Sam Pittman reveals why he put 'all his eggs in one basket' against BYU

Arkansas was reeling heading into Saturday’s road trip to BYU, which was the second of three straight games on the road. The Razorbacks had already lost three straight. Coach Sam Pittman made no bones about it. He emphasized to his players that just about nothing mattered more than winning that game at BYU.

“I know it didn’t have anything to do with the SEC standings, I’m not saying that,” Pittman said. “But it had everything to do with the confidence that we needed. Everything. And to beat a team on the road at BYU, that should help us.

“But yeah, we put all the eggs in this basket. Fortunately it worked this time.”

Arkansas won 52-35. That approach was an unusual one for Pittman, though it wasn’t the first time he’s heavily emphasized one individual game. Of course, he had sworn off that approach after the last time he took it.

Because the last time it backfired hard.

“This was everything. I’ve done that twice,” Pittman said. “One was against Missouri two years ago and the problem was we played Alabama right after that. We lost. Remember they kicked a field goal right at the end of the game and we had thrown all our eggs in this basket, ‘must win, must win, must win,’ and I said I’d never do it again because we didn’t come out and play very well at all.”

The exact particulars in that instance?

Missouri beat Arkansas 50-48, kicking a 32-yard field goal to win as time expired.

Whole lot of egg on the face for the Razorbacks.

Then Alabama came out and waxed Arkansas to the tune of 52-3 the following week. This time, at least, Pittman calculated his team would have a bye week, softening the potential impact of the all-in approach on the game after BYU.

“It was Alabama, I get it,” Pittman said of 2020. “But we didn’t play as well as we could have.

“Because we had the bye, I wanted to let the kids know how big this is for us. Puts us right back into a good or really good bowl. It puts us right back where we can finish second or third in the league, all this kind of stuff.”

Pressure was mounting on Arkansas

After the three straight losses, two of which were heavily impacted by the loss of quarterback KJ Jefferson, Arkansas was feeling some heat.

The Razorbacks had been a darkhorse potential SEC West contender for some. But after losing to Texas A&M, Alabama and Mississippi State that was off the table.

Pittman could sense the growing tension.

“Could you imagine getting on that plane losing?” he said after the BYU win. “Good lord. Hearing how terrible I am and all that. And how bad I need to fire (Kendal Briles) and all this kind of; c’mon, man. We scored 52. I’m not getting into that. But what I am getting into is I’m so happy that we won and I’m going to get on that plane with my beautiful wife and our team and enjoy the heck out of it.”

With the luxury of the bye week backstopping his ‘all eggs in one basket approach’ over the weekend, Pittman planned to kick back and enjoy the win after getting home.

“We’re off (Sunday) and I’m off. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said. “Need to go to church. But I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know what I’m not doing. I’m not going in the office. We’re off.”