FAYETTEVILLE — Willy Robinson would rather coach on the field than in the press box, but Arkansas’ defensive coordinator was happy to be behind the glass Saturday when the Razorbacks’ run defense was springing leaks.

Robinson said he was blowing a gasket as Western Illinois running back Herb Donaldson punctured Arkansas for 157 rushing yards.

“I’m up there in the press box spitting nails,” Robinson said. “Even though I’m not comfortable up there, it’s probably better, better not to have that on camera.”

Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino was not pleased, either. He criticized some of the Hogs ’ special-teams play in the aftermath of Saturday’s game, but he said he was particularly disappointed in the defensive line.

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“I learned I had a higher opinion of our defensive front than I should have,” Petrino said.

The Razorbacks are determined to plug the holes in the run defense Saturday in Little Rock against Louisiana-Monroe through a combination of better technique, sticking to assignments and playing a more physical brand of football.

“The first game of the season you want to start off on fire, and I don’t think we did that, so we’ll try to improve that and come out with more pressure this week,” defensive tackle and team captain Malcolm Sheppard said.

“It’s hand and feet placement,” senior defensive tackle Ernest Mitchell said. “Just more technique stuff. Shooting your hands, making sure you hold your gap, run your feet, just the little things that count these days.”

Middle linebacker Jerry Franklin said the Hogs cannot allow the opposing offensive linemen to run free in the secondary.

“We’ve got to get more physical and bang linemen,” Franklin said.

Petrino’s dissatisfaction with the defensive front was accentuated because he entered the season thinking the line was one of the team’s strengths.

“We got cut,” Petrino said. “We were on the ground a lot. Sometimes we were up the field too much and didn’t read the blocking scheme and flatten out and keep our shoulders square to the line of scrimmage.

“ We really caused our linebackers and our safeties more ground to cover and bigger holes to fill than we need to.... That’s certainly something I’m not happy about. I thought we’d play a lot better than that on the defensive front.”

Members of the Arkansas front four owned up to the lack of production in the opener.

“First of all, we’ve got to get off on the ball, then you’ve got to use your hands to get linemen off of you,” end Adrian Davis said. “We like to throw our shoulder in a lot, [and ] we’ve got to use our hands a lot more.”

Arkansas coaches were particularly unhappy with Western Illinois’ 7-of-17 conversion rate on third-down plays.

That figure included successful conversions with the following yardage needed: 8, 11, 6, 8, 1 and 3. Then there was a conversion that threatened to break the game open, a third-and-13 power run from the Arkansas 17. Donaldson rumbled off right tackle for 14 yards to set up the touchdown that gave the Leathernecks a 24-14 lead with 10: 34 left in the game.

“Stopping the run is crucial no matter who you play, whether it’s Western Illinois or Louisiana-Monroe,” safety Matt Harris said. “If they get out there and set the tone, it’s harder to come back, it’s harder to play your game.

“ By stopping the run, it’s setting the tempo, setting the theme: ‘We’re going to hit you in the mouth on every play. You’re going to have to do something else besides run the ball to get that first down.’”

That theme was not established in the opener.

“Some of it was physical, and we weren’t really prepared for the physicalness they were bringing,” Davis said. “We’ve got to be more prepared.”