'Hell, I Don't Know': Sam Pittman Didn't Have Much Excuse for Dismal Performance
Sam Pittman isn't going to be able to spin that wretched performance against Georgia into anything positive.
Oh, that doesn't mean he won't try.
At times, he appeared to be the most confused person in Sanford Stadium after a 37-0 loss that really could have been anything Georgia coach Kirby Smart wanted the final score to be.
Arkansas stunk up the field as badly as anything seen in awhile.
On one play in the second half, the Hogs were flagged for three defensive penalties ... on one single play. Let that sink in.
"Our kids played hard," Pittman said later, which didn't make a whole lot of sense.
READ MORE: Hogs' Offense Completely Disappears Against Georgia
If they played hard with that result, then there's something else seriously wrong. Exactly what that is, though, even had Pittman sounding confused, especially on why the penalties — that have been a problem all season — are still happening.
"Hell, I don't know," he said. "We practiced it, we practiced it with noise, we stemmed them, we moved them, and they jumped offsides. I don’t have any damn idea why they jumped offsides. I wish I did, we’d fix it."
He better figure it out ... fast. While he's at it, grab Scott Fountain and take a look at why punts keep being blocked at an alarming rate (four over the past two seasons).
"They wrapped us on a punt block that they hadn’t shown us," Pittman said. "They got home on it. Had too many guys up the middle. We only had two and they had four running by us."
Cam Little even missed a field goal for the first time this season, but no idea why that happened. There are three people involved and two of them touch the ball before it's kicked so nobody really knows and Pittman probably won't say.
For good measure and to be completely thorough, they dropped a fair catch kickoff and fell on it at the 7, which is where the offense got to start.
"That was all in the first half about the time everything else was going bad for us, too," Pittman said.
At times Pittman was on the verge of complete exasperation with the questions about the Hogs' dismal performance.
"All these questions you guys are asking me, hell I know," he said. "I saw the same things you guys have."
So, the bottom line to everything right after the game is Pittman knows what he saw go wrong but he doesn't know why they keep jumping offsides.
On the blocked punts, well, it's four times now that's been chalked up to the other team just coming up with a scheme that worked and apparently the Hogs' special teams coaches didn't plan for.
READ MORE: Hogs Can't Handle Spotlight, Falling Miserably at Georgia
Maybe the gap between Alabama, Georgia and the rest of the SEC is just that big. The Crimson Tide stuffed Ole Miss on Saturday.
Saturday was a test for the Hogs and Pittman. We found out they aren't ready to challenge for a trip to Atlanta in December anytime soon.
"Georgia is a helluva lot better than us today," Pittman said. "A helluva lot better than us."
Now they've got to go on the road again next week against an Ole Miss team that can score points. Last year Barry Odom schemed a plan that befuddled Matt Corral (who may have seen his Heisman chances go down the drain Saturday).
The biggest question is, simply, if the Hogs can recover from the absolute beat-down in Georgia?
"That won’t be a problem,” Pittman said. “We’re not going to have a problem regrouping. We won four games in a row, beat a 15th-ranked team, beat a 7th-ranked football team. We’ve got a good football team."
Apparently just not good enough to play with the top teams.
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