Pittman: "We can wallow in it or we can get bowl eligible"
The Arkansas Razorbacks sit with an even 5-5 record and two games remaining against SEC West foes Ole Miss and Missouri. After back-to-back losses to Liberty and LSU, head coach Sam Pittman still has a positive outlook for the final two contests.
Following a 9-4 season last year, expectations were up entering this season. Pittman said he'd rather have the expectations high and take the criticism than to take moral victories for almost beating a good LSU team.
"With being 5-5 and all the expectations, I’d rather have the expectations be high and take what I, take the criticism than they go, ‘Oh well, you played LSU to 13-10 and they’re West Division champs,'" Pittman said. "We don’t want any of that. We want to win. It doesn’t matter who we play."
The team can either crumble, lose out and not make a bowl game, or it can finish strong and possibly win eight games.
"We’re disappointed with where we are," Pittman said. "But we can wallow in it or we can get bowl eligible. I think you saw Saturday that our team wants to go to postseason play. And I think you’ll see it again Saturday."
Hurting the Hogs the past two weeks has been an unhealthy starting quarterback in KJ Jefferson, who played "banged up" against Liberty and did not play at all against LSU.
Pittman said there is a chance the Hogs could get Jefferson back for Saturday's game against Ole Miss.
"We anticipate him practicing today," Pittman said in his Monday press conference. "We anticipate him playing on Saturday. Those things certainly change. They have over the last two weeks, but he feels better than he has since the Auburn game. We'll have to see how he is at practice to be perfectly honest with you, but I know he feels better than he has in the last two weeks."
Having Jefferson back would provide an immediate boost to an Arkansas offense that has averaged under 15 points per game the past two weeks.
Pittman said that defenses have thrown different looks at the Hogs in the two games (Mississippi State and LSU) that Jefferson has not played.
"If you notice the box numbers, the amount of blitzes we’re getting on run-downs now vs. what we did before with KJ running, it’s different," Pittman said. "It’s a different number count, it’s different schematics that people are using against us. It’s gonna take away some of your rushing yards because they’re not afraid of you. They’re not afraid of that slant anymore."
The Head Hog went on to say that part of the problem is that the Razorbacks need to have confidence in their backup quarterback.
In both games that Jefferson did not play, the quarterback who started (Cade Fortin at Miss. State, Malik Hornsby vs LSU) did not finish as the quarterback. Pittman said if Jefferson isn't able to go Saturday, there would be a competition between Fortin and Hornsby, who was the clear No. 2 prior to Saturday's loss to LSU.
"I think our team needs (Jefferson), or we need to go the entire week and say he's not going to (play)," Pittman said. "I think a lot of that will be said today. Cade and Malik will battle for who would play in that second spot if KJ is not able to."
The Hogs will face Ole Miss at 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.