Everything Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said before facing 'really good' Notre Dame

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman spoke to the media Monday ahead of the Razorbacks hosting the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday. This is everything Pittman said.

Opening statement

“Excited to get the opportunity to play Notre Dame. Glad it’s home, it’ll be good to be back home. Really good football team, outstanding running backs, quarterback, tight end, wideouts. Really good offensively. O-line is good, running the ball more, now than what they did earlier in the year and it’s really working out. Having a lot of success.

“Defensively, they’ve got some really good playmakers over there. Want to run man coverage, bring singles, disruptive on the defensive line with their movements. Really good team, they played good last week against Purdue, and really played well against Texas A&M, Miami, just came up short, a point and a field goal. Coach Freeman has done a wonderful job there. We’re looking forward to having a storied program like Notre Dame in our stadium.”

On what’s gone wrong for thew Arkansas defense and if the Razorbacks are over-adjusting

“No, I don’t think so. I think our problem is we didn’t tackle very well at all. Obviously, we have to get better there. We have to work on it more and more. We don’t have support. Obviously, if you’re in man coverage, you’ll have support on one edge in the tight end area, quick support. We didn’t have support. We’ve got to play faster downhill from the secondary. We got to get off blocks. We got to tackle better at the secondary level and first level too. e got to get guys on the ground. We can’t have our leading tacklers come from the secondary.

“So I don’t think so. We knew that we needed to stop the run to win the game. We practiced that way all week. And we couldn’t do it.”

On the play of Arkansas linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr. and if he’s injured

“I don’t think it’s that at all. I think he just has to play better and I think if you ask him he’ll tell you that he needs to play better. He obviously played really well against Arkansas State. We’ve just got to get him back. Because if he can make a lot of play— he was there on the 60-70 yard run. He was there to make the tackle for no gain and they would have had to punt or go for it in their own territory. We just didn’t get the guy on the ground. I think he’s healthy. He and a lot of guys— we’ve just got to play better.”

On if Arkansas lost to Memphis because of a mental hangover from the close loss to Ole Miss

“I don’t think so. Obviously, the Ole Miss loss was hard. It’s one thing to get beat and you don’t have a chance or whatever it may be, and then you go down there and you go, I think everybody, like I say, everybody on TV, there, our team knew we were going to win and then lose. I think you always have major concerns of how the team’s gonna be. If there was a lapse, it would have been Monday of last week. I thought we got them back pretty good Tuesday and Wednesday. I didn’t like how we finished Tuesday, but it was 90 degrees too, and that might have had something to do with it. But I thought we were ready. The travel went well. I thought we were— 11 o’clock would have been our first early game, but I thought we were ready. Obviously, we came out, three plays and scored. 

“So, again, you look at this week and of course there’s a lot more noise now around the program than even there was after last week. And so, you have some concern about the team getting the team ready, but you also have the name of Notre Dame. I mean, we’re all grown men in there. We’ve got to shake that off. But to answer your question, I think it may have affected us a little bit on Monday.”

On if there is added pressure for Arkansas after losing two games in a row

“It’d be kind of hard to have more pressure. I mean, I think the pressure you put on yourself is obviously a lot because you want to do well for a lot of reasons. But I’ve kind of had this same type pressure for, I don’t know, three years now. It seems like 40, but I think it’s been about three.

“We have an opportunity. The only way we can win people that don’t believe in us, or win some more positive thoughts about our program is to win ball games, and that’s really the bottom line. You can say whatever you want. You can do whatever you want, but what’s the score? That really is what changes people’s perception or perspective of you.

“We have a great opportunity here. As we well know, we’re not, we could be 4-0. We’re 2-2. I say that only because if we’re 4-0, I think we’re all sitting in here thinking we have a great chance to beat Notre Dame. Our football team will think that, but we’ve got to rally around this week, but we’ll do that. To answer your question, probably not any more than normal.”

On if Arkansas has had a lack of effort

“Yeah. Yeah, we didn’t run to the football and we didn’t tackle well. A lot of times not tackling is effort. Obviously, it’s technique, but it’s effort. We had more missed assignments offensively, especially in the third quarter, than we’ve had this year. And it wasn’t this guy, it was this guy, or that guy, or that guy, or that guy. So, you know, we obviously had more turnovers than we have had. So, yeah, I mean there are some things that mentally, it’s just not a physical game that mental effort, and it may have had something to do with the heat. I don’t know. We’ve got to find that out today so it doesn’t happen to us again. I thought that we were either fatigued or we weren’t playing hard enough, or both on defense especially.”

On the lack of offense for Arkansas in second halves

“Well, last week I can. We obviously had drives there, especially the last three. We had drives right down the field, where everybody feels like we’re going to score, we’re moving the ball well. This past week was because we didn’t run the ball — when we ran the ball well on first down, we kept rolling. But we didn’t run the ball as well as normal on first down and then we had a turnover, we had a sack and we had a fumble in the last three. In between all of that, we’re really moving the ball. So obviously that’s two out of three possessions that we had a turnover and the other one we had a sack that we were well in field goal position and we’re 41 out. I don’t think we’re ready for 59 or 60, especially at that point in the game.”

