FAYETTEVILLE — The first few possessions of the game and handling the hype of Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. ranked clash between No. 19 Arkansas and No. 23 Cincinnati at Reynolds Razorback Stadium have been on the minds of players and especially coaches for both teams for months.
The Razorbacks cannot afford the kind of haphazard, undisciplined start that hounded them in last year’s 38-17 season-opening win over unheralded Rice.
Cincinnati Coach Luke Fickell said the Bearcats’ coaching staff came back from last year’s 27-6 loss to Alabama in the CFP semifinal in the Cotton Bowl determined to better handle the circumstances surrounding a major showdown.
The first meeting ever for the Razorbacks (9-4 in 2021) and Bearcats (13-1) will be one of three FBS games this weekend between ranked teams. Handling the buzz and the increased scrutiny is one of the very tangible facets of the matchup.
Arkansas structured its practices to hold what the coaches call “fastball starts” to get the blood pumping and underline the need for coming out of the gates hot.
“Obviously there’s some concern there from how we’ve practiced in the past for slow starts against Rice last year and against Penn State in the bowl game coming off a layoff,” Coach Sam Pittman said.
“Certainly it wasn’t the case necessarily on defense, but on offense it was. So we’re trying to do some different things. Part of it is to stay consistent with fast starts in practice. Part of it is how we’re trying to attack indy [individual drills] the first period of practice.
“We certainly made a press towards that coming off of any water breaks and those things, trying to get into a fast pace and good quality reps. So we know what our weaknesses are from a year ago, and we’re trying to attack them, and hopefully it works.”
Fickell’s Bearcats, playing perhaps the biggest game in program history, gave up a game-opening touchdown drive to Alabama on Dec. 31 in Arlington, Texas, and fell behind 17-3 by halftime against a Crimson Tide team that had been in dozens of marquee games since Coach Nick Saban’s arrival in 2007.
“I know that after the playoff game last year, I think I didn’t do a good enough job of preparing our guys for the environment and the atmosphere,” Fickell said.
“So we’ve used that and how we kind of started that game as something we’ve got to get better at. So it’s been, since January whatever that was … coming back and talking about how do we get better. It had been about handling the atmospheres and the environments we’re going to play in.”
Pittman turned heads this week with his “iced tea or liquor” remarks, which he has since been asked about a couple of more times.
The comment had to do with defending Cincinnati’s multi-faceted offense and being able to make changes on the fly depending on how the Bearcats choose to attack.
Pittman gave the example of LSU coming after the Arkansas offense with cover-zero, meaning blitzing on every play with man-to-man coverage and no deep safeties behind it.
“The first game’s the one where you better be ready because you don’t have a clue what they’re getting ready to do,” Pittman said. “They’ve got their base principles, but you walk into LSU at night and they cover-zero you all night.
“They were bringing moonshine. It wasn’t just liquor. … They’re going to a different party than what you might have expected, and we’ve got to adjust.”
Because of the Razorbacks’ offensive struggles in their 16-13 overtime victory against LSU, Pittman said he is aware Cincinnati might try the same over-aggressive blitzing tactics.
“Coach Fickell’s such a wonderful, great coach that they’’ll do the same thing on whatever we’re trying to do,” Pittman said. “But these are different deals now, first game of the year because you really don’t know. You don’t know a whole lot about what’s coming at you.”
There is a big element of unknown to the Cincinnati offense for the Razorbacks for several reasons, even though all five offensive line starters return. The Bearcats lost offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock (to LSU), quarterback Desmond Ridder, 1,300-yard tailback Jerome Ford and 884-yard receiver Alec Pierce. They have elevated Gino Guidugli to offensive coordinator and are leaving the starting quarterback role between Ben Bryant and Evan Prater unannounced.
“Even though they’ve got the same defensive coordinator, and their offensive coordinator was the quarterback coach, and all those type things, you find out a lot about your team first two or three series of the game, in my opinion, in that first game,” Pittman said. “So we’ll have to be ready to make adjustments.”
The Razorbacks looked sloppy for more than a half against Rice. Quarterback KJ Jefferson was 4 for 11 for 21 yards at halftime with an interception. Top receiver Treylon Burks was clearly off his game.
Arkansas had a punt blocked, converted just 3 of 11 third-down plays and committed 13 penalties for 117 yards in losses against Rice. The Razorbacks overcame a 17-7 deficit early in the third quarter and pulled away with 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.