FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas will leave conference play on Saturday to face undefeated Memphis in a key game for both schools.
Arkansas (2-1) is trying to bounce back from a 41-35 loss to Ole Miss last Saturday night. Memphis (3-0) is trying to beat an SEC team which would help recruiting and maybe land them in a better bowl if they continue to win. Memphis has beaten Chattanooga (45-10), Georgia State (38-16) and Troy (28-7). Sam Pittman knows the game will be a severe test for the team.
"Yeah, we're looking forward to going to Memphis," Pittman said. "We've obviously played over there two of the last three years in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Memphis is really, really well-coached. They're tied for the longest winning streak at seven, and they're 24-5 over the last 29 games. Really well-coached, both sides of the ball and special teams.
"Coach (Ryan) Silverfield's done an excellent job there. And he's a good guy. Last Christmas he said he would, if the weather was bad, he would open up the indoor so we could practice over there getting prepared for Texas Tech on Christmas morning. And I said, 'Oh heck no, we're not going to do that.' But that kind of guy, and I appreciated that. The time before he opened it up because it snowed and we were able to practice. So I know he's wanting to win and I am too, but I have a lot of respect for him."
Pittman provided a brief scouting report on the Tigers.
"Well coached, a good football team," Pittman said. "Exotic defensively. 3-3-5 but yet do a lot of movement, a lot of different blitz patterns. Very confusing defensively. We have to continue to watch more and more film on them because they play a little bit different each and every week, depending on formations and whom they’re playing. Offensively, they run the read zone about as good as anybody. Their quarterback is a good runner, good thrower. They’ve got a really good tailback. More than one, but a really good tailback. They went in the portal or went recruiting and got a couple of good wideouts from Hutch Juco. Good offensive line that in this world they’re revamped as well. They had two guys starting for them from last year offensively and one, a really good defensive end, in (William) Whitlow.
"On defense, the kicking game is really good. Got a good kicker. He’s made a 55-yarder I believe this year already. So going over there will be an exciting opportunity. Hopefully we’ll have a lot of Arkansas people over there to watch the game."
Quarterback Brendon Lewis has completed 55 of 75 passes for 608 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also has rushed 32 times for 190 yards and another pair of touchdowns. Arkansas' standout defensive tackle Cameron Ball is impressed with Memphis' offense.
"I was watching film last night, man," Ball said. "In my personal opinion, they have a nice offense. They got a running back. He's about 5-9, 180 but he runs like he's 220. And their head coach is a former offensive line guy. So they want to run the ball, and the numbers says it as well. So they want to hit that inside zone. They want to hit it straight up the pipe. So we got to have a good job of being in our gaps and being aligned right, man. But they have a good running game. They have a good RPO and passing game as well. Memphis has a good offense."
Sutton Smith leads the Tigers with 247 yards and four touchdowns rushing on 41 carries. He's 5-foot-9, 185-pounds, but has durability and good speed. Safety Larry Worth said the defense worked hard this week after its showing against Ole Miss.
"This week we’re going to get back to the basics," Worth said. "Just communicating, just going out there and playing our fast-paced football that we know."
Pittman acknowledged the Hogs are concentrating on better communication.
"Well, we certainly did that at halftime on Saturday and it worked for us," Pittman said. "We have done that. A lot of that is getting lined up faster too. I didn’t think we were giving our kids enough time to get pre-snap reads and so we’ve been certainly trying to do that this week and have done a nice job with it in the first two practices. Simplicity of letting our kids show their athletic ability and be confident in their assignment and getting back to old-school football of tackling and being in the right place and reading pre-snap reads, I think we’ve done that. And we needed to. We’ve done that well the first two days of practice."
Pittman is hopeful preparing for the Ole Miss quarterbacks who run a similar offense to Lewis should help this week.
"Oh, I think any time you have read offenses, it’ll carry over," Pittman said. "You’re going to have to — Are you going to surf the quarterback? Are you going to try to establish the mesh point? What you’re going to do, there’s always questions about how you’re going to try to defend the read zone. But probably not a lot of carry over from Ole Miss to Memphis, to be honest with you, besides that. They’re really good at inside zone and really good at inside zone read. I mean, really good at it. To win, to beat Memphis, defensively you’ve got to eliminate that. And they’re good at it, so it’s hard to do."
Pittman knows the run defense will be tested by Memphis.
"Well, Memphis is scary running the football 'cause they're good at it," Pittman said. "And that's what they want to do. Certainly, I think we're better right now against the run than we are against the pass. But at the same time, we're not great at tackling in open space, so we've got to close that space and turn it back in. We didn't do that two or three times the other night, where they got outside of us.
"But I think we'll have a really good plan in the run game and they're more of an inside type run game. Of course, when the quarterback keeps it, that becomes a space game. So we're going to work really hard on that and tackling in space this week and I feel like we're a little bit better against the run than what we are against the pass right now. They can do both, but they want to run the football. Their coach is an offensive line coach and they're trying to run it down your throat, which they've been successful, obviously, doing."
As far as his own team, Pittman was asked about the health of cornerback Kani Walker, defensive tackle David Oke and edge Quincy Rhodes Jr.? Walker was carted off the field against Ole Miss, but was released from the hospital in time to travel home with the team.
"I think we’re going to be fine with David and Quincy," Pittman said Wednesday. "They both practiced full speed and I think we’ll be fine there. Kani would be the biggest question mark that we would have, probably on the team and not just defensively. So he has not practiced yet so we’ll have to figure out today, tomorrow, whether he can. If he can, obviously we’ll take him. If he can’t then obviously we won’t. That’s still kind of up in the air to be honest with you."
If Walker can't play expect Jaheim Singletary, Keshawn Davila and Selman Bridges to step in.
"Well, we obviously hadn’t had Kani two days, so we’re preparing either way there," Pittman said. "But you hit it on the head with Singletary and Davila. And then Selman would be next in that group. He got a little bit of an AC joint that he hurt last Tuesday, but he did practice Wednesday and Thursday. So he’s beat up just a little bit, but the other guys are healthy and probably in that order that you stated. If Kani can’t go, it’d probably be more Singletary, Davila and then Bridges."
Arkansas and Memphis will kickoff at 11 a.m. on Saturday and televised on ABC.
