Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman after a 7-3 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday at Razorback Stadium not really knowing answers to question.
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00:00 I want to congratulate Mississippi State
00:03 to come in here without their record-setting quarterback.
00:08 They had a very aggressive defense.
00:12 They played extremely well.
00:14 They scored enough points, obviously, to win.
00:17 And I want to congratulate Coach Arnett and his team.
00:22 I think you said on your first-quarter interview
00:27 that the team looked dead
00:29 and you had to get a spark somehow.
00:31 Was it surprising to you that there wasn't any more energy
00:34 to win the game?
00:35 Well, you know, to be honest with you,
00:36 I don't know if I was right on that or not.
00:38 We just didn't play well,
00:40 whether it was the first quarter offensively,
00:42 whether it was the first quarter or the fourth quarter.
00:44 So I don't -- you know, I don't know if I was really correct.
00:48 I was mad when I was, you know, being interviewed and --
00:52 but I don't know if that was the case or not.
00:56 I don't know if we just didn't get physically whipped.
00:59 David, on some throws, is he physically okay?
01:04 What's happening with him?
01:05 What I understand, he's not injured at all.
01:08 He wasn't injured during the week.
01:09 So from what I understand, he's healthy.
01:13 I'll have to wait and ask Dave,
01:14 but I didn't hear anything about him
01:16 being injured during the game.
01:18 Considering he apparently was healthy, you know, he's just --
01:23 I don't think I've ever seen him be so inaccurate.
01:25 You know, obviously, he was under pressure.
01:27 There were times the protection was pretty good.
01:28 There were guys opening. He just missed them.
01:30 I mean, how would you assess that?
01:33 You know, maybe he just -- you know, maybe he just had a bad day
01:36 because he had a good -- he had a good week of practice.
01:39 So, again, I don't believe there's any type of injury there
01:43 or anything of that nature.
01:45 I would have known about that.
01:47 I just -- you know, maybe the weeks of getting hit
01:52 in the pocket have rattled him a little bit.
01:54 I don't know.
01:57 But I don't think that's an injury.
02:03 On the sideline, did you ever consider --
02:05 and this may be a dumb question, but did you ever consider
02:08 putting Chris Will in just to change it up for a series?
02:12 We never talked about it.
02:14 Yeah, Coach, the field goal try, what happened there?
02:19 No timeout.
02:21 I had decided it was fourth and four, I think,
02:25 maybe fourth and three right in Cam's range.
02:31 And I didn't know what to do, to be perfectly honest with you.
02:34 So I was probably about eight seconds in on the 42nd clock,
02:40 maybe 10, and I decided to kick a field goal,
02:43 and we didn't kick it. We didn't get it off in time.
02:45 That's the truth.
02:47 I did not want to call a timeout at that point
02:49 because I wasn't for sure I even wanted to kick the field goal,
02:52 to be perfectly honest with you.
02:54 And we kicked it down to the two or whatever,
02:56 and then the fans got really involved in it.
02:58 But I'll try to be honest with you.
03:00 I didn't know what to do.
03:01 I didn't make the decision fast enough.
03:03 And once I got it in there,
03:05 I thought we had plenty of time to kick it.
03:07 But at that point, I wasn't going to burn a timeout
03:10 because my feeling was I wasn't for sure
03:12 I was making the right decision in any way.
03:16 How important this game was to win,
03:18 before the game, and given the way --
03:21 I mean, the defense played great,
03:22 but given the way the offense played
03:24 and you've got a bye week coming up,
03:25 does that force you into a tough situation
03:28 of making some decisions, whether it's maybe
03:30 who's calling plays or your personnel out there?
03:33 Well, we've got a lot of decisions to make.
03:35 We owe it to our team. We owe it to the fans.
03:38 And so we'll figure that part of it out.
03:43 But, you know, my biggest thing, to be honest with you,
03:47 Trey, the defense has continued to improve,
03:50 and my biggest concern is about the kids, the entire team,
03:54 you know, because time and time --
03:57 We ask them what happened.
03:58 I say, "Hey, if you'll hold them,
04:01 if you'll shut them out, I think we'll win."
04:04 You know, we can get down there
04:05 and score enough points to win.
04:06 And we just weren't able to do it.
04:09 But defense is improving.
04:14 We've got enough talent on offense.
04:15 We ought to be playing better than what we are.
04:17 And that's me.
04:20 That's -- You know, I got to figure that out.
