Hogs Callin’ Baton Rouge: Arkansas-LSU preview
Arkansas limps into Baton Rouge after taking it on the chin from the Stormin’ Mormons, but don’t count us out yet.
By: Wild Hog
In 2013, I was a bright-eyed freshman at the University of Arkansas, walking onto campus blissfully unaware of the plight of Arkansas football. Ten years later, I feel “grizzled veteran” is not enough to describe the tribulations this chosen fandom has dragged me through, “beleaguered” an inadequate descriptor of my mental state.
Four years into the Sam Pittman era, and we’re still losing games we shouldn’t in September. This time to BYU in Fayetteville, in front of the eighth largest crowd in our stadium’s history.
But I’m not here to moan about a must-win, non-conference game we lost by touchdown, giving up over 120 yards from 13 penalties, no, instead, I’m here to talk about the first stop on our four-week road trip through “Southeastern Hell,” a little moniker I’m giving to the upcoming slate of games where we travel to LSU, Dallas for TAMU, Ole Miss and Alabama.
For any team in the country, that would be a gauntlet; for Arkansas, it’s another season in the SEC West, and one that would have been nice to head into at 3-0 instead of 2-1. That being said, like any good fan by Wednesday I’ll have forgotten about this entirely and be saying things like “Harold Perkins really isn’t that special,” and “FSU is in the ACC, if they can beat LSU then we’ve got a great shot.”
All jokes aside, There are a lot of questions for this Arkansas team heading into a marquee matchup with LSU, but first and foremost is the health of key players. Star RB Raheim “Rocket” Sanders missed both the Kent State and BYU games, and his status is unclear heading into LSU. Apparently, KJ was “banged up,” ahead of the BYU game, and Coach Pittman says O-linemen are dealing with multiple hand injuries as well. None of this bodes well for us, given the strength of our opponent and defensive weapons they can employ, like Harold Perkins and former Razorback Greg Brooks, Jr., as well as schematic issues we have to fix on offense, which leads me to concern #2.
After the departure of both coordinators this offseason, Coach Pittman had to bring in new faces on both sides of the ball. For the offense, that new face happened to be an old face: Dan Enos, who was with the Hogs during Bielema’s stint in the mid-2010s. Enos coaches a conservative West Coast-style offense that is less boom-or-bust than the explosive scheme Briles dialed up, but leaves less room for error.
While I am happy not to watch run stuffs for 2-yard losses on 3rd and 12 as frequently, I am concerned about the emphasis on mid-range passing that the Enos system requires from KJ. The Hogs have largely switched from an RPO-centric game plan to one that operates out of the shotgun often and asks KJ to step up as more of a pro-style passer than a bruising runner who’s a constant threat to take off. This is not an indictment on KJ - he can make these throws, and I firmly believe he will clean up the midrange accuracy, but all of that rests on the O-line giving him the time and protected pocket he needs. Without that, Enos’ system will not be successful, which leads to the next concern: the O-Line.
For a team whose head coach is a former - very successful - offensive line coach, Arkansas has posted some of the worst O-line play through three weeks I have seen in my tenure as a fan. Analysis from Fayette Villains sums it up pretty well:
“The story of the loss was Arkansas’ offensive line woes. We all wondered why the Hogs were not throwing more downfield routes early in the game, and we found out later: the line cannot protect long enough to throw the long-developing routes that the Enos offense likes. That’s a problem!”
- Adam Ford
The guys at Villains go on to point out the poor performance of our tackles, and the necessity of line play providing longer protection for KJ. If we don’t see some of these improvements at LSU this week, I’m afraid we’re in for a long season.
It’s not all bad though - thankfully, the Arkansas defense and special teams have been demonstrably better than previous seasons in the Pittman era, with folks like Trajan Jeffcoat, Landon Jackson, and John Morgan III bolstering a defense that’s tied for most sacks in the conference, tied for second in interceptions, and leads the SEC in pick sixes.
I’ve been mostly impressed, and hope they can continue to dominate on that side of the ball. Plus punt-returns are always a blast, am I right?
Ok, enjoyed that bit of positivity? I mixed it in there as a palate cleanser before I unleash my final concern: at the end of the day, the buck stops with our coaching staff, and the loss to BYU featured a number of head-scratching decisions that BYU was able to exploit. A better team like LSU will use these to embarrass us.
When you’re 4th-and-inches, what in the absolute hell are you doing dialing up a snap from the shotgun? Someone needs to remind Enos and Pittman that we have a 6’3, 247 lb. QB who absolutely lifts weights, just in case they forgot.
No one is expecting our new coordinators to call the same game as their predecessors, but we are asking them to play to this team’s strengths. We’re Arkansas: run the damn ball.
At the end of the day, I like to stay optimistic, and there’s always a chance we can beat LSU. A night game in Death Valley is not the ideal setting, but Cam Little iced the game with a kick two years ago, maybe we can find some of that 2021 lightning in a bottle again. But for that to happen, we need to tighten up offensively, ask more from our Hogs up front, and use the tools we have to maximize our game potential. I’m not expecting Pittman and co. to win, but I am expecting competence from the staff all the way to the field, otherwise, LSU will torch us. Official score prediction?
#12 LSU 28
Arkansas 17
As always, Go Hogs, and let’s bring home The Golden Boot!