LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas wasted no time jumping on Western Carolina Saturday and taking a 56-13 win in Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium.
The Hogs led 21-3 after the first quarter including touchdowns on their first two possessions. Sam Pittman has placed an emphasis on starting fast and playing well all week.
"I thought in spurts we played really well," Pittman said. "Obviously the turnovers were big for us. We had too many penalties and we didn’t run the ball as well, especially in the first half, as well as I thought we would be able to. But we scored points. We scored 35 points. KJ (Jefferson) and the receivers, I thought our receivers caught the ball extremely well, man. We have to work on the run game a little bit.
"Defensively we played really well. Got turnovers. If I was going to say anything we have to cut down on the penalties and do a little better running the football. And at times do better in the secondary and things but I thought it was really prepared by our coordinators and our guys and I was really happy with the win."
Arkansas wasted no time in scoring its first touchdown on the second play from scrimmage after the defense had forced a three-and-out from the Catamounts. Jefferson hit Jaedon Wilson for a quick pass and it turned into a 65-yard touchdown. It was a touchdown thanks to a block from Isaac TeSlaa and nice speed from Wilson with 13:03 remaining in the opening quarter. Pittman talked about what he told Wilson who has been nursing a sore shoulder.
"I told him if you don't want to come out don't get tackled, and he sure didn't," Pittman said. "I thought TeSlaa did a great job of blocking outside for him. But he showed some speed going down the sideline."
Wilson finished the day with three receptions for 83 yards. He also was quick to credit TeSlaa.
"Yeah, I want to give a big shoutout to my man Isaac TeSlaa," Wilson said. "Without him, that play wouldn't have happened. He made a good block out there on the edge, and I just got around and saw green grass and hit it full speed."
Arkansas scored on its next possession to go up 14-0 on a 3-yard run by Raheim "Rocket" Sanders. It wasn't a good day for Arkansas running the football. Sanders carried 15 times for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Pittman talked about the difficulty in the running game.
"We couldn't get to their safeties," Pittman said. "We didn't get great movement on our inside runs, but we couldn't get to their safeties, which was probably the reason why we were making a lot of yards throwing the football. I do think Dan (Enos) could have thrown it quite a bit more, but we also have work to do in the run game. I think you'll see a combination of both. You'll see we didn't block them as well as what we want to, and their safeties made a lot of tackles.”
Jefferson finished 18-of-23 passing for 246 yards and three touchdowns. Jefferson also rushed five times for 11 yards and a touchdown. Jefferson scored on a 17-yard run to make it 28-3 with 2:56 remaining in the first half.
"Actually, Dominique (Johnson) didn’t want to let the ball go," Jefferson said. "I had to snatch it from him because I knew he was going to get hit. Great call we had on. The defense gave us a look that we wanted, and like I said, it was just me and Dom back there fighting with the ball. The o-line blocked it well and it was a big hole and I just had to take it in. Shoutout to the o-line, and Dominique as well."
Pittman talked about Jefferson's day and how he felt his talented quarterback played.
"I'm looking," Pittman said. "I think he threw three incompletions. Or five. What was he 18 of 23? Yeah, he has to get better than that. Only three touchdowns and ran for one. No, I thought he played well. We're not asking him at this point to run the ball as much. We didn't want to run him today much to be perfectly honest with you. We weren't going to advertise that, but we wanted to see if we had the receivers we thought we did and things of that nature. Luke Hasz, I think he caught the first ball of the game. I thought he was really poised. We made a lot about the... including myself. New coordinator, new coach, all that stuff. I don't know if we answered any questions but he played well today."
TeSlaa caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from Jefferson to push the Hogs up 21-0 with 3:03 remaining in the first quarter. He finished the day with three receptions for 66 yards and the one touchdown. Andrew Armstrong had 5 catches for 78 yards and a touchdown. The two transfers drew praise afterward from Jefferson. Armstrong's touchdown was 16 yards from Jefferson.
"I was extremely pleased with their performance," Jefferson said. "Like I said, there’s always room for improvement, always room to get better, so we all want to go back to the drawing board and correct some mistakes…and try to be at our best. Their performance today was outstanding.
"I mean, those guys being able to play fast and understand what the defense is doing, taking easy access throws and running great routes and stuff like that, I was extremely pleased with those guys. I was extremely proud of both of them. Both of them had a touchdown as well. Just having those guys that consistently…seeing them work over and over and over and then come out here and showcase their talent and it pays off, extremely proud of them."
Arkansas also had touchdowns from Davion Dozier on a 14-yard pass from Jacolby Criswell, an 85-yard interception return from Brad Spence.
Linebacker Jaheim Thomas, a transfer from Cincinnati, led the Hogs with eight tackles. Jayden Johnson had six tackles, forced a fumble that TJ Metcalf recovered and an interception. Hudson Clark and Dwight McGlothern also had interceptions.
Arkansas will be at home on Saturday to host Kent State at 3 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports
