HOGS
From page A7
“I thought it worked, you know,” Pittman said. “We got beat on a double-move early down here in this (north) end zone. Other than that, I just didn’t feel like we cut people loose. There were a couple of seam routes by the tight ends that hurt us on third down, but I thought the changes we made with Stew — I’ll have to watch the tape, but I think he played really good.
I think that happened with Larry and Miguel Mitchell, those changes. And then of course we brought the guys who had played before, but I think those changes helped us have a better week and then put the intensity over there. It’s always when you have those guys competing they seem to… both of them seem to play a little bit better, and that’s what I thought happened today.”
Edge Landon Jackson Jackson had 3 tackles to go with a sack, tackle for loss and quarterback hurry. But as he noted the Hogs didn’t win the game.
“We fought real hard but we’ve got to finish,” Jackson said. “When it’s 13-10, we have the momentum.
Defense has to go out there and get a stop and get the ball back to the offense and flip the game around. We can’t let them score in situations like that. Overall, we just have to be better.”
Running back Ja’Quinden Jackson returned after missing some games with an injury. He rushed 11 times for 56 yards and scored the Hogs lone touchdown on a 1-yard run with 3:39 remaining in the third quarter. That pulled the Hogs to within 13-7. Pittman was asked if Jackson was limited since he only got 11 carries?
“No. Ja’Quinden was available and we, in all honesty, probably should have got him in there more,” Pittman said. “I just didn’t want to start him because he had been out for three or four weeks. Other than that, there were no limitations on how much we play him. I do think he got into a nice rhythm. I believe he averaged 5 yards per carry today and ran extremely hard. But we didn’t have a lot of rushes at half regardless who was back there. Went into halftime, found a way to run the ball a little more.” On Arkansas’ next possession it actually pulled even closer. Matthew Shipley nailed a 44-yard field goal to pull within 13-10 with 12:48 remaining in the game. It appeared the Hogs had all the momentum at that point.
Texas put together an 8play, 75-yard drive though to answer Shipley’s field goal. The drive ended with Ewers finding Matthew Golden for a 1-yard touchdown. Golden and Ewers hooked up for Texas’ other touchdown as well.
They connected for a 20yard touchdown on a 6-play, 61-yard drive that followed Green’s interception.
“I think in the locker room I think our kids are ready to bounce back and play Louisiana Tech,” Pittman said. “I think they’ll work hard. We need to get bowl eligible. The kids understand that. They want to go to a bowl. So they’ll work hard at it. They’ll bounce back. I’m not worried about it. We’ve got a good, tightknit football team and I’m not worried about them with the practice and all getting ready for next week.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Arkansas will be at home Saturday to host Louisiana Tech (4-6) at 3 p.m. A win would make the Hogs bowl eligible.
The Louisiana Tech game can be streamed on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.
