Gameday Extra

10.01.2022 KEYS TO VICTORY RAZORBACKS NEED HOME CROWD TO SHOW UP, SHOW OUT VS BAMA MATT JONES & SCOTTIE BORDELON WHOLEHOGSPORTS.COM Arkansas fans are flocking back to Fayetteville. Aer years of low attendance due to poor on-field results, the Razorbacks' home stadium has been at or near capacity for most of the past two seasons as Sam Pittman has built a steady winner again at Arkansas. Since the last time Alabama came to town to close the 2020 regular season, the Razorbacks have an 8-1 record inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Arkansas' only home loss during that time came to Auburn last October when Pittman said he made too many questionable coaching decisions. Half of the Razorbacks' eight on-campus victories since the start of the 2021 season have been against Power 5 opponents. Arkansas also beat Cincinnati, which will join the Big 12 next season. From 2016-20, Arkansas won four home games against Power 5 teams, half of which came in Pittman's inaugural season when the crowd size was capped at 16,500 due to covid-19 guidelines. By the time Texas came to town last September, fans were champing at the bit to watch their rejuvenated program, and they have given the Razorbacks a great home- field advantage since. Crowd noise played a factor as Arkansas beat Cincinnati, South Carolina and Missouri State on the first three weekends of September. ose teams combined to commit 13 pre- snap penalties on offense — 10 false starts and 3 delays of game. e fourth quarter of the Missouri State game felt like an SEC Saturday night as the Razorbacks scored 21 unanswered points to rally for a 38-27 victory. When Bryce Stephens returned a punt 82 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, the stadium press box shook from the roar of the crowd. Since Arkansas joined the SEC, some of the loudest moments at home have come during Alabama games. e home crowd roared throughout a 42-6 thrashing of the Crimson Tide in 1998, and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy still talks about the crowd noise during the Crimson Tide's 24-20 come-from-behind victory in 2010. Ben Cleveland, a former Arkansas tight end, said this week that the stadium was as loud as he has heard it aer he caught the touchdown that set up the game-winning extra point in the second overtime of the Razorbacks' 24-23 victory in 2006. It has been six years since Alabama has faced a hostile crowd in Fayetteville. A disinterested Arkansas fan base largely stayed home for the Crimson Tide's 65-31 victory here in 2018, and many were out the exits by halime as Alabama rolled 52-3 on a frigid mid- December day in 2020. Pittman knows he doesn't need to implore fans to be loud Saturday. e Razorbacks anticipate this week's attendance could challenge the 2010 Alabama game for the largest crowd in stadium history — not counting this year's Garth Brooks concert. Alabama appeared to struggle some with crowd noise during its 20-19 victory at Texas in Week 2. Arkansas won't come close to matching the 100,000- plus who were in attendance for that game, but the crowd can have an effect. An engaged crowd is the Razorbacks' biggest advantage over the Crimson Tide and will be key if Arkansas can keep the game competitive late. GAME PRESSURE Alabama has not played a very difficult schedule in the first four weeks of the season. e Crimson Tide were tested at Texas, but Alabama has been dominant against lesser competition, defeating Utah State by 55 points, Louisiana- Monroe by 56 and Vanderbilt by 52 to open SEC play. ree games have been so lopsided that one could imagine it is difficult for upcoming opponents like Arkansas to find worthwhile game film to evaluate. e Crimson Tide's outings since facing the Longhorns have been cakewalks, over by halime and not interesting or competitive in the least. at should change Saturday. Alabama will enter confident it can grab the outcome it wants, but so will Arkansas. It is fair to question how the Crimson Tide will respond to their first real game pressure in weeks. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young said this week that his team grew from having its back against the wall at Texas, but it is difficult to properly simulate facing adversity in daily practices. "We love trying to put up as many points on the board as we can and the offense is always trying to score points, and the defense is always trying to get a stop," Young said. "But we understand that's not how football works, especially when you play in the SEC against the best of the best. When you're in (hostile environments) you learn a lot about yourself, your unit and your team." On one hand, the 50-plus- point margins have allowed Alabama's starters and key reserves much-needed rest ahead of a three-week stretch in which the Crimson Tide will face three ranked teams, including two away from home. On the other hand, could that in any way lead to a bit of rust early on this weekend? Alabama edge defender Will Anderson, who has played 51 defensive snaps over the last two games, added that playing in road environments is fun for him. He considers himself a "hateful competitor." "We want fans to leave their own stadiums," he said. "I think the message this week is we want fans to leave their own stadium and we want to preach that all week. Go out there, have fun, do your job and make sure the fans are leaving about the time halime comes or by the end of the third quarter." PUNCH BACK It is among the more inevitable