Pittman asked Briles to open up Arkansas' offense, and it paid off
After not scoring more than 26 points in a game over the past three outings, the Arkansas Razorbacks' offense exploded for 644 yards and seven touchdowns in a 52-35 win over BYU on Saturday.
During the three-game losing streak, Arkansas' offense struggled to start fast and end games with points. That was not the case Saturday as the Hogs scored 31 points in the first half and 21 in the second half to keep the Cougars in fight-back mode for most of the game.
The 52-point afternoon came after head coach Sam Pittman told offensive coordinator Kendal Briles to open up the offense this week.
"I told (Briles) all week, I said, ‘Let’s just open it up. Open it up and throw the ball on first down and throw the ball to the middle of the field,'" Pittman said. "That’s where we thought they might be weak … not weak — but that we could complete some passes."
Pittman went on to say that the Hogs put all of their eggs in the basket of beating BYU. After a three-game losing streak, he and the team viewed the game as a must-win.
"I know it didn’t have anything to do with SEC standings, I’m not saying that, but had everything to do with confidence that we needed," Pittman said. "Everything. To beat a team on the road like BYU, that should help us. But yeah, we put all the eggs in this basket and fortunately it worked this time."
The commitment to beating BYU worked out extremely well for the offense, which was led by KJ Jefferson, who returned as Arkansas' quarterback after missing last week's game against Mississippi State with a head injury. Jefferson was 29-40 with 367 passing yards and a career-high five touchdowns through the air.
Jefferson was incredible on third downs against the Cougars. He was 10-12 with 153 yards and three touchdowns on third downs. No play was bigger than when he shook off defenders and completed a 36-yard pass to tight end Trey Knox on third-and-11 late in the second quarter.
"Really proud of KJ," Pittman said. "The third-down play before half, I have no idea how he got out of that and how he made that play. That was another, probably the second biggest play of the game."
After Rocket Sanders lost a fumble on the first drive of the game and a punt on the second drive of the game, Arkansas' next eight drives resulted in seven touchdowns and one field goal. The final drive of the game was a turnover on downs, but it lasted 10:02 and left 0:27 on the clock for BYU.
"That was pretty phenomenal," Pittman said. "We went 10 minutes down there. We didn’t score. Honestly I wanted to score...they stopped us. But we were trying to score."
Following a fumble by BYU quarterback Jaren Hall with just over five minutes left in the first half, Arkansas drove down and scored to take a 24-21 lead with 3:39 remaining in the second quarter. The Razorbacks did not trail for the rest of the game.
The Hogs' 277 rushing yards were 162 more than the Cougars had and they averaged 7.9 yards per play. It was the first Arkansas win with at least 50 points since it beat Colorado State 55-34 on Sept. 14, 2019.
The big win provided the Hogs with the confidence they need going into a bye week. They now have two weeks to get healthy and prepare for Auburn.
"I’m so happy that we won and I’m going to get on that plane with my beautiful wife and our team and enjoy the heck out of it," Pittman said. "We’re off tomorrow and I’m off. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I need to go to church, but I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I know what I’m not doing — I’m not going into the office. We’re off."
Arkansas will have a week off next week and it will begin preparing for the Tigers after that. The game against Auburn will be on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. The game time and TV details will be announced Monday.