04:24 Sam, after the interception early in the game,
04:26 y'all got down inside the 10.
04:28 That's something the last several weeks you've done
04:30 and had a hard time punching in the end zone.
04:33 Just what's going on down there in the low-red zone?
04:35 Last week, I think we went 2 for 2 in the red area,
04:37 you know, in the red area.
04:38 That's touchdowns.
04:41 But, you know, guys,
04:43 when you can't consistently run the football,
04:46 you got problems in scoring in the red area
04:49 and in the red zone.
04:51 And we actually had some decent runs today,
04:54 but we're so feast and famine.
04:57 I mean, we are 4 and minus 2 and things of that nature,
05:01 and we just can't be consistent as what we need to be.
05:06 And, again, all those things you know,
05:09 but it all falls back on me and, you know,
05:15 sitting here where we're sitting,
05:16 it's not acceptable for anybody.
05:21 I know the last two offensive possessions
05:23 there at the end of the game,
05:24 I think you had Dominic Johnson in there at running back.
05:25 Was that more of just kind of a blocking?
05:28 We had to have him for protection
05:29 because they were bringing their two inside backers,
05:35 and obviously we can't, you know,
05:37 cut a defensive end loose and tell the back
05:39 he needs to block him.
05:41 So the beauty of what they do
05:42 is they force you either to go empty
05:45 and throw it out there and cover the guy in space,
05:49 or they force you to have a back on a wide receiver.
05:55 And then they threw some corners in there that we didn't see,
05:59 and the quarterback got hit a few times in that,
06:02 but that part of it was strictly
06:04 because I knew he was going to throw the football,
06:06 and we needed our best protection back in it.
06:09 Nick, with that last drive of the first half,
06:11 I think you had all three timeouts,
06:13 but then KJ took a sack,
06:14 and you guys ended up just running the clock out.
06:16 I mean, obviously you probably wanted to score,
06:18 but could you kind of talk through that drive?
06:21 Well, we ran it the first time.
06:22 I had some time.
06:24 You saw the first half before that, too, right?
06:28 I'm trying to get out of it, to be perfectly honest.
06:30 What were we on, the 15 or something like that?
06:33 So I'm trying not to give them the ball back as well.
06:38 We ran it on first down.
06:40 I can't remember what we did on second down.
06:42 Do you remember? We gave a sack.
06:43 And then the sack was on the fourth play of the drive.
06:49 Yeah.
06:50 Yeah, I mean, obviously --
06:52 and we've done that several times before,
06:54 and a lot of people do, you know.
06:56 They try to run it the first play,
06:57 see if they can get kind of some momentum going,
07:00 especially if the other team has their timeouts
07:02 and things like that.
07:03 Where we were, we were 7-3,
07:05 and we hadn't really shown that we were going to go 85 yards,
07:08 you know, but you never know.
07:12 And then I just didn't want to give up a sack fumble,
07:15 to be perfectly honest with you, during that time.
07:18 And once we got down to --
07:20 it was -- what was it, 25 seconds or 22 seconds?
07:23 I said, "That's enough. I don't want to get a turnover
07:26 and give them back the ball down here."
07:28 Mississippi State went on -- was going to go on fourth and one
07:31 from its 40, and it was a bad snap,
07:34 and you guys scooped it, and they had a false start.
07:37 Yeah. Just your toss.
07:38 The BYU guy.
07:39 Yeah, they called it dead immediately
07:41 because the wide receiver that was coming in motion,
07:43 he never got set, and so right when the snap was in,
07:46 it was a dead ball.
07:48 Yeah. Yeah.
07:51 Did Mississippi State do anything different
07:52 defensively from their off week that caused your offense
07:55 problems?
07:56 No.
07:59 They -- they were -- no.
08:05 They really didn't.
08:06 They ran that twist game, which they'd run previously.
08:11 Well, they probably did have some more outside pressure
08:13 than -- than internal today than they had in the past,
08:20 but other than that, no.
08:23 It was still pressure to the bubble, and we knew it.
08:26 We just were getting picked or couldn't get open
08:29 or holding the ball or backs not protecting.
08:34 There's a lot of reasons why.
08:37 Coach, maybe only had 14, 15, 16 pass attempts
08:40 entering the fourth quarter,
08:42 and I know the entire offense struggled,
08:44 but you continuously talk about the run game, too.
08:46 Do you think you guys maybe ditched the passing game
08:48 a little too early?
