Sam Pittman addresses importance of stopping Ole Miss on fourth down attempts

Ole Miss is always a unique matchup under Lane Kiffin, and part of his unique attack in the SEC is his cavalier approach to fourth down. The Rebels will go for it whenever possible. So when playing them, opposing coaches have to game plan for how to defend on all four downs. You can’t just force fourth downs against Ole Miss, you also have to stop them there numerous times.

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman is well aware of the stress that the extra aggression will put on the defense. Kiffin won’t surprise him with any fourth down trickery. But he also thinks his defense needs to adjust on third down as well, because sometimes Ole Miss plays third down just to setup a shorter fourth down if they know they’re going to go for it.

“Yeah, I mean you can even see in a lot of calls that Coach Kiffin makes. I’m sure I don’t want to speak for the man but on film it looks, you know, hey, let’s get it close here. Let’s get half of it here before fourth down, you know. I believe he thinks a lot in…let’s get it manageable to go on fourth down,” shared Pittman regarding Kiffin’s fourth down strategy.

Ole Miss plays to put itself in position to convert on fourth down. And those plays can decide games. If Arkansas can foil a few Rebel possessions by getting big fourth down stops — even just a couple of them — they can win the field position and possession battle. Pittman knows they’re critical plays, potentially game-swinging plays.

“Those are going to be key for us to stop. He’s going to do it. That’s what he believes in. And so, it’s going to be big for us. We’ve talked a lot about first down and talked a lot about fourth down this week. I mean, those are downs that we need to win on defense. And that’s very similar of every week, except a lot of times you don’t talk a lot about fourth down, you know, except when you’re playing him.”

Lane Kiffin and the Rebels offer a different challenge than most of the more conservative SEC coaches. But Sam Pittman and company are ready to pin their ears back on fourth and try to go and make a play.