Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman after a 27-20 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday night and how this team really needs to just find a way to get a win against somebody.
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00:00 I want to congratulate Ole Miss.
00:03 They found a way to win.
00:07 Very hard-hitting game.
00:11 We've got several injuries that went out throughout the game
00:15 that we'll have to figure out exactly how long
00:20 that those guys are going to be out.
00:24 But I thought they had a really good game plan on defense.
00:28 I thought they executed it well.
00:31 They played extremely hard
00:35 and played through a lot of injuries out there.
00:39 And offensively, we've got to find a way to run the football.
00:42 And until we do that, we're putting way too much pressure on our quarterback,
00:50 our offensive line to protect during those times
00:55 and our wideouts to get open.
00:59 It's hard to win a game when you can't run the football,
01:01 and we've got to figure out a way to do it.
01:03 Obviously, we're trying, but what we're doing is not working,
01:08 so we've got to figure that part of it out because you can't win.
01:14 We can't. The way we're built, we can't win games
01:16 not having success rushing the football.
01:21 Sam, I know all these games mean a lot to everybody,
01:23 but KJ coming home from his home state,
01:27 at this point, do you think it's just for him?
01:29 What do you think it is for Quarnt?
01:30 He had some real good play, and they have some good characters to fix.
01:33 Well, I think he's just like everybody else on the team.
01:35 He's got to continue to get better as well.
01:39 I know he played extremely hard,
01:44 and he's certainly just like everybody on the team.
01:46 I know it was special for him coming back, wanting to win.
01:51 But I think he played his heart out.
01:56 I think if you ask him, he'll probably take a couple, two, three,
01:59 four throws back, but that's part of the game.
02:07 I felt like he led extremely well tonight and played very hard.
02:13 Neil, when you started to sort of reshuffle,
02:15 went back to the old alignment in the second half,
02:18 kind of what did you think of the line play,
02:20 and what went into switching it back?
02:22 Well, the first drive, we'll go down to the score,
02:24 but we really didn't block a whole lot of guys.
02:26 We had a lot of guys coming through untouched.
02:31 The movement was bothering us, especially at center.
02:39 And so in the second quarter,
02:43 we decided to put Bo back at center, maybe help that,
02:47 and then at halftime, I decided just to go back to where we were.
02:53 The first five games to see if we'd be better.
02:57 I'll have to watch the tape to see if we got any better or not,
03:00 you know, with that combination of guys.
03:06 But that's what went into the decision.
03:09 We could not handle the run-throughs and the movement.
03:15 They were too quick for us.
03:17 And so I thought maybe if we'd move Bo back in the middle,
03:20 maybe that would calm some things down.
03:24 Coach, what did you think of the overall game plan
03:26 from Travis Williams,
03:28 and just the way that the defense was able to execute it today?
03:32 Well, I thought it was fantastic.
03:35 You know, his call on fourth and two,
03:40 that got us the ball with the opportunity to score a touchdown
03:45 on the inside there, 40, was big.
03:50 I thought our kids really bought into what they were selling.
03:54 You know, Ole Miss had as good a football game offensively
03:58 as you can have a week ago.
04:00 And, you know, if we do a little bit more on offense,
04:06 we certainly would have been able to continue to do that.
04:12 We changed up a little bit defensively,
04:15 trying to get the ball back a little bit.
04:17 But I think they had a great game plan,
04:21 and they executed it very well.
04:24 On offense, Ty Washington had a big game.
04:26 Oh, man. Wasn't that something?
04:29 Oh, man, I'm so happy for him.
04:31 I took him aside just right before I walked in here
04:35 and told him how proud I was of him,
04:38 you know, seven catches for two touchdowns.
04:41 I mean, you know, he never griped, never complained.
04:45 You know, he was playing behind Luke.
04:47 And then he came in and had that type of game.
04:50 I believe he blocked well, too.
04:53 That's certainly going to do something well for his confidence
04:56 and our confidence in him.
04:58 But for his -- really his first start to do that
05:03 was really outstanding, really happy for him.
05:06 Well, what is this -- I know injuries are part of the game.
05:10 It's tough to see them.
05:12 But the fourth down punt where you guys had 12 men on the field
05:17 and then the defense has to come back out,
05:19 and that's where the ball went down.
05:21 Yeah, it was.
05:23 I mean, I had already used a timeout.
05:26 We were going to go after it, you know, right before --
05:28 I believe it was right before the half.
