FAYETTEVILLE — Where there was despair, there is now hope. Where there was a distinct lack of coaching, there is now organization and a plan. Where there was lack of effort, there are now a bunch of fighters.
Simply put, one game into the Sam Pittman era, Arkansas appears headed on the right path to playing with the SEC football big boys.
Georgia dominated the second half to roll to a 37-10 victory in the season opener before 16,500 mostly masked fans at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Pittman’s first game as head coach was marked with more than a glimmer of hope. Despite horrific field position, the Hogs led 7-5 after an exhausting, two-hour first half. They upped it to 10-5 with the first score of the second half.
That was remarkable considering Georgia averaged starting at its own 41 for the game, Arkansas at its own 18. The Hogs got it six times in the first quarter thanks to terrific defense, but averaged starting at its own 9-yard line.
“I’m proud of our defense,” Pittman said. “If the defense doesn’t step up in the first half, we could have been down three touchdowns. Our offense couldn’t get the ball off of our goal line.”
As it was, that first half gives the Hogs something to build on, although Pittman noted bluntly that three turnovers were the big negatives.
The positive clearly was in the effort, no surprise to Pittman.
“Our players are going to play hard,” he said. “We talked to them after the game about where we were at halftime against the No. 4 team. But we are in the win business and we learned you couldn’t turn the ball over three times against No. 4.
“We have to play better in special teams. What I liked, our team hurt afterward. Our guys understand that we will have a pretty good team if we keep working.”
After intermission, everything began to click for the Bulldogs. They fought back behind quarterback Stetson Bennett, a former walk-on with just enough passing ability to operate what is supposed to be an “Air Raid” offense installed by new coordinator Todd Monken.
Starter D’Wan Mathis threw wildly in the first half when the Razorbacks did mount some pass rush and plugged repeated plunges by the Bulldogs between the tackles with outstanding play from linebackers Grant Morgan (13 tackles) and Bumper Pool (11) and safety Jalen Catalon (9).
Pittman said defensive coordinator Barry Odom “had a great plan. I’m proud of our defense. They played hard.”
But they were not as fierce as the Georgia defense, perhaps the nation’s best. Except for a 91-yard drive on the second Arkansas possession, the Bulldogs were never close to allowing a touchdown.
The Hogs rushed for just 77 yards on 28 tries. Bell cow Rakeem Boyd was stuffed for 21 on 11 rushes. The young offensive line did not move the Bulldogs.
“We didn’t dent them,” Pittman said, adding that Boyd didn’t get any help.
“He was going to have to make his own. (Georgia) wasn’t doing anything special. We just couldn’t move them.”
Asked specifically about O-line play, Pittman said, “I don’t think we did very good. But going into the game to think we were going to move them – we didn’t think that.”
The lone Arkansas touchdown was highlight-reel stuff, a 49-yard pass from quarterback Feleipe Franks to star sophomore Treylon Burks. Franks escaped the pocket and while rolling to his left lofted a strike to the sideline over safety Richard LeCounte, an All-America candidate who had two interceptions.
Burks displayed outstanding body control to slow and cut to the boundary as the ball dropped to him. He scooted the final 20 yards as the piped-in crowd noise reached a crescendo.
The sophomore from Warren had seven catches for 102 yards, but Pittman said, “We have to get him the ball more. He’s a special player, a special kid. We have to run him more.”
There were other plays the crowd noise roared through the stadium speakers, replacing the volume that the missing 50,000 fans covid-19 precautions kept at home. Pool shellacked a scrambling Mathis in front of the Arkansas bench on a third-down stop on the opening Georgia possession. That play probably was in the mind of the 6-6, 205-pound Mathis when he went out of bounds just short of the first down marker to end the next possession.
There were a few more critical stops by the Hogs in the first half. Mathis threw wide and was intercepted by Montaric Brown at the Arkansas 5-yard line to erase a threat set up by a Franks interception.
The last big stop by the UA defense came on a fourth-and-1 at the 24-yard line just after Bennett entered the game in relief of Mathis. Pool stopped an off-tackle slant for no gain with 6:11 left in the first half.
