Wondering Why Hogs Not Letting Playmakers Make Plays

Lots of questions still hanging over this offense trying to get some people involved

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Sep 22, 2023 6:30 PM EDT
Original:
Sep 22, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas' offense has become a mystery for some people. Oh, everybody can see the offensive line still has questions and the running game hasn't been what's expected. The biggest question is why they can't seem to figure out how to get the most dynamic playmaker on the field.

The most obvious of this situation is wide receiver Isaiah Sategna, who runs 22 miles an hour and Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman's excuse so far is his blocking and, of course, he needs to improve his catching a little. We don't get to see enough of practices to know whether he's dropping everything in sight or can't get in the way of a tackling dummy, but that does sound a little odd.

Most coaches on championship teams have kinda found a way to overlook certain flaws with players like that while figuring out how to get speed on the field and the ball in their hands more. It brings to mind the time Bum Phillips, coaching the Houston Oilers, had Earl Campbell and for whatever reason, an assistant told him he can't run the backpedal part of a drill. "We ain't asking Earl to back up," Bum told him.

The same thing with Sategna. If you're asking a guy with world-class speed to be a blocker in the first place, that's a problem I raised an eyebrow about when Pittman first mentioned it at a press conference. There are some things he can do better than anybody else on the team and that's run the jet sweep coming around, go past defenders deep and run those same types of long crossing routes Bobby Petrino's offense loved so much.

Take advantage of his speed. Nobody plays every down of a game anymore, unless you really don't have any depth. That thought sailed out the college football window a couple of decades ago. It looks like a hockey line change at times with all the traffic coming and going.

While this team is 2-1 so far this season, it hasn't exactly been impressive. The offense keeps looking to run the ball, which seems to have everybody concerned for some reason. They obviously haven't looked at this line they are trying to run behind because it will be shocking if they can develop enough over the remaining nine games for that to be much more than a development for next year. Surprise me if I'm wrong.

In this day and age of football, throw out all those analytics and the way you thought about the game 20 years ago. Rules changes, particularly the new clock rules, means you better have a passing game and score a lot of points to win a lot of games. You might see an occasional defensive battle, but until there's enough of them to create a trend, it's just the occasional oddball game.

Yes, they scored a lot of points against nobody that had anywhere near the talent they'll see Saturday night at LSU. That defense will be at least a step faster and a lot bigger than anything they've seen so far. That's not even on the other side of the ball where the Tigers' offense looked impressive last week in a 41-14 win over Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss.

There's that word again — speed. The coach we never name in Hogs' history said it once about his recruiting and it was accurate then and now. "You either have it or you're chasing it," he said. It's completely accurate.

The Hogs have at least one speed guy. That coach never mentioned what happens if you ignore it. It's just hard to figure why coaches would recruit a guy that runs 22 miles an hour and worry about his blocking.

The Hogs will play LSU on Saturday, starting at 6 p.m. on ESPN and fuboTV before a national audience. You can hear the game in select radio markets at HitThatLine or on the radio at ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.