Sam Pittman says Arkansas' energy was not where it needed to be

Arkansas is searching for answers following a loss to Liberty and coach Sam Pittman doesn’t have a ton of good ones at the moment. Not for the struggles of Arkansas’ offensive line, nor for the poor energy his Arkansas team showed up with this weekend.

He discussed the latter on Monday.

“It may be because their leader may not be out there. I don’t know,” Pittman said. “We had all kinds of reasons to win even if just winning is the reason. Winning homecoming. But we had all kinds. To beat a top-25 team, to get bowl eligible, homecoming. We had all kinds of reasons to go out there and play hard and play well and we didn’t.”

As far as the leader comment, Pittman did reveal that starting quarterback KJ Jefferson was banged-up going into the game against Liberty.

While Jefferson performed admirably, he wasn’t quite his normal self. Jefferson was stopped just short of the goal-line on what would have been a game-tying two-point conversion in the final two minutes of the game.

That said, the energy factor against lesser opponents has been an ongoing issue. Pittman thought previously it was about time off between games against certain opponents.

Now he’s rethinking that a bit.

“Last year it was Rice. And then it was Penn State for a half,” Pittman said. “And I looked at it as it was time off. What are we doing in the four weeks between the bowl game and between the first game? Because Georgia Southern we didn’t have that program. I’m talking about non-Power 5 schools. So I was looking at it as, ‘What are we doing in that long stretch?’ We’ve got to fix it so we can play well in openers and we can play well after byes and we can play well in a bowl situation when we have time.

“But now as you think about it more and more it’s, for the most part, it’s non-Power 5 teams that we haven’t (had energy). We woke up against Missouri State late. We never really woke up Saturday. And it shouldn’t be that way. Those type teams we’ve got to have a hunger.”

Arkansas energy must be there even against non-Power 5 foes

At this point, if Arkansas hopes to improve on its 2021 campaign it’ll have to win out and then win a bowl game.

At 6-3 right now, the Hogs have already secured bowl eligibility. Sustained progress for the program, though, will only come if Arkansas’ energy becomes less of an issue in games it should win.

The best programs are consistent, even against non-Power 5 teams.

“And I respect all of them. Heck, the one Saturday beat us,” Pittman said. “But we’ve got to somehow, and we were trying to simulate it in practice with the fast starts and all these types of things, I don’t know why, but it was flat and you could feel it and we couldn’t get it turned around fast enough, to be honest with you.”

Now the road for Arkansas gets significantly harder. The next two games?

Against No. 7 LSU and No. 11 Ole Miss.

The Razorbacks will be back in action against the SEC West-leading Tigers on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark., in a game that kicks off at noon ET on ESPN.