Texas A&M returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a score and most Arkansas fans probably thought, “oh, here we go again,” after last week’s meltdown against Auburn.
But that’s not really what happened.
“The issues we had were fixable,” Chad Morris said of the problems last week. “We fixed them with a few personnel changes. And then we fixed them with some fundamentals that we needed to continue to work on.”
He also made some personnel moves, getting starters on the coverage teams, particularly the punt return where it was getting embarrassing.
De’Jon Harris, among others, were on the punt return and it made a difference. It helped they moved some folks around and the protection for Reid Bauer helped him average 43.2 yards a kick. A&M had negative return yards on punt returns.
“Your fundamentals have to hold up under pressure,” Morris said. “That’s what we challenged our guys with and they saw it.”
Bauer was also hitting it well, mainly because he wasn’t pressured like he was at Auburn.
“That was one of the reasons why, that you saw, that the punting was better,” Morris said. “He had a lot of confidence in those guys.”
Yes, the special teams weren’t all that bad if you take away one very important play that proved to be kinda critical.
But maybe the most eye-opening was the play of the defense that limited the nation’s top offense to less than the Aggies’ 500 yards-plus they have been average. It wasn’t close, they were 134 yards below their per-game average this year.
“One of these games we’re going to find a way to get a W,” linebacker Dre Greenlaw said later. “We’re not going to stop until we get that W. We just got to keep fighting.”
Greenlaw combined with fellow linebacker De’Jon Harris for 29 tackles and Greenlaw added a couple of interceptions and a sack. Those are monster numbers.
“Unbelievable,” Morris said later. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of two guys that were that productive in one game, very much just all over the field and very impactful.”
Anyone who doubted John Chavis’ effect on this defense, well, he has made a huge difference. Whether you think anything else is better or not, it’s hard to dispute that.
Having a pair of experienced linebackers making plays like Greenlaw and Harris helps.
“We came in the game with a lot of confidence,” Harris said later. “We figured we could get the win, just the small things on special teams probably hurt us, but I feel like we build more confidence from week to week.”
Greenlaw echoed that.
“We continue to get better and better and push ourselves through practice and our work habits,” he said. “We just continue to keep getting better and hopefully that will result in a win.”
The bad news, though, is it’s going to get worse for a week before things may start to improve.
Top-ranked Alabama comes to Fayetteville next week, so progress may be tough to see.
Morris was asked about that and while some may put it off as coach-speak, considering the talent difference between the two teams, it may be the best way to look at it.
“It’s about us getting better every week,” he said “That’s the only thing we can control. We’re going to get back on the plane, and we’re going to go get better. That’s what we’re going to do.”
After next week’s game, the schedule goes downhill.
The Hogs will play their third straight team that’s been ranked in the Top 25 this season. A&M was there until they were hammered by the Crimson Tide last week.
Only one of Arkansas’ last six opponents (LSU) has been ranked this season.
And the schedule sets up with the next five games over six weeks to be played in the state (there is that Little Rock game with Ole Miss a couple of weeks down the road).
We’ll see how the improvement plays out.
