FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said the Razorbacks might know by Friday how the remainder of their season will be scheduled.
The Razorbacks’ scheduled game against Missouri on Saturday was indefinitely postponed due to covid-19 protocols that have left Arkansas without enough players to satisfy SEC roster requirements.
There are three weekends — Dec. 5, 12 and 19 — remaining for Arkansas to play its two remaining games against Missouri and No. 1 Alabama. The Alabama game is scheduled to be played Dec. 5 in Fayetteville, but could be rescheduled by the SEC to accommodate other teams.
“We were in a pretty good position because we had played eight of our 10 games,” Pittman said during his weekly radio show at the Catfish Hole. “We have three weeks to play two, so we’re still in good shape.
“I don’t know exactly how they’re going to put it down. Do we play Alabama next weekend? Do we play Missouri next weekend? After that I think they’re going to try to figure out whether we’re going to play the other opponent on the 12th, or do we wait until the 19th. We don’t know, but my indication is we’ll know a little more Friday about what our remaining two games look like. They’re definitely being rescheduled, and unless covid hits the other team, we’ll play those games.”
The SEC recently approved Dec. 19 as a playing date for teams not involved in the SEC Championship Game, which is scheduled for the same day. Alabama, which is undefeated, is likely to play in the championship game against the winner of the SEC East.
Neither Alabama nor Missouri have a game scheduled for Dec. 12, but the Tigers have two games indefinitely postponed. Quarantines at Missouri forced the postponement of a game against Georgia on Nov. 14 and a make-up date has not been announced.
Arkansas and South Carolina had been the only SEC teams that had not had a game on their schedule postponed or rescheduled prior to this week. Pittman said the Razorbacks came close to not having enough players to play in a 27-24 loss to LSU last weekend.
The SEC can postpone a game if a team has fewer than 53 scholarship players available, or if it falls below an available number of scholarship offensive linemen (7), defensive linemen (4), quarterbacks (1) or centers (1). There have been 12 SEC games affecting 13 teams rescheduled or postponed this season.
It is not clear which threshold Arkansas’ team fell below this week to postpone the game at Missouri. The Razorbacks had 56 scholarship players available for the LSU game and were without at least six defensive linemen who had played the week before at Florida.
“We were very, very close and I think everybody knows (running back) Rakeem Boyd was out and a tremendous amount of D-linemen,” Pittman said, “but the bottom line is we had more than seven O-linemen, we had more than four D-linemen, we had more than one quarterback and more than 53 players, so to me you play the game because that’s what we all agreed on before the season.
“It didn’t say: Are your best players hurt? Are they covid? Are they quarantined? It said this is the criteria...you owe the fans and owe the players to go out there and have a contest, and that’s what we did.”
Pittman said the team is going through stripped-down practices this week. Players will be allowed to go home Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with their families.
“I believe if you don’t have enough to play, you probably don’t have enough to practice,” Pittman said. “Today we had meetings and lifting and a little bit of walk and talk, and we’re going to do the same thing tomorrow. The greatest thing about the walks is some of the kids who are hurt or injured — if we feel like they’re going to come back — we’ll put them in the walks and they can get some valuable mental reps.”
Several reserve defensive linemen had their first substantial playing time against LSU. Among them were Marcus Miller, Enoch Jackson and Eric Thomas.
“They were excited about their opportunity,” Pittman said. “Certainly they went out there and played hard. There’s a reason they hadn’t played before because they weren’t quite in the two or three deep at that point. It will make us a better football team in the long run.”
The Razorbacks’ top defensive lineman, tackle Jonathan Marshall, was able to play against LSU, but Pittman said he did so with between eight and 10 stitches in a thumb. Pittman said Marshall played more than 100 snaps in the game.
“Jon Marshall is a man, full-grown man,” Pittman said.
Pittman said the Razorbacks didn’t play a “well-rounded football game and a fine LSU team beat us.” He said the Tigers did a good job of using almost the entire 40-second snap clock between plays, a key in LSU holding the ball for more than 42 minutes of game time.
Pittman said another key to the game was Arkansas’ struggles on first down on both sides, which he said led to the Razorbacks’ third-down numbers. Arkansas did not convert a third down in 10 attempts and allowed LSU to convert on third down 12 of 23 times.
“We have to consistently win first down to put us in second-and-whatever and to have options,” Pittman said. “In that game the other day we didn’t win first down. Everybody talks about third down…and you have to convert third down, whatever the yardage is; that’s a given. But if you can’t win first down, your percentage of winning third down becomes much lower.
“We talked about it at halftime: We’ve got to do something on first down. We just couldn’t do it.”
Pittman said more consistency on first down, as well as running the ball, will benefit an offense that has hit several big-yardage plays in recent weeks.
“We are getting more explosive plays, so we need to bottle that up,” Pittman said. “But the consistency of first down and running the ball — and I’m talking about running backs — those are things we had gotten better in, and we just weren’t very good Saturday in that area.”
Two of Arkansas’ big plays against LSU came from receiver T.J. Hammonds, who had struggled in the times he touched the ball earlier this season. In consecutive plays Hammonds had a reception for 51 yards and a run for 29 yards to set up a fourth-quarter field goal.
“For a guy to take another jump, another leap, something has to happen to his confidence,” Pittman said. “You either have to see it in a game or see it consistently in practice, and then he takes that next step.
“His mind has said, ‘Well, I think, I think, I think,’ and once you do it, it becomes, ‘I know, I know, I know.’ Once you do it you can continue to improve.”
Pittman was asked about the fourth-quarter targeting penalty called against safety Jalen Catalon that will force him to miss the first half of the game the Razorbacks play next. Pittman reiterated his Monday comments that the suspension could not be overturned because it was upheld by replay during the game.
“Arkansas fans will know we’ve spoken to different people about that,” Pittman said, “but once they do the instant replay, basically whatever that call is is a standing call.”
Pittman said he believes his team (3-5) should play in a bowl game this season. Minimum win requirements for bowl games will be waived this season and the SEC has tie ins for nine bowl games outside of the bowls affiliated with the College Football Playoff.
The first SEC bowl game is scheduled for Dec. 26.
Pittman said in a normal season his team might have already hit the number of wins required to play in a bowl game, but wasn’t able to this year because nonconference games were scrapped to accommodate an SEC-only schedule.
“I believe our football team has earned the right to go to a bowl game,” he said, “and I’m certainly excited about the opportunity, and I believe we’ll have that opportunity.”