{"id":80773,"date":"2025-10-02T13:00:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=80773"},"modified":"2025-10-02T09:50:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:50:19","slug":"arkansas-football-is-broken-down-what-needs-to-be-fixed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/10\/02\/arkansas-football-is-broken-down-what-needs-to-be-fixed\/","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas Football Is Broken Down. What Needs To Be Fixed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How often do you drive down the highway and see a car stalled in the emergency lane?\u00a0<\/span>Think of this as a cardinal red vehicle with smoke coming from the hood, and three flat tires. As you drive down the road towards the next exit, you see a distressed person walking with a one-gallon gas can back to the car. Think of this vehicle as an analogy for the Razorbacks football program as it sits on the side of I-49, at exit 60, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We take a thorough look at the vehicle to identify what needs to be fixed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Arkansas Football Is Broken Down. What Needs To Be Fixed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Who Is Driving?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We saw the ax fall swiftly as Sam Pittman, along with four assistants on the defensive staff, lost their positions within the program. As we covered in our last article, offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino has been elevated to the interim head coach position. Seemingly, as soon as this was announced, the news came that more changes were being made. With these mass changes, we see the car has a new driver, but what about the rest of the car? Will these parts fit?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While we understand that Petrino is the maestro behind the offense, the position hole must be filled. Current running backs coach, Kolby Smith, has been tabbed as that man as he assumes the position of offensive coordinator. Smith is in his second season with the program in his running backs role and came to Fayetteville from the NFL ranks with the Miami Dolphins. As with any coaching change, the new man will keep ties to \u201chis guys,\u201d and Smith fits that mold. Formerly, Smith played running back for Petrino at Louisville<\/a> for four seasons before playing for the Kansas City Chiefs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New Hoses and Clamps<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If the defense on the field didn\u2019t have enough issues, now there is a new staff, literally. The dismissal of Travis Williams and Marcus Woodson, co-defensive coordinators, as well as defensive line coach Deke Adams, left the staff down to crumbs at best. To counter this, Petrino elevated Chris Wilson to play-calling duties on defense as interim coordinator.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilson has experience in this position as he has held this at numerous stops within the college and pro level. Most recently, in the UFL for the Houston Roughnecks this past spring. This is the first season in Fayetteville for Wilson, as he was working with the defensive line as assistant line coach with Adams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the safeties coach position, Arkansas moves Che Hendrix. Hendrix, who is in his first season at Arkansas, was serving as assistant defensive backs coach\/high school relations. Coming to Arkansas from Boerme High School in Texas, Hendrix brings familiarity to a needed position within this defensive unit. While the head coach in Texas, Hendrix was 71-19 as head coach. Arkansas can use this connection to a pipeline state in recruitment as well if he is to stay on staff.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With all new belts and a fresh oil change, Arkansas looks to be running with more efficiency on the sideline. But will this translate to the field in a pivotal bye week?<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of Gas?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The car came with a loud exhaust. This loud noise has been silenced as of late, with mistakes on the field combined with a lack of production to put points on the scoreboard. Simply put, the offense needs to be fixed, and fast. We mentioned that Petrino would continue calling plays earlier in this piece. The additional responsibilities of the interim raise an interesting question we have already asked. Is Petrino prepared for the grind of college football in 2025?<\/span><\/p>\n

With the recent mishaps and a combined 10 points in the second half in the last three games, is Arkansas out of gas offensively?\u00a0 We are asking an abundance of questions on this side of the ball because they are warranted. When the product in the field is lacking, things need to get fixed. What are these things? Well, first is one that we feel like we can autotype, which is ball security. Could you imagine what this season could be without fumbles in Oxford and Memphis?