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The way to simplify the game of football hit me when I was scanning the Arkansas connections on Jeremy Pruitt's coaching staff at Tennessee. There was Steve Caldwell, a former assistant at Arkansas both under Bobby Petrino (2010-11), John L. Smith (2012) and Chad Morris (2018-19). Caldwell is listed as Tennessee's assistant director of life skills development. It reminded me that it's all about hitting the quarterback. Petrino was in the middle of explaining some of his core beliefs — among them why he flips his line from strong to weak side, running backs are not to go out of bounds — when he boiled it down to the key men on the field. "The team with the best chance to win the game is the one who can hit the other team's quarterback and keep his quarterback from getting hit," Petrino said. It's about offensive tackles and defensive ends. The matchups there are the key to football. It reminded of an old coaching adage passed on to me from Frank Broyles, learned from playing against Tennessee coach Robert Neyland. "Coach Neyland always said all things being equal at quarterback, the team with the best tackles wins most of the time," Broyles said. Caldwell's presence on the Arkansas staff under both Petrino and Morris was important for one simple reason: recruiting defensive ends. If you trace the development of the Arkansas defense under Petrino, the only real advantage was with the likes of Jake Bequette and Trey Flowers, the latter more of a bonus for Bret Bielema's teams. Caldwell developed Bequette and signed Flowers. No one wanted Flowers in the SEC except Caldwell. It was Caldwell who signed most of the key Arkansas pass rushers assigned to chase Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano when the Hogs play host to the Vols at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Caldwell signed defensive ends Dorian Gerald, Zach Williams, Mataio Soli and Eric Gregory. Caldwell also recruited Isaiah Nichols, the starter at defensive tackle. Neyland said "tackles," not defensive ends. In the old days, the tackles were the defensive ends. Linebackers played outside the end, so he was talking about the pass rushers with a hand on the ground, the defensive ends. None have been consistent at providing pressure for the Hogs. It's been something that has been lacking sometimes because defensive coordinator Barry Odom has opted for a three-man rush. Because the Hogs have not faced many teams playing with an in-line tight end, there hasn't been a need for many four-man fronts. That changed a little last week when Gerald returned after missing three games with an ankle injury. Could he be ready to blossom after spending most of the last two seasons on the sideline? Obviously, the sack numbers are important in this conversation. The Hogs have been on the wrong side of this statistic for most of the year. They have given up 15 while the defense has come up with just nine. They did not get close to sacking Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond in a 42-31 loss last week. It's been a more even situation for the Vols. They have given up 11, while the defense has only 10 sacks. The lead sack man for Tennessee is "Jack" end Deandre Johnson with 3.5 for 14 lost yards. Gerald and Gregory share the Arkansas lead with 1.5 apiece. It may not be so much about the ends as it the offensive tackles. Tennessee probably has the edge with a massive tandem, Darnell Wright (6-6, 330 pounds) and Wanya Morris (6-5, 320). The Hogs have rotated Dalton Wagner and Noah Gatlin at right tackle, with so-so results. Left tackle Myron Cunningham has been slightly better. It may come down to the work of Gerald and Coates, expected to be the main pass rushers for the Hogs coming into the season. Both have battled injuries, but may be about full speed now. Much of the preview in this space last week concerned stopping the run. The Hogs did a decent job there, but didn't hit the quarterback. In fact, that was the singular thing that Arkansas coach Sam Pittman pointed to in his post-game summary. "They have a very powerful offensive line," Pittman said. "We couldn't get to (Mond). They converted on third down. "We ran man, zone and we blitzed. We weren't saying, 'We give up.' We tried a lot of different defenses. We blitzed corners and safeties. "But any time you have a big running threat with someone like (Texas A&M running back Isaiah) Spiller and you can run naked bootlegs (with Mond), it makes it tough. They ran play action and we didn't tackle well." That's where the keys to victory for this week's game against Tennessee start. TACKLING