08:50 What was the kind of -- why'd you guys leave that so soon?
08:53 No, I don't -- I don't think so.
08:59 I mean, we were just trying to call plays
09:04 that we could get four or five yards
09:06 and have some type of success,
09:08 and we missed one down the field that we called
09:12 that was basically a screen and go,
09:15 that we had a guy open, and we just didn't see it, you know,
09:19 but I don't think so.
09:21 Guys, we're struggling so much on our offense
09:23 that you know and I know it's a little bit of grabbing over here
09:29 and grabbing over here and trying to figure out --
09:31 trying to find something that's going to work.
09:33 Don't think we panicked because, you know,
09:36 we were 7-3 at half.
09:38 I don't think we panicked.
09:40 You know, we talked to the kids,
09:41 "Hey, it's just a one-score game," all these type --
09:44 Our coaches stayed in it and all this type thing.
09:47 It was just frustrating that we couldn't --
09:50 we couldn't ever, you know, what do we have, three,
09:52 maybe two, maybe three first downs in a row,
09:55 and then something would happen,
09:57 whether it be a negative run, a fly sweep,
09:59 incomplete pass, sack, whatever.
10:02 You had a very aggressive defense,
10:05 and we thought some type of screens,
10:07 some quarterback draws, some things of that nature
10:10 might be able to -- crossing routes,
10:12 things of that nature might be able to help us,
10:14 but we just couldn't -- either we couldn't protect it
10:17 long enough, we couldn't hit them or get open.
10:21 Coach, on the other side of the ball,
10:22 can you tell us what you saw in the football today?
10:25 Man, specifically him, I cannot.
10:29 I wish I could. I cannot.
10:34 I know that we were very aggressive,
10:37 very aggressive on the edge, and we did a nice job.
10:42 I felt like tackling, but him specifically,
10:46 I'm sorry, I cannot tell you.
10:49 Well, how would you describe the play of the offense right now?
10:55 Say again.
10:56 How would you describe the play of the offense right now?
10:59 Not very good.
11:01 We got good kids.
11:04 We got guys that try hard and all this kind of stuff,
11:07 but we're just -- not very good right now.
11:14 And got a lot of figuring out to do
11:18 between now and Florida, a lot.
11:22 And specifically along the offensive line,
11:24 is it kind of the same problems
11:25 that you're seeing from early in the season,
11:27 or is it new kind of new issues that are popping up?
11:31 No, I don't think it's anything new.
11:34 Chambly got his back hurt early --
11:39 or late in the second quarter.
11:42 Deb came in.
11:45 No, movement has given us problems all year,
11:49 and you saw it again today.
11:52 I felt like we would have success against this team
11:55 because we knew where the movement was coming from.
11:58 And I don't think we got surprised with the movement.
12:01 I think we got physically manhandled
12:05 on some of the movement.
12:07 And this is -- the sixth game of the season,
12:09 because this is the fifth one-score loss.
12:12 Just how tough is that to deal with?
12:14 And then normally you welcome an open day,
12:15 but I don't know -- you know, it's going to be tough
12:17 to have a single-leagueer out with --
12:19 Well, we've got a lot of figuring out to do.
12:20 I mean, we've got to get better, and I've got to do a better job.
12:24 I've got to figure this out, you know.
12:28 The one-score losses and all that kind of stuff,
12:33 each one of them are certainly different.
12:35 You know, they're all different.
12:36 Like today was different, a four-point loss,
12:39 and maybe a four-point loss at --
12:42 it was three, but at Alabama.
12:43 You know, it's just -- there's still the losses,
12:45 but they're different.
12:47 Each one of them has a title of how you got beat
12:53 or a title of how you stayed close with some team
12:55 that, you know, was really good.
12:58 It's disappointing.
13:00 It's disappointing because I'm the head coach at Arkansas,
13:02 and the state deserves better,
13:05 and that's the biggest disappointment.
13:09 And because we've got kids in there playing their heart out,
13:13 we've just got to figure out a way to score some points.
13:16 But I don't think I answered your question very good, Bob.
13:21 You know, Cam, I know that the penalty pushed him
13:23 from 51 to 56, but he hit a 56-yard.
13:26 I think it was an Ole Miss.
13:27 Did you think about giving him a shot at a 56-yard?
13:29 I was having trouble thinking about 51
13:33 and where the ball was.
13:35 My mind was thinking, if we miss it there
13:39 versus putting him inside the ten if we can.
