Pittman Glad to be in Bowl After Covid Cost Texas Bowl Opportunity
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman on ...
EXCITEMENT OF BEING IN THE OUTBACK BOWL
Very excited. Very honored. I know our team and our state is going to be very excited to get down here to Tampa.
HOW HOGS MATCH UP WIT PENN STATE
Their physicality. Their tradition. They have been to a lot of these bowls consecutive. We have not. It’s been a little bit of a five-year break from us getting to go to bowls, even though we could have went to Texas last year, but Covid cost us that bowl.
You know they just have a historical program with a very, very fine head coach. That’s going to be a big problem. They’re big on both sides of the ball up front and that’s where a lot of games are won or lost.
PLAYING ON NEW YEAR'S DAY
It’s a big deal. When you’re a kid, when you’re young, that’s what you do. You get up in the morning, you eat a little leftovers from the night before and you watch all-day football.
Back in the day that’s when all the national championships were crowned back then on New Year’s Day. To be able to play and be a part of history on New Year’s Day is a big deal for us.
PLAYER EXCITEMENT ABOUT BOWL ACTIVITIES
That’s the biggest things as a coach. You want to be able to give your kids experiences everybody has an opportunity to get. When I went into the team meeting on Monday, the kids were ecstatic. I told them about the activities of the bowl, showed them where they were going to stay and all these type things. They were just so happy. And they earned it, and of course I was happy for them.
HOW HOGS GOT HERE
We made two runs. We made a run early in the year to get to eighth in the country, then we ended up losing three in a row there, then we made a final run. We didn’t do what we thought we could do. We thought we could win the last five and we lost to Alabama by seven there. That run of Mississippi State, LSU and Missouri was a big run for us to allow us to get invited to the Outback Bowl
ON SEEING JOHN DALY
It seemed to me like his beard’s a little longer since the last time I saw him. You know he comes up and sees me in the office all the time. He let me know he’s living down here and things of that nature, so really good to see him. Maybe he can get me out on a good golf course.
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