FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas hasn’t been able to get to the quarterback often in its first four games.
The Razorbacks have faced opponents with dual-threat quarterbacks and chosen against bringing frequent pressure in hopes of containing scrambles or designed QB runs. The result is a defense ranked 13th in the SEC and tied for 80th in the nation in sacks per game (1.75).
Playing a South Carolina team that ranks 13th in the SEC and tied for 120th nationally in sacks allowed per game (3) may allow Arkansas to dial up more pressure than it has to this point.
“I’d hope that opportunity would exist,” defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. “Getting back to a team that’s in 11 and 12 personnel and has a few more people around the ball and maybe doesn’t run the quarterback as much as some other folks, I think puts you in position to make some calls and go after the quarterback.”
Making the Gamecocks and sophomore quarterback Jake Bentley an even more inviting target, the offensive line could be without as many as three starters Saturday. That would conceivably allow Arkansas’ defense to try and take advantage of backups and personnel group that may not have established great chemistry.
“Every week we look at ways that we can attack and give our guys the best advantage as far rushing, whether its three, four man or bringing pressure,” defensive line coach John Scott Jr. said. “We’ve been looking at that a lot this week and we feel like we put together some things that can help our team, help our defense.”
Arkansas outside linebacker Dwayne Eugene is the only Razorback with 2 sacks. He and fellow outside backer Randy Ramsey could have the opportunity to blitz more often against Bentley, who has negative rushing yardage this year and isn’t the threat with his legs that say TCU’s Kenny Hill or Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond were.
“When our ops are called, when it’s time to rush the passer, we’ve got to make the most of them,” outside linebackers coach Chad Walker said.