FAYETTEVILLE -- Brandon Allen's ball fakes and smooth operation of Arkansas' play-action pass game were two of the least publicized aspects of his successful senior season in 2015 under first-year offensive coordinator Dan Enos.
The proper execution of the system -- where sprint-draw looks can evolve into drop-back or bootleg passes with multiple options -- creates run-pass options (what coaches call RPOs), which proved hard to stop. Arkansas ranked second in the SEC in total offense, with 465.5 yards per game, and in scoring with 35.9 points per game.
Austin Allen takes over the Arkansas offense in his first college start when the Razorbacks host Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m. Saturday. Enos said Austin Allen and the other quarterbacks have been schooled in the importance of the precise handling of the fakes in RPOs.
"Brandon Allen was one of the best ball handlers I've ever coached last year," Enos said. "We spent plenty of time in the offseason showing Austin and all the young quarterbacks how his ability to ball handle created some explosive plays for us because it got people out of position. It got eyes out of position, and we were able to get leverage on routes."
Freezing the linebackers or safeties, sometimes for just a split second, often is the key to converting a third-down snap or hitting a big play. Brandon Allen completed 65.9 percent of his throws for 3,440 yards and 30 touchdowns.
The foundation of the Enos system and its aim of creating run-pass conflicts for defenders begins with a strong running game.
"When you're able to run the football, you get 11 guys on defense where that's where their mindset is, and that's where their eyes are going," Enos said. "And you've got a defensive coaching staff harping on them all week that they need to stop the run."
The Razorbacks established their ground game with a pair of 1,100-yard rushers in 2014 with Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins, then Collins' followed up with 1,577 rushing yards last season.
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said the college rule that allows offensive linemen to go 3 yards down the field on pass plays (the NFL limits linemen to 1 yard on passes) enhances the Hogs' play-action game.
"Everybody thinks this 3-yard linemen downfield rule is for Spread offenses," Bielema said. "It's for us. We've got a couple of big horses running downfield, and they're taught it's a run, and all of a sudden something can go over your head. So until that rule gets changed, we're going to take full advantage of that."
Asked to discuss run-pass conflicts, Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith laughed and declared, "Well, they cheat right? Those linemen come downfield and there's your RPOs."
Vanderbilt Coach Derek Mason said at SEC media days that linebacker is the most difficult position on the field, mainly because of the evolution of RPOs.
"I believe those guys are constantly under stress and duress, because of what you're seeing," Mason said. "The sleight of hand with quarterbacks, the deception of formation adjustments and how things change.
"Defense is about anticipating and reacting, and now with these RPO teams and how teams are attacking you off the line of scrimmage, guys coming back across the formation, there's a lot of things that draw your attention."
Smith said the Razorbacks have put a lot of work into defending RPOs, which in today's SEC mostly involve running and passing quarterbacks in Spread offenses such as those at Auburn, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
"We're trying to give our guys the best keys and the best reads to look at, and what really tells them what's coming," Smith said. "Some things that used to be hard truths in telling you what a play is going to be isn't necessarily the case anymore, so we've had to adjust with that, like the linemen and the way they come down field."
Enos ranks among the best coordinators at making the reads of keys difficult for linebackers and safeties.
"You watch us on offense and it's third down and everybody in the stadium knows we're going to run bootleg and the linebackers still bite on that run, because our guys do such a great job of selling that run that they've got to honor it," Arkansas linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves said. "Then here comes Hunter [Henry] across the field or [Jeremy] Sprinkle in the flat, or we get a wide receiver doing a drag route or something like that, it's like stealing."
Bobby Allen -- father of the past two starting quarterbacks at Arkansas, a longtime Razorbacks defensive assistant and the current director of high school and NFL relations -- has seen how tough the Arkansas scheme is to diagnose and defend.
"It's extremely hard, depending on if you're reading through the offensive line to a back or the back to line, whatever your key read may be," Allen said. "It's so similar and ... when you can sell that play-action look and you get linebackers to come up to the line of scrimmage to react to the run, then you've got guys like Hunter and Jeremy Sprinkle and all of our wide receivers that can get past that second level. All of a sudden, you've got windows to throw through.
"That's what Bret and Dan have done an extremely great job of is just marrying the run game and the play action. To the common fan, sprint draw and sprint-draw pass looks exactly the same."
Ole Miss attacked the Arkansas defense with quarterback Chad Kelly's arm and legs last season, largely with a package of RPOs.
"I wouldn't say every, but most every run we call has the -- we call them RPOs," Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze said. "If your quarterback and receivers really understand that, it really is designed so you take on that given play what the defense is allowing you to have.
"You obviously have to win a one-on-one, and you have to win your block on the point of attack and all those things, but it should have a chance to be a successful play, and it's made it very difficult on defenses to defend that."
Arkansas linebacker Brooks Ellis described what it's like facing a strong play-action team such as the Razorbacks.
"A team like ours that runs the ball so often and does the RPOs, it's really hard," Ellis said. "The only way you know what they're doing is by looking at the receivers that are running routes instead of blocking, and as linebackers you can't do that.
"You have to look at the line. You have to look at what the quarterback's doing, what the quarterback and running back are doing. Ever since coach Enos came in, he's made it way more difficult, and he does a real good job confusing teams."
Sports on 09/01/2016