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10.16.2021 KEYS TO VICTORY Whether or not Sam Pittman talks about toughness during his sleep is up for debate. His wife, Jamie, has never mentioned it. But it would not surprise if that's the only time the second- year Arkansas coach isn't either talking about how to make the Razorbacks tougher, or at least thinking about it. That was the attribute Pittman mentioned without a prompt when he opened his media briefing following a 20-10 victory over Texas A&M last month. Multiple players toughed it out despite injuries as the Hogs recorded a victory over the then-No. 7 Aggies. Quarterback KJ Jefferson sustained a bruised knee in the third quarter, but returned in the fourth quarter to help the Hogs run out the clock. Center Ricky Stromberg (knee) and tackle Dalton Wagner (back) left the game the previous week and were questionable for the game, but played every snap. Pittman said he was sure they would play after both gave him a thumbs up before practice Wednesday. Stromberg injured a knee in the preseason and returned to practice ahead of schedule, missing only one week of contact. No one should be surprised. Toughness is what Stromberg is all about. "By no means do I want to take credit, because Ricky has always been tough," said Scott Stromberg, his father. "From Day 1 of playing football — and he started playing in kindergarten — the thing he had was an ability to stick his nose in there and play tough." But maybe his father did have something to do with it. He coached his son at an early age, all the way to junior high football when public school coaches in the Union system of southeast Tulsa were handed a wonderful lineman. "I probably did grind on him a little bit, force him to be tough," Scott Stromberg said. "He never had any size until high school but he was always tough. "What I always told the players on my team: Who is going to embarrass whom? Will it be you or the man across from you?" Scott Stromberg grew up in Chicago, then moved to Tulsa in 1990 to work for a firm that makes artificial limbs. His love of the Chicago Bears was instilled in his children. "Ricky wears No. 51 because of that, the number Dick Butkus wore," Scott Stromberg said. "I brainwashed Ricky to love the Bears." A lot of the time the opponent across from Stromberg was Brady Latham, who now plays beside him on the Arkansas offensive line. Latham is the starter at left guard, Stromberg at center. Latham was coached by his father, Bob, a former center at Oklahoma. Latham was in the Jenks system, the top rival for Union. "I think it was starting in about the third or fourth grade we started playing Bob's team and Ricky and Brady would go against each other," Scott Stromberg said. "It would usually end up with a fight. Both of those kids went all the way to the whistle or past every play. Bob coached Brady tough, too. "Those two are close friends, but they went at each other an awful lot for a long time at a young age." They are similar in that neither were recruited by the top schools in Oklahoma. Arkansas was the only Power 5 team to offer either. Tulsa also recruited both. "I didn't know about this at the time, but at the very end Oklahoma did call Ricky to talk about a blueshirt (scholarship)," Scott Stromberg said. "But it was after he was committed to Arkansas. It was not something he considered and didn't even tell me at the time." The Strombergs love Pittman, who was not at Arkansas when Ricky committed or arrived. "We were so lucky that we didn't hire (as head coach) the ones we wanted and got Sam; just luck," Scott Stromberg said. "We are much better off than what could have happened. We love him." That's not to say they didn't love Chad Morris or offensive line coach Dustin Fry. That tandem recruited many of the players starting for the Hogs on this year's offensive line. "What I'd like to say about a lot of these kids, they were tough when they came to Arkansas," Scott Stromberg said. "What I give credit to Sam and his staff, they made this bunch mentally tough. But I can tell you that both Ricky and Brady were already tough." They'll need that mental toughness against Auburn. After losing back-to-back games, the Hogs must dig deep to fight back in a quest for a top bowl trip. Auburn is 4-2 like Arkansas, and is likely to be under consideration for the same postseason destinations. Head-to-head victories will be a determining factor when SEC commissioner Greg Sankey makes bowl decisions. This is the time a year when injuries begin to take a toll. Most players are trying to fight through physical pain. The mental pain of losing a tough game at Ole Miss, 52- 51, is salt to the wound. The Hogs went for a two-point conversion after time had expired, trying for the win. They have fought through the heat of summer and a warm start to October. Temperatures are cooling after midweek rains in Fayetteville. Pittman said it's a welcome break. "That's the one thing about the preseason and all the way up to Game 6 was the heat," Pittman said. "We couldn't get away from it. We certainly did this week. It's been good." He said he cut short a few periods of practice midweek just to give the team a physical break, too. "That's like a Christmas for them," Pittman said of the lighter load. You can do that when you have a tough team. After conceding that toughness is a major key, here are 10 more for this week. THE CROWD Pittman made a plea to fans to be loud on his weekly radio show Wednesday night. "It's hard to win on the road in the SEC," Pittman said. "The crowd, in my opinion, makes such a difference in the games. It can make a difference in the start and it can make a difference at the end because of the volume and how they get our kids pumped up at home. "I'll tell you, Georgia's fans made a difference and I'll guaran-damn-tee you will, too, on Saturday." Raheim "Rocket" Sanders, backup tailback, sees the difference in the crowd from last year when there were covid-19 restrictions on attendance. "I feel like it (made) a big impact," Sanders said. "By having people with us being there, I feel like we play a little better having a better crowd. I know we didn't have a