FAYETTEVILLE - There aren't many words to describe the offensive performance that the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-6, 0-5 SEC) put on display during their 7-3 loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-3, 1-3 SEC) on Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Actually, one word does come to mind for the Hogs' loss: inept.
In a game that head coach Sam Pittman described as "must win" earlier in the week, Arkansas' only points came on a Cam Little field goal on its first offensive drive of the game — and the only reason that happened is because Razorbacks defensive back Alfahiym Walcott intercepted Bulldogs quarterback Mike Wright's first pass of the game in their territory.
Pittman didn't mince words about Arkansas' offensive attack following the game.
"Not very good," Pittman said. "We’ve got good kids. We’ve got guys that try hard and all that kind of stuff. We just … we’re not very good right now. We’ve got a lot of figuring out to do between now and Florida. A lot."
Facing a Mississippi State defense that ranked 89th in the country in yards per game (395.2), Arkansas only managed to rack up 200 yards of total offense through four quarters of football.
"Guys, we're struggling so much on offense that you know and I know, we're grabbing over here, grabbing over here -- trying to find something that will work," Pittman said. "Don't think we panicked, because we were 7-3 at half. I don't think we panicked. We talked to the kids, it's just a one-score game, all this stuff, coaches staying in it, all this type of thing. It was just frustrating that we couldn't get two, maybe three first downs in a row.
"Something would happen, whether it be a negative run, a fly sweep, incomplete pass, sack -- whatever. You had a very aggressive defense, we thought some type of screens, quarterback draws, crossing routes, things of that nature might be able to help us. But we just couldn't protect it long enough, couldn't hit him or couldn't get open."
On 37 attempts, the Razorbacks totaled 103 rushing yards. That equals out to roughly 2.78 yards per carry, one of the worst totals of the season for Arkansas.
"We actually had some decent runs today, but we're so feast and famine," Pittman said. "You know, four, minus two, things of that nature. We just can't be consistent as what we need to be. And all of those things you know, but it all falls back on me. Sitting here where we're sitting is not acceptable for anybody."
The other 97 yards came from passing plays. That's KJ Jefferson's lowest mark of the season, which is made even worse when considering that the Bulldogs came into this matchup with the 112th ranked pass defense (263.5). Jefferson completed just 19-of-31 passes and also threw an interception.
Jefferson's performance led some to question if he's healthy or trying to play through some sort of injury.
"From what I understand, he's not injured at all," Pittman said. "He wasn't injured at all. He wasn't Injured during the week. From what I understand, he's healthy. I'll have to wait and ask Dave. I didn't hear anything about him being injured during the game."
Perhaps a part of Jefferson's performance can be blamed on the offensive line's continued struggles. The Bulldogs are middle-of-the-pack at best in pressuring opposing quarterbacks, as they ranked eighth in the SEC in total sacks (16) prior to today's action. Despite that, they managed to bring Jefferson down four times throughout the game.
"No, I don’t think it’s anything new," Pittman said. "(Andrew)Chamblee got his back hurt late in the second quarter. (Devon Manuel) came in … No. Movement has given us problems all year and you saw it again today. I felt we’d have success against this team because we knew where the movement was coming from. I don’t think we got surprised with the movement. I think we got physically manhandled on some of the movement."
One of the biggest head-scratching moments of the game came at the end of the first half. With 2:12 minutes of game time and located at their own 21-yard line, the Razorbacks had all three timeouts to drive down the length of the field to score. Instead, they opted to run the clock out to go into halftime down 7-3.
"You saw the first half before that, too, right?" Pittman said. "I'm trying to get out of it, to be perfectly honest. What were we, on the 15 or something like that? So, I'm trying not to give them the ball back, as well. We ran it on first down -- I can't remember what we did on second down. Do you remember, did we give up a sack?"
"Yeah, I mean, obviously, and we've done that several times before. A lot of people do. They try to run it on first play to see if they can get some kind of momentum going, especially if the other team has their timeouts and things like that. Where we were, it's 7-3 and we hadn't really shown we were going to go 85 yards, but you never know. I just didn't want to give up the sack fumble, to be perfectly honest with you, during that time."
The most disappointing factor of today's display is the fact that Arkansas should have been prepared for Mississippi State's defense. Coming off matchups against talented teams like LSU, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Alabama, this was supposed to be an easier game, relatively speaking. Pittman admitted as much after the game.
"Just internals with a twist off the edge," Pittman said. "So they were having a twist with an internal. Nothing we haven’t practiced. Nothing we haven’t seen. They were just overpowering us at times and we had several MA’s (missed assignments) out the backfield picking up blitzes. And with those two combinations KJ could never really get set. We couldn’t get anything consistently going on the ground or in the air."
The issues that were prevalent throughout the course of today's game have been that way the entire season. Mississippi State wasn't the exception, it was the rule. Can Arkansas fix it? No one knows, but it has a bye week next weekend to try.
"We have a lot to fix," Pittman said. "We’ve got to make sure we don’t lose the team. That was my biggest talk to the guys after the game. We can’t have a divided team. We can’t lose the football team. We’ve got really good kids and really good coaches and I’m thinking we’ll be in good shape there. We have to do some healing both mentally and physically and get ready starting Thursday for Florida."
Following the bye week, Arkansas' next game will be againt the Florida Gators on Saturday, Nov. 4 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.
