Running in place: Hogs look to gain traction on ground

FAYETTEVILLE -- At its current rate of 80 yards per game, the University of Arkansas' run game would not surpass FBS rushing leader Texas A&M's Week One production until Oct. 13 in Little Rock against Ole Miss.

That would be two weeks after the Razorbacks and Aggies, who chewed up 503 rushing yards in a 59-7 victory over Northwestern (La.) State last week, meet in Arlington, Texas.

The Razorbacks aren't expecting to get bogged down in a run-game slog all season -- and the offense capitalized on Eastern Illinois' commitment to bottle the run by passing for 353 yards and four touchdowns -- and they expect a stronger effort in Saturday's road opener at Colorado State.

"I think it's going to be an improvement," senior guard Johnny Gibson said. "You can't just one day go out there and the next game be incredible at running the ball, but definitely we've been working on our technique. From inside blocking to outside blocking from receivers and tight ends, everybody's been working all week on getting better at running the ball this week."

The early numbers from a running back crew of Devwah Whaley, Chase Hayden, T.J. Hammonds, Maleek Williams and Rakeem Boyd were not pretty.

Those five combined to total 74 yards on 26 carries (2.8 yards per carry) and 1 touchdown.

Time and again, Razorbacks runners took handoffs and approached a wall full of standoffs at the line of scrimmage with few cracks.

"We didn't get much push on double-teams from up front," Coach Chad Morris said. "I thought we played too high, and I thought at times we played too soft. So we've got to be better at that."

Of Arkansas' 34 run plays that were not end-of-game kneel downs, 23 of them (68 percent) resulted in gains of 3 or fewer yards, or lost yardage.

"We've got to be able to run the football better," Morris said after the game. "I thought that was an area we wanted to hang our hat on, and the inability to run the football was definitely not what we stand for, it's not what this is about, it's definitely not how we're planning to build this program."

Offensive coordinator Joe Craddock said Monday that Eastern Illinois schemed up defensive plans that were not on its 2017 game tapes, and the Razorbacks had to adjust in-game. But he also added that the blocking assignments were on point for much of the game.

"We were targeted right for the majority of the game, had a hat on a hat, we just weren't getting much movement," Craddock said.

Arkansas running backs had five carries for 6 yards or more in the 55-20 victory, and the longest was a 10-yard burst by Hammonds. Quarterback Ty Storey also had a 10-yard run on a read-option play.

Morris said the run-game issues were not confined to the offensive line, which has been hit hard by injuries. He said quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends and receivers all contributed to the lack of success, which resulted in 2.2 yards per carry overall, including end-of-game kneel downs that resulted in 7 lost yards.

"Everybody takes accountability on that," Morris said. "When we did have movement, because there were some good things that these guys did, we were ineffective in trying to find a crease.

"We were either running into the back of an offensive lineman or trying to get the ball outside. Then ... there were several times that the quarterback had a misread on it that would have opened up some runs."

Morris also said the pad level of offensive linemen needed to be better and double teams had to be more effective starting Saturday at Colorado State.

The Razorbacks will face the nation's No. 112 ranked run defense against the Rams. Colorado State has allowed an average of 228.5 rushing yards per game in losses to Hawaii and Colorado.

Rams Coach Mike Bobo, when asked about Arkansas' run-game struggles, pointed the focus back on his team.

"I'm going to be honest with you, we're trying to fix ourselves right now," Bobo told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "We haven't really stopped the run or the pass. So I'm pretty sure when Arkansas looks at the film, they're going to feel like they can run the ball on us.

"To me, Eastern Illinois basically said, 'We're going to try to stop the run and give up some stuff in the passing game.' And sometimes games happen like that. Defensively, you always want to stop the run game, but when you play an RPO [run-pass option] team, there's a lot more issues that go into it, and they're a big RPO team."

Morris' offenses traditionally have featured strong run-game numbers in stops at Tulsa, Clemson and SMU, so no one is panicking. Game One issues like timing, meshing, pad level and push also played into Arkansas' 80 yards against Eastern Illinois.

Still, Morris said, the effort must be better.

"We've got to run harder, we've got to block better, we've got to hold our blocks better," he said.

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Sports on 09/06/2018