Juggling Offensive Line in Fall Practice Not Great Sign

After getting manhandled at times by Kent State, Sam Pittman looking for answers

Author:
Andy Hodges
Publish date:
Sep 10, 2023 5:31 PM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — If there was anything that looked alarming at times in Arkansas 24-6 win over Kent State on Saturday, it was the way the offensive line got pushed around at times. We haven't seen that a lot with Sam Pittman-coached teams.

Considering Pittman and offensive line coach Cody Kennedy spent all of spring and fall practices trying to sort out things, he's said repeatedly the starters are pretty much set, but settling everybody is part of the problem. They just haven't appeared as physical at times.

"We're not knocking them off the football right now," Pittman said after Saturday's game. "We're not blocking particularly well on the edge. We're just not blocking particularly well period."

Granted, part of the problem is everybody hears about the 38.5-point margin they were favored at sportsbooks by. If it's not that, people start complaining, but if anybody is aware of it, it's doubtful we'll know about it. When results don't exceed expectations that may have been a little high to begin with, folks start griping.

But this game was more than that. At times the offensive line got knocked backwards. That shouldn't happen against the Golden Flashes. They don't really recruit the same type players the Razorbacks do. Pittman praised their game plan (run the clock offensively), but the problems ran a little deeper.

"We had nine drives all day," Pittman said. "They were very physical. I thought they out-physicaled us in the first half. We've got a lot to get better at."

Through two games against constantly improving opponents, the Hogs have struggled with the running game that was projected to be the strength of the offense and one of the things everybody was convinced would be really good. That hasn't really materialized.

It did a little against Kent State mainly because quarterback KJ Jefferson literally just kinda said the heck with it and primarily ran the ball more. The guess is they were optional runs and didn't really look like anything planned, but you got the feeling somebody had to get something working offensively.

"It's frustrating right now for the kids and for the coaches that we're not running the ball consistently," Pittman said. He could have included the fans in that. The running game will get worked out one way or the other. Nobody saw Raheim "Rocket" Sanders getting sidelined with a knee injury for a week or two.

That may or may not be tied to the problem. Coaches and players are the only ones that can answer that. Even that, though, doesn't answer the problem of why they got shoved around at times by Kent State.

Kickoff next Saturday in the last non-conference game for awhile will be 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2 and fuboTV. We should find out the time and channel designation for the LSU game the next week later Sunday, but expect it to be in a pretty good spot.