The rest of the half was mostly frustration for the Hogs, despite supreme effort. They gave up a safety on a botched double reverse that was fumbled into the end zone by T.J. Hammonds. A delay of game penalty erased a chance at a 54-yard field goal by A. J. Reed with just over one minute left.
“Our guys said (the official) was standing over the ball,” Pittman said. “There was no hesitation on (going for the field goal). I still thought we were going to get it off. We got it off right at zero.”
Bennett then engineered an 8-play, 59-yard drive with Arkansas playing soft in the secondary. Jake Podlesny kicked a 38-yard field goal with no time left on the clock. He had missed but Pittman called a timeout just ahead of the snap.
The Hogs probably left some points on the board in the first two possessions of the second half. Catalon’s strip for a fumble might have been a scoop and score for Myles Slusher, but the freshman was bumped down by a teammate.
The Hogs followed that turnover with their only march into the Georgia red zone. But after Franks hit Michael Woods for 15 yards to set up first-and-goal at the 6-yard line, Georgia smothered three pass plays with coverage and pressure to force Reed to convert a 25-yard field goal.
The piped-in music roared again as the Hogs led 10-5 with 8:23 left in the third quarter. There was never really another opportunity for it to blare again.
Georgia’s offensive line began to get some movement and a solid three-man tailback rotation made some progress with jump cuts. There were a few wide plays that provided daylight, too.
Wide receiver George Pickens, the Georgia star in the Sugar Bowl with 12 catches, beat Jerry Jacobs to catch a 19-yard touchdown pass from Bennett. With the quarterback’s two-point run, the Bulldogs led for the first time, 13-10, at the six-minute mark of the third quarter.
Just three minutes later, the Georgia lead jumped to 27-10 when a blocked punt set up a 24-yard drive and Franks gave up a “pick six” two plays later. Eric Stokes jumped in front of Woods and rolled 30 yards untouched.
Bennett passed the Bulldogs 81 yards in 13 plays. Then, Mathis led a short drive that culminated in a 38-yard Podlesny field goal that nearly covered the 28-point spread. The Hogs drove to the UGA 30 behind KJ Jefferson. He was sacked on fourth-and-9 with seven seconds left.
Georgia led 387-280 in total yards. The Bulldogs averaged 4.3, the Hogs 4.2, but the field position made it tough for the Hogs most of the afternoon. Pittman wouldn’t use that as an excuse.
“We need to get the ball out of there,” he said of starting near his own goal line. “We can’t keep doing that to our defense. (Offensive coordinator Kendal) Briles knows that. In the first half, we couldn’t change the field position.”
Two of the turnovers came on botched trick plays. Pittman said his offensive coordinator has the green light to call such plays.
“We practice them,” Pittman said, “and we are going to run them. I have no problem with him calling them.”
The blocked punt came on inside penetration.
“They dented the integrity of our shield,” Pittman said.
Special teams issues were “lack of execution. We had a good game plan, but we didn’t execute it. We have to coach better and execute better.”
The Hogs had a handful of players out because of covid-19 testing, although there was no confirmation. Not in uniform were Devin Bush, Jarques McClellion and Mataio Soli.
That effected depth, perhaps an issue after the long first half.
“We wore down,” Pittman said. “We started fast, but we were a half step slower in the second half. Their big offensive line leaned on us.
“I thought our defensive line played well in the first half and maybe for the game. We’ve got a rotation of seven and we’ve got to get a more optimum rotation.”
All of those looked physical and tough, maybe something that will be a feature of a Pittman team. A key Arkansas man who has seen many practices over the last two seasons is convinced Pittman has the right recipe.
Practices are much tougher and more demanding than the previous two seasons. Monday and Tuesday are “full pad” days under Pittman and Wednesday featured contact in shells.
Listening to key members of the Georgia travel party talk about Pittman, it seems that no one was surprised by the solid effort by the Razorbacks or that it was a game for more than one half. The visiting players and coaches streamed to Pittman – their offensive line coach the last four years — after the game.
It was just one more thing that brings hope to Arkansas fans that they have the right man in charge after just one game.