Hogs still intend to run, just better

Arkansas running back Jonathan Williams gets stopped by the Rutgers defense during the Razorbacks' game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Arkansas running back Jonathan Williams gets stopped by the Rutgers defense during the Razorbacks' game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas’ rushing offense ground to a halt at Rutgers on Saturday.

The Razorbacks came into the game averaging 294.3 rushing yards to rank 11th nationally, but the Scarlet Knights held them to 101 yards as Rutgers rallied to win 28-24 at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, N.J.

“We need to block somebody,” Arkansas offensive line coach Sam Pittman said Sunday after reviewing the game tape. “That would certainly help our running game.”

Pittman said he didn’t believe the Razorbacks’ linemen were affected by crowd noise in Arkansas’ first road game.

“I think they just whipped us,” Pittman said. “We’ve got to coach better, and we’ve got to play better. They got the best of us, and they were the better team.”

Pittman said the Razorbacks’ two fifth-year senior linemen, center Travis Swanson and left tackle David Hurd, played well.

“But when you have two of the five guys play well, you’re not going to make many yards,” he said. “We’ve just got to play better as a unit.”

Arkansas tailbacks Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams each had rushed for more than 100 yards in the first three games against Louisiana-Lafayette, Samford and Southern Miss, with Collins averaging 139.3 and Williams 131.0. They combined for 88 yards against Rutgers, with Collins gained 63 yards on 16 attempts and Williams 25 yards on 12 attempts.

Williams had long runs of 75, 46 and 45 in the first three games, but his longest run Saturday was 7 yards. Collins’ long run was 16 yards and he had 11 yards in losses.

“We didn’t see their blitzes coming a lot of times,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. “So we had some mechanical breakdowns within the system.

“Our eyes weren’t good enough or disciplined enough to be what we needed to be. … We just had some trouble staying on them and blocking them at times. They’re a pretty good football team.”

Rutgers came into the game ranked fifth nationally in run defense at 59.5 yards per game against Fresno State, Norfolk State and Eastern Michigan.

“They were very, very fast, and we knew that going in, but we didn’t adjust to some of their movement like I wish that we would’ve,” Pittman said. “They’re not real big, but man, they run to the ball.

“You have to maintain your blocks, because they can backdoor you and go make the play.”

Arkansas junior walkon quarterback AJ Derby made his first career start in place of injured Brandon Allen, but Chaney said that wasn’t the problem for the run game.

“I thought he managed the game well,” Chaney said. “He threw the ball OK in some situations. He missed a few throws, but I thought all-in-all AJ wasn’t the issue in the ballgame.

“I thought we needed to be able to run the football a lot better than what we did. That was the thing.”

Arkansas opens SEC play against No. 10 Texas A&M on Saturday night in Reynolds Razorback Stadium. The Aggies come to Fayetteville off a 42-13 victory over SMU after losing their SEC opener 49-42 to No. 1 Alabama.

“No disrespect, but it’s probably different playing Alabama than it is playing SMU, you know?” Pittman said.

“We know that they are very talented, and we know they beat the heck out of us last year.”

Chaney and Pittman were coaching at Tennessee when Texas A&M beat Arkansas 58-10 last season.

“We’ve watched some film on A&M, and they’ve got a fine defense, but until Saturday, we had a pretty good offense, too,” Pittman said.

“So we’re going to put this one behind us and learn from it, and hopefully play a lot better this Saturday.”

Pittman said he’s confident Arkansas can get it’s run game back on track.

“We’ve got to get a lot better in a short period of time,” Pittman said.

“I promise we’ll work at it.”

Sports, Pages 13 on 09/23/2013

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