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11.7.2020 BEST OF THE WEB "He came here for a reason and it wasn't to hand the ball off," Pittman said. "If the defense has an extra man in the box, it doesn't account for the quarterback. So you have to run the quarterback with that extra man in the box. "He's a good runner. He reminds me — and this will be someone most won't remember — of a big, strong quarterback, Roman Gabriel. Roman just said, 'Get off me.'" THE DEFENSIVE PLAN Odom has had a unique plan each week for the opposing offense. It's likely to change again this week because of the way Tennessee loads the line of scrimmage in unbalanced sets and blocking groupings to scheme an advantage at the point of attack. That could mean Odom will insert an extra defensive lineman and pull one of his three safeties to match personnel. "We will have to get as big as we can get," Pittman said. "They play with seven offensive linemen at times in some of Jim's packages. We are going to have to get big against their double teams." The last comment was not so much literal as mental. "They are going to try to double team our linebackers and so we have to come downhill," Pittman said. "Our linebackers are going to have to take on those double teams. "It will be a slobber knocker. We have to be ready for it and I think we will be ready for it." TREYLON BURKS After making a one-hand catch for a touchdown against Ole Miss, wide receiver Treylon Burks repeated the feat against Texas A&M. His one-handed grab came in the fourth quarter against both teams. "The defender had his left arm," Pittman said of last week's catch, "so his left hand never touched the ball. He's got those 5X-size hands. Of course, he made a big fourth-down catch for us, too." Burks, a guest on the radio show, said catching a pass with one hand is a daily routine. "That's something we do in practice," Burks said. "The receiver group works on it." Pittman said the plan each week is for the Hogs to get Burks "10 touches either in his route tree or with screens or called runs." Burks caught seven passes, including two for touchdowns against the Aggies. "He's dynamic once he gets his hands on the ball," Pittman said. THE TIGHT END With Burks often getting double team coverage that leaves someone open. Last week against Texas A&M it was often the tight end. Freshman tight end Hudson Henry caught six passes and earned praise from Pittman for the way he bounced up after two tough hits. "Hudson is really perfect for what we are doing," Pittman said. "We have a good, bad and the ugly film session on Sunday and Hudson was on two clips." Both were on plays where the Aggies delivered crushing hits, one of them resulting in a targeting foul and an ejection. "He made a catch and got hit in the ribs," Pittman said. "He took it, got right up, handed the ball to the official and got on the line, ready to go. "The second was the targeting. He's a redshirt freshman, but he's tough as an old billy goat. From the beginning of the year until now, he's much improved." Blake Kern has also made plays for the Hogs at tight end. His 14-yard catch to the A&M 1-yard line set up an Arkansas touchdown. HEALTHY RUNNER Both teams have solid one- two punches at running back, especially since Rakeem Boyd is now healthy for the Razorbacks. Boyd made 100 yards on 18 carries against Texas A&M. "Boyd is closer to full speed," Pittman said. "The line helped him and really blocked well against A&M. As far as Rakeem, I think that's the worst you are going to see him. He's got a lot more coming." Boyd rotates with Trelon Smith, more of a jitter bug type, according to Briles. Tennessee rotates Eric Gray (355 yards) and Ty Chandler (275). They are both hard chargers and rotate to keep a fresh back in the game. EFFORT This has been a standard section in these "keys" columns for many years. It fell out of this space the last two weeks because the Hogs have fought so hard in the early going under Pittman. Is it safe to finally say that effort is a given under Pittman? Maybe so. But it's worth revisiting this week because the Hogs are playing a team coming off an open date for the second straight week. For sure, the Hogs are going to get Tennessee's best shot. The Hogs are going to have to match the Vols in that department. Intensity will be high. It's the same every week