With the Arkansas defense reeling after disappointing performances in recent games, head coach Sam Pittman said Monday the competition has dialed up a notch at multiple positions in the secondary.
"Yeah, we certainly have made it very competitive back there," Pittman said. "If you ask me who’s going to start at safety, I would say, ‘Let’s wait a couple more days.’ We’ve made it that much of a battle. Same thing at the corner spot. I think you have to do that. You’ll lose your room if you don’t.
"If you don’t challenge with guys that are 2's, they’re going to be going, ‘Well, I just watched the tape and maybe I should have an opportunity.’ So we certainly are doing that. Not just with, ‘Well, we may get you in the game,’ (but) with going out there first, with starting. We’ve done that with at least three of the five positions, possibly four."
In the Razorbacks' 63-31 loss to then-No. 19 Ole Miss on Nov. 2, the defensive backfield allowed an astonishing 562 yards through the air which equated to seven touchdowns scored by the Rebels.
That result is even more impressive considering it came on 28 completions (20.1 yards per catch). Of those 28, eight were caught by Ole Miss wide receiver Jordan Watkins, who racked up 254 receiving yards and five scores against the Hogs.
Arkansas' inability to stop Ole Miss in the pass game continues a trend this season for the defense, which hasn't usually been successful against experienced, veteran quarterbacks.
When accounting for games against Power Five signal callers, Arkansas has given up an average of 358.0 passing yards versus upperclassmen (Alan Bowman, Garrett Nussmeier, Jaxson Dart). That's not even mentioning Auburn's Payton Thorne, who totaled 213 yards through the air despite only playing the second half against Arkansas.
The Razorbacks have fared far better against Power Five underclassmen quarterbacks (Hank Brown, Marcel Reed, Nico Iamaleava, Michael Van Buren Jr.), allowing just 175.5 yards against them this season. The lone outlier is Van Buren, who completed 22-of-31 passes for 309 yards against Arkansas.
Keeping all of this in mind, it's clear Pittman and defensive coordinator Travis Williams need to make changes with a looming matchup against the No. 3 Texas Longhorns coming up Saturday. Starting for the burnt orange is junior Quinn Ewers, who has thrown for 1,722 yards and 19 touchdowns across seven games in 2024.
"You look at (Texas), they’re scary," Pittman said. "They’re dangerous at wide out and running back out of the backfield, and Ewers throwing the football. He has one of the fastest releases of guys I’ve seen. I mean, he can throw a bubble screen, it’s halfway there and you haven’t even seen him throw it. He’s really, really talented. Has an extremely strong arm, so there are some similarities there, so what are you going to do? You’re going to try and cover?
"You’re going to try to get to (Ewers). You’re going to try and move the point. They’re good enough offensive line-wise, you’re going to have to send some guys to get to him because he has such a quick release. Therefore, when you do, you’re going to have to be in some type of zone 3 or man-to-man. So, we’ll have to pick and choose our times there, but we have to mix it up on him and we have to disguise better than we have."
Arkansas' 124th-ranked passing defense (266.2 yards per game) will have to square up against a Texas offense that ranks ninth in total yards (465.2 YPG) and 10th in passing yards (301.1 YPG). The Longhorns' success is a credit to head coach Steve Sarkisian, who is an offensive mastermind, according to Pittman.
"Like I said before, the national championship when (Sarkisian) was OC at Alabama, I thought was the greatest-called game I’ve ever seen by an offensive coordinator," Pittman said. "Perimeter explosiveness and he uses his talent really, really well, and has plenty of it, but I just think the guy is a mastermind offensively and he’ll be a huge challenge with the talent that he has as well."
The Razorbacks (5-4, 3-3 SEC) and Longhorns (8-1, 4-1 SEC) will face off Saturday at Razorback Stadium. The game will kick off at 11 a.m. CT and will be broadcast on ABC.
