Odom to coach Hogs against Florida after Pittman follow-up confirms test
Sam Pittman’s follow up PCR test has confirmed his positive Covid-19 result from Sunday as part of the normal testing protocol and he will not coach Saturday’s game at Florida.
He will remain in isolation at home and continue to be a part of team meetings virtually.
Defensive coordinator Barry Odom will be coaching the team against the Gators, but Pittman said Monday not a whole lot will change.
“Somebody on the equipment staff will run the timing of practice instead of me and Barry will coach defense,” Pittman said. “But as far as the voice of the team and those things, that’ll be coach Odom.”
Odom had a 25-25 record as the head coach at Missouri before coming to the Razorbacks.
“He’ll do a damn fine job I’m sure,” Pittman said Monday.
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Pittman tests positive for Covid-19 test, will enter quarantine guidelines
Sam Pittman has tested positive for COVID-19, according to an announcement from Arkansas Communications on Monday just before his weekly press conference.
Pittman was tested Sunday as part of the team’s normal protocol and he was informed this morning that his PCR test was positive.
He is not symptomatic and is in self isolation at home. He retested this morning to confirm the results of Sunday’s test with those results still pending. All individuals who are considered close contacts have been notified and will enter quarantine guidelines.
Pittman will follow the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force protocol for testing asymptomatic positives.
Pittman will continue to be a part of team meetings virtually while in isolation. Associate Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Barry Odom will serve as the team’s interim head coach in Coach Pittman’s absence.
SDS’ O’Gara ready to give Pittman his coach of the year vote after three wins
Connor O’Gara from Saturday Down South predicted a max of three wins for the Hogs this year and he’s ready now to vote Sam Pittman coach of the year in the league.
Covid, hurricane, capturing college football headlines across SEC
The news just prior to Sam Pittman’s press conference at noon that he tested positive for the Covid-19 virus was just the tip of the iceberg.
LSU-Alabama is now in jeopardy as Tigers coach Ed Orgeron didn’t disclose any numbers, but said players had tested positive and more were out for Saturday’s game as a result of contact tracing.
The only thing that could affect was (maybe) the final score because LSU probably wasn’t going to be a threat to de-rail the Crimson Tide this year if everybody was healthy and on the field.
“It’s going to be challenging with the guys that are out,” Orgeron said at his weekly press conference.
On top of all that, Hurricane Eta is charging through Cuba on Monday afternoon at an estimated 13 miles an hour and is expected to hit southern Florida on Sunday and Monday. Based on their unpredictability, though, it does keep everyone watching the weather to see if it affects the Hogs at Florida on Saturday.
Positive test results and quarantines also forced Auburn and Mississippi State to postpone their matchup Saturday, which is now tentatively set for Dec. 12.
In addition to all of that, Texas A&M cancelled practice Monday after one player and a student worker tested positive after Saturday’s trip to South Carolina.
Catalon gets top SEC defensive honor after big night against Vols
Jalen Catalon earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week recognition for the first time in his career with 12 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble in Arkansas’ 24-13 win over Tennessee last weekend, the league office announced Monday.
The Razorbacks’ four SEC Defensive Player of the Week awards this year are the most in a single-season in school history.
Catalon joined teammates Bumper Pool (Week 2), Joe Foucha (Week 2) and Grant Morgan (Week 4) as honorees.
On Tennessee’s final offensive play, Catalon registered his second interception of the season, picking off quarterback Harrison Bailey’s throw in the end zone, thwarting the Volunteers comeback attempt.
Catalon, from Mansfield, Texas, registered 10 of his 12 tackles in the first quarter while also forcing a fumble. He was part of the Razorback defense that held Tennessee to 107 passing yards, the Volunteers lowest since 2017 against Alabama (44 yards).
This season Catalon has posted three 10+ tackle performances and leads the team with 36 solo tackles while ranking third in total tackles (58).
Since 2000, the defensive back’s 58 total tackles are the most by an SEC freshman through the season’s first six games. He is the only FBS freshman to record 50+ stops and multiple interceptions this season.
Catalon, along with redshirt freshman DB Hudson Clark (3), make up the only freshmen duo in the country on the same team to each register multiple interceptions this year.
Arkansas leads the country with 12 interceptions, which is the Hogs most in a season since 2014 (12).
The Hogs travel to Florida for the first time since 2013 this weekend on Saturday, Nov. 14 for a 6 p.m. kick off against the Gators on ESPN.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Murphy feels Pittman has Hogs ahead of Pruitt’s rebuild with Vols
In half of a season, Sam Pittman has moved Arkansas ahead of what Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt has managed to accomplish in his third year.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette writer Tom Murphy pointed that out Monday morning to Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas.
After spotting the Vols a 13-0 lead through the first half Saturday night where the Razorbacks didn’t appear to be able stop a running back in a timely fashion or manage to score, they put up 24 points in the third quarter and pitched a shutout the rest of the way for a 24-13 win.
“It just comes from who Sam Pittman is and the type of coaches he hires,” Murphy said on the statewide morning show. “Jeremy Pruitt is in year three of a rebuild, they’ve recruited very well, but Arkansas is ahead of them.”
Tennessee fans won’t like hearing that. The success at the end of last season had them expecting bigger and better things this year and if there were any questions left among the faithful, they faded away in the third quarter Saturday night.
“Arkansas in year one of Sam Pittman is ahead of the Tennessee rebuild,” Murphy said. “These are very similar programs, so it was an amazing statement the Razorbacks made (Saturday night).”
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ESPN projection puts Hogs in Texas Bowl against Sooners or Longhorns
Arkansas fans might want to start looking at spending some time around New Year’s in Houston as that is the projection of most of the national folks.
You can do that this season with the minimum number of wins required to go to a bowl removed and a feeling Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek would take a Texas Bowl bid with a 3-7 record.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura each have the Hogs slotted for a New Year’s Eve matchup with either Oklahoma or Texas in the Texas Bowl.
The Hogs blasted a disinterested Texas team in that game in 2014. That was the “borderline erotic” game for Bret Bielema on taking a knee in scoring position at the end.
Since then the Hogs have played in the Liberty Bowl in 2015, downing Kansas State, before the collapse of the program started in a loss to Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl in 2016.
They haven’t been to a bowl game since then.
The Texas Bowl is scheduled for New Year’s Eve at 7 p.m. on ESPN and matches up teams from the SEC and Big 12.
Other games that have been mentioned as possibilities for the Hogs include the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 2 at 11:30 a.m. against a Big Ten opponent, or the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 30 at 2:30 p.m.
Due to Covid-19 it was announced earlier there would not be the minimum number of six wins for a bowl appearance this year.
There is no minimum number of wins which means the SEC could send 14 teams to bowl games … and probably will if they get the chance.
