Beggars and choosers. Arkansas would prefer to be the latter. In dire need of a win – begging for one – Saturday, the Razorbacks found the football gods smiling as a road victory over Auburn waited at the end of an arduous rainbow just less than one calendar year after the Tigers rolled by 38 points in Fayetteville.
Arkansas’ third win in four weeks this season doesn’t totally erase that disastrous last Arkansas vs Auburn matchup in November 2023. It does, at least, point the Razorbacks in a northerly direction as a team superior to its last iteration. A 4-8 season does not appear to be on the horizon after Saturday. But an 8-4 one? Yeah, that’s not happening, either.
The Razorbacks’ season is officially a third of the way over and neither fans nor media know much about the 2024 version of Sam Pittman’s bunch. The 331 yards of total offense was less than impressive, as were quarterback Taylen Green’s passes yet again. But Arkansas’ defense, which had to show up without injured defensive backs Hudson Clark and Jaylon Braxton, may be legitimately good. Still, it’s tough to say there, too, as Auburn’s ineptitude on offense was evident to even the most casual spectators. Just how many of the five Tigers turnovers were more the fault of Arkansas than Auburn? Pittman thought a lot.
“Gave (defensive coordinator Travis Williams) the game ball,” he said. “I think it meant a lot to him. Playing here, I know he’s got love for Auburn, but I know that win was big for him. Had to be.”
For a week, anyway, Pittman can stave off questions about his job. They were sure to come had Arkansas lost. And with the questions would have come speculation about his offensive coordinator, Bobby Petrino, perhaps taking over for him. That isn’t a conversation anyone who roots for the Hogs wants to have these days after such speculation filled the airwaves during the long months heading into the season. Former coaches could be something of a sore subject in Fayetteville considering what Bret Bielema and Barry Lunney Jr. are doing in Illinois right now.
Bret Bielema and the Arkansas Football Program
Bielema was let go too quickly, and in the worst fashion, after Arkansas’ disappointing 2017 season. Inconsistency has plagued Arkansas since 2020, following the two years of unspeakable football coaching crimes committed by Chad Morris. Pittman took the Razorbacks to an 8-4 regular season and subsequent bowl win in 2021, but the next two seasons both fell down from the one that came before.
Yes, Arkansas beat a subpar team last fall when it thumped Florida in Gainesville, but they did nothing to build on that. It’s an open question whether the Hogs will actually keep improving after beating another subpar SEC team on the road this time around.
Bret Bielema, meanwhile, has the Fighting Illini ranked in the Top 25 and at 4-0 after Friday night’s overtime win over Nebraska. Lunney, the team’s offensive coordinator, hasn’t been lighting up the yardage totals (Illinois is 80th in FBS in total offense), but you’re kidding yourself if you say you wouldn’t want to change spots with Illinois right now.
It’s funny, too, that what fueled Arkansas’ win on Saturday is the style Bielema was known for when he was in Fayetteville with the help of Sam Pittman, then the offensive line coach. Bielema sold Jeff Long, then Arkansas’ athletic director, on importing his bully ball brand of smash-mouth football from Wisconsin into the SEC and beating the likes of Auburn and Alabama at their own game.
For the most part, that didn’t work out well.
Now back in the Big 10, Bielema hasn’t totally abandoned ground and pound in Champaign. Illinois’ offense under Barry Lunney Jr. looks a lot like Arkansas with slightly more passing because of inferior running backs. Bielema’s quarterback, Luke Altmeyer, plays a lot like former Hogs QB Brandon Allen did. Indeed, Bielema said the 6’2” Altmeyer “kind of reminds me, arm talent wise, of Brandon Allen, a young man who has been in the league about eight years.”
Like Old Times in Arkansas vs Auburn
Against Auburn, the Razorbacks ran the ball 55 times and controlled the clock like Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams were in the backfield. The yardage wasn’t nearly as high and Taylen Green sure isn’t either of the Brothers Allen. That won’t matter much this week as the win is all the Natural Staters wanted to see.
Considering Arkansas football fans want to flip to the ‘choosers’ lot in life, expect several justifications to come from the usual suspects, from the diehards. Some of their ammunition may include Green’s 80 yards on the ground or Ja’Quinden Jackson’s two rushing touchdowns. The five turnovers forced are impressive on paper, too. And Auburn’s quarterback duo of Payton Thorne and Hank Brown combined to complete just 13 of 28 passes, tossing four of those giveaways to the Razorbacks.
By no means, though, was the Razorbacks’ day something about which to write home. Arkansas was leading the turnover battle four-to-one in the first half and carried just a seven-point lead into the locker room. A grand total of 42 yards in the second quarter and a whole bunch living on the edge were both the reason the lead existed and why it was so small. Auburn was nearly to Arkansas’ red zone on its first and third turnovers. Then, on its second and fourth turnovers, had the pass been completed, the Tigers would have been there again.
Credit where it’s due: Petrino adjusted in the second half even as Arkansas’ defense continued to give up yardage in chunks (Auburn had 441 yards). The Razorbacks’ two second-half touchdown drives went nine plays and 12 plays, ticking off a total of 9:53 from the clock. In other words, Petrino is wise enough to use what he has at his disposal, though the idea of turning Green into a par-for-the-course passer feels like a pipe dream.
“We’ve got a lot to work on, but, man, it feels good to win,” said Pittman, who became the first Arkansas head coach to win consecutive games at Auburn. (Given what happened in 2020, he should actually be 3-0 there.)
The biggest positive, from a mojo perspective, is that Arkansas finally put a team away. Wins over Brigham Young, LSU and Mississippi State were in the Razorbacks’ grasp last year, but foolish mistakes, carelessness and plain, old bad luck intervened. The year before was much the same as Arkansas finished 7-6 but lost four games by three points or less. Heck, even in Week 2 this year, Arkansas had every chance in the world to put away Top-20 Oklahoma State. Last year’s Hogs team would have surely squandered the five-to-one turnover edge and fallen, even to mediocre Auburn offense and, frankly, a mediocre Auburn team.
“I’ve had confidence in this team since we’ve started developing the team in spring. I think we were a pretty confident team,” Pittman said. “But this will certainly help us. Auburn’s Auburn. Jordan-Hare is Jordan-Hare. Forget about two years ago. Forget about last year. When you do it, it’s special.”
A rebuilt offensive line is helping boost confidence and translate into wins, both of which were in spare supply last fall. Pittman’s reputation as an offensive line guru took a hit last fall but if Fernando Carmona, Addison Nichols, Josh Braun and the rest of them keep playing like they on those pivotal touchdown drives, it’ll be back to full strength very soon.
Of course, things are still far from perfect for the Razorbacks. Things are not even so good as to say Arkansas has cured what ails. But for a day, for a few days, before a trip to Arlington against Texas A&M, the Hogs and their faithful can bask in what the gods have yielded.
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