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are not writing this article if those do not happen. In addition, Arkansas is most likely a top-25 team without these. While fans are dreaming of this now, as Petrino rides again, is this a 2.0 era? His offense has not been complimentary to a disastrous defense. Cleaning up the fundamentals, which sounds elementary, changes much within this unit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stop Leak Won\u2019t Work<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Have you ever had a leak that just will not stop? This is what the Arkansas defense feels like in 2025, a leak that will not cease. With this, we will attempt to put a stop leak on this unit, if this is possible. The defense needs to be a full detail inside and out. A massive defensive line has been pushed around the last three weeks, which has assisted in losses. Allowing both Memphis and Notre Dame to gash their tires with a rushing attack has to be controlled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In what was supposed to be the most talented room of the defense, the linebackers have struggled as well. In football, it will always be about tackling, and Arkansas needs, once again, to get back to the fundamentals. With the bye week, this should allow these players to assess themselves and make a hard decision about what they want to do. This unit, as well as the secondary, has been bullied recently, and this does not bode well in a long SEC slate to play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New Fan Motor\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The final fix for Arkansas on this bye week is not even on the field. It is the fans, and the motor needs to slow down. No need for extreme expectations when there is much more football to be played. The dreams of 2011 could revisit nightmares of 2012 as Petrino is on a high-wire act as interim<\/a>. Along with him comes a search for the 35th head coach of the program. We compiled a list of realistic candidates<\/a> and will alter this list as this hunt continues. Fans need to understand this is a process that will not happen overnight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with this is an understanding of the true optics of this leadership change from Arkansas. It is almost as if the interim coach tag is just for show. Furthermore, is the brass at the top of the University really allowing Hunter Yurachek to decide on the next coach? The same man who last season begged fans for more NIL money, which did not happen. Yes, that is him. Same one who, less than a month ago, told the Little Rock Touchdown Club that the football program was not able to compete. This was coupled with the announcement of Pittman’s dismissal, where Yurachek stated that he {Pittman} did not have the resources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please, No Hunter<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With an athletic director struggling to stay above water, the fans have to question this motive. As far as who is the next man, it is going to be a long ride. With week six on the horizon, there is essentially an entire season ahead of us. We will hear names and see clickbait headlines, but the reality is that no coach of significance will leave now. Most coaches named on any list will give us the old-fashioned \u201cI am happy here,\u201d which is understandable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the fans and some media who are astonished as to why the Razorbacks players have not entered the portal, it is simple. There is no point in bringing a NIL check into question by leaving now. In addition, these players would just sit out the remainder of the season, as you cannot compete for two schools in the same calendar year. As much as people complain, college athletics has changed, as these young athletes are smarter. Instead of teaching them about drugs, bad decisions, and more, coaches are now teaching financial literacy courses through football. If Arkansas wants these fixes to be done right, Yurachek does not need to be holding the tools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rocky Road Trip<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As the Razorback red car sits in the bay at the shop, there is some time to get the work done. Not an abundance of time, but enough to have a plan of action for future issues. A main reason for the full detail and new parts is a crucial road trip to Knoxville. This is a game that will have many eyes on it as Petrino matches wits with Josh Heupel. Can Arkansas make it there? With the changes of parts and fresh fluids, the odds are in their favor to make the trip.\u00a0 Once there, we will see the fruition of these swift actions; this is to be determined.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In closing, the vehicle is off the road, and the work is being done. We will keep an eye on what needs to be fixed for Arkansas and see if the price is worth the work. Until then, it is time to get to work on a broken vehicle, hoping for new life after a full overhaul.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How often do you drive down the highway and see a car stalled in the emergency lane?\u00a0Think of this as a cardinal red vehicle with smoke coming from the hood, and three flat tires. As you drive down the road towards the next exit, you see a distressed person walking with a one-gallon gas can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4207,"featured_media":76854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35588,17,3],"tags":[437,33968,111],"class_list":["post-80773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-arkansas-razorbacks","category-news","category-sec","tag-bobby-petrino","tag-hunter-yurachek","tag-sam-pittman"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80773"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80783,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80773\/revisions\/80783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}