Arkansas’ 34-22 loss to Texas A&M was a humiliation on all fronts. Despite a pretty strong defensive effort, Arkansas’ offense and (later) punt coverage fell apart in an ugly loss that was not nearly as close as the final score.
The Razorback program is now officially backsliding, and bowl eligibility now seems unlikely unless something significant changes.
Here are four big issues were evident all week and throughout the game.
Game management
Arkansas hired Pittman and asked him to learn on the job.
He hasn’t.
The total lack of game management skills was cute when it was 2020 and Pittman was bungling the end of the LSU game. Honestly, it was still pretty heartwarming in 2021 when he called a timeout to reconsider punting late in the Alabama game. Everything was coming up Pittman that year, so of course the Hogs ended up converting and scoring, only losing 42-35 in Tuscaloosa.
It’s not cute or heartwarming anymore. The Hogs have failed three times on 4th-and-1 this year, all on shotgun snaps into handoffs that got stuffed. Two of those were turning points in games the Hogs lost. Arkansas called a timeout before running that fourth down play on Saturday. They burned two timeouts before faking a field goal in the third quarter against LSU last week, costing them timeouts they later needed. Pittman struggles to make the right decision quickly, and his decision-making has been ghastly in critical moments. His postgame responses to questions about those plays – mostly rambling about different defensive fronts – do not inspire confidence that he knows what he’s doing.
I can pinpoint the exact moment that Pittman’s mismanagement stopped being cute: right around the time he fired his agent, hired Jimmy Sexton, and demanded a $7 million per year contract. Arkansas ended up agreeing to give him $6 million for some reason – Pittman had no leverage, so calling his bluff by refusing a raise was absolutely an option – and at that point, Pittman was demanding not be treated as a heartwarming story of an ol’ line coach making it in the SEC, but a bonafide, big-money SEC head coach. It was time to coach like it.
But that hasn’t happened. Since that big contract, Pittman is 9-9 overall and 3-7 in the SEC, with non-conference losses to Liberty and BYU. Everything is heading in the wrong direction. That’s important to understand when considering criticism of Pittman: he’s the one who raised the standard. He’s the one who bet on himself, and it’s not paying off. He could have continued to be graded on a curve, but he asked for this.
Criticism, social media, and Jake Bequette
After that debacle in Arlington, I wonder if the tone of the conversation around criticism of Pittman will change. Pittman deleted his social media last week and talked about it in a press conference, sparking a broader conversation among fans. Pittman alleged that he had received intense criticism and personal insults, and it’s important to prioritize mental health. His comments fit nicely into our current cultural moment, so most were afraid to push back for fear of appearing insensitive.
Former Hog Jake Bequette was not, but his entry into the conversation was entirely unhelpful. Bequette was reckless and childish in his criticism of Pittman and other fans, quickly turning fans against him and shutting down the broader conversation by focusing everything on him. Nothing I am writing here should be viewed as an endorsement of Bequette’s perspective, and I think he should have kept his mouth (or social media account) shut.
My personal view is that Pittman takes everything – even normal criticism – personally, and so his comments about personal insults and mental health should be understood in that context: Pittman likes being praised, and does not like being criticized in any way. I have first-hand experience in this: Pittman blocked me in November 2020 for tweeting that his bungling of the end of the LSU game should cost him a chance at SEC Coach of the Year. That was pretty tame criticism, and I didn’t even mention Pittman directly in the post, so the only way he saw it would be by searching his own name and looking to see what people were saying. That’s unhealthy behavior. Pittman probably started doing that because he enjoyed basking in the praise of fans earlier that season, but anyone who loves being praised probably hates being criticized.
Criticism for bad coaching is part of the job. If he didn’t want to be criticized, he shouldn’t have hired a big-name agent and demanded to be paid like a big-name head football coach. He’s trying to have his cake and eat it too: if you’re mean to him, he’s the lovable ol’ line coach, if you’re praising him, he’s the literal savior of the program who has earned his $6 million.
