceptions and was sacked four times (those were more on the offensive line — more on that in a moment). In all, it was a fairly to-be-expected first start. The ability was there. The inexperience was, too.
Allen’s first interception was a forced ball into double coverage on the far sideline on a third-and-18. Not a smart throw, but it wound up being an average punt. Not a killer. His second one was.
It came with Arkansas on the Louisiana Tech 24, halting a drive that could’ve put the Razorbacks up two scores. He locks on to his primary read, double clutches the ball and then throws. It’s an easy pick for Louisiana Tech and only a great effort by Colton Jackson saves a touchdown.
But when the game was on the line in the fourth quarter, Allen led the Hogs on a 13-play, 77-yard drive that included a handful of big plays, including his fourth-down touchdown to Jeremy Sprinkle on a nifty call. But his most impressive play came earlier on the drive.
Left tackle Dan Skipper gets beat, but Allen feels the pressure, avoids being tripped up and breaks out of the pocket, rolling to his right and finding Keon Hatcher while taking a big hit. Hatcher breaks a tackle and picks up 18 and a first down on a second-and-13 play that could’ve been a drive killer if not for Allen’s improvisation.
Encouraging stuff to build on, mistakes to correct heading into TCU.
— Pass protection shaky
Arkansas gave up 14 sacks last season, fewest in the SEC. The Razorbacks broke in three new starters on an offensive line that had its share of struggles during fall camp. Those issues carried over to Saturday, when the Hogs gave up four sacks and junior quarterback Austin Allen faced near-constant pressure when he dropped back.
Louisiana Tech did a good job using different defensive fronts, stunting and bringing pressure from unexpected places on exotic blitzes. Arkansas got beat straight up a few times in the first half, but had more trouble with miscommunication, letting defenders run free and either sack Allen or force dangerous and/or inaccurate throws. In the third quarter, the line was beaten badly several times in short succession, prompting Arkansas to return to a run game it had gone away from for a while.
Right guard Jake Raulerson gave up a sack on one play in the third quarter, but was more or less decent in pass pro otherwise. The Razorbacks’ other two new starters — sophomore left guard Hjalte Froholdt and redshirt freshman right tackle Colton Jackson — appeared to have issues, particularly in pass protection.
Let’s start with Jackson, replaced at left tackle by Dan Skipper early in fall camp and later moved to right, where he earned the starting job. Pass protection is his biggest struggle. Saturday, he appeared to be responsible for two sacks, but offensive coordinator Dan Enos said Monday backs erred in assignment on both. On both plays, Jackson opted to block down and help Raulerson rather than pick up a free rusher.
On the first sack, Jackson tries to block a blitzing linebacker, who Raulerson picks up, while a blitzing DB runs free toward Allen, resulting in an eight-yard loss, which kills the drive and leads to Allen’s first interception. Williams tries to lunge over after play action, but has no shot.
He also didn't react to a late blitz on the second sack.
This time the blitz comes from a safety. Like the first sack, Jackson opts to block down and help Raulerson instead of picking up the blitz, which gives Xavier Woods a clear path to Allen. Again, Enos lays the blame on the back, who would have needed to come across the formation to make the block. It's interesting that Jackson, with no one directly over him to block, isn't asked to pick up a quick, blitzing DB in order to slow him, instead ignoring him as he sacks Allen.
Froholdt had a number of big blocks in the run game and has clear potential to be a road grader. But he also whiffed on a few.
He hangs Williams out to dry on this play, just getting out-quicked by a Louisiana Tech lineman who gets to Williams for a loss.
He also had issues in pass protection.
Louisiana Tech blitzes its mike linebacker, who all too easily beats Froholdt inside and hits Allen as he throws.
Of note: Arkansas used the play-action pass on 43 percent of its pass attempts against SEC West foes last year, setting up the pass with the run and creating mismatches by preying on defenders cheating toward the line of scrimmage. It also got Brandon Allen on the move and slowed the pass rush.
Saturday, the Hogs eschewed play-action for much of the game, instead favoring seven-step drops. Louisiana Tech teed off as a result. It’ll be interesting to see if the Razorbacks use the run to set up the pass more moving forward.
TCU has a duo of good pass rushers, which begs the question of whether the Hogs go with the same front a week from now.
— Porous pass defense
Arkansas’ secondary spent fall camp giving assurances the unit was much better than the version from a year ago which was the worst-ranked pass defense in the SEC. They didn’t make a convincing case in the opener, allowing Louisiana Tech’s quick-hitting pass game repeatedly freed up receivers to make plays in space. Arkansas’ defensive backs largely played off the ball and got beat on quick routes, out-quicked on the edge and generally were a step slow. Inexperience was a legitimate issue last year. A year later, many of the same issues remained.
