Why is Pittman still confident following heartbreaking loss?

Green did indeed give the Hogs a chance on a night when the Arkansas defense had few answers when it came to stopping Ole Miss' offense. He threw for 305 yards and a touchdown, ran for 115 and another score, while accounting for 420 of the Razorbacks'

Is the rest of Hogs' offense performing well enough?

Pittman rebuilt the offensive line following last season with several transfers from the portal and shifted others from one position to another. It's worked out well, so far.

"I feel like offensively our line's better," Pittman said. "Man, our wide outs are catching the ball well and running (after the catch). Tight end, we're good there. Running backs, good players, doing a good job."

Mike Washington has made the biggest impact at running back. The 6-foot-2, 228-pound senior is a transfer from New Mexico State with excellent speed and power.

Washington is averaging 8.4 yards per carry, with 260 yards on 31 attempts, with three touchdowns. He took this one all the way against Ole Miss.

What's the secret to defense recovering from Ole Miss debacle?

Pittman said he believes in the Hogs' defense and wants to turn them loose more to show off their athletic talent.

"I think we've got the talent to be much better on defense," he said. "We've got to simplify some things and we've got to let these guys play."

He doesn't expect perfection. After all, this isn't the legendary 1964 Razorbacks' defense that pitched five straight shutouts to end that season.

Those five shutouts immediately followed, and were inspired by, the No. 8 Hogs' impressive 14-13 win against the No. 1 Texas Longhorns in Austin.

The '64 season, of course, is Arkansas' only claim to a football national championship.

Pittman doesn't expect shutouts, especially in this wide-open era of offense, but does want to minimize mistakes.

"Someone's going to miss a tackle," Pittman said. "OK, that's fine, but let's don't miss 10. Somebody's going to miss the tackle. Let's line up and make them earn what they (get). Let's don't cut somebody loose. So, we've got to be a little simpler there."

Is the coach ready to replace his 5-star freshman kicker?

Pittman has two kickers he believes in: punter Devin Bale and placekicker Scott Starzyk.

Bale is a senior who transferred from Northern Colorado and redshirted before earning the job a year ago. He's punted just six times in three games and is averaging an impressive 48.5 per punt, kicking one out-of-bounds to pin Ole Miss at its seven-yard line.

Starzyk was a top recruit, a true freshman from The Woodlands, Texas, outside of Houston.

He was a 5-star prospect according to Kohl’s Kicking, which rated him the No. 1 kicker in the class of 2025. He was ranked the No. 2 kicker in the class of 2025 by ESPN and 247Sports.

He made his only attempt in the season's first two games, but against Ole Miss he missed twice. Critical misses? Sure, since the Hogs lost by six, but Pittman's not hanging the loss on his prized freshman.

"We don't punt much, but Devin's doing a good [job]," Pittman said. "Certainly special teams not a huge factor except (Ole Miss) made their two (field goals) and we didn't. "

The 5-foot-10, 172-pound Starzyk showed off his big leg in his first quarter of college football by drilling a 53-yarder to give the Hogs a 10-7 lead against overmatched Alabama A&M.

He missed from 51 yards out on the Hogs' opening drive at Ole Miss and was wide of the mark from 49 in the final minute of the third quarter when Arkansas trailed 38-28.

"The first one, he left it right, a little wide," Pittman said. "The second one, I mean, he hit really good. He probably overanalyzed missing, and he barely missed the second one.

"I’ve got a lot of confidence (in him), obviously. You know, we took the ball (to start the game), we took the ball to take the lead. That’s what we were trying to do.

"Our whole deal was, we’re going to take the ball, take the lead and let them chase us. Which we ended up chasing them the whole game.

"But he just, he missed it. He certainly had made one this year already that way, but I have full confidence in him, and he’ll be fine. He’s young, he’ll be fine."

How will Hogs handle immediate challenges that lie ahead?

In a nutshell, Pittman remains confident about his entire team. He still thinks they can beat anybody on the schedule.

"I feel like the disappointment of losing can't take away the fact that I think we've got a really good team, and we can play with anybody that we play," Pittman said. "Our opponents are very good and so you have to play well.

"But I feel really good about the football team. We've got some things to correct, but I do think this is one of the better teams that I've had, even though we lost on the road the other night.

"I still think this is one of our better teams that I've had since I've been here."

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