What Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said after his team's win over Penn State
Entering the locker room trailing Penn State 14-10 after an “ugly” first-half showing, Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman drew on an old lesson.
“I learned a long time ago, being three down, you can make your team feel like they’re 300 down, or just keep it real,” he said. “We’re three down, we get the ball.”
Pittman’s approach paid off.
His Razorbacks took firm control of the game in the second half, starting with their opening drive.
They marched 75 yards down the field to start the half without throwing a pass to put themselves up 14-10.
That turned out to be all they’d need. Penn State didn’t score in the final 30 minutes, and the Razorbacks coasted to a 24-10 win.
The difference proved to be the Razorback running game, which Pittman tweaked during halftime. Arkansas ran for 256 yards in the second half — nearly triple Penn State’s total yardage output.
Pittman said he’d noticed a tendency from the Nittany Lions to blitz on the opposite side of the running back in the backfield. So, the Razorbacks stopped running across the quarterback.
That, Pittman said, opened up their read-option game, which quarterback KJ Jefferson exploited to great effect.
“We have to change what we’re doing running the football, but other than that we can go win this football game,” Pittman said he told his team at halftime.
Pittman gives thoughts on Penn State
Pittman began his press conference by offering some praise for Penn State and James Franklin, considering the circumstances around the game.
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The Nittany Lions had five starters opt out on defense. Only one player remained of Penn State’s starting front-seven heading into the season — linebacker Curtis Jacobs.
“I do wanna say this about Penn State,” Pittman said. “They had six guys that went early to the NFL and they played. We had two — I think that’s pretty cool.
“I think it’s really great that Penn State wanted to play as badly as the University of Arkansas did. I think that’s really cool, and I think James Franklin is a wonderful person and obviously, the guys that played, it was their opportunity just like the guys who replaced our guys who went to the NFL.”
Pittman on Arkansas pass rush
The Razorbacks didn’t record many sacks Saturday. In fact, they registered only one, and that was against Penn State backup QB Christian Veilleux.
Still, Pittman thinks his pass rushers made an impact on the game. Sean Clifford was frequently forced out of the pocket.
When he ran the ball — which he did 11 times — the Razorbacks often greeted him with a hard hit. He was removed from the game by Penn State’s trainers, James Franklin said. But he didn’t cite a reason.
“He’s a competitive son of a gun, their quarterback. I think we were there and just missed him,” Pittman said.
“I don’t see a lot of stats there at that position, but I think they did affect the quarterback.”