in the SEC. Playing hard is a requirement. That's the good news under Pittman. The Hogs have brought fire every week through five games. Pittman knows it is the nature of this year's schedule with 10 games against SEC teams. "That SEC slate is there and you get through with a game, putting everything you have into it, and you think, 'Who do we play next? Oh, my Lord, it's Tennessee!'" It has been a fun series. The Hogs trail 13-5, but lead 3-2 in Fayetteville games. The Hogs have won the last two in the series. They shut out the Vols in the second half for a 24-20 victory in 2015 in Knoxville. They rolled to a 49-7 victory in 2011 in Fayetteville. There have been some spectacular games and controversy, too. The most talked about by old timers was a 14-13 victory by Tennessee in the 1971 Liberty Bowl when referee Preston Watts made two calls that determined the game. Tennessee won a six-overtime game in 2002. The Hogs lost a bitter defeat in 1998 when Clint Stoerner fumbled when the Hogs were close to running out the clock for a victory. The Hogs rallied to win the next year in Fayetteville when Stoerner passed to Anthony Lucas for the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter. Students piled out of the stands at Reynolds Razorback Stadium to celebrate that 1999 triumph, tore down the goal posts and carried them to Dickson Street. That scene is improbable these days under covid-19 restrictions that will limit the crowd to fewer than 17,000. Pittman knows that, but urges those there to provide as much noise as possible. "We need to get to our limit (of fans) and be loud," Pittman said. Keys n Continued from Page 2 A selection of comments from Razorback fans posted to the message boards at WholeHogSports.com: HOW WILL ARKANSAS DO THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON? sweetchildofswine: Finish 5-5. The second half of the season will continue to show us offensive improvement as the players continue to get more comfortable in the system. O-line will keep improving under Davis, leading to a consistently more balanced attack. The defense will continue to play well, especially against one-dimensional teams and inexperienced QBs (not a ground breaking concept). … Pittman finishes 5-5, and wins coach of the year. jimbeau77: Would be very, very pleased with 5-5. Remember that was projected by ESPN and stated on here, only for most of us to reply without same sentiments. Getting two or three wins was most of our optimistic ceiling. So with that reached we want and expect more. texhog: Missouri will be tough. LSU may have their QB back. SwineFusion: Their QB didn't give up 48 to Auburn. DudleyDawson: I bet most would have taken 5-5 at the start of the year and said thanks. ncschwartz3650: I would have taken 2-8 at the beginning of the year, given our new schedule, and said thanks. And I was one of the optimists. thehuntinhog: I'd be ecstatic with four wins. REACTIONS TO ARKANSAS' 42-31 LOSS AT TEXAS A&M … wizardofhogz: If you had told me that we'd (1) outgained the Aggies; (2) out-rushed them; (3) not turned the ball over; and (4) scored 31 points, I'd have put some big money down that we'd have won the game. We didn't, and it's disappointing. But there are still some positive takeaways from this game. Coming into the game, I believe the Aggies were second in the SEC in rushing defense. … But we rushed for more the double what the Aggies had previously allowed per game. Although we didn't turn the Aggies over, neither did we give up a turnover ourselves. rayzabackerii: I thought we were better (against Texas A&M) and even though reality bites, it is what it is. Both lines had the furthest to go and the shortest time to get there for us to win and we are making positive progress, but it is still a ways to go. dfwtexhog: Our defensive secondary and pass defense was not what it had been in the prior four games. Even when we had three defenders on one aTm receiver, no one was in position to intercept or disrupt …(Aggies quarterback Kellen) Mond had too much time, due to their large front line and our weak pass rush, to find his receivers. daboar: Jalen Catalon missed most of the game. That little guy is tremendous; might be the best in the league, already. His departure hurt big time. hogbacker: We have a football team again and it feels great, but we're not to the level