Sam Pittman reveals what he learned about his team in Week 3 comeback victory

Arkansas had to come up with its first come-from-behind victory in Week 3 versus the most unlikely of opponents in the Missouri State Bears. After a 21-point fourth quarter allowed them to separate for the 38-27 win, Hogs head coach Sam Pittman told ESPN’s Matt Barrie what he learned about his team in the effort.

“Well, we’re a resilient group,” Pittman said on SportsCenter. “I think we have a really strong culture here. Nobody panicked. You know, panic starts at the top, nobody panicked. We knew that we had an opportunity to win the game. We had to quit turning the ball over, we turned it over three times to nothing and that puts you down at about an 11% chance to win the game.

“Fortunately, we were able to do that with a really strong punt return for a touchdown late in the game, that certainly helped us.”

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Down 17-0 early in the second quarter, the Razorbacks continued pounding the ball with running back Raheim Sanders. “Rocket” rushed for 55 yards in the team’s first 75-yard scoring drive and finished the game with 167 yards on 22 carries. He had one of the team’s fumbles but he added another 75 yards and a touchdown on two receptions.

“Your best coaches don’t wait until halftime, they correct things immediately… they can’t hang on to the ball, however,” Pittman said. “There was just no panic there, and we were hoping some good things would happen to us. The leadership on our team is very strong and I was really proud of all the guys at the end of the game.”

Sam Pittman breaks down Texas A&M ahead of Southwest Classic

Two old Southwest Conference rivals are set to face off in Arlington this weekend, with both Arkansas and Texas A&M heading to AT&T Stadium. Pittman will lead the Hogs who are looking for their first win streak in the series in over a decade. The Razorbacks threw a massive wrench in the Aggies’ season last year when they took back the Southwest Classic trophy in a 20-10 win.

Pittman broke down the Aggies during his Monday press conference, explaining the different position groups and what they did well. He spent most of the time speaking on the defense, where Texas A&M has one of the best units in the SEC.

“We’re excited to go to Dallas and play Texas A&M,” Pittman said. “They have a really good team. Obviously, a big win for them over Miami on Saturday. They have a lot of speed in the secondary. They’re big on D-line, got big linebackers. Can really stretch the field at wideout. They had some guys suspended last week, I don’t know if they’re coming back or not.”

Two key players Pittman highlighted, from an offensive perspective, from Ainias Smith and Devon Achane. Stopping those two will be key according to the Arkansas head coach. New starting quarterback Max Johnson even got a shoutout after getting the win over Miami.

“You have to stop No. 6 and 0 on offense, that’s hard to do. Achane is really fast and of course, Ainias Smith is dangerous running the ball, catching the ball, and on punt returns. Max Johnson played really well, I thought, against Miami. They’ve got a good special teams group. Really solid team, big team. Looked like a big, physical SEC team.”

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.