With hindsight, Sam Pittman addresses Arkansas football’s clock management, special teams issues
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman looks on from the sideline, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, during the third quarter of the Razorbacks’ 39-31 double-overtime loss to Oklahoma State at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla. (Hank Layton/WholeHogSports)
FAYETTEVILLE — Mistakes plagued Arkansas football in its 39-31 double-overtime loss to Oklahoma State in Week 2. With the benefit of hindsight Monday, coach Sam Pittman revisited some crucial late-game errors that cost the Razorbacks the game.
There were late-game clock management issues at the end of regulation. Arkansas had first-and-10 with 35 seconds left in regulation and no timeouts. The Razorbacks wasted 7 seconds getting lined up only to spike the ball and stop the clock with 23 seconds remaining.
We didn’t get lined up,” Pittman said. “We had some communication problems there of getting lined up. So once that happened, we decided just to kill it…. We wasted 15 seconds from the time the play before started to the time the [first-and-10] was snapped.”
Then, with 12 seconds to play, Arkansas was looking to get in position for a game-tying field goal. Andrew Armstrong had caught the ball for a first down in-bounds, so the clock restarted. This time, Arkansas did not spike it and did not snap the ball until there were 6 seconds left.
“When you’re concerned about distance for kicking a ball, you’re trying to get as much as you can, but you’re also trying to get an opportunity to kick it,” Pittman said. “Again, we were very slow with our operation on that and almost ran out of time. So we elected to do a short route, get the ball out of bounds, try to grab another 5 yards….
“In hindsight, we probably would have [spiked] that last one and then decided, ‘Are we going to try to steal 5 [yards] on a quick out or are we just going to kick the field goal?’”
Fortunately for Arkansas, Taylen Green threw incomplete to Armstrong to stop the clock at 2 seconds. That allowed Kyle Ramsey to try the 45-yard field goal that sent the game to overtime.
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Special teams issues were among the other major concerns for the Razorbacks coming off the loss.
After Ramsey missed a 41-yard kick early in the fourth quarter, Pittman opted not to try a similar kick on fourth-and-5 on the next drive. Arkansas went for it and failed to convert after protection broke down and Green gained about 4 1/2 yards.
Pittman stood by that decision after the game, saying he felt Arkansas had an opportunity to gain much-needed momentum. He held firm Monday.
“I’ve been here a long time and I’ve second-guessed — not as much as everybody has — but I’ve second-guessed myself a lot as the head coach here,” Pittman said. “I think every coach does. I’ll be honest with you, that one I do not. That one, I felt like it was the right thing to do…. I thought our chances of making the fourth-and-5 were every bit as good as making the field goal.”
The kicking battle is wide open, and Ramsey is listed as an “or” starter at kicker alongside Matthew Shipley on the Week 3 depth chart.
Punt returns caused issues on special teams, too. There was a close call early when Krosse Johnson collided with returner Isaiah Sategna on a fair catch, and then there was the late muff when Sategna collided with Johnson while the latter was on the ground.
“We all should be keying the returner as we’re coming down and we didn’t,” Pittman said. “I thought the second one, [Johnson] was more aware of where he was, but he’s still way too close…. Our returner will make a call that lets them know that he’s fair catching it.”