On if Arkansas RB Braylen Russell is injured because he only got one carry in the second half vs. Memphis

“No. No. I mean, he ran the ball well and we’ve talked about it. We need to use him a little bit more. But I don’t want that to sound like when Mike [Washington Jr.] is in there, we’re not any good. I mean, I could ask the question, ‘How did Mike play when he was in there?’ And I thought he played really well, too. But you specifically asked about an injury and he’s not (hurt).”

On if Arkansas defensive back Kani Walker will be back vs. Notre Dame

“I don’t know. I mean, he’s been in (concussion protocol) this weekend. He was in, he didn’t travel obviously. We had people working with him. I’ll know more on Wednesday. And that’s not because the whatever, the injury report comes out. It’s because of his walk-through of his injury that he has to do. If he’ll progress today and then tomorrow — if he progresses today, he’ll be able to practice tomorrow. If he does that, then I think he’s going to be just fine.”

On if Arkansas QB Taylen Green is zeroing in on WR O’Mega Blake

“No. I think Taylen’s going through his reads. I think with O’Mega, at times we’re playing him too much. I think we’ve got to get somebody else in there and rest him a little bit. He may have played too many reps. He’s really effective when he’s rolling, when he’s not tired and those things. But your question was did I think Taylen was zeroing in on him, no I didn’t feel that way after watching the tape.”

On Green’s two interceptions vs. Memphis

“Well, one he went out of the pocket, tried to make a throw, a deep throw, on their sideline. That was just ill-advised. It wasn’t there. On the second one down toward our locker room, he just didn’t see the linebacker and threw it right to him.”

On if Arkansas has had any player meetings

“No. I mean, guys, we didn’t get beat by 100. We lost two games. Our plan is to beat Notre Dame. What do we need to change? We need to tackle better, we need to run to the ball better, we need to take care of the football, and we can win games. I’m not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. The public will, but we’ve got a good team. We’re doing the right things. We’ve got to hold on to the football, we’ve got to tackle better and we’ve got to play harder and we’ll win those games. So no, I don’t recall any meetings or anything like that.”

On where the Arkansas defense goes from here

“Well, we just have to get better, and we’ve got to have guys flying to the football. We’ve got to have the physicality. And I don’t care what defense you run, if you don’t run to the football and you don’t tackle well, and you don’t have that aggressive, ‘Let’s go get them,’ I don’t care what you’re running. It’s not going to work. And so we’ve got to get our team to do that first. We’ve got to get guys to get off blocks and make tackles, and I have no doubt that we will, but we’ve got to do that first before we figure out schematically exactly where to put them.”

On the play of Arkansas linebacker Bradley Shaw

“I thought he played better. He’ll have an opportunity to play more. But at the same time, I thought he got fatigued as well. And, you know, we just hadn’t practiced much in the heat. And to be honest with you, it’s not because we go inside, it’s we haven’t had heat. And we did on Tuesday. It was 90 here on Tuesday, and so that was one of my biggest concerns, was it going to be hot over there. And sure enough, it was. I thought they played through the heat harder than we did.”

On exploiting the Notre Dame defense

“I think we match up. We match up. They’re good on the D-line, but I think we’ve got good matchups against them. I really like their Mike linebacker, Bowen. He can run side to side. We have to get him blocked. I mean, we just have to, because he can run and he’s physical.

“They’ve run a lot of different coverages. A lot. You know, whether it be 8, 4, 6, and man free. So we have to prepare for all those coverages. Where our matchup is, what do we try to do? In other words, are we going to try to attack outside, are we going to try to attack inside, are we going to run Taylen a lot? But all those things, anytime you have a team that’s really good, you have to figure your matchups, and I think we match up well, with great respect, against what they do.”

On the SEC schedule release

“No, no. I think, I don’t know who it’s going to be. I think everybody — I don’t know, you hear a lot of stuff. I’m trying not to hear anything right now. I don’t know who it’ll be and and whatever it is, I’m sure the teams will be close. That would be good for the fans, and if they put some past rivalries in that close proximity, that’s why you have rivalries, because they’re close. I’m sure that if you’re thinking of the closest schools to us right now, you’ve got a handful of opportunities there, and I really don’t know what they are. I heard about LSU possibly, and then I don’t know the other one, whether it be Ole Miss, Texas,I don’t really know. I really don’t know.

On concerns with losing the will of Arkansas players

“No, not at all. You know, guys, as much as y’all want us to win and the state wants us to win, and guys in the locker room want to win too. It’s Notre Dame. If I had a concern, I’d be telling you that I didn’t think I had a good team or good leadership on the team, and if I told you that, I’d be lying. So we’ll be ready to play.”

On simplifying defensive play calls vs. Memphis

“Well, they were pretty simple, to answer your question. We weren’t late with any calls. It didn’t necessarily work for us, but it was better. Our kids got a chance to make the reads. We were better in coverage. But a lot of times you’re better in coverage if they don’t throw the ball. And if they’re running it, you don’t want to be the top in defense, on pass defense or run defense, you want to be on total defense, because a lot of times, if you’re giving up, say, 400 yards rushing in a game and 12 passing, and you can’t go around bragging that you got a great pass defense. Hell, they don’t pass it. So I think we got our calls in faster and the kids had an opportunity to play quicker.”