05:30 And so I used a timeout.
05:33 Either that or I was going to, you know, make Lane go for it on that side.
05:37 And hopefully -- I was hoping that he would, you know,
05:39 so we might have an opportunity to score right before half.
05:42 But we were going to go block it, and we had too many guys out there.
05:46 And, you know, with the new rule, you can't call back-to-back timeouts.
05:50 And I was -- I couldn't get the timeout, obviously.
05:56 But we did end up -- I think we ended up holding them right there,
06:02 right before half.
06:04 Didn't we hold them right before half right there?
06:06 So we were very fortunate there.
06:09 But, yeah, it's -- you know, Pooh got hurt.
06:13 I think Al got hurt.
06:15 Who else, Kyle?
06:17 Braxton got hurt.
06:18 Tam Ball got hurt.
06:21 Them guys just kept playing, kept putting other guys in there.
06:24 And kudos to the coaches because they had them ready to go,
06:27 no matter who the people were that -- who the guys were that went in there.
06:32 Coach, it seemed like you guys went too tight in,
06:34 a little bit less than the second half.
06:35 Did you feel like it helped clear the spacing up a little bit
06:37 to have some more wideouts out on the field?
06:40 Well, we were trying to get the ball down the field or outside.
06:47 You know, we just couldn't do anything, run the ball.
06:53 We were in the A and B gaps.
06:57 And we were trying to -- what you just alluded to,
07:00 we were trying to loosen them up a little bit just in case we wanted to run
07:03 or draw or something like that, or get the ball out on the edge
07:06 and play a little bit more 10 personnel as well.
07:10 Can you touch on a little bit with the penalties, the 10 for 70 again?
07:13 Where do you make up the weight?
07:15 Do you guys want to sustain the success you had last week?
07:18 Isn't that crazy?
07:19 I mean, we had zero last week, and we come back.
07:24 And basically, at practice, we did the same thing we did the week before.
07:28 And I don't think it would be any different.
07:32 It was loud last week, too.
07:34 You know, they stemmed on us last week, too.
07:37 But, I mean, nobody can win doing that.
07:43 And I'm the head coach.
07:45 That's my responsibility to get fixed.
07:48 We're trying, but I just haven't got it fixed.
07:51 What did Ty show you during the week?
07:53 You said you were going to open up the competition.
07:55 What did he show you during the week to earn the reps?
07:57 He's by far the most consistent guy.
08:00 And Francis Sherman was as well, you know, when we went into 12 personnel.
08:08 But Ty was by far the most consistent guy.
08:11 We told him as a four-man whomever played the best in the week would start
08:19 for us, and he earned that right.
08:21 But he was consistent.
08:23 You could see he was passionate about getting on the field.
08:26 He caught the ball well.
08:27 He just had a really good week.
08:29 Oh, yeah, he blew some lube.
08:31 But with Ty doing what he did, how big is that for you all?
08:35 Maybe how big for him?
08:37 First of all, I'm just really happy for him.
08:40 You know, he'd been here for a while and hadn't really got the opportunity
08:44 to show what he can do.
08:46 And so it's big for us.
08:49 It's big for the last six games of the year.
08:52 And we certainly believe in him, believed in him today to get him the balls
08:59 and all that.
09:00 But he's got a bright future, and hopefully we can get him more
09:05 and more as the weeks go on.
09:07 What's the London a lot like?
09:15 Somber.
09:19 I mean, that group in there wants to win as bad as anybody in the state,
09:24 as bad as we do, as bad as anybody does.
09:28 And I think you could see it by the effort.
09:31 I just talked to them about we're not playing smart.
09:34 And even with the woes that we're having at running the football
09:39 and protecting him, you know, we had a chance to win the game if we play smart.
09:53 I really wish I could.
09:55 I wish I could explain how you have zero last week and you come back
09:59 and have six false starts.
10:01 I wish I could explain it.
10:03 But I can't.
10:04 But we're going to damn sure continue to work on getting it fixed.
10:09 Sam, before you talk about the effort tonight,
10:11 you can see you guys haven't lost a team yet.
10:13 You're not getting tangible results.
10:15 You know, in winning, how tough is it to hold the team together
10:19 for the guys to keep going that way?
10:21 I think I worry about it more than the kids.
10:24 We've got good kids.
10:27 They're continuing to fight.
