Last season, Arkansas’ defense made of the biggest turnarounds you’ll ever see within a college football season. They played like two totally different units, allowing 188 points in their first seven games and just 62 points in their final six games. They picthed shutouts of LSU and Ole Miss and finished second in the SEC in total defense.

Slot Christian Kirk could have a big game tomorrow against the Razorbacks

The Razobacks benefitted from the new scheme of defensive coordinator ….. who used predominantly quarters coverage. Quarters coverage is basically a form of man match coverage that gets it name from the fact that each part of the field is divided into quarters (as opposed to cover two in which two high safeties each have half of the field and is also known as “halves”). The corners have the outside receivers in man coverage down the field and generally play seven to ten yards off of them. They will give up shorter routes such as hitches and screens. The safeties play at the same level as the corners or even closer to the line of scrimmage. Due to the fact that the safeties play closer to the line of scrimmage than in two deep coverage (where they are aligned ten to twelve yards off of the football), the defense can get nine people in the box versus the run more quickly than with a man free, two deep, or three deep looks. In addition, it allows the defense to double the interior receivers with high/low coverage.

Last season, the Aggies had relied heavily on their ability to get the ball to slot Malcome Kennedy in their first three games. The Razorbacks took this away with the high/low coverage of their back seven personnel and he caught three passes for 44 yards. Instead, outside receivers Edward Pope and Josh Reynolds combined to catch eight passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns. Even so, A&M quarterback Kenny Hill hit just 50% of his passes because Arkansas took away the higher percentage throws and made Hill take lower percentage shots down the field.

However, Arkansas’ defensive personnel is quite a bit different this season than last season. In addition, they did some things differently against Texas Tech last week. The Razorbacks played more two deep coverages with their safeties 10 to 12 off the ball and the corners seven yards off the ball. Last season, Arkansas did a great job of taking away the deeper throws with this look and making Tech quarterbacks check down to shorter throws to the slots. More importantly, they were in position on every throw to close quickly on the receiver and either break up the pass or make the tackle. In addition, given their size advantage in the back seven over Tech’s skill position people, when they hit people they went down at first contact and were limited in their yardage after the catch.

In contrast, Arkansas’ defenders in last week’s game typically were beaten on the receivers’ initial move, especially to the inside. They had assignment issues staying underneath the receivers. In particular, their linebackers were a step late (either due to missed assignments or a lack of athleticism) reacting to routes run to the middle of the field which gave Tech quarterback Pat Mahomes windows to deliver the ball. Oftentimes, one defender would blitz or move to cover a receiver based on the formation and another defender that was supposed to move over to cover that responsibility simply never made it over there. Too many times, Arkansas would align its front to the perimeter with defensive tackles in three techs on the outside shoulder of the guards, ends outside the tackles or even in a wider stance, and linebackers to the edge of the formation which left the middle of the field wide open. Last season, Arkansas’ pass rush was good enough to provide enough gut pressure that such an alignment didn’t give Tech quarterbacks enough time to take advantage of such a look; this season, Tech’s blockers were able to give Mahomes lanes to throw the ball.

Also, Tech approached the game differently from 2014 in terms of their formations and philosophy. They used two back sets or an H back much moreso than they did last season when they were predominantly a four or five wide team. They threw an option pass but they also used counter plays off of jet sweeps, play action passes, rollouts, and quarterback draws. They ran the ball 27 times as opposed to throwing 31 passes.

Finally…and this point carries over to Arkansas’ offense to an extent as well…Razorback defenders don’t appear to be as physical. The biggest difference between last year’s personnel and this year’s is that those players played with velocity in that they were confident in their assignments and were physical when they arrived at the ball. This group hasn’t achieved that same level of awareness yet. As a result, Tech’s downfield blocking and ability to finish runs enabled them to convert plays that started out at or near the line of scrimmage into gains that enabled them to get into second and short situations or covert third downs. The Red Raiders averaged over eight yards a snap and converted 70% of their third downs.

A year after being pounded by a more physical team, Tech completely turned the tables on Arkansas in that regard. If you’re a fan of SEC style football, it was a disconcerting performance.

From a personnel standpoint, Arkansas lost defensive linemen Trey Flowers and Darius Philon to the NFL draft as well as linebacker Martell Spaight and corner Tevin Mitchel. Spaight, Flowers, and Philon combined for 37.5 tackles for loss and played with great ability to get upfield. Mitchel was a big corner who finally lived up to his potential and helped lock down one side of the field (eight pass breakups).

In their first two games this season, Arkansas didn’t seem to miss them as they held Toledo and UTEP to just 30 points. However, they did miss their ability to play with get off and burst. So far this season, the defense has one sack, 17 tackles for loss, and has forced just three turnovers. More importantly, their back seven has regressed. Last year, Razorbacks defenders didn’t give up many big plays and closed quickly on the shorter routes in coverage. This season, less experienced personnel aren’t as aggressive or physical.

Undersized defensive tackle Taiwan Johnson had 8.5 tackles for loss last season but he has only four total tackles this year as he’s gained over 30 pounds. Nosetackle Demarcus Hodges has been solid and is difficult for people to move off of the football due to his size and low center of gravity. Defensive ends Deatrich Wise and JaMarcus Winston were supposed to replace the pressure of Flowers and but they don’t get upfield like Flowers and Philon did. This wasn’t an issue in their first two games of the season but last week against Texas Tech the lack of pressure was noticeable. Wise moves inside at times and he’s a good east-west player. Their ends appeared to have trouble with assignments in terms of reacting to quickly to flow and also playing the option, overcommitting and making Mahomes’ decisions easier.

In the back seven, Mike linebacker Brooks Ellis has the size to be good run stopper but he lacks the lateral mobility of Spaght in coverage. Freshman linebacker Dre Greenlaw is going to be starting this week and is a good athlete. However, his lack of experience shows up in his alignment (giving up numbers inside the box), coverage in terms of anticipating routes, and or in the run game in terms of run fits. In addition, many times Arkansas had equal or less numbers in the box and found themselves in a hat on hat situation which didn’t work out well for them.

Arkansas’ secondary wasn’t done any favors by Tech’s spacing last week which was more akin to Baylor’s in that boundary receivers were aligned to the sideline and field receivers were outside the numbers (as opposed to being at or inside the numbers). That put the secondary in one on one situations that usually resulted in a hit and then yardage after contact. Their two deep look took away the deeper throws but left them vulnerable to everything else including run support.

Texas A&M’s offense so far has revolved around getting the ball to Christian Kirk in space, running it with Tra Carson, and increased use of tight ends and H backs, option plays, and power rushing concepts such as the counter trey. Those concepts should work well if A&M runs the ball against soft coverage and gets people one on one in space. Arkansas’ personnel simply aren’t built to play in space like they did last week. Quarterback Kyle Allen likes to get the ball downfield and he should have the time this week to do so as Arkansas isn’t disrupting the quarterback. The big thing for Allen is going to be his ability to do what Mahomes did and hit the shorter routes on check downs or take off with the ball. The Aggies certainly have better skill position people and if Arkansas plays a two deep look then Kirk should have a big game working underneath if Allen looks for him. In addition, one of A&M’s problems has been defenses getting upfield via penetration and outnumbering A&M in the box but Arkansas hasn’t done that much this season.

Overall, if Arkansas gets back to playing its quarters look from last season and works to take away Kirk and A&M’s running game then they could make the Aggies’ life very difficult. However, if they stay with a two deep look, Allen doesn’t force the ball down the field, and the Aggies use misdirection in the run game and cut off penetration, then A&M should be able to move the ball between the 20s and their play in the red zone will determine how many points they score.

