Arkansas coach Sam Pittman shares leverage goals, insights on 2-point conversion attempts
Sam Pittman wants options.
That’s among the initial, foundational elements when Arkansas’s third-year head coach is readying his Razorbacks offense for a potential two-point conversion.
Pittman’s insight comes on the heels of his Hogs’ game-tying try against Liberty being ruled short of the goal line on KJ Jefferson’s shotgun-snap direct dash up the middle in last Saturday’s 21-19 loss to Hugh Freeze and Liberty.
“Well, a lot of times you’re looking at leverage,” Pittman says of his team’s pre-snap approach when lining up from the 3-yard line to seek a two-point conversion.
The defensive leverage and how the opposition deploys its 11 defenders – crowding the line of scrimmage in the box or perhaps spread wider to protect the perimeters – are crucial, Pittman explains, for Arkansas.
“If we’re throwing the football, we’re looking at leverage,” says Pittman, whose Hogs are 3-for-10 on 2-point tries since Pittman’s arrival atop the program before the 2020 season. “I like a two-point play where we have a run-pass option out of it.
“The first thing we’re doing is looking at leverage. We like to run the ball a lot, and obviously we’ve done that. We’ve got a shovel pass and those types of things. But 3 yards, you’re looking at the box numbers there. If box numbers are you can block ’em, then we can run it.”
Ultimately as the field condenses and in-game pressure rises, Pittman says, it comes down to winning man-on-man battles.
“The difference is you don’t have the space and defensive backs aren’t playing off as much, things of that mature,” Pittman says. “You’ve got to win 1on-1 matchups, because you’re not getting zone matchups at that point.”
In this clip showing the Hogs’ attempt against Liberty, it’s not entirely clear if Jefferson comes up short.
The ball clearly crosses the goal line in Jefferson’s arm, but Arkansas hosts LSU this weekend seeking to rebound from a loss after last week’s ruling of Jefferson being stopped short.
And here is another Hogs’ two-point try on an RPO from earlier this season in an eventual loss to then-No. 2 Alabama.
Arkansas’s opponents are 5-for-8 on two-point tries against the Razorbacks since the start of the 2021 season.
