HawgBeat - Pittman admits in-game hesitancy in loss to Mississippi State
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman admitted to not knowing what to do during a critical in-game situation Saturday.
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FAYETTEVILLE — A big theme during Arkansas' current six-game losing streak has been questionable game management from head coach Sam Pittman — on top of offensive line struggles, penalties and an overall lack of being able to move the ball down the field. Thing stayed more of the same during Saturday's 7-3 loss to Mississippi State.
During the Hogs' second drive of the third quarter, they had the ball on 4th-and-2 at the at the Mississippi State 33-yard line and instead of making a quick decision to kick a field goal and make it a 7-6 game, Pittman hesitated and it resulted in a delay of game penalty that moved the ball back five yards and the Razorbacks ended up punting instead of scoring.
"I didn't know what to do to be perfectly honest with you," Pittman said. "So, I was probably eight seconds in on the 40-second clock. I decided to kick a field goal, and we didn't get it off in time. That's the truth. I did not want to call a timeout at that point because I wasn't even sure I wanted to kick a field goal to be perfectly honest with you.
"We kicked it down to the two and the fans got really involved in it. To be honest with you, I didn't know what to do. I didn't make the decision fast enough. Once I got it in there, I thought we had plenty of time to kick it, but at that point I wasn't going to burn a timeout because my feeling was I wasn't for sure I was making the right decision anyway."
Arkansas ran just four plays in Mississippi State territory for the rest of the game after that frustrating sequence. Pittman's offense was unable to provide the defense — which performed lights out — with any points. The three points on the scoreboard were thanks to an Alfahiym Walcott interception on the second play of the game that put the Hogs in Bulldog territory.
"We've got a lot of decisions to make," Pittman said. "We owe it to our team. We owe it to the fans. We'll figure that part of it out. The defense has continued to improve and my biggest concern is about the kids and the entire team.
"We asked them at half we said 'Hey, if you'll hold them... If you'll shut them out, I think we'll win.' I thought we could get down there and score enough points to win. We just weren't able to do it. Defense is improving. We have a lot of talent on offense. We ought to be playing better than what we are. That's me. I've got to figure that out."
Another questionable sequence came late in the first half, when Arkansas took over at its own 16-yard line with 2:12 to play and three timeouts remaining. After gaining a first down, the Hogs saw KJ Jefferson sacked for 11 yards and Pittman elected to let the remainder of the clock run down.
"We ran it the first time, I had some timeouts," Pittman said. "You saw the first half before that, too, right? I'm trying to get out of it, to be perfectly honest. What were we, on the 15 or something like that? So, I'm trying not to give them the ball back, as well.
"I mean, obviously, and we've done that several times before. A lot of people do. They try to run it on first play to see if they can get some kind of momentum going, especially if the other team has their timeouts and things like that. Where we were, it's 7-3 and we hadn't really shown we were going to go 85 yards, but you never know. I just didn't want to give up the sack fumble, to be perfectly honest with you, during that time."
His team gave up a sack, and once they did they, he didn't want to give the ball back, which was the right decision. The issue is, being able to drive 84 yards down the field with over two minutes on the game clock and three timeouts shouldn't be that difficult against a defense that give up almost 400 yards per game entering the contest.
According to Pittman, the game plan was just to run screens and pick up medium yardage if possible. The screen show in the box score, as Jefferson completed 19 passes for just 97 yards in the game.
"We were just trying to call plays that could get 4 or 5 yards and have some success," Pittman said. "We missed one down the field that was called, basically a screen and go, that we had a guy open. We just didn't see it, you know. I don't think so. Guys, we're struggling so much on offense that you know and I know, we're grabbing over here, grabbing over here -- trying to find something that will work.
"Don't think we panicked, because we were 7-3 at half. I don't think we panicked. We talked to the kids, it's just a one-score game, all this stuff, coaches staying in it, all this type of thing. It was just frustrating that we couldn't get two, maybe three first downs in a row. Something would happen, whether it be a negative run, a fly sweep, incomplete pass, sack -- whatever. You had a very aggressive defense, we thought some type of screens, quarterback draws, crossing routes, things of that nature might be able to help us. But we just couldn't protect it long enough, couldn't hit him or couldn't get open."
It's to the point that Pittman even went as far as to say when the Hogs get a 4-yard gain on a run play, it's a cause for celebration for his team.
"When you get a four-yard run, I’m not positive that’s a celebration, but it has become that way," Pittman said. "So you’re asking me how that’s become that way, I really… I don’t not want to answer it, but I don’t know that I have the perfect answer for it either."
While the in-game decision making hasn't been great, neither has the performance of Pittman's offense, which is coached by first-year offensive coordinator Dan Enos. Pittman was asked if he'd consider any in-season staff changes, but he declined to answer.
"I don't really want to answer that," Pittman said.
Arkansas' will have a bye week up next ahead of a road trip to Gainesville, Florida, to face the Florida Gators on Saturday, Nov. 4.
