Sam Pittman thrilled with balanced offensive approach, defensive aggression for Arkansas

Arkansas stormed out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead on No. 16 Oklahoma State, opening things up offensively behind a balanced attack.

Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman broke down what was going right offensively, which was pretty close to everything in the opening stanza.

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“We’re able to run the football,” Pittman said on the ABC broadcast. “And any time we’re able to run the football we can play-action. We’re protecting him pretty good. They did have a total blitz that got to us down there on our first drive.”

Arkansas finished the first quarter with 172 yards of total offense, moving the ball at will throughout the opening 15 minutes. Of that total, 114 yards came on the ground.

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The offense was opening up wide holes for the backs, with Ja’Quinden Jackson feasting to the tune of 10 carries for 64 yards and two touchdowns.

On the other end, Arkansas was playing some stiff defense against the Oklahoma State offense.

“We’ve got to keep playing hard,” Pittman said. “We’re doing a good job of defending. We’re knocking down contested balls on defense. We’ve got to get better pressure on the quarterback. If not he’ll pick us apart. So we’ve got to get a little bit better pass rush, but we’re doing a good job against the run.”

Oklahoma State strikes back

Shortly after Pittman’s sideline interview with the ABC broadcast crew following the first quarter, disaster struck for Arkansas.

Quarterback Taylen Green had been operating at an extremely high level as a dual-threat option, but he finally faced some pressure from the Cowboys. A pass-rusher got to him off the edge and hit him as he threw.

The ball fluttered out and Kale Smith picked it off for Oklahoma State and ran it all the way back for a 73-yard touchdown return.

That put the score at 14-7 Arkansas with 8:50 remaining in the first half, but the momentum the Razorbacks had has suddenly been halted.