The Arkansas Razorbacks struggled in many aspects last Saturday against No. 1 Alabama.
In the 49-26 loss, Arkansas allowed Alabama to convert 64% of their third downs or nine of their 14 opportunities. Out of those chances, Alabama was a perfect 3-for-3 on 3rd down plays of nine yards or longer and averaged 16.1 yards per play on third down.
Head coach [autotag]Sam Pittman[/autotag] understands that in order to earn more wins, the defense needs to get the opposing offense off the field on third down more often.
“You sit there and you think you’re going to get off and they make a play. It’s very deflating,” Pittman said after the game. “That’s part of the game and all that. It’s happening too often to us. We’ve got to figure out how to get off the field when we have an advantage with the sticks.”
Pittman shed light on what he believes the issue is, and it is the same issue that allows the defense to give up 289.6 passing yards per game, tackling.
“It’s not that we’re not working it, we’re not doing it,” Pittman said. “Part of that has to do with the tightness of coverage. Part of it has to do with the area in tackling. Tackling is still a problem for us that we’ve got to continue to improve on.”
Looking ahead to this weekend’s game, Mississippi State converts 45.9% of their third downs. The Bulldogs are significantly better at converting third downs at home than on the road, as they make 57.4% of third downs at Davis Wade Stadium as opposed to just converting 30.7% in away games.
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