FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman does not know LSU Coach Ed Orgeron very well, but his respect for the longtime defensive line coach is immense.
Pittman said Orgeron stands as an example for aspiring head coaches who are not offensive or defensive coordinators.
“I did tell Coach Orgeron that I believe he gave us noncoordinators an opportunity,” Pittman said. “I think it makes it easier … for athletic directors to hire noncoordinators, nonhead coaches, and I think he proved that it can be done.
“He was a D-line coach for a majority of his life and got the opportunity there I believe at Ole Miss. I was very thankful to him because I think he’s one of the guys — there’s about 3-4 of them — that started the opportunities for noncoordinators to be head coaches.”
Pittman followed the same route as an offensive line coach and assistant head coach at numerous schools to land the Arkansas job in December.
“I think a lot of Coach Pittman,” Orgeron said when told of Pittman’s thoughts Monday. “Obviously, he’s done a great job. I don’t know if it helped or not, but I was never a coordinator. He was never a coordinator, he became a head coach, and he’s doing a good job.
“We’ve had success here. I think that guys don’t need to be judged as if they’re a coordinator or not. It’s the leadership skills they have and their background. And I think of all those great coaches I’ve been with that’s helped me, and I think it’s going to help Coach Pittman.”
Orgeron said he spoke by phone with Pittman on Monday morning.
“You know what? They have faith in their coaching staff,” Orgeron said.
House call
Trelon Smith said the hole in the A gap had been there all week in practice on the inside zone play that broke for an 83-yard touchdown run in the second quarter at Florida.
“It was a power inside zone play, and basically I just did what I was taught to do — stay tight,” Smith said. “My coaches said shoot the A-gap. In practice we worked on it last week hitting the A-gap, and I just trusted what I saw.
“I saw the safety coming down to the left, I made that last extra cut, and then it was over from there, a house call.”
Smith said tight end Blake Kern provided the final key block after his surge through the line. Guard Luke Jones sealed off his defender at the point of attack, and left tackle Myron Cunningham released to the second level and blocked a linebacker on the play.
“Aw man, Kern … came around pulling and he knocked off the outside linebacker,” he said. “And then also, I want to say it was my backside guard or tackle [Cunningham] who came up and picked up the other linebacker, and I was able to set up my own block deep on the safety with my pick to the outside, and it was over after that.”
Going deep
Mike Woods got past Florida cornerbacks Kaiir Elam and Chester Kimbrough to score deep-ball touchdowns from 47 and 82 yards on Saturday. He caught both balls while sprinting down the right sideline, just as he did against Tennessee the week before.
“I just know I had an option route, and I took the go route both times,” Woods said. “I just won. I mean, I’m going to run every route to win. I have an option, I’m going to go deep every time anyway.”
On the second play, Woods saw the defender slide past him on the catch and get an angle on him, so he cut left all the way across the field, turned the corner and scored.
“I had to slow down to catch the ball,” Woods said. “I mean, I’m just out there playing football. I don’t do too much thinking when I’m on the field. It just kind of happened. I saw him over the top, and I just cut it back.”
Three RBs
The Razorbacks were thin at running back against Florida and played only Rakeem Boyd and Trelon Smith at the spot against the Gators.
Due to Dominique Johnson’s absence for an undisclosed reason, walk-on Donte Buckner from White Hall was the only available backup after A’Montae Spivey entered the transfer portal by mutual agreement, and Josh Oglesby was lost to a foot injury in camp.
Smith posted his first 100-yard game with a 118-yard showing against the Gators, including an 83-yard touchdown run. Boyd contributed 56 yards and a 12-yard touchdown.
Two weeks off
Arkansas tailback Trelon Smith thinks the Razorbacks will have an edge on LSU since the Tigers have not played the past two Saturdays. The Tigers had an open date Sept. 7, then did not have enough players available due to covid-19 testing and tracing to play Alabama last week.
“I feel like personally it does give us an advantage,” Smith said. “But you know you’ve got to keep in mind that everybody, we’re all in the SEC. They’re on a full-ride scholarship just like us so I plan on for them to come in and be ready to play against us and try to beat us.
“With that being said, we just can’t sit back just because they missed two weeks of football. We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to start fast.”