STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Two games into the Sam Pittman era at the University of Arkansas, it's obvious there's a new boss in town working with an ace coaching staff.
Pittman and the Razorbacks delivered a signature victory Saturday, a 21-14 upset at No. 16 Mississippi State that was symbolic for how it was constructed and where it could point the program in the coming months and years.
The psychological impact of snapping their 20-game SEC losing streak on the road against a ranked team that had just beaten league kingpin LSU all while being beset with a a multitude of personnel issues cannot be understated.
Pittman ended his short postgame remarks in the giddy Arkansas locker room with this question: Do we believe? The Razorbacks shouted their response and the postgame revelry continued with Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek handing Pittman the game ball.
Pittman was stoic while being dunked by an ice bath and humble in his postgame remarks.
"I'm just really proud of the team," Pittman said. "I mean what can I say, I'm just proud for the state. I really am. I'm just one guy. Am I proud that we beat Mississippi State? You're dang right."
Mississippi State Coach Mike Leach gave what came across as a spot-on assessment.
"I thought Arkansas came here with the determination to take this game away from us, and they did it," Leach said.
"I thought they played harder than we did, and I also thought that they played one play after the next a little better than we did. I think some of our inconsistency was revealed. But Arkansas gets credit for the win for sure. I thought a lot of our wounds were self-inflicted."
The Razorbacks (1-1) won despite:
• Leaving their starting defensive ends Dorian Gerald and Julius Coates in Fayetteville.
• Losing their best tailback (Rakeem Boyd) and receiver (Treylon Burks) in the first half due to injuries.
• Losing ace cornerback Montaric Brown midway through the game and getting so deep into their depth chart that walk-on cornerback Hudson Clark played substantial reps and delivered a strong showing.
• Generating almost no offense in the second half, until an absolutely must-have third-and-8 conversion with less than two minutes to play.
• Being outgained on the road 400-275 in total offense by a team that posted 634 total yards on defending national champion LSU last week.
Pittman and coordinators Barry Odom and Kendal Briles managed to do something in two games that the Chad Morris regime seemingly failed to do in two seasons: Instill belief and confidence in players.
The winning plan started on defense, which faced a Mississippi State team that had put up 623 passing yards against an LSU team that apparently stubbornly stuck to a man-coverage scheme and paid the price by chasing the Bulldogs' talented receivers most of the game.
The Razorbacks scoured through clips of teams that had given Leach's Washington State offense trouble over the last couple of years. That led to a plan of rushing three down linemen, with very infrequent added rushers, and playing a zone defense mostly with eight men in coverage. The linebackers and defensive backs could play with their eyes in the backfield to read K.J. Costello's intentions and it paid off with interceptions on Greg Brooks' pick-six followed by two athletic interceptions from Joe Foucha.
Linebacker Bumper Pool, who had 20 tackles and two pass breakups, was asked how much confidence Brooks' 69-yard interception return touchdown on Mississippi State's opening possession gave the Razorbacks.
"It's funny, because you can even ask Greg, no one was surprised when we did it," Pool said. "Because we knew if we played in our zone, he was going to force balls. That just jump-started the whole defense. If we had a fast start, we knew we could stay with what we had. I think it worked out pretty well. It was awesome.
"We just needed that one win to push us over and we got it, so it's just going to keep rolling from here."
Quarterback Feleipe Franks did just what the Razorbacks needed from a veteran who lost two of his top playmakers. He didn't force passes when they weren't there and he took care of the ball outside of a muffed jet sweep handoff to De'Vion Warren that resulted in a lost fumble.
Franks called the win wonderful.
"It's one of many," Franks said. "It's just a start, man. It's a great win. We'll celebrate and then the same time next week we'll be prepared to go out and get another one. That's the best thing about SEC football man, is week in and week out it's a one-week season."
Pittman's passion for delivering for Razorback fans was evident.
"We're just happy they believe in us," he said. "We've got a long, long way to go, but we are the University of Arkansas and we're supposed to win games. We're supposed to win SEC games.
"I'm not a guy that can look in the future, but I know this: At the University of Arkansas, you're supposed to win. So, that's what we're going to try to do, and I'm so happy that they're going to get to go and brag a little bit. They deserve it."