• Sam Pittman said it "doesn't look good" for defensive tackle John Ridgeway to play against Rice. Ridgeway had an appendectomy over the weekend, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
• Pittman said LaDarrius Bishop has remained in the same cornerback spot, which seemed to help him. Bishop has moved from one side to the other in the past, Pittman said.
• Pittman said he hopes the offense can be better, but noted the different dynamic due to the change in quarterback. He said KJ Jefferson has a different skillset than Feleipe Franks did a year ago. "I feel very confident we have the guys in there who can make plays."
• Pittman said the offense needs to have success and take the lead early to disrupt Rice's slower pace. "I anticipate them trying to take as much off the clock as they can."
• Pittman and Rice coach Mike Bloomgren are former offensive line coaches. He said he has respect for Bloomgren's career, which included several seasons at Stanford before going to Rice.
• Pittman said that if Ridgeway can't play, there are plenty of bodies to rotate at the position. The most likely to play there are Isaiah Nichols and Taurean Carter.
• Pittman said he watched a couple of Week 0 games and will show a video mashup of mistakes that were made in those games to his team today. "The more we can show them, the better off I think we'll be."
• Pittman was asked about Arkansas being a favorite this week after playing as an underdog in every game last year. "It's really not so much about the opponent for the players...but we pretty much keep it about Arkansas. We need to play our best, whatever that is, and let the score figure out the score."
• On playing former Southwest Conference teams the first two weeks, Pittman said he loves the fact "old timers" can think back on playing those teams.
• On being able to host recruits at football games, Pittman said it will be different than last year, when coaches had to wait around instead of talk to players on the team. He said it would be fun because his coaches enjoy recruiting.
• Pittman said safety Joe Foucha was most excited to learn he was a team captain over the weekend. Other captains are Grant Morgan, Jalen Catalon, KJ Jefferson and Myron Cunningham. Pittman said he thought 25-30 players could have been voted captain. "I'm serious."
• Pittman said Arkansas' film staff cut up every run and pass Luke McCaffrey had at Nebraska, in preparation for this game. McCaffrey transferred to Rice from Nebraska. Pittman said McCaffrey and Wiley Green have different styles. Rice has not named its starting QB.
• Pittman said he can't recall being on a team with so many seniors. He noted Rice also returns a lot of seniors, as do many teams due to the extra covid year.
• On the left guard battle between Luke Jones and Brady Latham, Pittman said Latham has been more consistent, "but there's not a whole lot of difference there." Latham is listed as a starter on the preseason depth chart, but Pittman said the final depth chart won't be set until after Wednesday's practice.
• Pittman said receiver Tyson Morris, who is listed as a starter, is more consistent in practice than he was last season. "He's running better routes, he's stronger and just had a better camp."
• Pittman on running through the 'A' for the first time as a head coach, "If I can get through that 'A' in front of everybody, it'll be a win." He said the team practiced running through the 'A' during the mock game two days ago and it was longer than it looked. "I need to speed up over what I did Saturday. I'm challenging myself to do that."
• Pittman said receiver Treylon Burks has progressed since the weekend with an undisclosed injury, but is day-to-day. "We're going to play him if he's ready, and if he's not we're not....I have no idea if he'll play or not." Pittman said he hopes Burks will return to practice by Wednesday.
• Pittman said Saturday's mock game included several special teams situations, but otherwise there "wasn't much to it." It included a lot of peripheral aspects to game day like stretching, getting ready for the game, etc.