FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas and BYU are both 2-0 and will collide on Saturday night in Razorback Stadium.
The Razorbacks defeated Western Carolina 56-13 to open the season and then downed Kent State 28-6 last week in Fayetteville. BYU opened with a 14-0 win over Sam Houston, but then got the offense going against Southern Utah 41-16 last weekend. Sam Pittman knows the Hogs will have to play well to down BYU.
"Yes, we’re really excited to play BYU at night here in our stadium," Pittman said. "It’s a tradition-rich program. Kalani (Sitake) is a wonderful man, good coach, really good coach. They’ve won six in a row, so we certainly have our work cut out for us. They’re a big, physical football team. Doing a lot more on defense than they did a year ago and playing really well. So we’re excited for our kids to get here. Excited for our crowd to see a big-time football game here in our stadium."
Pittman took notice of BYU's offensive improvement from Game 1 to Game 2.
"I think Sam Houston’s really good," Pittman said. "I think they’re really good on defense. I think they’re one of the top-20 as far as ratings go in their first two games that they’ve played. So I think they played a pretty good defense the first game. Obviously, they have some first time guys. The quarterback, all that stuff.
"I thought the second game, you know if you look at us on offense, we didn’t hardly have any explosive plays. Explosive plays are what you need for a lot of reasons. BYU got quite a few explosive plays through the air. They hit 83 for a long pass. So I think the run game was better against Southern Utah. It was a lot better than the week before. The quarterback threw the ball much better game 2 than he did Game 1, and they made some nice plays off it. They’ve got some good receivers now."
Quarterback Kedon Slovis has completed 42 of 65 passes for 493 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Pittman was asked what he has seen differently from the BYU defense that Arkansas shredded for 52 points last season in Provo, Utah?
"Well I think the key for us is we’ve got to have explosive plays, you know, because they’re gonna have — we’re gonna have some runs we don’t make any yards on — I mean schematically they do so much," Pittman said. "But they’re a movement front and they’ll cross the center’s face with the nose, which is always something you have to be prepared for. But they’re all A, B, C blitzes, and D blitzes and they do them out of multiple fronts so that makes them very difficult.
"They don’t show them particularly where we have a bead on what’s coming. So our linemen are going to have to play with their head up and we’re going to have to block well on the perimeter and things of that nature. They’re just really aggressive. I would say where Mississippi State has become a very aggressive defense in a fire zone, a man zone principle, that’s what BYU will deliver to us on Saturday night."
Pittman was also asked about the BYU linebackers Ben Bywater and AJ Vongphachanh. Bywater leads BYU with 16 tackles on the season. Vongphachanh has seven tackles and Max Tooley 14.
"I like them both," Pittman said. "And to be honest with you, you could add Max Tooley in there too. I love Max Tooley. I think he’s a hard-playing son of a gun and seems like a leader on his team. Bywater, No. 2, he’s certainly played well. Their whole defense has (played well) in the first two games. Having guys that’s played a lot of ball there and 10 (AJ Vongphachanh) is a transfer from Utah State that played a lot of football. They’re an older group of guys anyways, so they’re mature and smart. They’re always in the right gaps. But you hit it, those three guys, in my opinion, are definitely the leaders of the football team."
Overall, Pittman is very impressed with BYU and provided a little more scouting report about them.
"Well, a hard team," Pittman said. "Anybody who’s undefeated, including us, they’re hard to beat. They haven’t learned how to lose yet in that season. That group of guys that’s playing together hasn’t been beat, so they don’t know how to lose. But I think the tape, to be perfectly honest with you… They’re 2-0. Their tape, they play extremely hard. I mean, they do. They did last year. I think they’re a better football team than they were last year. Big, physical team.
"They’ve got a guy at each level on defense that I think is really good. 90, their defensive end. Tooley, I love Tooley. I loved him last year. Just a hard-playing kid. And then Robinson. And they’ve got more than that, but those are kind of standout guys on defense. They’re totally different on defense than they were last year. They got a guy from Weber State in and they are multiple, multiple now. Against us, because of our not having success running the ball, I’m sure we’re going to see a tremendous amount of looks. They move pre-snap, some things we’ve got to get ready for. But they ran odd pressure. They’re a fire zone team, which we have not seen this year either, where it’s true three under, three deep."
BYU has some players on offense that have caught Pittman's eye including one he tried to sign.
"They’re going to cause us some problems because they move so much," Pittman said. "They blitz quite a little bit. Offensively, they’re really big, really good tackle — really good at tackle. Kingsley (Suamataia), I said this last year, but I tried to get him to go to Georgia. He ended up going to Oregon then transferring in. And they’ve got the (Caleb) Etienne kid from Oklahoma State at the other…huge guys. I think those are two premier-type tackles.
"I don’t know if (Kody) Epps is going to be back or not. He’s been hurt two weeks. He’s a really good player. At wideout, Chase Roberts, he can catch a lot of balls. He reminds me a little bit of our 4, to be perfectly honest with you. Then they’ve got the transfer quarterback in from Pitt. Number five is a really good wideout, too. They’re a stretch team, a boss counter team. They’re running a lot more stretch this year than they have in the past. I think they’re still trying to run the ball a little bit as well. Two teams that remind me a little bit of each other. I think their defense is playing outstanding. Their offense is playing well. Their defense is really playing well, like ours. It’s a good matchup. They’re a big, physical football team."
As far as his own team, Pittman said running back Raheim "Rocket" Sanders won't play again. He does hope to have cornerback Dwight McGlothern (turf toe) back for BYU after he only played one snap against Kent State.
"He’s practiced both days," Pittman said. "He’s still got little tenderness in that toe, but I believe he’ll be ready to play on Saturday."
Arkansas will host BYU Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. in Razorback Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
