Sacks are a concern for Hogs

FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks ranked 11 th in the SEC in sacks allowed and sacks registered heading into the weekend.

The Arkansas defense managed to post three sacks in its victories over Western Illinois, which threw only 26 passes, and Louisiana-Monroe. Perhaps even more alarming was that quarterback Casey Dick has been sacked eight times for 55 yards lost.

“It’s an 11-man operation, but at the end, it’s [the quarterback ] standing there with the ball when he gets sacked, so it’s pretty much our responsibility to not take the sack,” quarterbacks coach Garrick McGee said. “It puts you behind the chains. We’ve spent some time at second down and extra long.

“ Even if you just get 3 yards, that puts you at second and 7 and you can call any play you want in that situation. That’s an issue we’ve got to get cleaned up.”

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Dick has taken every offensive snap for the Razorbacks and leads the SEC with 335 total yards and 320. 5 passing yards per game. He takes some of the sack criticism on himself.

“I haven’t changed the protection or seen it fast enough to change it,” Dick said. “You can put some of those on me.

“ You’re not going to play 100 percent. Guys are going to get beat every now and again. I trust them 100 percent. You’ve got to be able to drop back and go through your reads and not worry about what’s going on with them.”

McGee said the staff will always be demanding of quarterbacks.

“When you play this position at this school nowadays, you’re taking sole responsibility for the things that go on, because you get the credit when it goes well,” McGee said. “It goes both ways.” Jack still jumping

If anyone doubted whether Arkansas created the “jack” position — the linebacker-safety hybrid that typically plays close to the line of scrimmage — solely to alleviate problems with linebacker depth, they now have their answer.

With the quartet of linebackers Elston Forte, Ryan Powers, Wendell Davis and Freddy Burton all becoming available in the past week, the Razorbacks are still running “jack” packages.

“That’s our defense,” linebackers coach Reggie Johnson said. “Now obviously we have the ability with those guys back to match personnel more if they have bigger bodies. If they have faster bodies, we can go faster bodies.” Forte’s frustrations

Senior team captain Elston Forte missed essentially a month to rehabilitate the dislocated kneecap he sustained the second week of camp.

Forte described the time away from practice and missing the first two games as difficult.

“It was hard to be on the sideline for Western Illinois, hard to be on the sideline for ULM, it’s been hard being on the sidelines just watching them practice,” Forte said last week in his first interview since suffering the injury. “Real hard. I want to go harder for my teammates because they’ve been out here grinding.” With the postponement of Saturday’s game at Texas, Forte and other dinged-up teammates will get another week of recovery before the Razorbacks take on Alabama in the SEC opener for both teams Saturday. Forte’s return has drawn mostly positive reviews. “He’s moving really good, he’s very efficient in his movements, he’s running with knee bend and he’s playing with confidence,” defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said. “We watch the film and you see a guy who’s giving 100 percent.”

Run vs. pass Arkansas was so diligent at stopping the run against Louisiana-Monroe, it committed more defenders to the box and left its cornerbacks in man coverage more than in the Week 1 victory over Western Illinois.

Louisiana-Monroe picked up on the trend and managed to burn the Razorbacks down each sideline, once on a 33-yard touchdown and again — after stopping the Hogs on fourth-and-2 — on a 46-yard gain down the right sideline. Kinsmon Lancaster connected with Anthony McCall on both strikes, the first over Isaac Madison and the second against Ramon Broadway.

“We probably made a mistake on my part in really, really loading up the box to stop the run and not participating as much in practice to stop the pass, and that’s where we really got hurt,” defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said.

Razorbacks’ run After the weekend’s outcomes, here’s what shuffled out for Arkansas in regard to the gauntlet it faces during the next month. The Razorbacks will play their next four games against No. 9 Alabama, at No. 7 Texas, No. 4 Florida, and at No. 10 Auburn. Say what, Saban ?

From the “Didn’t think we’d ever hear this from a head coach” files, comes this nugget, courtesy of Alabama Coach Nick Saban following Saturday’s 41-7 victory over Western Kentucky.

“I wish we wouldn’t have kept the ball for so long, because there were some defensive players that we wanted to see, to get to play a little bit more, but it didn’t work out that way,” Saban said in reference to his coaching staff’s evaluation of players.

Alabama ran 85 offensive plays to 56 for the Hilltoppers, outgained its guests 557-171 in total yardage and held the ball for 37: 21 compared to Western Kentucky’s 22: 39.