FAYETTEVILLE -- Georgia came after an Arkansas punt in a pressure moment on Saturday and the Bulldogs hit home with a block recovered in the end zone to polish off their 21-point first quarter full-court press in a 37-0 rout.
Coach Sam Pittman said on Monday that video review revealed two key mistakes by the Razorbacks on the fateful kicking game play.
The Razorbacks, backed up to their own 8 with Reid Bauer punting from the end zone, allowed their fourth blocked punt in 15 games under Pittman and special teams coordinator Scott Fountain, including both games against Georgia.
All four blocks led to scores for University of Arkansas' opponents, touchdowns in both games against Georgia, another recovery in the end zone for Auburn last year and a field goal for Rice this year.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8_q7FpNQMw]
Georgia defensive back Dan Jackson shot up the middle and only got off-stride for a fraction of a second before getting his right hand up to deflect Bauer's punt. Running back Zamir White recovered for the second of his three touchdowns.
"The one Saturday, basically they had what we call the 'hog,' and he was on our zone side, and he came on the snap of the ball back to our man side," Pittman said. "Which basically what happened, it made us outnumbered. To be honest with you, there were two things that happened.
"We got beat at right guard and the right guard, his man kind of ran into our personal protector, which basically meant we hit half of the guy coming in to block the punt.
"Our punter also was outside of the wedge, of the protection, and he's got to stay inside that protection, because we're blocking inside-out on that. So the bottom line is, we adjusted on it, but we can't get a punt blocked and then go to adjustments."
Pittman said Fountain studied punt protections with many different people in the offseason and the Razorbacks changed up their protection from last season in an effort to simplify the blocking. More tweaks are coming, Pittman said.
"Scott and I have talked about it, and I said, 'We just cannot have another blocked punt,'" Pittman said. "It's just crushing us, and he knows that, and I know that. The whole fans know that.
"But we have to be ready for looks that we haven't seen and that we're sound in whatever that is. So we're going to do something a little bit different this week and see if that can't get us to where we don't have one blocked."
Changing of guard?
Position battles at offensive guard could heat up this week after the Razorbacks struggled to produce a running game against Georgia.
Brady Latham has started every game at left guard and Beaux Limmer has started the last three games at right guard, but they could be pushed as the Razorbacks prepare for Ole Miss.
Coach Sam Pittman said all personnel is reviewed every week.
"We're going ... to see if we can't get a little heavier, a little more physical in there," Pittman said, adding that Jalen St. John and Ty'Kieast Crawford would get more chances to compete.
"We're not firing people because of that game, but we're always looking to try to get better," he said. "Those two kids have been playing out at tackle.
"St. John played a lot at guard, or some during the game at guard and he's just a bigger, more physical guy. Not saying he's better, but I think those two guys we're going to move inside and see if there's an opportunity for them to play for us."
The first unit in drill work during media viewing on Monday featured Latham and Limmer at the guard spots with senior Ty Clary working at right tackle and Luke Jones at backup left tackle.
Starting right tackle Dalton Wagner received an excused absence to miss Monday's work due to a personal issue.
KJ is OK
Coach Sam Pittman said quarterback KJ Jefferson came out of Saturday's loss at Georgia in good health and that Malik Hornsby played late in the game to assure that.
Jefferson had his toughest start of the season in the loss to the No. 2 Bulldogs, completing 8 of 13 passes for 65 yards and rushing 8 times for 5 yards, including a long run of 14 yards and three sacks for 21 lost yards.
"I think he's absolutely 100%, so that was good," Pittman said. "I wanted him out of there in the fourth quarter because I felt like he was healthy, and Malik needed an opportunity to go in there in that type of environment and see what he could do as well."
Hornsby has taken meaningful reps in the last three games, the entire fourth quarter of a 45-10 win over Georgia Southern, three series totaling 20 plays in a 20-10 win over Texas A&M and all 11 offensive snaps in the fourth quarter at Georgia. The Razorbacks had a 60-yard drive against second-team defenders with Hornsby at the controls and finished the game at the Georgia 15-yard line.
Tube talk
The Razorbacks' home game against Auburn on Oct. 16 was picked up for an 11 a.m. kickoff by the SEC's broadcast partners on Monday.
However, the broadcasters chose a six-day exception window on selecting the network, so the game will air on either ESPN or CBS Sports.
The early kick will be the Razorbacks' third in a row after last Saturday's 37-0 loss at Georgia and this week's 11 a.m. kickoff time at Ole Miss.
Elder Kiffin
Sam Pittman said he doesn't know Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin well, but on Monday he recalled meeting Monte Kiffin, Lane's father, more than 40 years ago.
Pittman, who played at Grove (Okla.) High, said then-Arkansas defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin scouted a game in 1978 between Grove and Miami (Okla.) High.
"Miami was No. 1 and we were No. 100 in the league below them, and they ended up beating us 21-16," Pittman said. "They scored late in the game.
"Coach Kiffin came into our locker room and talked about the fight and the grit of the Grove Ridgerunners. I just remember that, and I shared that story last year with Lane before the game and that I really had a lot of respect for his dad."
Monte Kiffin, a long-time NFL assistant coach, is 81 and still working as an Ole Miss analyst for his son.
Show of respect
After Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman's postgame handshake with Georgia Coach Kirby Smart on Saturday, a long group of Bulldogs lined up to greet Pittman, the Bulldogs' offensive line coach from 2016-19, who had clearly made an impression on them.
"That's a tough situation to be perfectly honest with you, because you're at Arkansas and you're loyal and love Arkansas and just got your butt ever-living kicked," Pittman said. "But I don't know how many kids it was after the game, and you can't just turn around and run in the building.
"You want to give respect for those kids because they're sitting there waiting on you to talk to you."
Pittman said while he hated the 37-0 loss, he loved the greetings by the Bulldogs.
"As a man, sometimes you've got to get knocked down and get back up," he said. "And those times right there, I needed to do that, I wanted to do that and show them respect."
Pittman said it still wasn't easy to hang around on the field.
"Put yourself in that situation, man it's hard," he said. "You don't know what to do or what's right, so I just did what I thought was right and paid respect and it made me feel awesome that the kids would wait on me and talk to me."
Bama first
Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin made the argument on Monday that he'd love to open every season against Alabama. The Rebels were 3-0 and leading the country with 635.3 yards per game before losing 42-21 at the No. 1 Crimson Tide last week.
"Like I told our coaches before, I wished you opened the season with Alabama every year," Kiffin said. "So if you're not playing right, you're not playing with good fundamentals, you're not playing physical, you get exposed instead of being able to get by with some stuff until the fourth game of the year. Hopefully we'll get better."
Dawg rewarded
Georgia defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt earned SEC defensive lineman of the week recognition from the conference office for his work in last Saturday's win over Arkansas.
Wyatt had a team-high six tackles, including 1 1/2sacks, and forced a fumble against the Razorbacks. The Bulldogs allowed just 162 total yards and nine first downs in their second shutout in a row.