The 8th-largest crowd in Razorback Stadium history (and largest for a season opener since USC in 2006) flocked to Fayetteville to witness… the type of home clunker that has become typical of Sam Pittman over the last couple years. Ever since that 2022 loss to Liberty, the Hogs just haven’t played well at home.
This time, though, it wasn’t a loss. For a program that has suffered losses to Toledo, North Texas, San Jose State, Western Kentucky, Liberty, and BYU within the last decade, a win is indeed a win.
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The win was not fluky, but the underwhelming-ness of it was real. The Hogs trailed for most of the first half and didn’t actually put the game away until the final few minutes.
The Razorback rushing attack carried the day, while Scott Fountain’s special teams unit performed the way it normally does in games that aren’t big. Arkansas’ dismal performance through the air is definitely a red flag.
Arkansas “only” had 37 points, but they “only” had 10 drives. They threw a pick on their first drive, then the next eight drives were all scoring opportunities (four touchdowns, three made field goals, one missed field goal), and then they took a knee to end the game. Pretty efficient work.
The game had so few drives because the Hogs couldn’t get UAB off the field. The Blazers averaged 6.6 plays per drive and allowed only five havoc plays. Six of their 10 drives got a first down inside the Arkansas 40. Not ideal against an opponent that scored six points against UL Monroe the week before.
Another day, another explosive performance from the Arkansas offense. More than one-fifth of their snaps were explosive (runs of 10+ or passes of 20+) and they also posted a solid success rate despite not throwing the ball well.
UAB had a little too much success dinking and dunking, which is a huge concern with two dink-and-dunk quarterbacks coming up to start SEC play.
Bobby Petrino realized pretty quickly that his offense could get whatever it wanted on the ground, so the Razorbacks only ran the ball 33 times. It would have been nice get Rodney Hill or Braylen Russell some more carries as we discussed in the preview, but that didn’t happen, so we’re stuck without a reliable #2 running back established.
Defensively, the Hogs allowing 2.76 line yards per rush isn’t great, but they kept UAB from ever being able to lean on the ground game. The Blazers eeked out small gains here and there, but got nothing explosive and couldn’t even stay ahead of the chains without going to the air.
Hog fans should probably hope that this ends up being Taylen Green’s worst passing performance, because it was ugly. Green had open receivers all game, but he either couldn’t find them or they couldn’t hold onto the ball. He didn’t face a ton of pressure, but he took three sacks, mostly from holding onto the ball too long.
UAB and OC Alex Mortensen did some nice stuff through the air, targeting the Razorbacks in the flats and up the seams. The ball came out of quarterback Jacob Zeno’s hands very quickly, and the operation of their offense looked very smooth. The Razorback defense did not look good, but I would definitely say that UAB looked better than I expected based on how they played against UL Monroe.
Right now, Arkansas’ offense is way too much of the big three: Green, Andrew Armstrong, and Ja’Quinden Jackson. They aren’t confident in any backs to spell Jackson – note that the Hogs always throw or run Green more when Rodney Hill comes into the game – and they don’t have another good receiver to complement Armstrong. If Broden can’t hold onto the ball, someone else needs those snaps. Armstrong is probably going to get double- and triple-teamed soon.
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Saturday’s game on the Plains is a huge one. It feels like a must-win for Sam Pittman. Auburn is one of the worst SEC teams the Hogs will play, so it’s hard to see a path for Pittman salvaging his job if his team can’t win this one.
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