Hogs use bye week to recuperate
If ever there was a team in need of a bye week, it was the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Beaten up literally and figuratively, the Razorbacks used an open date after their 45-31 loss to Vanderbilt on Oct. 27 in an effort to recover mentally and physically. That loss dropped the Razorbacks to 2-7 for the season, kept them winless in SEC play and wiped out any chance of playing in a postseason bowl game.
“Last week gave us an opportunity to get better,” coach Chad Morris said. “We got a chance to get our legs back underneath us. We had an opportunity last week to focus on ourselves, which is the message. And the message isn’t going to change.”
There are no more open dates on the Razorbacks’ schedule and no time to ease back into the swing of things. The Razorbacks host No. 9 LSU on Saturday before a road game against No. 18 Mississippi State on Nov. 17.
Even with two games against ranked opponents imminent, Morris and the Razorbacks are keeping an eye toward the long term. Arkansas has been giving its younger players additional reps in practice, and Morris said that will continue.
“Now that we know we’re not going to a bowl, the development in a bowl practice, those 15 extra practices are so much a part of developing your young guys,” Morris said. “So we’ve got to find a way now to add a little bit more to it.”
Against LSU, Arkansas will need a better performance from its defense than it got in the loss to Vanderbilt. The Commodores rolled up 442 yards of total offense, including 250 yards rushing.
“We didn’t play well enough,” Morris said. “Bottom line: We didn’t play enough, Couldn’t stop the run, didn’t play well enough defensively to win. … You get what you deserve, and we didn’t deserve to win.”