Pittman questioned use of timeouts at end of 23-21 loss to Texas A&M
Sam Pittman questioned his decision to call two timeouts on Arkansas' final drive against Texas A&M.
ARLINGTON, Texas — After the Arkansas Razorbacks suffered their first loss of the season to Texas A&M on Saturday, head coach Sam Pittman admitted that he questioned whether he did the right thing with timeouts at the end of the game.
As the Hogs drove down the field late in the fourth quarter, Pittman called a pair of timeouts after letting the play clock tick all the way down.
The second timeout was called after quarterback KJ Jefferson gained just one yard on 3rd-and-14 to down the ball and give sophomore kicker Cam Little a shot at a game-winner.
Little's kick hit off the top of the right upright and fell unsuccessful, resulting in the Aggies running the clock out and winning the game 23-21.
Pittman said he had no question in his mind that Little would make the kick, but looking back on things he might have used the timeouts differently.
"You know, the only question I had there at the end was I let the time run down to call a time out," Pittman said. "And there was no question in my mind we were going to make it. And I was just trying to get all the time off."
After Jefferson's 1-yard run on third down, Pittman let the play clock tick all the way down before he called a timeout, rather than trotting the field goal unit out right after Jefferson's run.
Pittman made the argument that if the Hogs had two timeouts left after Little missed the kick, they could've stopped A&M — who took over with 1:30 left — and gotten the ball back with a little bit of time left.
"In hindsight, if we'd had 2 (timeouts), maybe they'd have had to punt," Pittman said. "And maybe we'd have had opportunity. But that one there, now that we didn't make it, I certainly question it."
Realistically, Pittman had confidence in his kicker, who has made a game-winning field goal before. Maybe he shouldn't have called the second time out, but he trusted Little's leg and that is not an issue.
Razorback receiver Jadon Haselwood said the Hogs shouldn't have even been in a position where Little needed to make a field goal.
"(Little) came in with his head down, and I lift his head up," Haselwood said. "There was a lot of stuff that led up to the game; it wasn't all him. We left plays on the field. I left plays on the field. So it's not his fault. I mean, the game shouldn't been in his hands anyway because we're supposed to handle business."
Arkansas linebacker Bumper Pool echoed Haselwood's comments and also added that the bounce Little's kick had was something he hadn't seen before.
"We all committed plays that forced that situation," Pool said. "Cam's won a lot of games for us. So just part of the game. I've never seen that kind of bounce. But yeah, we're going to love him up, move on. Cam's a great kid, and he'll bounce back."
Pittman might question his decision to call the two timeouts, but what his players said about Little should show that he made the right choice. He trusted his scholarship kicker and it took a rare bounce.
Like Haselwood said, the Hogs shouldn't have been in that situation. A scoop-and-score, missed tackles, blown coverages and more led to the Hogs being in that situation.
Arkansas will need to clean things up before next week when Nick Saban and Alabama roll into Fayetteville for a 2:30 p.m. CT matchup on CBS.
