Sam Pittman says 'it's hard' to identify issues with Arkansas' offensive line

Arkansas seemed to have things back on track after a three-game losing skid in the middle of the year, but Saturday was a step back, a 21-19 loss to Liberty. Arkansas’ offensive line seemed out of sorts all afternoon and the Razorbacks were held to their lowest rushing total of the season.

The Flames mixed things up defensively, throwing the Razorbacks some looks they weren’t prepared for.

“It’s hard to put a finger on it because all five of them have to play in sync, especially when you’re getting twists and movement games,” coach Sam Pittman said, breaking down the Arkansas offensive line play. “When we would out a call or when we would go out to a potential blitzer, the looper would come back in the A gap in the back side and we were doubling the three (technique) up to the back-side linebacker. We got caught a couple of times with that instead of the whole line just run.”

When the game ended, Arkansas had just 144 yaards rushing on 42 carries. The Razorbacks didn’t score a rushing touchdown all game, held to just 3.4 yards per carry.

It was the lowest output of the season, worse than a previous low of 187 yards rushing against Alabama.

Pittman, a long-time offensive line coach, seemed at a loss with what Liberty did schematically to throw his guys off. Arkansas made adjustments, but they were too little too late.

“I don’t know. We just haven’t had that,” Pittman said. “So the bottom line it was probably the runs that we were running into that, we tried to change, run some gap schemes later. Obviously AJ Green came in and we were able to crease a little bit there with that. But it’s basically we just weren’t ready enough for the movement is what got us.”

Arkansas offensive line looking to bounce back

After a forgettable performance, the Arkansas offensive line will be looking to bounce back. The Razorbacks still need one more win to secure bowl eligibility.

That win might be tough to come by against No. 7 LSU, especially with quarterback KJ Jefferson ailing.

“He was banged up, he was banged up this week,” Pittman said of Jefferson. “He did practice every day, he didn’t throw a whole lot this week. He did practice. I think he’s sore.”

Jefferson ran 16 times against Liberty but only logged 36 yards rushing, his second-lowest total of the season.

Arkansas and LSU will square off on Saturday at noon ET on ESPN.