FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Bret Bielema ended film study Sunday evening by showing the entire team a reel of 12 plays he put together from the 45-24 loss to Texas A&M.
“It was the good, the bad and the ugly of Saturday,” Bielema said.
The 12 plays were handpicked by Bielema for the staff and players to watch together as a whole for to drive home a simple yet important point.
"Just to reinforce when we did follow (the game plan), good things happened," Bielema said. "When we didn’t follow them, bad things happened. As players and coaches, it was a great teaching moment."
The first clip he showed was the first play of the game, when receiver Drew Morgan failed to chip a Texas A&M linebacker on the snap, allowing the backer to get penetration and pressure quarterback Austin Allen into a quick throw to Morgan for just a 2-yard gain.
“Could’ve been a big play right out of the gate, but because we didn’t get a shot on that guy as much as we needed, the guy was in Austin’s face,” Bielema said. “I coached Drew up hard on that play. As a head coach, you go after the ones you know can do it. So I was a little bit hard on Drew and I know he’ll respond the right way.
The next clip he showed occurred just three plays later, when safety Santos Ramirez poked the ball away from Texas A&M punt returner Christian Kirk, leading to an Arkansas recovery and an early touchdown thanks to a short field.
“There was a lot of positives on that play,” Bielema said, also shouting out Jared Collins and Matt Emrich along with Ramirez.
The third play was a 14-yard bubble screen to Drew Morgan early in the second quarter, a play that featured a great block on the edge by Keon Hatcher, who had a big pass-catching day of his own before suffering a hamstring injury. But it could’ve been even better.
“Keon’s ripping,” Bielema said. “If (Morgan) just stays to the outside, doesn’t stutter and come back inside, he might’ve streaked in the end zone. But he wanted to cut it back. Just trust your speed and stay on the outside. Keon did a hell of a job ripping through the outside number and it could’ve scored.”
The fourth and fifth plays were two penalties prior to a Cole Hedlund field goal attempt in the second quarter. First, the Razorbacks intentionally took a delay of game, which A&M declined. So Dan Skipper intentionally false started to back the Hogs up five yards and Hedlund a better angle. He responded by hitting a 25-yarder two weeks after missing a shorter kick from the same angle on the left hash at TCU.
“Growing experience,” Bielema said.
The sixth play was Rawleigh Williams’ costly second-quarter fumble on the 1-yard line, a ball recovered by the Aggies and one of the Hogs’ two scoreless trips inside the 2-yard line. Williams’ momentum carried him into the end zone, meaning Arkansas’ would’ve been up 17-7 had he held onto the football.
The seventh play came the ensuing drive on De’Andre Coley’s targeting penalty on a third-and-7, which wiped out a great breakup by Ryan Pulley that would’ve forced an Aggie punt from their own end zone. Instead, Coley was ejected and the Aggies wound up getting a field goal out of the drive, tying the game at 10-10.
“It was just a little bit late,” Bielema said. “In addition to that, he kind of got the forearm involved. I showed it because it was a huge teaching moment. We hadn’t had one of those since Rohan (Gaines against LSU in 2014).”
The eighth play was Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight’s 48-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the half, tying the game 17-17 and giving the Aggies momentum heading into intermission on a play where Knight paraded into the end zone untouched.
There were three other plays Arkansas didn’t execute properly that Bielema pointed out during the film study but didn’t share Monday.
The final play in the presentation was Knight’s 62-yard run on the final drive of the game — but not for obvious reasons. Knight was only prevented from a third long touchdown run by safety Santos Ramirez, who tracked him down and stopped him at the Arkansas 28-yard line, leading to two kneel downs by the Aggies to end the game.
“There’s a lot of programs or teams or individuals in that same situation that wouldn’t have tracked him the way he did and gave us a chance to keep them out of the end zone,” Bielema said.
Those were the 12 plays Bielema deemed worthy of showing to wrap up a long film session Sunday. Because of the late kickoff Saturday, the staff didn’t require the players to report until 4 p.m. Sunday, but there was still quite a bit of time spent at the Football Performance Center reviewing the good, bad and ugly from Saturday’s loss.
“It was a long day,” Bielema said. “Haven’t had one of those days in a long time around here, going back to last season. A lot of the same players, coaches. It’s never a fun day, but it’s one of the best days of the year for you to learn.”