What Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said ahead of Penn State Outback Bowl clash
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman and Penn State head coach James Franklin each made the trip to Tampa Bay on Thursday evening for an event in the leadup to their Outback Bowl matchup.
Pittman, in his second year coaching the Razorbacks, brought Arkansas to its first bowl game since the 2016 Belk Bowl. The Razorbacks finished the regular season at 8-4, including wins over Texas A&M, Texas and LSU.
Pittman on Penn State
The New Year’s Day meeting between the Nittany Lions and Razorbacks will be the first in the history of the two schools. Mississippi State and Ole Miss will become the only SEC schools that Penn State has no on-field history with.
Penn State offers more bowl experience than Arkansas does, despite opting against playing in a postseason game in 2020.
“Their physicality. Their tradition. They have been to a lot of these bowls consecutive. We have not,” Pittman told reporters. “It’s been a little bit of a five-year break from us getting to go to bowls, even though we could have went to Texas last year, but COVID cost us that bowl.
“You know, they just have a historical program with a very, very fine head coach. That’s going to be a big problem. They’re big on both sides of the ball up front and that’s where a lot of games are won or lost.”
Razorbacks take winding path to a bowl game
It was a season of varying results and exceeded expectations for Arkansas in 2021.
Most oddsmakers tabbed the preseason win total for the Razorbacks at 5.5, a number they exceeded by November 6 with a win over Mississippi State.
Arkansas started out the season with four consecutive wins, beating ranked Texas and Texas A&M teams and ascending as high as No. 8 in the AP Poll.
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A midseason swoon followed. The Razorbacks lost by 37 points on the road at Georgia, and fell in a heartbreaker at Ole Miss before dropping their third game in a row against Auburn by double digits.
Arkansas recovered to win four out of five to close out the regular season leading into its Penn State clash, the only loss coming by way of a seven-point defeat on the road against Alabama.
“We made two runs,” Pittman said, “we made a run early in the year to get to eighth in the country, then we ended up losing three in a row there, then we made a final run.
“We didn’t do what we thought we could do, we thought we could win the last five and we lost to Alabama by seven there. That run of Mississippi State, LSU and Missouri was a big run for us to allow us to get invited to the Outback Bowl.”
Star wideout won’t play against Nittany Lions
Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks opted out of the bowl game against Penn State as he prepares for the NFL Draft.
Burks finished the season with 1,123 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.
By himself, Burks accounted for more than 40 percent of the Arkansas passing offense.
