FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas held Jalen Hurts to 20 yards on eight carries last week in a 45-30 loss to No. 1 Alabama. Unfortunately, leaks sprung in many other places for coordinator Robb Smith's defense.
“You get what you emphasize,” Smith said Monday as he reviewed a ghoulish first-half performance against the Crimson Tide. The Hogs gave up 396 yards on 34 first-half snaps.
“We have to be smart what we emphasize, be smart with the plan.”
The quarterback run had been the killer for most of the season. Hurts did score two touchdowns in the first half, both on short outside runs.
But it was the long runs by running backs Damien Harris and Joshua Jacobs that did the bulk of the damage. Harris had a 57-yard gallop while rushing for 104 yards in the first half. Jacobs had a 56-yarder in the first half.
Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema, a former defensive coordinator, said the plan had been evaluated with some modifications. Bielema was disappointed in the way the Hogs “set the edge” in the first half against Alabama. It was better in the second half.
“We didn't line up in the right spots,” Bielema said on Monday. “But I've had a nice conversation with Robb on what to do philosophically. We want to get in the right spots.
“Our expectation (this year) was that we would play better. The reality is what we see on film. It's easy to see what teams are doing to us on film.
“I do have a defensive background. If I have to, I'll become involved.”
Do the Hogs have SEC caliber speed? Could that be the problem with big plays allowed by both Texas A&M and Alabama?
“No,” Bielema said. “We have more SEC caliber athletes.”
Bielema said one of the answers is to get Santos Ramirez on the field as a third safety. He's missed most of the last two weeks with a leg bruise. He played briefly against Alabama and that left Josh Liddell and De'Andre Coley to play the bulk of the game without a break.
“Santos wanted to try to go, but he couldn't,” Bielema said. “Then it got down to two safeties.
“One of the things we did Saturday is have a couple of safeties here on recruiting visits. We need more bigger guys at that position.
“Josh prepared well but what we need to do is have him playing two-thirds of the time. A couple of times we had bad angles (in the secondary) and we did have missed tackles.”
Smith said pursuit was an issue. Playing with better speed is an issue, too, as the Hogs prepare for Ole Miss on Saturday. Game time is 6 p.m.
“We will to put them in better position to play faster,” Smith said. “Every week, we try to do that.”
Playing with better pursuit will be a main focus in practice this week.
“That's central to everything we do, from A to Z,” Smith said. “Our players play well when we play fast. We have to find ways for them to play fast.”
Weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw was out after the first two Alabama possessions. He underwent surgery for a broken foot. It's similar to an injury sustained in high school on the other foot. Bielema said the injury will sideline Greenlaw from four to six weeks. That's a better scenario than after the game when he said it was a season-ending injury.
Smith said true freshman De'Jon “Scoota” Harris and junior Dwayne Eugene will battle for the starting spot this week in practice. The depth chart lists them as “or” after both played against the Tide.
“We will take it day by day,” Smith said. “We will prepare both to be starters.”
Khalia Hackett, on the scout team the last three weeks, could be back in the picture.
“Khalia has responded and it's all hands on deck,” Smith said, noting Josh Williams, Josh Harris and Randy Ramsey are also in the picture for playing time at linebacker as added depth is sought to help Brooks Ellis.
Bielema said it may be that the Hogs have tried to play too many in the defensive front, thought to be a strength coming into the season.
“The bottom line, we gave up too many yards,” Bielema said. “We had a couple of mis-alignment situations and a good team took advantage.
“We will play some guys a little more. A guy like Taiwan Johnson will play more.”
Offensively, some of the problems the Hogs had in protection were attributed to the great defensive personnel at Alabama. There don't seem to be any personnel changes coming on the offensive line after Austin Allen was sacked six times and hit perhaps more than two dozen times while the Hogs were calling close to 60 passes.
“We played the No. 1 team with a great defense and they are that for a reason,” Bielema said.
The protection issues were on several different players.
“A couple of times the issues were scheme-driven,” Bielema said. “A couple of times it was mental errors. Dan Skipper had one, Jeremy Sprinkle had one. One was on a back. Sometimes we were on the right guy, but we just have to strain a little more. We had some obvious busts.”
Bielema praised the work of right tackle Brian Wallace, often assigned some of the nation's best players.
“Wallace blocked some really good players,” Bielema said.
What about left guard Hjalte Froholdt? There were some misses by the sophomore converted in the spring from defensive tackle.
“I talked to him Sunday,” Bielema said. “This is a game that needs to be played by calm people. Sometimes he gets wound up too much. He's a 4.0 student and he has to be locked in. There was one play Saturday where he stepped the wrong way. He has to be 100 percent locked in.
“He's come a long way. He's switched sides of the ball. It's a tremendous challenge, but he's still our best option there without a doubt.”
Offensive coordinator Dan Enos was asked about Dewah Whaley's lack of carries. The freshman carried five times for 21 yards.
“He was running well, but he missed on a blitz (protection),” Enos said. “He didn't play a lot after that. In a game like that where we were playing from behind, we got into the throw game and his role decreased. He did run extremely hard.”
Obviously, Allen played extremely hard and well, too. There were four turnovers, but Enos could only criticize him for his footwork there. He threw off his back foot on several interceptions.
“There were some where his footwork got him,” Enos said. “There were a couple of times when his pocket posture got him (on sacks). We can't have one play like that.”
But there were scrambles for positive yardage, critical to break down a top defense like Alabama.
“You look at teams that have had success against (Alabama) and almost every one of them had quarterbacks who could scramble,” Enos said. “You have to have the scrambles and the ad lib throwing the ball. He did that.”
There was praise for center Frank Ragnow, playing despite practicing only one day. He missed four days on the field to attend his father's funeral in Minnesota.
“Amazing,” said Enos. “He had a couple of missed assignments, but to practice one day and go play the No. 1 team with that defense was amazing.
“It was a mind-blowing performance. To handle what he had to handle and play that way, it was amazing.”
Bielema was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct late in the first half for an argument with SEC official Stan Weihe, the umpire in the crew. It was clear Bielema was still upset on Monday. The dispute during the game concerned a holding penalty against Wallace that wiped away a touchdown.
“We are better off moving forward,” Bielema said, although it was clear he became emotional talking about that situation.
“I didn't see eye to eye with (Weihe). Our guys were playing really hard and I wanted an explanation. He explained it really well.
“We won't see that official again. He was a guy we had three years ago against Texas A&M.”
Bielema was also asked to comment on some profanity-laced comments from a UA professor as the coach was leaving the field after the game.
“I get yelled at a lot,” Bielema said, downplaying the situation. “I was halfway impressed he said my name right. I've spoken at the agri department a couple of times. I probably won't be invited to speak in his class.”
The professor was cuffed by policeman, led away and charged with public intoxication.