In-game Decisions, Stubbornness Continue to Kill Hogs Chances

Has Sam Pittman’s in-game decision making actually peaked with Razorback?

Author:
Jacob Davis
Publish date:
Sep 30, 2023 8:09 PM EDT

In this story:

ARLINGTON, Texas — What can be said about his game? An ill-prepared Arkansas was overwhelmed by Texas A&M on Saturday. When the ball bounces the way of a team, the situations must be capitalized on. The Razorbacks had three or four possessions when they could have taken the lead or closed the gap but wouldn’t take the bait.

Was there a give up following the final Hogs touchdown? With two timeouts and three minutes to go, coach Sam Pittman either forgot they were in his pocket or had no confidence in his team to make a stop for another miracle drive.

In-game coaching decisions have been questionable. Is that being lenient? Likely. Continually lining a 6-foot-3, 250-pound quarterback in the shotgun instead of under center remains the most ridiculous decision each week. There’s even been a handful of times that the Hogs called a timeout before the snap to get out of the play.

At this point it’s stubborn not to even try going under center. That’s the hill Pittman is willing to die on and he shared as much during Saturday’s post game press conference.

"Once he gets under center, the front on the defense is certainly going to change,” Pittman said. “If we felt better about him sneaking we would do it."

Of course, defensive fronts are going to be disguised or changed. That’s football. It’s a game of X’s, O’s and a willingness to win the trenches. It’s obvious Pittman doesn’t trust his offensive line to push for a yard or two since the Aggies were unblockable, recording 15 tackles for loss and seven sacks.

If there is one positive to cling to for the ultimate optimists was the zero penalties committed by Hogs this week. After the past two weeks, it was nice to not have to see KJ Jefferson need to go 150 yards instead of 70 each drive. Instead, the offense was in reverse most of the second half with less than 50 yards of offense before a 48-yard touchdown at the 3:53 mark of the fourth quarter.

A 2-5 overall record following this road stretch is looking more likely. Where will the Hogs’ mindset be by this point on Oct. 14 after back-to-back road games against Ole Miss and Alabama? The fanb ase is a vocal one so as the season unravels and not having hope is found it could get ugly very quickly in the past.