Three Things Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman Said ahead of the Razorbacks’ Trip to Stillwater

Sam Pittman and his Razorbacks have a big test ahead of them in Week 2 with a trip to Stillwater.

Pittman is entering his fifth season as Arkansas’ head coach, and his Hogs and Oklahoma State will renew a rivalry between two schools separated by less than 200 miles of highway at 11 a.m. Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium. Pittman met with reporters Monday to preview the matchup. Here are three things that stood out about what he had to say.

1. Gundy ‘Blunt and to the Point’

Both Oklahomans, Pittman (born in El Reno, attended high school in Grove) and Mike Gundy (Midwest City) have danced around each other in their coaching careers but haven’t yet crossed paths.

They’ve come close a few times but just missed each other. Pittman was Oklahoma’s offensive line coach in 1997 and 1998 and Missouri’s offensive line coach in 2000. But that was when Gundy was in his four-year stint as an assistant at Maryland. Gundy came back to Stillwater in 2001, a season where Pittman was the O-line coach at Kansas, but the Cowboys and Jayhawks didn’t play that year.

But despite not seeing each other across the field, it sounds as if Pittman has an admiration for the Cowboys’ coach.

“I always get a kick out of listening to Coach Gundy’s press conferences because he’s blunt and to the point and he is who he is,” Pittman said. “I have a lot of respect for that, and he catches a little heat for it. I don’t think he much cares, you know. I think he just is who he is. I’ve always had respect for him as a man, but then you go and you watch his teams play, and they’re always prepared. And they play hard as hell and a lot of fun to watch.”

2. Collin Oliver ‘Totally Different’ than Arkansas DE Landon Jackson

Saturday’s matchup will feature a pair of fantastic defensive ends from the 2021 recruiting class.

On one side, there’s Collin Oliver. Oliver has a chance this season to become OSU’s all-time leader in sacks. He has 23.5 in his career after recording one in OSU’s season-opening win against South Dakota State. The other sideline features Landon Jackson, who last season recorded 13.5 tackles for loss for the Razorbacks while also recording 6.5 sacks. Some early mock drafts project Jackson as a first-round pick.

Jackson was the No. 125 player in the 2021 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, initially going to LSU for a season before transferring to Arkansas. Oliver was the No. 439 player in those same rankings, turning down offers to Arkansas, Georgia and others to stay in his home state.

Although they both often operate the same position, their biggest difference seems to be their measurables. Oliver is listed at 6-foot-2, 240 pounds. Jackson is listed at a hefty 6-foot-7, 280 pounds. (Another fun fact: Jackson was classmates with Nick Martin at Pleasant Grove High School in Texarkana.)

Pittman said the two are stylistically different but both can leave an impact on a game.

“Two totally different guys,” Pittman said. “Oliver is smaller, quicker. Now, they both can rush the passer. They do more with Oliver than we do with Landon. They drop him into coverage. They move him around. In their odd package he’ll be inside, outside. They do some things there more than what we do with Landon.

“What I will say, the common thing that they have is the ability to get to the quarterback. They both play extremely hard, and they’re both physical football players.”

3. ‘We Haven’t Been Tested’

After going 4-8 last season, Pittman’s Hogs started this year with a 70-0 win.

That’s certainly an example of starting the year off on the right foot, but given the quality of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Arkansas’ Week 1 opponent), it’s hard to say with too much certainty where the Razorbacks are at entering this trip to Stillwater. A member of the FCS SWAC, Pine Bluff was 2-9 last season with its only two wins (against D-II Miles and Texas Southern) coming by one point each. Meanwhile, Pine Bluff was outscored in its nine losses a combined 318-111.

Pittman isn’t blind to the fact that the Golden Lions weren’t the best of measuring sticks. He said there were a few things the Razorbacks could take from that game but that they’ll know a lot more about themselves after this trip to Boone Pickens Stadium.

“The game Thursday, there’s really not a lot you can put into the results of that because, no disrespect, we’re not gonna play anybody like that the rest of the year,” Pittman said. “The only thing you can do is did we play hard? Did we play smart? And did we play physical? Did we want to score every time? Did we want to shut them out? That’s the results you got from it. The smart part of it — did we have a lot of (missed assignments)? We did not up front. We didn’t have, really, pressure problems. But, they didn’t pressure us either.

“We’re gonna get pressured Saturday. There’s no doubt in my mind. They’re gonna see if we can protect. For what the game was, I thought we played smart and we played physicial, and that’s the expectation when we go into Stillwater. I like our line. We haven’t been tested. We’ll find out a lot more about them on Saturday.”