CLAY HENRY: Hogs need lesson on kicking game tenants

The glory years of Arkansas football are long gone. I get that. With the SEC now at 16 teams, I understand that Razorback Nation has to make some mental adjustments.

But there are some things about the glory years that are worthwhile to review, especially after a 39-31 loss at Oklahoma State. That the Hogs went to double overtime on the road to a top 20 team is consolation, but not much.

I want more. I don’t expect an immediate rise to the College Football Playoffs, but I think there are some simple solutions that will make an amazing difference.

One of them hit me during two long conversations with Bill Montgomery for a future issue of Hawgs Illustrated. Montgomery is the great quarterback that came close to taking the Hogs to the mountaintop to end the 1960s.

Montgomery was one of my many heroes as a youth. We talked close to two hours over the course of two days, some on how Frank Broyles coached the Hogs to 144 victories over 19 seasons.

The muffed punt in the fourth quarter against OSU sparked a discussion on coaching fundamentals. Montgomery helped my memory with a Broyles speech in the kicking game heard by every one of his teams.

“I played 33 games for Coach Broyles,” Montgomery said. “Before every one of those games I heard the four ‘don’ts’ and every man who played for him knows them. You heard it over and over. It was pounded into you.

“He did not want to get beat because of something you did in the kicking game. I don’t believe he ever did a pre-game speech before me or after me without repeating those four tenants.”

• Don’t be offside on a punt or kickoff (that covers field goals, too).
• Don’t rough the kicker.
• Don’t let a punt hit the ground.
• Don’t clip.

Of course, muffing a punt falls under that third one and if there was a turning point in the game it came when Isaiah Sategna mishandled a fourth quarter punt.

“I watched the game,” Montgomery said. “His own man was blocked into him. But it sure looked like it could have happened earlier and maybe in our Arkansas-Pine Bluff game, too.”

It didn’t happen during the Broyles era. If there was anything his teams did outstanding, it was field punts. Lance Alworth and Ken Hatfield both led the nation in punt returns. Neither ever let a punt hit the ground. If they fumbled one, I don’t recall it. They were protected as they fielded punts. They punished teams with returns.

There were other issues in the kicking game that were less than perfect for the Hogs against OSU. You say no one is ever perfect? The Broyles teams were antiseptic in the kicking game.

Generally, Broyles had an All-America kicker ready to win a game. The kickoff man didn’t hit it out of bounds, either. Arkansas missed two field goals against OSU.

I liked a lot of what I saw against the Cowboys. I loved the intensity. There was resolve to fight back after the game was given away by the Razorbacks. I was pleased with line play. The Hogs have some grit up front. And, as OSU coach Mike Gundy pointed out, some girth that’s clearly needed in the SEC.

Turnovers were major issues and there were errors in clock management. I get some of that. There are so many moving parts to this team over the last three years. I can’t tell you the names to match the numbers without a program.

But I know what has to be fixed first and it’s the kicking game. Arkansas hasn’t always had the best players, but won anyway. You don’t have to out talent the other sideline, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t win the kicking game.

Yes, I’m old. I was born in 1954, just a few weeks before the Powder River Play, the singular most important play in Arkansas football history by some accounts. The Hogs were not of interest to all 75 counties until Buddy Bob Benson hit Preston Carpenter on a bomb that led to a 6-0 victory over Ole Miss at War Memorial Stadium.

I was likely in a crib and don’t remember. But my older brother Butch, just 6 at the time, was in the front yard on Markham Street across the street from the stadium. There is a Wendy’s in that spot now.

The roar startled him. He’d never heard anything like it come from that stadium. He later learned it was the Powder River Play. We talked about that a few weeks ago.

Broyles didn’t arrive until three seasons later. He didn’t talk about that game to his players, but he believed if you were perfect in the kicking game, you could win games by that kind of score.

Most forget that the 1964 Razorbacks won with perfection in the kicking game, shutting out their last four regular season foes. Hatfield returned a punt for a touchdown in the 14-13 win over Texas. He took advantage of perfect blocking to race untouched in Austin when Ernie Koy kicked beyond his coverage.

This is an improved Arkansas football team in many respects. Taylen Green looks good in that No. 10 jersey, the same worn by Montgomery. I’m not surprised that Montgomery is proud to see someone make great plays wearing that number.

But Green needs help. With sterling play in the kicking game, he’s got the ability to lead the Hogs to glory, even if it’s not to the glory days.

It’s all still doable, even in the SEC. Oklahoma State looks poised for a good run in the Big 12 Conference, maybe all the way to the playoffs.

But Arkansas could have — maybe should have — won last week in Stillwater, if they had not given the home team extra chances in the kicking game.

Bill Montgomery may have grown weary of hearing his great coach repeat those four don’ts in the kicking game. But it’s a message the 2024 Razorbacks need to hear until they are sick of them,. too. They are at the gate to glory.