FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said Thursday that the Razorbacks are on the mend with nine days to go before they resume playing on Oct. 31 at No. 7 Texas A&M.
The Razorbacks have endured injuries at positions almost across the board while building up a 2-2 start, but particularly on defense.
Linebacker Bumper Pool missed last Saturday's 33-21 win over Ole Miss, while cornerback Montaric Brown sat out his second consecutive game with an upper body injury. End Dorian Gerald has not played since the opener after injuring an ankle.
"Besides the injuries that have been season-ending injuries, I think we'll be pretty close to full tilt come Monday," Pittman said on a video conference Thursday afternoon.
The Razorbacks got in their third light practice of the week on Thursday, then will get the weekend off following a weight lifting session this morning at the Smith Football Center.
"We had to get healthy this week," Pittman said. "We're so happy with the guys who came in and helped the football team and helped themselves when we had injuries. But our depth, honestly guys, going into some of these games ... I didn't know if I might need to suit out, and that wouldn't be good. So we had to get healthy, and we have done that.
"Three days of non contact [practices] basically. We've been in helmets, no pads, but we are preparing for Texas A&M. We've done that now for two practices and will be again today. But it's non-physical practices."
Peer praise
Arkansas football is drawing favor far and wide for its rapid improvement.
Saturday's 33-21 win over Ole Miss, in which the Razorbacks limited one of the nation's top offenses to 442 yards, had the former players and coaches who work at ESPN and the SEC Network calling out praise for the Hogs.
"Most improved team of the year!!" ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit posted on Twitter. "Congratulations on a GREAT win!! Should've had a win last week sitting at 3-1! Big Sam gettin things done!!"
Former Auburn Coach Gene Chizik, who gushed over defensive coordinator Barry Odom's plan to limit the Mississippi State Air Raid two weeks ago, threw out laurels to the defensive staff once again for the Razorbacks' six interceptions and seven turnovers against the Rebels.
"He's doing a great job of disguising coverages," Chizik said. "You don't know exactly what they're rolling to on the snap, but they're rolling to different things and these guys are playing fast. They know exactly where they're supposed to be. They had six interceptions today? I saw two more that were dropped. I'm talking right in their hands.
"You want to talk about the turnaround of a program? A defense can do it."
The Razorbacks made Mississippi State and Ole Miss execute on offense for the length of the field by dropping into zone coverages.
"That's what these guys do a great job of," Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin said. "You saw what they did to Mississippi State. They do a great job, coach extremely well."
ESPN broadcaster Dave Flemming touted the work of Coach Sam Pittman and his first-year staff as he called Saturday's game.
"I'm running out of ways to articulate how improved [the Razorbacks are]," Flemming said on the broadcast. "This Arkansas team was overmatched the last couple of years in the SEC."
Clark again
Cornerback Hudson Clark picked up a national honor on Thursday to add to his SEC freshman of the week award. Clark was named the Jim Thorpe Award national player of the week for the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
In his second career start, the freshman from Dallas intercepted three passes and posted five tackles in Arkansas' 33-21 win over Ole Miss. The 6-2, 176-pounder is tied for the FBS lead with his three interceptions.
Earlier in the week, Clark was named one of two MVPs for the week along with Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence by Pro Football Focus.
Clock time
The Razorbacks held Ole Miss off the scoreboard for the first 40 minutes and 25 seconds on Saturday, more than doubling their previous longest scoreless stretch for the Rebels this season.
Prior to that shutout stint, the Rebels had only gone through eight scoreless stretches of 10 or more minutes under Coach Lane Kiffin. The longest of those was a span of 19:02 in the second and third quarters at Kentucky in a game eventually won by Ole Miss 42-41 in overtime.
A look at the longest scoreless spans for Ole Miss this season:
Time spanPeriodOpponent
19:02 2nd/3rd quarters at Kentucky
17:43 3rd/4th quarters vs. Florida
15:35 1st/2nd quarters vs. Alabama
14:19 1st/2nd quarters at Kentucky
13:21 2nd/3rd quarters vs. Florida
11:17 To start the game vs. Florida
10:40 3rd/4th quarters at Kentucky
10:16 2nd quarter vs. Alabama
Fisher compliments
Texas A&M Coach Jimbo Fisher talked up the Hogs during his stint on Wednesday's SEC teleconference.
Asked what he's seen from the Razorbacks' 2-2 start, Fisher replied, "How hard they play, the consistency with which they play. They're never out of football games.
"They're creating turnovers on defense. ... They're very opportunistic and playing well as a team together. And they're doing it with great energy and they seem to be playing with great confidence."
Fisher's No. 7 Aggies (3-1) also have an open date this Saturday in advance of hosting the Razorbacks on Oct. 31.
Myles ahead
Junior safety Myles Mason had what would qualify as a strong game, his best performance as a Razorback on Saturday, but the effort was overshadowed by monster production from his teammates Grant Morgan, Jalen Catalon and Hudson Clark.
Mason was involved in tackles on both of the Razorbacks' goal-line stands to open both halves, and he finished the day with nine tackles and a half-tackle for loss. Mason was inches shy of batting away the Rebels' third quarter touchdown pass to Elijah Moore.
