FAYETTEVILLE — Liberty is one play away from entering Reynolds Razorback Stadium this weekend undefeated.
The Flames, ranked No. 23 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll and led by former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, are anything but a traditional Homecoming matchup for the Razorbacks. And third-year coach Sam Pittman is well aware of that.
Liberty is 7-1, with its lone loss coming at Wake Forest on Sept. 17. The Flames have won five consecutive games, including 41-14 over BYU on Oct. 22.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that (Freeze) will have them ready,” Pittman said. “They had a bye week and they’ll have their best game all year. I expect a really close, tight game.
“Hopefully we can make enough plays to win.”
The Razorbacks opened game week as a two-touchdown favorite over Liberty. Pittman laughed when asked what he thought of the initial point spread, but added that Freeze’s team is deserving of its ranking.
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The Flames are ranked for the first time since finishing the 2020 season at No. 17.
Liberty, Pittman said, has good talent, a high number of transfers on its roster, and that the Razorbacks have their work cut out for them as they look to extend their own winning streak to three games.
“Defensively, they will hit you, they can tackle you,” Pittman said. “That was the same thing over at Ole Miss when (Freeze) was there. Offensively, they’re going to have something that you haven’t seen. They are a well-oiled machine, they're physical and they’re a very disciplined team.
“He’s always had really disciplined football teams. Then on special teams they’ve got a couple of guys that are good returners.”
Liberty’s offense ranks 50th nationally at 421.3 yards per game. It is averaging 195.1 rushing yards, led by sophomore tailback Dae Dae Hunter’s 825 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Junior running back Shedro Louis has seven rushing touchdowns.
But Arkansas’ primary concern defensively centers on who the Flames will play at quarterback.
Johnathan Bennett, a junior filling in for starter Charlie Brewer, has thrown for 939 yards and 8 touchdowns against 7 interceptions in 7 games. He finished with a career-high 247 yards passing in Liberty’s win over BYU.
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There is a chance, however, that Brewer could return to at least part-time action Saturday. He broke his hand in the first quarter of his first start with the Flames on Sept. 3 against Southern Miss and was expected to miss up to eight weeks.
Brewer, who began his career at Baylor and was a backup last season at Utah, carried the ball twice against BYU for zero yards.
“He had a good practice today,” Freeze said Monday. “I would expect Brewer to do like he did at BYU and try to go. I think the off week really helped him. He threw it a lot better today than he did two weeks ago when he was trying to practice.
“I would anticipate right now both JB and Brewer being ready. … (Bennett) has been very inconsistent, then he just won the biggest game in school history and looked really good doing it.”
Freeze added that Bennett is the likely frontrunner to start at Arkansas.
“I’ve got these two things battling in my mind,” he said. “Both will probably see time.”
Pittman, assessing Liberty’s quarterbacks, said each player can throw the ball well, command an offense and diagnose defenses effectively.
“They've won games with both of them,” Pittman said. “They're very similar in that they're both athletic, both have good arms. You know, Coach has got a decision. He's the coach, he's got a decision on what he wants to do, because certainly Bennett has been playing well.
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“We'll be prepared for both of them. I'm not going to tell you it's an easy preparation, but they're going to run their offense, and both of them are really talented, obviously.”
A smile came to Pittman’s face Monday when looking ahead to the Razorbacks’ first home game since Oct. 1 against Alabama.
After playing one game in Fayetteville over a six-week stretch that included the bye week, Arkansas is set to play three consecutive home games before closing the regular season at Missouri. The Razorbacks will host No. 15 LSU next week and No. 11 Ole Miss in two weeks.
Pittman said it was about time his team returned home.
“Thank you, Lord,” Pittman joked. “It’s a big deal for me, our staff and our team to play in front of the state of Arkansas — a big deal. Obviously, we need to win. Each win will pump up our fan base a little bit more and it’ll help us win.
“They’ll help us win. If we’re fortunate enough to win on Saturday, I’m sure it’ll be a lot to do with the home-crowd advantage.”
After reviewing the game film of the 41-27 victory over Auburn last weekend, Pittman felt like the Razorbacks did not play well “at some positions,” particularly special teams. He added that the offensive line “played OK.”
Arkansas put up 520 yards of offense, including 276 rushing.
“I don't think we played as well as we can,” Pittman said, “but I'm glad we won. We can learn from all those things.”