This has been a strong area for the Razorbacks all year. Under Odom, the Arkansas defense has tackled better than any team since 2014 when linebacker Martrell Spaight led the SEC in tackles. The team leaders are Grant Morgan (58), Bumper Pool (50) and Jalen Catalon (46). Pool missed parts of two games with cracked ribs, but started against the Aggies. Catalon sat out the last three quarters of the Texas A&M game because of a targeting penalty. It's clear that the Hogs need all three clicking to be effective on defense. Safety depth was stretched too thin against the Aggies with Catalon out. Simeon Blair and Myles Slusher usually split time at one safety spot, but had to play at the same time with Catalon out. Slusher is not full speed because of an ankle injury. Joe Foucha is the next man on the tackle chart with 24. He's playing a new position for the Hogs, a hybrid safety spot almost identical to a nickel back. Odom's defense sometimes looks like it has two nickels, with Foucha on one side and Greg Brooks on the other. They are smaller defenders who have to play in the box against a running attack like Texas A&M and Tennessee. How well those safeties and nickels play against the run may be a key in the Tennessee game. THE CHANEY OFFENSE Tennessee's offensive coordinator is Jim Chaney, a man I got to know through endless conversations about both offensive style and fly fishing. During Chaney's two years at Arkansas, our interviews were long and thorough. Chaney is a brilliant man and an intimate friend with Pittman. They were together at Tennessee before coming to Arkansas together in what most thought was a package deal. It was a stunner when they split at Arkansas and Chaney left for Pittsburgh. They reunited a year later in Georgia. Chaney taught me about modern offense and the way to use tight ends and bunch receiver alignments with two wide outs paired with a tight end. "It's a way to define man-to- man or zone concepts for the quarterback," Chaney said. It's one of Chaney's favorite formations and it often is used to get an unbalanced look without moving linemen. If it works early against the Razorbacks, Chaney will stick with it until Odom matches it with appropriate personnel. PITTMAN AND CHANEY It's an interesting dynamic. How it affects the game is anyone's guess. The two coaches know how each other thinks. It might be especially valuable to Pittman as he explains to Odom what might be coming in key situations. One thing is certain: Pittman expects Chaney to try to run the ball more than most SEC teams. "He's going to run it 81 times if you don't stop it," Pittman said on his Wednesday night radio show. "Their team is built for it with a big, physical offensive line with five-star players. They look like an SEC football team, like Texas A&M." The two men got to know each other in high school when both visited Central Missouri. Both committed to the Mules on that trip, although Pittman later switched to Pittsburg State. THIRD DOWN The Hogs have been one of the nation's best defenses on third down. They slumped in this area against Texas A&M, allowing Mond to convert 7 of 11. That pushed them from first to fourth in the league with a five-game ratio of 36.7%. By comparison, Tennessee's offense converts at just 26.1%, last in the SEC. The Arkansas offense has improved on third down, but is still 13th in the SEC, ahead of only Tennessee at 32.4%. "We are getting closer on offense," Pittman said. "We scored 31 last week, although that was not enough. We scored 33 against Ole Miss with a chance to get to 40 at the end (when the Hogs took a knee at the goal line)." QUARTERBACK PLAY It's Feleipe Franks for the Hogs against Guarantano. Both have thrown three interceptions, but Franks has not thrown a pick since the opener against Georgia. Franks has thrown for 1,213 yards and 11 touchdowns, while Guarantano is at 914 with six touchdowns. The wild card is the running of the two quarterbacks. Franks ran for 90 yards against the Aggies. Some were scrambles, but most were called quarterback counters. Pittman said Franks doesn't mind calling his number on run plays in the run-pass option series installed by offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. COMMENTARY CLAY HENRY See KEYS, Page 6 11.7.2020 WHO CAN PROTECT THE QUARTERBACK? KEYS TO VICTORY Treylon Burks has made one-handed catches in each of the last two games. Charlie Kaijo/NWA Democrat-Gazette Bentonville Glass Inc. 507 SOUTH MAIN STREET, BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS 479-273-5545 RESIDENTIAL • AUTOMOTIVE • COMMERCIAL

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