Sam Pittman Thinks Hogs 'Have Chance,' but May Be Alone
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman wasn't particularly convincing Monday afternoon talking about Saturday's game with Alabama.
"We have a chance," he said. "It might be considered coach-speak or whatever but the No. 1 think you have to do to go beat a team is believe you can do it."
It's an issue that first came to mind over the weekend. The Razorbacks haven't actually given themselves much of a chance very often for over a decade against the Crimson Tide.
Pittman knows that may be his biggest challenge this week.
"If you've got a whole plane full of guys that are going 'when is this game over?' you don't have a chance," he said. "We all, probably in high school or whatever have all been on that team."
He's right when he says that's the No. 1 thing. There's a whole bunch of fans that don't think the Hogs have any sort of chance.
Alabama gets in teams' heads before the opening kickoff on a regular basis. Pittman was on the staff when the Hogs came close in 2014.
"In 2013 we got beat 50-nothing (close enough, it was 52-0)," Pittman said. "The next year we got beat by a point. The No. 1 difference was we had a team full of guys that believed they could win."
The hope is with a 7-3 start to the season that probably exceeded nearly all expectations is that it carries over to games like elite teams like the Tide.
"Our kids, it's helped them confidence-wise of going in there and, hey, we've beaten some pretty good teams this year and we know how good Alabama is but it gives us confidence we can go in there and play well."
Playing well is one thing. Winning is another.
This year, the Tide are at the end of the schedule. The way the SEC does things these days by doing everything possible to avoid consistent rivalries, he was asked about getting them late vs. early in the year.
"I don't know what the good would be," he said about playing them when Alabama is trying to figure out a late way into the College Football Playoff. "It's just the schedule. It is what it is. It's the next one on the schedule."
The second-ranked Tide haven't been the most dominating team in the league this year. Georgia has that going for them with maybe as impressive of a group as we've seen.
Now, though, it's about scoring style points for the gang that chooses who gets to play for a national title.
Nick Saban is angling to be one of those four teams and the Hogs are the next team in the way of accomplishing that.
Pittman just has to convince his guys they can stop that train.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday and will be televised on CBS and FuboTV.
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