of A&M, yet. We are a much- improved team and now we have to recruit to our needs at a high level to compete for the win every Saturday. SWHog: The next big hurdle we need to overcome is our very erratic performance once we get close to, or inside, our opponent's red zone. It almost seems like we try to make it difficult to score points. …. We have the right coaching staff and talented players on offense. I believe success is close. LOOKING AHEAD TO TODAY'S GAME AGAINST TENNESSEE… hognc: Before the season started I thought we would struggle the most with teams that play smash mouth with big O-lines…see Georgia and TA&M. Tennessee fits the mold but with who knows what for a QB … Bottom line, offense has to show up. If we can put up points early allowing defense to be aggressive in stopping the run I think we win. LDhog: Since I live in Tennessee I hear/ see too much about the Vols. Their OL and DL looked good in spots but not consistent at all. The DL coach was fired a few weeks ago, which was strange to say the least. The QB has been pretty bad. Reminds me of our QB's the last couple of years. … Folks here are not happy with Pruitt. … I think we win by a nice margin. SCORE PREDICTIONS FOR THE TENNESSEE GAME… LoudLoyd: Two programs moving in opposite directions. Arkansas is exceeding expectations. Tennessee is falling short. The Vols look fragile. The Hogs look confident. Arkansas 34, Tennessee 20. LDhog: Hogs. 48, Evil Orange Empire- East 21. worldsereisofporker: Us: A lot. Them: A lot less. southpaw: 27-24 Hogs. wizardofhogz: Razorbacks 27, Rocky Top 21. eurohog: Arkansas 31, UT 24. Seems I'm not alone in these parts, even if the rest of the country doesn't agree. … Notwithstanding line play, (Tennessee quarterback Jarrett) Guarantano ain't no Mond. youdaman: Hogs, 31-27. neastarkie: I think we win. I'll guess 34-24. white25: Hogs 33, Vols 31. Ark bounces back with a squeaker. hogdr: Hogs 35, Vols 24. I think our QB is much better and our running game is starting to improve thanks to OL meshing together. UT is not A&M talent- wise. I like our chances at home. jhawg: I am so tired of picking other teams to beat us, so here goes: Arkansas 31, Tennessee 27. I think we will need a couple of turnovers to beat the Vols while playing error free, turnover- less ball. Being at home may be the difference in this game. swinebeforepearls: Hogs win a squeaker, or in this case maybe a squealer, 24-23. jimbeau77: We score early and keep the lead through out. AR 33, TN 21. georgiahawg: AR 41, TN 27. Burks and Boyd have best games of the season and defense forces three turnovers. lilhawg: Going up against a big, talented O-line again, but the A&M game was hopefully a learning experience for us in that regard. We get a couple of turnovers and our offense has a good game. Hogs 33, Vols 21. snout: Nail-biter on a perfect Fall evening. UA 35, UT 34. coloradohog: I have yet to pick The Hogs in one of these. I have been correct about the three physical, big teams and wrong on the two gimmick teams. TN is one of those big, physical teams that the defense has not been able to handle. I don't think adjustments can change that mid-season. They have had a week off. They won a bunch of games that they should win, and then lost against better teams. Our offense is getting better, which gives us a fighting chance. But until the defense shows it can step up and consistently stop one of these teams, I fear it is going to just not be enough. Hogs 35, Vols 42. SWHog: Concerned about them having last week off. They remind me of A&M on offense – run first, huge and talented up front, with excellent skill position players (who doesn't in the SEC). Big difference so far has been their QB. Very unsettled. I'm hoping it stays that way, at least one more game. Assuming it does, we get the win. Hogs 35, Vols 31. 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B Fayetteville, AR 72703 479.439.8823 Fort Smith 5420 Phoenix Ave., Ste. B Fort Smith, AR 72903 479.763.0725 Rogers Downtown 214 W. Walnut St. Rogers, AR 72756 479.877.3227 809 SW 52nd St., Ste. 102B Rogers, AR 72756 479.877.3588 www.GatewayLoan.com Walt Beazley/UA Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom will probably have to go bigger in the defensive front against Tennessee's huge offensive line.

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