Tide defense still rough, tough

Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding works with linebacker Christian Harris (8) as Henry To'oTo'o (10) listens during practice in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

FAYETTEVILLE — It’s no secret the Arkansas Razorbacks did not hold up well against LSU’s blitzing last week.

Both the run game and the pass game suffered setbacks as the Tigers brought linebackers and defensive backs to plug gaps against the run and hound quarterback KJ Jefferson when passes were called.

Only Jefferson’s elusiveness and scrambling allowed the University of Arkansas to find a way to move the ball with any regularity against the relentless LSU pressure.

“I thought KJ Jefferson basically took the game over,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said. “There were so many times he could’ve been sacked. We were having problems.”

Arkansas survived 16-13 in overtime, and won with just 283 yards total offense, 141 on the ground and 142 through the air. That marked the second time a Pittman team at Arkansas won a game with less than 300 yards of offense, joining its 21-14 upset at No. 16 Mississippi State last year.

The Razorbacks entered the LSU game averaging 243 rushing yards and 457 total yards per game.

Now No. 21 Arkansas (7-3, 3-3 SEC) will have to face an Alabama unit ranked fifth in total defense when it takes on the No. 2 Crimson Tide (9-1, 5-1) on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The Razorbacks will undoubtedly face pressure from Alabama’s fourth-ranked rushing defense, which is giving up 83.5 yards per game, but it’s not likely to be the same heavy blitzing as LSU employed.

“That’s not truly their style,” Pittman said. “Bama’s Bama. You know they’ve been beating people for a long time doing what they do. Certainly they will look at what LSU did against us, obviously.”

Pittman noted Alabama runs some true “zero” coverage, meaning every receiver is matched up man to man with no deep help, but it hasn’t been a heavy staple in the arsenal used by Coach Nick Saban and defensive coordinator Pete Golding.

The Razorbacks tried various schemes to beat the LSU blitzes — screens to receivers and backs, misdirection plays, slants and various other hot routes — but had little success.

Most of the problems had to do with poor blocking, though Jefferson also checked into a poor coverage once.

“You run into a 5-2 box every time,” Arkansas tackle Dalton Wagner said. “There’s seven guys, and you’ve got five blockers, and you’ve got to figure out a way to get that blocked. We had to do a better job of that versus LSU, and we’ve taken it on our backs now this week to make sure we do the same thing.”

Wagner said offensive line coach Cody Kennedy has stressed good work with the eyes and communication, along with physicality this week.

“Coach Kennedy has made a tremendous emphasis, and so has Coach Pittman, on making sure our eyes are up, our eyes are on the right backer, we’re communicating the right way and everyone is on the same page,” Wagner said.

On some plays, Arkansas receivers didn’t connect on their blocks on passes to backs or other wideouts.

“Like I always say, it’s always important to block on the edge,” Arkansas receiver Treylon Burks said. “Every now and then we’ll miss a block, but we know just to make sure we get it done on that next play.”

Both linemen and receivers struggled to screen off, drive or disrupt the attacking Tigers.

“We tried to run some screens off of [blitzes] and we just missed the linebackers,” Pittman said. “I mean, we had a screen out to, I believe it was Burks, and if we make two blocks out there, it’s gone, but we didn’t.

“And so our blocking in space has to get a lot better, whether that be an O-lineman trying to pin a man-cover linebacker or whether that be out on the edge.”

Arkansas is still ranked sixth in the country and second in the SEC with 233.5 rushing yards per game and 34th nationally with 439.8 total yards per game. Racking up those numbers against Alabama, which limited the Razorbacks to 188 total yards and 80 rushing yards last season, will be a chore.

However, Pittman said he liked the game plan for this week, as well as the plan for the LSU game.

“I liked our game plan, we just didn’t execute it,” Pittman said. “We didn’t block the edges at all very well. But I liked last week. I like this week.

“We know they’re a fine football team, but we’ve run the ball on some really fine defensive fronts and we’ll see if we can get it done Saturday. I’m fine with where we are so far. We have a few tweaks from yesterday’s practice, but other than that I feel good about where we’re at in the run game.”

Of course, Jefferson is likely to play a big role in the run game as he did last week while leading the Razorbacks with 41 rushing yards, just ahead of Dominique Johnson’s 40 and Trelon Smith’s 37.

Saban said he can see the advancements made by Jefferson from last year’s game, when he rushed for 11 yards on 6 carries and completed 1 of 6 passes for 18 yards before coming out with a minor knee injury.

“When he played last year, he was athletic, obviously made good plays,” Saban said. “But I think as a starter, they’ve been able to feature the things that he can do really, really well.

“And I think he’s made tremendous progress as a passer, knowledge of the offense and ability to execute and do the things they need him to do to be effective in terms of distributing the ball, whether it’s run or pass. The guy’s a big, strong guy so he’s hard to sack. He’s extended plays and made plays running and throwing.”