crowd like that last year, but I feel like that crowd that Texas game was pretty good." Most think it's tough to find energy week after week during a 12-game season. Some weeks you have it, some you don't. Sanders thinks the crowd can help on those days your tank might not be full of gas. "I feel like (energy) comes a lot with the crowd," Sanders said. Regardless, it's a big key at the middle part of the season. Playing in a hostile environment is not new for the Tigers. They've already played — and split two games — in two of college football's loudest places, Penn State and LSU. Both were packed houses at night. Auburn lost to Penn State in the fourth quarter and rallied in the fourth quarter against LSU. Will the Tigers bring energy to this game? They are coming off a rivalry game against Georgia, a performance that held merit for three quarters. They didn't fade as quickly as did the Hogs against the Bulldogs, but that game was in Jordan-Hare Stadium — a big difference. LEADERSHIP There has been a strong belief that the 2021 Razorbacks have good leadership, both in the senior class and from juniors playing key roles, like Jefferson. Some lead without being captains. Stromberg is front and center in that group. If there was ever leadership was important, it would be this week, coming off a two-game losing streak. Pittman said it has been important for the team to have strong leadership this week. "They look at you like how are you going to react to this situation," Pittman said, "and you better react as a grown man and figure out what you can do better." Pittman had praise for Stromberg's leadership when asked about his junior center during the SEC's weekly call for head coaches. "I mean, he's the guy," Pittman said. "We're a much different team when he's not in there. He's not necessarily a vocal guy. He leads by example. "But I tell you, that room's tight. That offensive line room is tight. Ricky Stromberg is a really good football player. He's one of the top, in my opinion, he's certainly a top- half — probably way higher than that — center in the SEC." OFFENSIVE LINE Excuse me if I spend more time on the offensive line than usual this week. It's always what I look at first and the most when thinking about the keys. The Hogs are improved on the offensive line, despite changing coaches after spring football when Cody Kennedy was moved from tight ends coach when Brad Davis left for LSU. Pittman gives Kennedy credit for keeping that group playing well despite injuries forcing players to shift positions. Wagner, a captain and the right tackle, is out for several weeks after surgery for a finger injury. He did not play at Ole Miss. Stromberg missed time in the Georgia Southern game that forced Ty Clary to play center. Clary is now at right tackle. "You know, Rick was also one that was beat up there, I don't know what it was, maybe Week 2, maybe Week 3," Pittman said. "But they're a tough group of kids. The thing that we have is we have a lot of different guys that can play different positions and play them well. "Coach Kennedy's done a really nice job of making sure that if an injury occurs, we're able to go out there and function at a high rate. So, obviously any time you have an injury like with Wagner, you're concerned about there's a reason he's a starter and then the other thing you're concerned about is depth after that. I think we've done a nice job this week of preparing different guys for different positions. It's part of the game. We have tough offensive linemen and they'll play if they can. "Certainly if not, we have to be prepared as coaches that we're ready to go win football games. I think Cody Kennedy's done a real nice job of that and the players themselves of understanding that they have more value on the offensive front if they can play more than one spot." Clary's value is huge. Pittman raves about his versatility. "It's a special guy, it's a special athlete," Pittman said. "A guy that has to understand the entirety of plays and what side he's on now and what that changes technique-wise and which foot's the attack foot. It is a lot of different things. It takes a special person to do that. We're very, very fortunate to have Ty on our football team and offensive line." TACKLING It was solid for most of the year, especially sharp against Texas and Texas A&M, but it's slipped of late. Tackling was poor to nonexistent against Ole Miss. It's tough to do too much tackling work at this point in the season because of the bumps and bruises to players. There can be no Oklahoma drills with full-blown tackling. Most teams tackle in "thud" drills and do not take players to the ground. For sure, you don't want to tackle first-string backs. And how much does tackling a slower scout teamer help? "I think you're always cautious of too much hitting," Pittman said. " Just like Auburn we're going into our seventh consecutive week. I believe they're off after this and we have (UAPB). "Anytime you get to this point when you're playing SEC (teams), and it's your seventh game in a row, you start to lose a few players just from, you know, bumps and bruises and injury. So we've been concerned about that this week. We have hit. We have gone good on good and we'll continue to do that, but we've made some adjustments at practice though because of that." Auburn returns four starters in the offensive line and has a solid running game with Tank Bigsby at tailback. Arkansas did not stop Bigsby much last COMMENTARY PITTMAN KNOWS FOOTBALL CAN BE MENTAL AS WELL AS PHYSICAL CLAY HENRY See KEYS, Page 4 507 South main Street • bentonville, arkanSaS 479-273-5545 • www.bentonvilleglaSS.com Bentonville Glass Inc. reSidential • automotive • commercial 479-521-6611 479-636-2200 www.lindsey.com www.lindsey.com Our Team Proudly Supports The Arkansas Razorbacks! LINDSEY.COM HOG FANS With over 40 years experience in the Northwest Arkansas real estate business, 2 convenient locations and 200+ agents, Lindsey & Associates is the leading real estate company in Northwest Arkansas. "We Bring Great Together" All Properties Professionally Managed by Lindsey Management Co., Inc. 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