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Mike Leach the football coach is often over shadowed by Mike Leach the entertainer. I dipped into my memory from several years back for some Leach stories as told to me by Bo Mattingly one afternoon just ahead of our three-hour radio show together. Sitting in his office, Mattingly began to tell about Leach oddities, as told to him earlier in the day by former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. Because I refuse to test my memory over things not taken down or recorded, there was a phone call this week to Mattingly for confirmation. "That's what Bob Stoops and I talked about a lot – Leach – on the morning we took a plane to Norman to pick him up for the (Northwest Arkansas) Touchdown Club," Mattingly said. "It was among the most interesting subjects on our trip back to Fayetteville." Mattingly also had stories from a trip to Pullman, Wash., to record interviews for a TV documentary. Leach fascinated Mattingly. "What we learned about their offense was that it's extremely simple," Mattingly said. "It explains how Mississippi State was able to start so fast offensively in Leach's first game last week at LSU." Mattingly watched a Leach practice at Washington State on a Thursday in game week. "All they ran was four (wide receiver) verticals over and over," Mattingly said. "It was just go route after go route." That's not what the Leach offense does in a game, but the familiarity of throwing and catching the "go route" is the heart of the scheme. "We interviewed Rick Neuheisel about Leach and that offense," Mattingly said of the work for the documentary. "He said they just throw it so much in practice that they get good at figuring things out. "It's a backyard chemistry that you don't see much anymore. It's option routes by the receivers out of the same five plays. The way they practice is just so different than anyone else. It develops chemistry between the quarterback and the wide receiver." The last time I saw that kind of chemistry at Arkansas came in the 1998-99 seasons with Clint Stoerner and Anthony Lucas. They could go to the line of scrimmage and Stoerner and Lucas would know how they were going to beat a defense. Eye contact was all they needed to check to a certain route that beat a coverage. "That's what Leach develops with his quarterback and receivers," Mattingly said. "They don't change what they are doing from one year to the next, just do it better than everyone else." Stoops told stories of Leach as his offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. The best was about a staff film session of the opponent's offense in game week. "Coaches from both sides of the ball were together," Stoops said. "The team we were playing was running a certain play and our defensive coaches thought it was almost impossible to stop. "After seeing it over and over and consistently work against several good defensive teams, one of our defensive coaches looked over at Mike and said, 'We ought to put that in. It looks to be almost impossible to stop.' So I said, 'Mike, we gotta run that.' "Mike didn't take a second to respond. He said, 'It's an awesome play, but we are not going to incorporate that play. You have to know who you are and don't change.' That's why he's done so well with that scheme. They don't change." Mattingly was floored by other things learned about Leach during his time in Pullman. "It's the first time I've ever been to practice when the head coach was the last person to walk onto the practice field," Mattingly said. "I asked about it and someone told me, 'There is no clock. It's whatever (Leach) wants it to be every day.' "They told me that Leach is a night owl. He doesn't come in early and doesn't always have staff meetings. If they have them, they are in the afternoon. But mostly, there are no staff meetings." Instead, Leach spends the majority of his time with the quarterbacks. Their time might be spent on history lessons or pirate stories. Quarterbacks love him. The opposition defense might hate playing against Leach. It's either feast or famine. If you can win some one-on-one matchups with the pass rush, there is an opportunity for a sack. But if you don't get pressure without blitzing, it's a slow death. Pac- 12 teams learned not to blitz. They often played with three rushers and defended the pass with eight. It came down to tackling. The bread-and-butter play of the offense is the crossing route against man-to-man defense. Play zone and the dump off underneath is the play. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman gave that scouting report Monday. "The bottom line, if they catch you in man, they run the pick play with the crossing route," Pittman said. "That takes you out of adding men in the blitz. "They can run the football. They have a huge center and Kaylin Hill is a great player at running back. But this week, you have to stop the pass." That means changing the time schedule in practice. It must be heavy in pass defense with linebackers and the secondary. There will be lots of time devoted to go routes and the crossing patterns. "It will be more (pass skeleton)," Pittman said. "Forget about the piece of paper with (practice) time (schedule). This is a totally different team than we played last year." It's also an odd time to play the Bulldogs, period. Arkansas normally has faced the Bulldogs in November. It's been a game that told the fortunes of each team through the years. The winner probably had a successful season and likely made a bowl trip. The loser probably stayed home for the bowl season. State has won seven of the last eight meetings, but Arkansas still leads 16-13- 1. The last Arkansas victory came in Starkville in 2016, a 58-42 shootout that featured few punts. If you go back to the post- game thoughts from that successful trip to Starkville, it's hard to imagine where the Hogs are right now. Bret Bielema's next to last team stood 7-4 after that MSU win with a trip to struggling Missouri as the regular season finale. Most predicted an 8-4 regular season. Instead, the Hogs lost their ability to run the ball in short yardage while blowing big leads against Missouri and again in a 35-24 loss to Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl. Bielema never righted the ship. Pittman's first game as head coach was marked by a lack of a running game, a problem that has to be fixed sooner or later if the Hogs are to compete in the SEC. That's where this week's keys to victory begins. 