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FAYETTEVILLE — Barry Odom inherited the worst statistical defense in UA history and, in just two years, has turned it into one of the top units in the country.

Through four weeks, Arkansas is allowing only 14.5 points on 267.3 yards per game and opponents are averaging 4.11 yards per play. Those figures rank 11th, 12th and ninth in the FBS, respectively.

The Razorbacks have done it by not only turning a football cliche into reality, but taking it to the extreme with Odom’s “multiple” defense. As head coach Sam Pittman said he would during the offseason, the second-year defensive coordinator has already utilized several different looks.

“They roll out there in whatever front that they want to do, depending on how they can win the football game,” Pittman said. “I was talking to Tre Williams last week and he said, ‘You know, it’s kind of amazing how we can line up in this look, that look, this look and all of us believe this is the way we’re going to stop our opponent if we’ll play hard, we’ll play fast and we’ll run to the football.’”

In fact, Arkansas has yet to run the same defense multiple weeks in a row. After opening the season with a four-man front against Rice, it used a three-man front against Texas, reverted to a four-man front against Georgia Southern and then moved back to a three-man front in the Texas A&M game.

That kind of flexibility is what Pittman and Odom had in mind during the spring when they grabbed three transfer defensive linemen out of the portal.

Adding the likes of Tre Williams, Markell Utsey and John Ridgeway to the mix provided the Razorbacks with more depth to shift to a four-man front, a luxury they didn’t have in 2020, while also bringing more pass-rush abilities that give them the freedom to use a three-man front.