Pregame Keys Turn Out To Be Postgame Red Flags for Arkansas

Inside Arkansas lists 3 ‘Musts’ before every football game, and the Razorbacks failed to even come close to meeting those requirements against the Ole Miss Rebels.

The pregame keys turned out to be postgame red flags for Arkansas in Saturday’s 63-31 home loss to Ole Miss:

Arkansas MUST Hold Up on the Offensive Line

Arkansas might have been better off just giving Mississippi a “Two Mississippi” count before the rush rather than attempting to block the Rebels’ front.

Last weekend’s performance in Starkville turned out to be fool’s gold against a bad team as the Arkansas O-Line REALLY struggled to hold up against an Ole Miss front that, in fairness, is one of the best in the country.

Whether it was Blue Light Special versus Louis Vuitton or not, as Sam Pittman so eloquently described pregame, there is simply no excuse for this lopsided of a matchup in Year 5.

Ole Miss racked up eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss, mind-boggling numbers that could have been significantly higher if the Rebels kept bringing the heat in the second half.

The staff could point to some garbage time production as a silver lining to cling to, but the first-half film session probably won’t, and shouldn’t be, pretty.

Arkansas has two weeks until Texas, and Pittman has his work cut out for him to patch the holes and tighten things up across the front.

[You might also be interested in 3 ‘Musts’ Ahead of Arkansas’ Key Matchup With Ole Miss]

Arkansas MUST Contain Ole Miss’ Aerial Attack

Sam Pittman used words like “fragile” to describe his secondary after the game, which is always exactly what you want to hear…

Arkansas has shown leaks on the back end the last two weeks against LSU and Mississippi State. The dam completely broke against Ole Miss on what became a record-setting day for all the wrong reasons.

Early, the Razorbacks looked utterly lost in the secondary. Late, it looked like they had let go of the rope. The end result was Jaxson Dart setting the Ole Miss record for single game total offense and the Rebels passing for the most yardage any opponent has ever put up against Arkansas in program history.

Dart had a stretch in the first half where three consecutive passes went for touchdowns…

Jordan Watkins set Ole Miss records and high-water marks of any receiver against Arkansas with 254 receiving yards and five touchdowns by himself.

As Pittman pointed out, it wasn’t so much a product of Lane Kiffin’s up-tempo offense as it was the Rebels lining up, reading Arkansas’ defense, making a check and winning the chess match every move along the way. It was a disaster…

Arkansas MUST Score in the Red Zone

It doesn’t matter how much a team scores in the red zone if it offers zero resistance on the other side of the ball.

Arkansas went 4 for 4 with four touchdowns in the red zone, but most of the damage was done after Ole Miss had built up a five-touchdown lead and called off the dogs defensively.

Rodney Hill, Rashod Dubinion, Malachi Singleton and Luke Hasz were responsible for the red zone scores.