State of the Hogs: Effort better than first believed

Arkansas sophomore defensive back Santos Ramirez makes a tackle on Texas A&M freshman running back Trayveon Williams during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

— After sleeping on it, Bret Bielema didn't think lack of effort was as big of a problem at the end of the 45-24 loss to Texas A&M as he indicated in the postgame interview.

But the Arkansas head coach was firm Monday in that some of the defensive calls that went bad on quarterback runs by A&M's Trevor Knight. Those alignments will be tossed from the playbook.

At question was a set of calls by the UA defense which put safeties wide with none between the hash marks. Knight had three long quarterback keepers of 42, 48 and 62 yards, two of which went for touchdowns. The 48-yard run pulled the Aggies even, 17-17, with 13 seconds left in the first half.

“That alignment has definitely been addressed with everyone involved,” Bielema said.

Bielema said one of the long runs was definitely a “check down” by the quarterback when the alignment was noticed.

Defensive coordinator Robb Smith said the A&M touchdown drive in the closing seconds of the half was “against a prevent defense. We gotta put them in better position and execute better. And we gotta get guys on the ground.”

Knight rushed 10 times for 157 yards. He had a 62-yard run as the Aggies were running out the clock. That was a play that did show effort by the Hogs with safety Santos Ramirez winning a long sprint to catch Knight.

Bielema said after the game that he didn't like the “demeanor” of his team in the fourth quarter, but was “happy” after watching the tape that “it wasn't as widespread as I thought.”

He said some of the issues at the end of the game were “because we definitely were pressing and try to do too much. One guy can't win the game.”

Offensive coordinator Dan Enos thought there was more running room on the goal line than perhaps first thought as A&M made two stands, one of them prolonged because of two penalties.

“There were a couple of those runs that were blocked pretty well,” Enos said. “Our backs missed the cut. I think on the first quarterback sneak, we got great movement, the reason we came back to it. We did think Austin (Allen) got in on the second one.”

Bielema said that was not a play that he sent to the league office on Sunday for review. There isn't a camera angle available during the game that would have made it easy to overturn the call on the field.

“Austin was animated (that he scored),” Bielema said. “But I didn't turn it in. There was a view that showed the ball across, but you couldn't see his knee.”

Bielema would like a bigger push up front from a “reshuffled” offensive line.

“You give credit to (Texas A&M) for loading the box and making us throw,” he said. “We are not where we want to be tackle to tackle, or where we will be. We'd like to get a bigger push tackle to tackle.”

Allen was praised for hanging in throughout the game despite taking some hits. The junior quarterback completed 28 or 42 passes for 371 yards and 2 touchdowns. He took only one sack - which resulted in a fumble in the fourth quarter - but there were some vicious hits and knock downs after he delivered strikes.

“When you have a quarterback play like that, you are always going to have a chance,” Bielema said. “That's the way it is on Friday night, Saturday or Sunday.

“We gave their ends first until the fourth quarter when they could pin back their ears. We had play-action and hit them every way possible. Our guys embraced it and actually had some fun with it.

“But he did take strike after strike late when they could green dog their linebackers. At that point, we have to pick up on that and go behind them.”

Enos said it was a case of getting behind and abandoning the run.

“Football is football and if you play quarterback you are going to get hit,” Enos said. “We were playing against some great defensive ends and when you become one-dimensional, it becomes very difficult.

“Never once did (Allen) peek at the rush. He focused on his keys. He wasn't getting hit early, but you can't be one-dimensional.”

Both Bielema and Enos praised offensive tackle Brian Wallace, who made his first start against the Aggies' great rush ends Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall. There was the late sack, but there were run plays designed with blocks behind Wallace that moved the A&M ends.

“Brian played pretty well,” Enos said. “We gave him a tall order and I respect the way he held up. He displaced their ends at times. I hope he's just getting started.”

Bielema said Wallace told him he was congratulated for a good game by the Aggie defensive ends after the game.

“Their defensive ends commented to him,” Bielema said. “We are not satisfied with how we played. But we think Brian gives us the best chance at tackle and Jake Raulerson gives us the best chance at right guard. We think Frank Ragnow is best for us at center.”

As far as progress, Bielema said he wouldn't call it a shocking improvement from week to week, but he said, “We think our offensive line is definitely getting better.”

Enos said the game turned because of failure to score the maximum point total based on opportunities.

“We fumbled (inside the 5-yard line),” he said. “We had two other times on the goal line we didn't get it in. So there are 31, 38 points right there. It's a different game in the fourth quarter if we score those chances. We didn't do well enough on the goal line at times, but we did block it well enough for the back to go in standing up once, and he would have scored standing up on another if he hadn't fumbled.”

As far as calling more passes on the goal line, Enos said, “I don't have 15 passes to run from the 6-inch line. They are selling out. I don't have a magic wand to wave and wish for it to work. We have to execute better down there.”

The Hogs play their last nonconference game of the year this week against Alcorn State at 11 a.m. Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.

“We really look at it as the same kind of preparation as if it were an SEC game,” Bielema said. “It's no different. It is an early start so that changes up our routine.”

Bielema said he delayed meeting with his players Sunday to begin preparation because of a late return to Fayetteville. Saturday's game didn't end until almost midnight.

“Our players got home about 4 a.m. (Sunday), so we didn't bring them in until 4:30 (p.m.),” he said. “We had a good meeting Sunday and went over things. There were some things to learn about.”

Bielema's session with the media – the first of the coaches in the interview room – ended on a question about the death of Springdale High School football standout Kyler Williams, who died in a car accident Saturday. Could Bielema even comment with the rules about coaches mentioning high school players? Bielema was in tears as he tried to answer.

“I took a picture with Kyler and I was going to tweet it,” said Bielema, who said he did reach out to the Williams family. “I wanted to send it out. Could I? I didn't even know if it's a violation and that's a sick thing.”