On finding the right scheme for the Arkansas defense

“We got to have a — look, so you got your 11 guys, and you got the best 11, then you got the next guy that you’re going to put in, and it’s not Pop Warner, you know. We’re going to put them in if they deserve to play and all that. To me, it’s all about, do we, you know, make sure each and every week that we got the right guys on the field, the right guys, as you said about, Braylen Russell’s carries. The right guys playing the right number of of snaps and all that.

“So to me, each and every week you go back and you evaluate the coach, me, the staff, then you evaluate the players, and do you have the right guys out there with the right number of plays and the right number of reps. So that to me, is right now more important to me than anything. Are we doing the right thing with who’s out there in what position?”

On if Arkansas needs to run the ball more

“I just want to score, you know? If that is slowing the game down, I would say, to answer your question, we would go more towards of slowing the game down than what plays we called. Simply because, I think, when you start talking about we’ve got to do something that may not work, you know. But yet, we’re taking two minutes off the clock, you know. I would rather score points. But we could go to snapping the ball a little bit later.”

On the multiple facets of Arkansas tight end Rohan Jones’ game

“Wasn’t that good? Well, I don’t know. He ran into — I think he hit our own player going in. But, yeah, wasn’t that cool. That was neat, you know, able to score on the third play game, and then wide open, you know, with the tight end around.”

On what went wrong with Green’s read options vs. Memphis

“I don’t know that he ran as aggressively as he has in the past. He’s beat up a little bit, but obviously every game you have some reads that you’re going, ‘Man, I should have kept that, should have gave that one,’ but I don’t know if it was any more than normal. They just did a nice job, pretty nice job on it. However, he got loose on a couple of them too for big runs and one of them we got a holding, I guess.”

On if he has a relationship with Lou Holtz, who coaches both Arkansas and Notre Dame

“Not at all. I mean, I was at his camp when I was a junior, sophomore in high school, and still no relationship because he sure didn’t know who I was, nor should he have. I knew who he was.”

On if he’s talked to Purdue coach Barry Odom this week

“Yeah, I’ll talk to Barry. Talked to him on Sunday, had a good, nice conversation with him about a lot of things, Notre Dame being one of them.”

On Arkansas lacking a killer instinct vs. Memphis

“Man, I don’t think so. I mean, we’re up 18 with a minute, something left in the half or, I don’t know what it was, two something like that, a minute or something, two, and they go 75 on us. So now, not only did it take the 18 to 11, they got the ball. Now, we didn’t stop them and we didn’t do anything. I don’t know if it’s the lead, because we haven’t really, you know, with the A-State and (Alabama) A&M, being in the lead we just kept going. But you’re talking about totally different caliber situation. I don’t know if it’s that more than we‘ve got to figure out, offensively, the third quarter. Coming out of half, going and scoring and that’s when those single guys, it just seemed like 15 plays in a row, was just somebody, maybe not in a row but it was somebody that, whether it be not running the right route, whether it be missing a read, or whether it be not blocking an end coming underneath. It just seemed like that happened to us in that quarter a little bit more than it did in the first. We got to figure that out a little bit.

On Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman

“I like the guy. I like him in all his interviews and I’ve heard a lot of really good things about him. I asked Barry about him. Barry said he’s really a nice guy. But, no, I haven’t crossed paths with him at all, really. Chris [Ash] is over there, who was here, but haven’t crossed paths with Coach Freeman, but man I respect him and how he handles his business a lot.”

On Notre Dame’s CJ Carr, Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price

“Did I say I liked Love? I mean, God, as I’m looking at tape, I’m going, ‘This guy is sensational.’ And he’s fast, he’s mean. They brought an A gap linebacker, Purdue, he just knocked the hell out of him. He can catch, he likes to jump. He’s a high jump hurdler or something, but he’s special. Barry thought he was one of the best backs he’s ever seen.

“Then he talked about Price and of course, Price returned a kickoff for a touchdown. We call them 1A, 1B. I call him 1AAAA and 1B. The guy’s great. He’s a great player.

“Carr, really good, man. So accurate and runs the offense really well and they throw the deep comeback on the sideline as good as anybody. And it seems like he’s always got it in the right spot on time, but I got a little roll protection that they run a deep comeback on. I don’t know what his percentage on it is right now, but it’s high. He’s really good, really good player. T

“Their tight end, I hope I’m saying it right, Raridon, number nine is fantastic. He’s the second leading receiver on the team and doing a really good job. And Ty Washington’s played for them and playing well. He’s caught three balls this year, and he’s doing a good job for them. It’s good to see, happy for him.”

On what he says to people who say Arkansas ‘sucks’

“Get on out here. We’re excited about this game. We’re not backing into the door. We obviously think we have a great chance to win the game. If they want to see Notre Dame, they ought to get to the game and they’ll see a really good Arkansas team as well. We’ll be ready to play.”