FAYETTEVILLE — A week after a promising win over Florida, Arkansas took a sizable step back on both sides of the football in its 38-10 loss to LSU on Saturday.
The Tigers ran all over the Razorbacks’ defense, becoming the fourth SEC West team to rush for at least 250 yards. On the other side of the ball, LSU held Arkansas to 81 yards rushing.
LSU averaged 7.6 yards per carry. Arkansas managed just 3.4.
Monday, there were similar ideas floated for how to fix issues and plug holes on both sides of the ball with two games left in the regular season.
On offense, where protected quarterback Austin Allen has been a regular issue that is now understandably affecting Allen’s performance on the field:
“The one thing I’ve asked our coaches is let’s get very, very good with the protections,” coach Bret Bielema said. “If we’ve got to limit the number of protections we have to give confidence to our quarterback to give confidence to our quarterback to be standing up in the pocket and not be concerned with anything concerned around him and throw an accurate ball.”
Allen has been sacked 25 times this year, a mark that is tied for 12th in the SEC with Kentucky and one that, unless there is a marked turnaround, will wind up more than doubling the 14 sacks the Hogs allowed each of the last two years.
Limiting the number of protections could help an often-young personnel group that includes sophomore left guard Hjalte Froholdt, sophomore right guard Johnny Gibson and sophomore right tackle Brian Wallace — all first-year starters. The Hogs are also relying on freshman running back Devwah Whaley and freshman fullback Hayden Johnson at times.
“The big thing is the communication with a couple of them,” offensive coordinator Dan Enos said. “… There’s a lot of youth there. We have to make it simple, the communications and adjustments, as much as we possibly can and make sure there’s no gray area so those guys can play fast.”
On defense, Arkansas reverted back to being unable to stop the run a week after holding Florida to 12 rushing yards. LSU’s talented tandem of Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice took turns gashing a reorganized defense that had shown improvement against the Gators.
Guice ran for 252 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, while Fournette, even banged up, total 98 yards and three scores on 17 attempts.
“As coaches, on the defensive side of the ball, let’s minimize the number of calls that we make them make,” Bielema said.
At the same time:
“There were plays, the exact same play, within minutes of each other that would go for no gain or minimal gain to eight, nine yards,” Bielema said. “Almost same exact calls, same personnel. That inconsistency is frustrating.”
Arkansas had success against Florida by combining personnel changes (shifting Jeremiah Ledbetter to defensive end and starting freshman Sosa Agim at defensive tackle) and playing well out of the base 4-3 look. The lineup and formation was the same against LSU, but with much different results as the defensive line struggled to get penetration and linebackers had a great deal of difficulty getting off blocks and filling gaps with consistency.
“We set the edge pretty well,” defensive coordinator Robb Smith said. “We had problems on the interior this week.”
Arkansas has been stricken with inconsistent play, alternating wins and losses for seven straight weeks. The Hogs have a chance to end the regular season on a strong note against Mississippi State and Missouri, teams with a combined 7-13 record and 3-9 conference mark.
They aren’t LSU, Alabama, Auburn or Texas A&M, but Arkansas can’t afford to have another letdown moving forward if it wants to increase its win total under Bielema for a fourth straight year.
“To come out and do what we did is obviously unacceptable and can’t be tolerated,” Bielema said. “Our message (Sunday) is that everybody had to take a step forward, starting with me as a head coach and everybody else just to expect higher expectations and deliver them on Saturdays.”