1. THE 'A' GAP: Still fresh in the memory bank is an interview with Pittman soon after his arrival for a three-year stay to coach the offensive line for Bielema. The question was about the importance of dominating the 'A' gap, or the gap between the center and guard. "It's everything," Pittman said. It's the darkest alley in the game of football. It's the nastiest spot on the field. It's yet to be established by the Hogs this season. There was no room there because Georgia's interior might be the best in the SEC with 6-6, 320-pound Jordan Davis and 6-3, 301-pound Devonte Wyatt. 2. THE 'A' GAP MATCHUPS: The Hogs tried to block Davis and Wyatt with left guard Brady Latham (redshirt freshman), center Ricky Stromberg (sophomore) and right guard Beaux Limmer (redshirt freshman). Those three are going to be terrific players. They have what it takes to play those positions in the SEC, but they need more maturity and experience. Not surprisingly, there was no room in the 'A' gap for senior running back Rakeem Boyd. He slammed into those spots several times but met a brick wall. Pittman said there was no real belief that the Hogs were going to be able to move Davis and Wyatt. So what about this week? Can Boyd build on an 11-carry, 114-yard game of last year against the Bulldogs? It was among his best SEC days. Mississippi State has been outstanding in the defensive line the last three seasons with four players taken in the first two rounds in Jeffery Simmons, Montez Sweat, Johnathan Abram and Willie Gay. There is no slip in talent for 2020. The heart of the MSU defense is the three-man interior, all 4-star prospects in high school. Middle linebacker Erroll Thompson is a 6-1, 250-pound force. With 227 career tackles, Thompson ranks first among active players in the SEC. Tackles Jaden Crumedy (6- 5, 300) and Marquiss Spencer (6-4, 300) don't have the same experience as Thompson but are highly regarded. Still, these two will be slightly easier to move than what the Hogs saw last week against Georgia. 3. THE RHYTHM TO AVOID BLUES: Sam Pittman knows the key to offensive success. It's as simple as staying on track with the first-down stakes. "We weren't in rhythm all day on offense. We just weren't," Pittman said. "We couldn't run the football on them. We didn't expect to be able to run inside. I'd been practicing against those D-linemen for four years, so I knew how big and good they were." Mississippi State recorded seven sacks in its upset of LSU. Pittman said the MSU defense will show blitzes and several twists along the front. "We've prepared hard for that, but (it's hard) until you get that type of athlete against you," Pittman said. 4. ELIMINATE MENTAL MISTAKES: Pittman said he likes how the Razorbacks match up with State and some of the things Arkansas has in its game plan. He said the offense has to do more to help Feleipe Franks, who completed 19 of 36 passes for 200 yards in his debut as a Razorback. Franks was intercepted twice, including a third-quarter interception Georgia's Eric Stokes returned 30 yards for a touchdown. "We have to line up right," Pittman said. "He was switching the backs, he was switching the tight ends. We had a motion go the wrong direction. We had some things that — he needs to see the defense. He needs to worry about what's going on on the other side of the ball, and not worried about our side." Boyd did perform at a high level although he found no room. Mentally, he was sharp. "He didn't get down," Pittman said. "His blocking and protection was outstanding Saturday and he's going to need to be that way again for us." But, Pittman added, "For us to be efficient, I believe we have to run the ball first and then get into everything else our offense can do." Boyd's backup, Trelon Smith, did better with 38 yards on six tries, but that was mostly against Georgia's backups. They could be used at the same time and Treylon Burks might get more carries in motion situations and perhaps more touches in the passing game. What those three backs can do against State may be the key to the game. The best way to slow Leach is a ball control offense with a tough running game. 5. THE AIR RAID: If the Hogs can't control the ball and the clock, MSU quarterback K.J. Costello might beat last week's record performance. He topped the SEC record with 623 passing yards. His 36 completions and 60 attempts were MSU records. That's in stark contrast to what the Bulldogs have done in recent years. They've featured a vicious rushing attack with option runners. Last year, State rushed for 460 against the Hogs, its best in an SEC game. The 640 total yards from last year was also an SEC best for the Bulldogs. Costello, transfer from Stanford, likes to look deep for both Osirus Mitchell and JaVonta Payton, both senior wide outs, but that's not where the Buldogs are most dangerous. It's the crossing routes underneath where Costello made most of his 36 completions. The Hogs will counter with four cover men against State's spread offense. Can corners Jerry Jacobs, Montaric Brown and Devin Bush along with nickel back Greg Brooks cover those deep routes? COMMENTARY CLAY HENRY See KEYS, Page 4 10.3.2020 Montaric Brown got the Hogs a turnover last week. Photo Illustration NWA-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo LEACH DOESN'T CHANGE UNIQUE COACHING STYLE KEYS TO VICTORY

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