Analytics are a touchy subject in college football. Some believe them to be the answer to every question, but others — like Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman — have seemingly found faults in their reliability on multiple occasions.
Following a 4-8 (1-7 SEC) 2023 campaign, Pittman said during SEC Media Days in July that using analytics as a crutch for in-game decisions was uncomfortable for him.
"I was 0-fer," Pittman said in March. "When you’re batting 0-fer in the major leagues, you go down a level. At least I have an opportunity to fix it. You’re always going to have disagreements, even in your own staff. Whether you’re going for it or whether you don’t."
Those watching TV broadcasts may have seen the amusingly small or laughably large play-call sheets wielded by coaches on the sidelines, but no one except those on the field fully understands how analytics are implemented in the decision-making process. Pittman shed some light on it at the Little Rock Touchdown Club Monday.
“We bought this analytics stuff, you know,” Pittman said. “So instead of me going ‘This is what I’m going to do,’ it was ‘Hey Morgan (Turner), what’s it say I’m supposed to do?’ It’s a damn book… that doesn’t have to go talk to the media, nor lose the game. Book's already been paid for too, by the way.
"So, every dang time, it says 'Go for it coach. How do you feel?' and (I said) 'Oh, we're ready to go.' (*makes explosion noise*) First down in the other direction."
One of the more memorable examples of Pittman using analytics last year was during the third quarter of the Kent State game on Sept. 9. From the Razorbacks' own 34-yard line, Pittman elected to go for a 4th-and-1 play with a shotgun handoff to running back Dominique Johnson, who was stopped for a 2-yard loss.
After the game, which the Razorbacks won 28-6, Pittman told reporters that he shouldn't have trusted the analytics.
“Going for it on fourth-and-1 from your own 34, I don’t care what the book says,” Pittman said after the Kent State game. “Lane (Kiffin) does it all the time. Guys do it all the time. Hell, I don’t. And I did. Not smart.”
In that same press conference, Pittman also had the line that "the Sam-alytics" — likely meaning what his gut told him — said he shouldn't have gone for it.
"Now, we went for it on fourth and 4 too and we ended up scoring," Pittman said after the Kent State game. "You know what I mean? I told the team I thought we were going to make it... But, I’m not doing the analytics… Now I do got a guy up there and I asked him. That was kind of dumb."
It seems the Head Hog will shift away from the "the book" analytics strategy in 2024. Instead, Pittman said he'll return to trusting his gut more like he did in his first three seasons.
"The first time I really did that, and just because somebody else has success doing that, I'm going to do the eye test and what my heart says and that's what I did the first three years I was here," Pittman said Monday. "Analytics are good and all that, but winning is a lot better, you know, so we're going to try that."
Arkansas will kickoff the 2024 season Thursday, Aug. 29, against UAPB at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