13:43 And all those things are ifs and ands and buts,
13:45 and, you know, I went for it and pored down.
13:49 You know, we didn't make it, and we had a fumble on it,
13:52 and I don't know if we'd have made it anyway.
13:55 And the defense bailed the decision to go for it out.
14:00 Should I have kicked it there?
14:03 I don't know.
14:04 We'd had a couple of first downs put together,
14:06 so I thought maybe we can get some.
14:08 Your mind, when you're struggling
14:10 that much offensively, it changes now.
14:13 I mean, it changes in what it just does.
14:17 And so maybe I should have punted that one, too.
14:24 What the plans are for the open day?
14:26 Do you give the guys some time off, or how do you handle that?
14:29 They're going to be off tomorrow,
14:31 and Monday they'll come in.
14:33 We'll clean up this state.
14:35 And then Tuesday we start meeting on Florida.
14:38 We won't do anything really physical with them
14:40 until Thursday, and then they'll have the weekend off,
14:44 and then we'll come back with the regular work week.
14:46 But we'll do film study, walk-throughs,
14:49 things of that nature, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
14:53 Friday -- or Thursday will be a practice.
14:55 Practice, practice.
14:57 Sam, you mentioned you were very open during the week,
14:59 just the importance of this game.
15:01 How do you ensure the guys kind of hold onto the rope
15:04 and, like, don't let go for these last stretch of games?
15:06 I think we'll be okay as long as we don't separate
15:09 in the locker room.
15:10 You know, I think we'll be okay.
15:13 We still have an opportunity to get bowl eligible,
15:15 but we -- you know, obviously we're going to have to play
15:17 a lot better to do that.
15:20 But we've got good kids on the team,
15:23 and I think they'll stay together.
15:26 I told them it's okay to be angry.
15:28 I mean, it is. It's okay to be upset.
15:31 It's okay to all these things,
15:33 but what you can't do is let it separate the team.
15:38 I think earlier you asked about maybe considering
15:40 personnel changes.
15:41 Would you ever consider an in-season staff change
15:43 at all, ever?
15:46 I don't really want to answer that.
15:50 Four years ago, somebody told me the offensive line
15:52 isn't going to be good on Ryan Pittman.
15:54 I wouldn't have believed him.
15:56 How did it get like this?
15:57 And it's not just the line.
15:59 I mean, tight end, struggle picking up, you know,
16:02 back struggle picking up blitzes and stuff.
16:04 It's just, like, doesn't seem like you guys can block anybody.
16:07 How did it get to this point where you guys just can't block?
16:10 And I don't even know if it's the play caller is the problem
16:14 because you just can't block.
16:16 I really don't know how it got to today.
16:23 Let's keep it to that today.
16:25 When kids play extremely hard,
16:35 they're -- you know, they believe in you.
16:37 You know what I mean?
16:39 And when you struggle a lot of times,
16:44 and it's not going your way,
16:47 you've got to have something that can bring a spark to them.
16:51 We just haven't found that.
16:52 I mean, you're talking about pass protection,
16:54 screens, wiring the football.
16:57 Even though I think we did hand it off,
16:59 run a little bit better every day than what we had.
17:02 When you get a four-yard run,
17:03 I'm not going to positive that that's a celebration,
17:06 but it has become that way.
17:07 So if you ask me how that's become that way,
17:10 I really -- I don't -- I don't --
17:13 I don't not want to answer it, Trey,
17:15 but I don't know that I have the perfect answer for it either.
17:21 The way you finished the 'Bama game,
17:22 the comeback in the second half, how maybe frustrating is it
17:26 that that didn't carry over to today?
17:30 Y'all couldn't bring the energy to that?
17:31 Well, how frustrating was it?
17:33 Yeah.
17:35 Well, very, because, I mean, you sit there
17:37 and you look at our team, and we had to evolve.
17:43 Granted, we were 90-some yards away from --
17:47 we weren't 90-some yards from a field goal last week,
17:51 and then to come in here.
17:53 Now, Mississippi State's --
17:55 you know, I thought we could exploit them in the secondary,
17:58 and we just didn't have time to do it.
18:00 And -- but it's very frustrating.
18:05 Everything's frustrating. Hell, you're frustrated.
18:07 You should be. Everybody's frustrated.
18:10 And I'm one head coach,
18:13 and I've got to figure out how to get it done,
18:17 and obviously not doing a good enough job.