things in college football. Alabama under Nick Saban has become notorious for delivering a blow on offense, defense or special teams that will knock its opponent down. Some teams are unable to recover, and they play out the remainder of the game with a deer-in-the-headlights look. at is how the Crimson Tide race away to comfortable or blowout victories so regularly. During the Razorbacks' game at Alabama last year, the Crimson Tide swung with heavy hands throughout their 42-35 victory. Young threw for nearly 600 yards and 5 touchdowns, completing all but 9 of his 40 pass attempts, and Alabama also finished with a 100-yard rusher. But, as the final score indicates, Arkansas did not go down without a fight. Four times last season the Razorbacks answered an Alabama score with a score of their own. Arkansas put up 468 yards of offense, averaged 6.4 yards per play and was 3 of 3 on fourth-down conversions. "I think what happens when you play somebody close, you start having some belief that, you know, we've got a pretty good team," Pittman said. "If we can go out, not make mistakes, play well, play hard, get some turnovers, things of that nature, you have a chance to win the game. "Certainly that's where we're at now with our football team." As Razorbacks men's basketball coach Eric Musselman has noted numerous times in his tenure, each game takes on its own shape and identity. No two games are alike. But Arkansas took away from its last meeting with the Crimson Tide that it can hang with the top dogs in the game if it executes. "We need to strike as fast as we possibly can," Pittman said. "Last year, I felt like it was playing catch up the whole time. But we need to strike fast, and hopefully we're able to do that. But it showed that we were resilient." 3RD QUARTER Arkansas' best quarter in 2021 has been its worst through the first month of this season. e Razorbacks have been outscored 41-13 in the third quarter by Cincinnati, South Carolina, Missouri State and Texas A&M. Compare that to last year when Arkansas outscored its opponents 122-68 in the third quarter. ird-quarter woes have offset mostly solid first-half play from the Razorbacks, who led every team but Missouri State at halime. Arkansas never felt in danger of losing to Cincinnati or South Carolina, but those games were tighter in the fourth quarter because of the inability to put the teams away in the third. e third quarter was on Pittman's mind early in the week when he said a halime period would be built into the practice schedule. "We're just going to stop, and then we're going to come back and go good-on-good right when we come off of halime," Pittman said Monday of this week's practice plan. "We're going to change the way we stretch coming out of the half. We've got to change something. You know what we're trying to do, we're trying to put it in our mind that we've got to get going." Alabama has outscored its opponents 38-3 in the third quarter. DREW SANDERS How will Arkansas' superstar linebacker handle playing against his former teammates? Pittman said he hasn't met with Sanders this week about it. He trusts Sanders knows how to handle the emotions of the game. "He's played against high school teammates that he's known in Texas and things, so I think he's going to be just fine," Pittman said. "He's a grown man now; grown man upstairs, too." Sanders has been key to the Arkansas pass rush that leads college football with 20 sacks. Sanders is tied for the national individual lead with 5.5 sacks and has at least one-half sack in each game. When asked about Sanders earlier this season, Saban said the linebacker likely would have started for the Crimson Tide had he not chosen to transfer. ESPN dra analyst Mel Kiper recently rated Sanders the No. 1 inside linebacker prospect for next spring's NFL Dra. "He's certainly playing well for them," Saban said this week. "It's good to see that he's doing a good job for them." While Sanders has made more than enough big plays to make up for them, missed tackles have been a bit of a concern. His missed-tackle rate is 32.4%, according to Pro Football Focus. NON-OFFENSIVE TDS In the Saban era, no team has been as good as Alabama at scoring touchdowns on defense and special teams. e Crimson Tide have 89 non-offensive touchdowns in 212 games since the start of the 2007 season — 39 interception 2 Alabama at 20 Arkansas 7 Kentucky at 14 Ole Miss 17 Texas A&M at Mississippi State LSU at Auburn 9 Oklahoma State at 16 Baylor 10 North Carolina State at 5 Clemson 22 Wake Forest at 23 Florida State Alabama Ole Miss Texas A&M LSU Oklahoma State Clemson Florida State Alabama Ole Miss Texas A&M LSU Baylor Clemson Florida State Alabama Kentucky Texas A&M LSU Baylor Clemson Florida State Alabama Ole Miss Mississippi State LSU Baylor Clemson Wake Forest Alabama Ole Miss Mississippi State Auburn Oklahoma State Clemson Florida State Alabama Ole Miss Mississippi State LSU Baylor Clemson Wake Forest Alabama Ole Miss Mississippi State LSU Oklahoma State Clemson Wake Forest Alabama Kentucky Texas A&M LSU Baylor Clemson Wake Forest GAMES PREDICTIONS Matt Jones 4-3 Scottie Bordelon 2-5 Tom Murphy 4-3 Ethan Westerman 3-4 Paul Boyd 4-3 Andrew Joseph 5-2 Rick Fires 3-4 Chip Souza 3-4 OVERALL LAST WEEK 23-5 18-10 24-4 20-8 21-7 21-7 21-7 16-12 http://www.bentonvilleglass.com/ 507 SOUTH MAIN ST. • BENTONVILLE, AR 479-273-5545 • RESIDENTIAL • AUTOMOTIVE • COMMERCIAL Bentonville Glass Inc. 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