Arkansas got a decent pass rush at times when Louisiana Tech was forced to actually throw the ball down the field, registering four sacks, three hurries and several other hits. But it’s hard to pressure the quarterback when the ball is out of his hands quickly.
Arkansas worked on press coverage during fall camp and new secondary coach Paul Rhoads preached of its importance. Saturday, both the field corner (Jared Collins) and boundary corner (combination of Henre’ Toliver and later Ryan Pulley) lined up in press coverage on 14 of 54 snaps. Both the field and boundary spots played six or more yards off the ball (15 and 20 snaps, respectively) more often than they pressed. Collins didn’t line up in press on Louisiana Tech’s final 19 snaps. Furthermore, Arkansas’ nickel back (Kevin Richardson or Toliver) only lined up within three yards of the line of scrimmage on seven non-blitz snaps, often giving a sizable cushion to a Bulldog slot receiver lined up off the ball.
Here, Richardson lines up six yards off the ball on 3rd-and-10. His only hope of stopping the quick slant is getting a good break, which he doesn’t as Louisiana Tech converts on a drive it later scores on.
Arkansas’ safeties played off the ball, sometimes 11 yards, when matched up with slot receivers and still had issues, particularly Santos Ramirez.
Ramirez is playing six yards off the line of scrimmage and rather than break on the slant, he stumbles backwards, allowing an easy first down for Louisiana Tech.
The safeties also had trouble coming up and tackling in space after catches. Here’s Ramirez again.
He’s seven yards off the line of scrimmage, which makes him nine yards off Louisiana Tech’s slot receiver. He’s slow to read the hitch and misses the tackle when he arrives to the receiver. DeAndre Coley also missed a big tackle on Louisiana Tech’s final drive.
TCU will also get its playmakers in space, but the Horned Frogs have a much better collection talent. In that regard, the opener was even more worrisome when looking ahead to the trip to Fort Worth.
— Randy Ramsey’s key sack
Allen was able to lead Arkansas’ down the field after Randy Ramsey came up with a key sack on the final play of the third quarter to disrupt a Louisiana Tech drive inside the Arkansas 30 with the Bulldogs leading 20-14.
The sophomore linebacker-turned-end used his speed off the edge to beat the right tackle and drop Louisiana Tech quarterback J’Mar Smith and put the Bulldogs behind the sticks. Louisiana Tech wound up settling for a 40-yard field goal, which Jonathan Barnes doinked off the left upright, giving Arkansas the chance to march down the field and take the lead.
Louisiana Tech’s quick passing game negated much of Arkansas’ pass rush, but the Hogs were able to have some success getting to the quarterback when the Bulldogs were forced to throw the ball down the field more.
Taiwan Johnson, more at home back at nose tackle, uses his quickness to beat the right guard and come up with a key sack on third-and-10, which forces Louisiana Tech to settle for a field goal.
Quiet much of the game, Deatrich Wise and Jeremiah Ledbetter combo’d on a key sack in the fourth quarter.
Wise pinned his ears back and toasted Louisiana Tech’s right tackle, arriving at the same time as Ledbetter, who actually played end on that play after starting and mostly playing as a three technique. The play forced Louisiana Tech to punt on 4th-and-20. The Bulldogs never got the ball back.
The Razorbacks also had four hurries. Louisiana Tech averaged 3.4 yards per carry but a little less than five when disregarding sacks. Arkansas’ defense will need to be better in Fort Worth, but the line was the least of the concerns Saturday.
BONUS — Keon Hatcher back atop the WR pecking order
Dominique Reed has the big-play ability. Drew Morgan has the juice. Jeremy Sprinkle has the pro potential. But Keon Hatcher may again be the Hogs’ top receiver, if Saturday is any indication.
Playing in his first game in nearly a year, Hatcher caught a team-best six passes for 86 yards. He also had the play that set up the game-winning touchdown.
Hatcher catches the pass on the crossing route and fights through a defender’s attempt to tackle him by his dreadlocks while somehow keeping his knee from touching the ground. He picked up another eight yards after the initial tackle attempt, totaling 13 on the play and getting the Hogs out of a second-and-goal from the 20 hole.
Hatcher emphasized how much he worked to develop a rapport with Austin Allen over the summer. He always had a connection with Brandon Allen, but Åwas supposed to have graduated by the time Austin made his first start.