"That fourth down on the two goal line stands I credit Myles Mason," said safety Jalen Catalon, who recovered a fumble by Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral at the Arkansas 5 on the defense's first series of the day. " He made a good play. [Ole Miss tailback Jerrion Ealy] was trying to reach [the ball] over and he stopped him from doing it. That was big right there. The very next play they fumbled it and I was in the right place, right time."
"The second time, same thing with Myles Mason. He made a good play. The D-line had a good push, linebackers fit the gaps well. We just made the stop. I credit the whole defense. We just wanted it and we got it. I'm proud of them."
Two-point trouble
The Razorbacks dropped to 0 for 3 on two-point conversions with a failed try in the fourth quarter against Ole Miss.
Arkansas moved ahead 26-14 on Treylon Burks' stunning touchdown catch with 7:36 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Razorbacks opted to go for two in an attempt to go up 14.
Feleipe Franks took the snap and almost immediately was confronted by blitzers from both edges. Linebacker MoMo Sanogo got to him first from the blindside, blowing up the conversion play before Franks could do anything.
"Man, we're gonna have to do something about these two-point plays," Coach Sam Pittman said on Saturday.
Arkansas also had two failed two-point conversions in its 30-28 loss at Auburn.
Ground score
Arkansas was one of only two FBS programs that did not have a rushing touchdown prior to last week.
The Razorbacks got their first ground-based score of the year on Rakeem Boyd's 1-yard burst with 5:47 left in the first quarter to open the scoring against Ole Miss.
Coates' crush
Julius Coates burst through a double team to post his first Arkansas sack. With Arkansas using a three-man rush, three Ole Miss offensive linemen -- center Ben Brown, left guard Caleb Warren and left tackle Nick Broeker -- made contact with Coates on a first-down play late in the first quarter.
Coates eventually bull-rushed past Warren to reach quarterback Matt Corral, who was not seeing open receivers. Coates got hold of Corral and slung him down for a 10-yard sack.
Fourth-down fare
Arkansas is tied with Georgia Tech for the NCAA lead with seven fourth-down stops, but the Razorbacks lead the nation in having 18 fourth-down plays run against them.
Opponents have converted 11 of those 18 chances, a 61.1% conversion rate that ranks 48th in the FBS.
Ole Miss, which went 5 of 9 on fourth-down tries at Arkansas, used a fourth-down conversion on two of its three touchdown drives on Saturday. The biggest of those was linebacker MoMo Sanoga's 47-yard run on a fake punt in the fourth quarter.
Mississippi State converted fourth-down plays on both of its touchdown drives vs. Arkansas.
Low flags
Arkansas is tied for ninth nationally with Georgia Southern with 33.5 penalty yards per game. The Razorbacks are tied for 32nd with Army, UMass, Middle Tennessee State, and Texas State with an average of six penalties per game.
Stayed up
One of tailback Rakeem Boyd's best runs on Saturday was one of his shortest. Ole Miss defensive back Jalen Jordan shot through unblocked on a run blitz into the backfield on a third and 2 from the Rebels' 38 midway through the fourth quarter with Arkansas ahead 20-14. Jordan hit Boyd at the legs and caused him to start falling, but Boyd did an excellent job of keeping his knees off the grass and lunging ahead for 2 yards and the line to gain.
A replay review upheld th call on the field to keep Arkansas from having to make a difficult decision on fourth down. Arkansas used the fresh set of downs to power into the red zone and score on Treylon Burks' one-handed touchdown catch with 7:36 remaining.
Catalon pop
Freshman safety Jalen Catalon started making his impact on the first Ole Miss series of the game. Catalon delivered a crushing shot to Rebels receiver Elijah Moore, leading with his left shoulder to send the 5-9, 185-pound Moore crashing to the grass after an 8-yard catch.
Because Moore was not in the game later in the series, Ole Miss had backup Braylon Sanders in motion on a critical fourth-and-goal snap from the Arkansas 1. After quarterback Matt Corral took the shotgun snap, the ball brushed against Sanders' left shoulder and popped into the air, where Catalon made a diving catch for the first of the Hogs' seven takeaways.
"I thought the motion guy hit the ball," Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin said. "I think it was maybe just because it was right there, and Matt tried to grab it. Elijah is normally that guy, and Elijah was hurt, so he wasn't in. A backup was in, and he came a little bit faster on the motion than Elijah does. It looked like the run would have scored otherwise."
Loud crowd
The UA can pack only 16,500 fans into Reynolds Razorback Stadium, but between the allowed 90-decibel public address system's sounds and the fans on hand, the stadium came alive during Saturday's win over Ole Miss.
"I'll tell you right now the third downs and the fourth downs, [when] I had to be able to tell the D-line what to do, I had to tell them in their ears because the fans that were here brought it," middle linebacker Grant Morgan said. "And they really did make a difference in the game. I don't care what anybody says that was a loud fan base today.
"I don't know if we were pumping anything in, but it definitely worked. It was a fun atmosphere."
Extra point
• The Razorbacks turned to backup quarterback Jack Lindsey as their holder for placekicks on Saturday. Lindsey, the holder for Connor Limpert last season, had been replaced by punter George Caratan early this year. Caratan mishandled a snap after Arkansas' first touchdown at Auburn, and the Razorbacks wound up chasing extra points the rest of the game.