10:29 You don't fight if you don't believe in something,
10:31 if you don't believe in the coaches, don't believe in each other,
10:35 or you don't believe that you're going to win.
10:38 That's when you stop fighting.
10:42 I don't think we'll have that problem ever with this team.
10:46 And we've got to get ready for Alabama.
10:50 But it shows really the character of the kids.
10:54 You know, the worst time in coaching is going in after a game
10:58 and talking to kids that didn't win.
11:01 And the greatest is when you win.
11:04 But we're beat up right now.
11:07 We've got to get healthy.
11:08 But the kids fought.
11:13 Coach, with KJ tonight, was it more of a lack of protection
11:16 or what Ole Miss was showing him defensively?
11:19 I think it's a little bit of a combination, to be perfectly honest with you.
11:22 There was times when he had time and threw good balls,
11:25 times when he had time, threw balls low and behind.
11:29 Any quarterback is going to do that.
11:33 But I think, to be perfectly honest with you,
11:36 I think the wear and tear of him getting hit back in the pocket,
11:43 I think that has wore on him a little bit mentally.
11:46 And I don't think he's as calm back there in the pocket
11:51 as what he was a year ago.
11:56 I don't know that anybody would be as calm back there if you're getting hit.
12:01 So I think he did the best he could do under the circumstances.
12:08 Three of your losses have been by one possession.
12:11 I guess how tough is that?
12:14 Any loss is hard.
12:16 I mean, you don't want to get blown out or anything like that.
12:20 But any time you lose, it's hard.
12:26 I think if you get beat in close games,
12:29 you can pinpoint a little bit more of why and maybe try to fix it
12:34 and things of that nature.
12:38 But I'd rather play a close game than not.
12:42 We just got to -- ours tonight was just playing smart football.
12:47 That's what it was.
12:49 It wasn't anything else.
12:51 I mean, that's what it was.
12:55 And as hard as it was up front on offense, if we just play smart,
13:02 I just got to believe that one of those field goals would turn into a touchdown
13:06 and you'd have a different ball game.
13:08 You came at the 56-yarder.
13:10 And the first time I think you had a chance to try a 55-yarder.
13:14 Did you think about it?
13:17 I can't remember.
13:19 I believe it was the other direction if I'm thinking.
13:23 And that wasn't his yard to gain.
13:28 He felt like he could make it.
13:30 When we were fourth and six, I was going for it.
13:35 And then we couldn't get lined up, so we had to use a timeout.
13:41 And in the timeout, Cam said, "Coach, I've got enough wind here.
13:46 I can make it."
13:48 And we were down 10, I believe, and I said, "Okay."
13:51 I mean, if he tells me he can make it, he can make it.
13:54 So I said, "Okay," and he kicked it.
13:57 The other way was the 33-yard line, and I think we were on the 37 maybe.
14:04 How big do you think that moment was to kick really helped spark
14:07 the comeback in the second half?
14:09 I think it was big.
14:14 And the disappointing thing, we're up three and fourth,
14:18 and we just couldn't make the play.
14:24 But I think it did give us a big spark.
14:27 I'm surprised it wasn't like a lot of times by maybe both teams
14:29 that scored in the 40s based on --
14:31 Past.
14:33 Were you surprised it was in the 20s?
14:35 Well, going into the game, felt like we really had a good plan
14:39 on all three phases.
14:43 I felt like we were going to run the ball a little bit better.
14:46 We don't have to run the ball for 200 yards,
14:48 but we've got to run for 100 and some and get people off the throwing game.
14:56 But I really felt strong that we were going to have a really good
14:59 defensive performance, even though I know Ole Miss
15:02 is a really good football team.
15:05 And I keep talking about all these Ole Miss beat us, that and all that,
15:08 give them the credit.
15:10 But if we just played smarter football,
15:14 we can go in there and celebrate instead of feel like this
15:17 for the fourth week in a row.
15:19 Did you like the execution on third and fourth?
15:21 I did.
15:23 It was better.
15:25 We had to go -- we had to sneak in there that we got.
15:32 So, yes.
15:34 You mentioned a lot of injuries,
15:36 you know a lot of the defensive side as well.
15:38 Are any of those concerning for you moving forward?
15:40 Is it going to be a setback for the group?
15:44 Yeah, it would be concerning for next week.
15:50 I don't know how much further than that.
15:52 I don't think any of them is in there that are like season ending or anything,
15:57 but there are three or four of them that are concerning whether we're going to
16:01 next week or not.