Arkansas Head Coach Sam Pittman Discusses All Things Notre Dame Ahead of Matchup

Notre Dame (1-2) hits the road to Arkansas (2-2) for the first time in program history this Saturday, as a date with the Razorbacks awaits. When Notre Dame gets there, it will play against Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman, who has an ever-warming seat after last week's heartbreaking loss at Memphis.

Pittman met the media to start game week Monday and had a lot about Notre Dame that was on ehis mind. Here are some of the highlights.

Sam Pittman's General Thoughts on Playing Notre Dame

"Excited to get the opportunity to play Notre Dame. It’s good to be home, glad to be back home. Really good football team, outstanding running backs, quarterback, tight end, wide outs. Really good offensively. O-line is good, running the ball more, now than what they did earlier in the year and it’s really working out. Having a lot of success."

Pittman Praises Notre Dame's Running Backs

Jeremiyah Love of Notre Dame runs against Purdue in 202 — Sep 20, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) leaps against the Purdue Boilermakers in the second half at Notre Dame Stadium. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

"God, as I’m looking at tape, this guy is sensational - he’s fast, he’s mean. (Purdue) brought an A-gap linebacker; he just knocked the hell out of the guy. He can catch, he’ll jump. He likes to jump. He’s a high-jump hurdler or something, but he’s special.

Did I say I liked Love? I mean, God. As I’m looking at tape, this guy is sensational. He’s fast, he’s mean. They brought an A-gap linebacker, Purdue, he just knocked the hell out of the guy. He can catch, he likes to jump, he’s a high-jump hurdler or something. He’s special. Barry thinks he’s one of the best backs he’s ever seen. And then he talked about Price. And of course Price returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and we call them 1A, 1B. I can them 1AAAA and 1B. The guy is great, he’s a great player."

Pittman Praises Notre Dame's Defense

Notre Dame has clearly had issues defensively to anyone who has watched them, but veteran coach Pittman wasn't about to give the Fighting Irish any bulletin board material.

“Defensively, they’ve got some really good playmakers over there. Want to run man coverage, bring singles, disruptive on the defensive line with their movements. Really good team, they played good last week against Purdue, and really played well against (Texas) A&M, Miami, just came up short, a point and a field goal. Coach Freeman has done a wonderful job there. We’re looking forward to having a storied program like Notre Dame in our stadium.”

He did however state that he likes some of Arkansas' matchups with the Fighting Irish defense.

They’re good on the d-line, but I think we’ve got good matchups. I really like their Mike linebacker (Drayk) Bowen, he can run side to side. We have to get him wide, we just have to because he can run and he’s physical. They have run a lot of different coverages, whether it’d be 8, 4, 6, and man-free. We have to prepare for all of those coverages, but where our matchup is, what do we try to do. In other words are we going to attack outside, are we going to try to attack inside, are we going to run Taylen (Green) a lot? Anytime you have a team that is really good, you have to figure your matchups, and I think we matchup well with great respect against what they do.”

Pittman on Pressures of Playing Against Notre Dame

”It’d be kind of hard to have more pressure. I think the pressure you put on yourself is a lot because you want to do well, for a lot of reasons. I’ve kind of had the same type of pressure for three years now, it seems like 40, but I think it’s been about three. We have an opportunity, the only way we can win people that don’t believe in us or win some more positive thoughts about our program is to win ball games. And that’s really the bottom line, you can say whatever you want, you can do whatever you want, but what’s the score? And that really is what changes people’s perception or perspective of you, and we have a great opportunity here. As we well know, we’re not, we could be 4-0, we’re 2-2. I say that only because if we’re 4-0, we’re all sitting in here thinking we have a great chance to beat Notre Dame. Our football team will think that, we’ve got to rally around this week, and we’ll do that.”

Pittman on his Brief History with Lou Holtz

Lou Holtz in 198 — University of Arkansas football coach Lou Holtz, center, the featured speaker at the Clinic Bowl Honors Luncheon on Nov. 29, 1983, at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, jokes with Gordonsville quarterback Kevin Wills, left, and tackle Richard Anderson. | Robert Johnson / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

The former Notre Dame coach will be in attendance to see two programs that he led to great heights battle it out Saturday. Pittman spoke on his very short history with Holtz.

“I was at his camp when I was a junior or sophomore in high school, still no relationship because he sure didn’t know who I was, nor should he have but I knew who he was.”

Pittman's High Praise for Notre Dame's Offense

CJ Carr throws a pass for Notre Dame against Arkansa — Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr (13) throws the ball during the second half of a NCAA football game against Purdue at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"(CJ) Carr, really good man. I mean so accurate. Runs the offense really well. They throw the deep comeback on the sidelines as good as anybody. It seems like he’s always got it the right spot on time. They got a little roll protection that they run, a deep comeback on. I don’t know what his percentage on it is right now but it’s high. He’s a really, really good player. And their tight end, I hope I’m saying it right, Raridon, No. 9, he’s fantastic. He’s the second-leading receiver on the team and doing a really good job. Ty Washington (former Razorback)has played for them, and played well. He’s caught three balls this year, and he’s doing a good job for them. It’s good to see, happy for him.

Notre Dame and Arkansas TV Information:

Notre Dame and Arkansas will kick off at noon ET Saturday in a game that will air on ABC. Dave Pasch will be on the play-by-play for the game while former Oklahoma standout Dusty Dvoracek will do the color commentating. Taylor McGregor will handline sideline reporting.