FAYETTEVILLE — Neither Arkansas nor Ole Miss had a season opener to remember last weekend, but Razorbacks coach Chad Morris said Wednesday that he believes both teams will look much different in their conference opener Saturday night in Oxford, Miss.
Speaking on his weekly radio show from The Catfish Hole in Fayetteville, Morris said he has been pleased with his team’s practice since a 20-13 victory over Portland State.
“A lot to correct from last week,” Morris said. “That was the big emphasis coming in on Sunday. I think our guys are right on par with where they need to be.
"When you can win and still make huge corrections like we did, it's one of the greatest teaching opportunities that we have. If you would have walked back in our locker room after the game, at that point right there I knew our culture had completely changed. Yes, they were excited after the win, but it was a somber exciting because they knew that we didn't play to the standard that we were wanting to play at, and execute at that level. To me, as a head coach, that was very promising."
Offensively, Morris said focal points this week have included being able to finish drives, be more accurate in the passing game and not leave yards on the field in the run game.
Morris also spoke at length about the receivers’ “catch radius,” a reference to catchable passes that weren’t caught.
“Catch radius left to right and up and down, length of his arms is his catch radius,” said Morris, who added that four passes in a receiver’s catch radius was dropped Saturday, including two on third downs that were the eighth and sixth play of drives.
“You catch those you convert first downs,” Morris said, “and you see what happens.”
Assessing quarterback play, Morris said starter Ben Hicks "played well. He didn't really do anything superb, but didn't do anything, really, to hurt us. One of the things he did do well was get us in the right protections and able to give himself a chance. His leadership and the way our guys responded to him on the sideline, I was pleased with Ben."
Defensively, he said the Razorbacks need to work on staying in rush lanes, citing the ability of Portland State quarterback Davis Alexander to scramble for yards Saturday.
“Had we not allowed him to break the pocket, they had 75-100 yards of offense,” Morris said.
Morris pointed to some positives Saturday, including Rakeem Boyd’s 114-yard rushing performance that included a touchdown in the third quarter. Morris said Boyd’s yards after contact stood out to the coaching staff.
“I thought we ran the ball well,” Morris said. “I didn’t think it was great; we left a lot of yards out on the field. We wanted to be able to establish the run.
“I thought we got better at rushing the football as the game went on.”
Morris also said he was pleased with the absence of pre-snap penalties in the opener - abnormal this time of year.
“I was really impressed and excited about the fact that we had zero pre-snap penalties,” Morris said. “When you have a new quarterback and essentially 11 new starters from last year, to not have any pre-snap penalties” is impressive.
Morris said he expects to see a better performance from Ole Miss following the Rebels’ 15-10 loss at Memphis in the season opener. He said the Razorbacks and Rebels are similar at this point following strong defensive performances, but less-than-desirable offensive outings.
Morris said Ole Miss looks a lot better defensively than last year when the Rebels had the worst defense in the SEC.
“Here’s what I do know: we’re facing two coordinators that have been head coaches, Rich Rodriguez and Mike MacIntyre,” Morris said. “They’ve both been head coaches, they’ve both been coaches of the year. They’ve been in these situations before. We’ll see a much improved Ole Miss team from what we saw on video against Memphis.”
Morris downplayed the significance of the Ole Miss game, reverting to standard coach speak that it was the next game on the schedule. But he did acknowledge that “we all understand and our players understand…what this game Saturday night would mean for our program.”
The Razorbacks enter Saturday’s game on an 11-game SEC losing streak and haven’t won a conference game since a 38-37 victory at Ole Miss in 2017. Arkansas and Ole Miss were predicted to finish as the bottom two teams in the SEC West in the preseason.
Morris said tight end C.J. O’Grady has had two good practices this week after missing the season opener following a knee injury. O’Grady will start at Ole Miss.
Offensive guard Austin Capps practiced Wednesday after missing Tuesday’s practice. Capps was injured late in the game against Portland State and was seen Monday in a walking boot.
“We’ll see where he is, how he feels tomorrow,” Morris said.
Defensive end Jamario Bell (knee) has not practiced this week, Morris said, but he has not been ruled out for this week’s game at Ole Miss. Bell is listed on this week’s depth chart as a starter in place of Dorian Gerald, who was ruled out for the season following a health scare in the season opener. Morris earlier this week described Gerald’s injury as a strained artery in the neck.
With Bell questionable and Gerald out, Morris said freshmen will be utilized Saturday. He said coaches “are really excited about” Collin Clay and Mataio Soli.
“You’ve got to get a lot of freshmen ready,” Morris said, “especially at the defensive end position.”