I have yet to see any examples of the nasty, personal insults that Pittman implied he was receiving, and from my own experience, I am very confident that even if a few examples exist, Pittman is also getting upset about very normal college football criticism, and he needs to get over that. His comments about the importance of mental health were not wrong, but he might not be the best messenger for that, and using them as a cover to avoid justified criticism is not appropriate.
Assistant churn
The Bret Bielema era was hurt by constant assistant churn, which played a role in its final collapse. Assistant coaches ask players to commit for four years, so programs that constantly bring in a wave of new assistants every year hinder the development and the recruiting efforts of their staff. Swapping coordinators is worse, because it also means swapping schemes and terminology, and players who fit the old system suddenly find themselves out of place.
The Pittman era was incredibly stable for three years: same coordinators, mostly same assistants. Barry Odom was always going to look for a head coaching gig, so it was unsurprising to lose him after Year 3. But Pittman also let Kendal Briles walk and fired strength coach Jamil Walker. Was that necessary?
Offense and strength were issues against Texas A&M, just as they’ve been all year. Neither of those positions had to be transitioned. Briles’ offense was never the problem – it wasn’t even bad in the red zone, as fans seem to think it was – and so the transition to Dan Enos, which risked the careers of KJ Jefferson and Rocket Sanders, was absolutely unnecessary from an on-field perspective. Off the field? Sure, Briles was annoying with his connection to his father and his constant demands for raises, but the Hogs might would be in a better position right now if they had just paid him his money and kept him around.
Also, there’s this:
Maryland drilled Indiana 44-17 to stay unbeaten. The Terrapins have a really good offense after their offense under Enos was quite average.
Senior quarterback struggles
I always thought that Houston Nutt’s highs came in the three years he won SEC Coach of the Year and Arkansas won at least a share of the SEC West title – 1998, 2002, and 2006 – and his downfall was failing to meet the hype that came with the three seasons that followed those: 1999, 2003, and 2007. However, failing to capitalize on hype has in fact been a problem that goes well beyond Nutt.
Arkansas’ numbers in the senior years of its quarterbacks are almost shocking. Let’s start with this: who was the last Arkansas multi-year starting quarterback to start 2-1 or better in SEC play during his senior year? The answer: Barry Lunney in 1996. Since him, Clint Stoerner (1999), Matt Jones (2004), Casey Dick (2008), Tyler Wilson (2012), Brandon Allen (2015), and Austin Allen (2017) were under .500 through their first three SEC games during their final season. KJ Jefferson will join them regardless of next week’s result.
But it gets worse. Stoerner is the only one on that list who didn’t also lose a September non-conference game during his senior year. Lunney lost to SMU, Jones to Texas, Dick to Texas, Wilson to ULM and Rutgers, B-Allen to Toledo and Texas Tech, A-Allen to TCU, and Jefferson to BYU. Matt Jones in 2004 is the only Arkansas senior quarterback to get out of September without two losses… and his second loss came early in October.
In Arkansas’ best seasons, they’ve been quarterbacked by non-seniors, and Lunney and Brandon Allen are the only two quarterbacks since the Hogs joined the SEC to start as a junior, come back as a senior, and see the team’s win total increase. That’s a lot of opportunities for great teams that have been wasted over the years.
Other Scores
Kentucky 33, Florida 14. If there’s a bright spot, it’s that the Florida game, one Arkansas is probably going to need for bowl eligibility, looks winnable. Florida handled Tennessee but has been unimpressive otherwise. Their good defense finally got gashed by Kentucky, and their offense really isn’t very good.
Ole Miss 55, LSU 49. Now we see why Arkansas’ offense looked so good last week: LSU’s defense is just that bad. The Rebels put up 700 yards of offense on the Tigers. Now Arkansas gets to travel to Oxford. A letdown performance – totally possible – is probably the Hogs’ best hope here.
Georgia 27, Auburn 20. Our model said 25-24 Georgia, so it’s looking pretty good today. Auburn was feisty but the Tigers have horrible quarterback play.
Mizzou 38, Vanderbilt 21. Mizzou might be good. Or at least decent. Eli Drinkwitz needed his offense to have a good year and he’s gotten it. Brady Cook looks solid, and Luther Burden is incredible.
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