Two weeks removed from a grotesque performance against Ole Miss, the Arkansas Razorback (5-5, 3-4 SEC) defense stepped up in a big way in the 20-10 loss to the No. 3 Texas Longhorns (9-1, 5-1 SEC) on Saturday in Fayetteville.
The Arkansas defense gave its counterpart plenty of opportunities to take control of the game, as the Longhorns only accounted for 315 total yards in the game, which was roughly 150 less than their season average. The Razorbacks sacked Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers twice and caused nine tackles for loss in the game.
"I was proud of our defensive effort, I was proud of how hard our team played," Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said postgame. "Just the two turnovers really kind of made the difference. Our defense didn't allow them to do a whole lot today either...I thought the kids played extremely hard, especially the defense showed a lot of improvement."
Where the Arkansas defense was really good was on third down. The Hogs forced the Longhorns to punt the ball six times, with five of those coming in the first half. Pittman said he thought the team had a good game plan heading into the game.
"We put some pressure on them, got a couple of sacks, gave them some different looks," Pittman said. "We actually played more man coverage than what I thought we were going to, which anytime you can play man, you can get a little bit more pressure. And then they missed a few crossing routes on third down, you know, helped us out a little bit as well. But I thought that game plan was good. The players ran the plan well and we did a nice job of mixing up man zone, rush three a lot, a lot. Mixed it up well, I thought Travis did."
After giving up 694 yards of offense and 63 points to Ole Miss two weeks ago, the Razorbacks switched things up in the secondary, which included Kee'yon Stewart getting the start at cornerback.
"I just went in and said, 'We're starting him and let's figure out if he's the best we have,'" Pittman said. "But throwing him in the game some and not, it wasn't working. Let's give him the confidence that we have in him to go be the starter and see what happens. And so that's how that happened."
Pittman said the change to put Stewart at starting cornerback, as well as some other changes made during the bye week, helped the defense play at a better level on Saturday.
"I thought the changes we made with (Stewart) — I'll have to watch the tape, but I think he played really good," Pittman said. "I think that happened with Larry (Worth) and Miguel Mitchell, those changes. And then of course we brought the guys who had played before, but I think those changes helped us have a better week and then put the intensity over there. Both of them seemed to play a little bit better, and that's what I thought happened today."
Where the Hogs needed to take advantage was in the turnover department. Texas played a clean game devoid of any turnovers while Arkansas committed two, which Pittman said is frustrating.
"I mean, we’re not getting them and we’ve got to get them," Pittman said of the lack of forced turnovers. "We’ve got to knock the ball out. (Hudson Clark) did a nice job of stripping the ball carrier on the long run down their sideline. But it’s frustrating. We work on it every day besides Thursday. We’ve got to start getting some of those."
Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson — who finished with one sack, one tackle for loss and three total tackles in the game — echoed his coach's comments about the lack of turnovers forced by the Razorback defense.
"We’ve definitely got to make a bigger emphasis on that," Jackson said postgame. "We haven’t gotten one in a minute so we’ve got to find ways to get the ball out. Get the ball back to our offense, that’s the biggest part."
The Razorbacks' next chance to get bowl eligible will be next Saturday, as Arkansas is set to host Louisiana Tech. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. and the game will stream on the SEC Network+ and ESPN+.
