Had Arkansas not gotten off to a 1-3 start last season, the Razorbacks would have been in contention for a New Year’s Six Bowl to finish 2015. The inexplicable loss to Toledo in Week 2 sent the Hogs into a downward spiral that carried over to the next two weeks before a win in Neyland Stadium against Tennessee gave the season new life.

This is an issue Bret Bielema and his team are well aware of entering the season and have already adjusted game preparation to fix.

“One of the things are guys have talked about is starting fast,” Bielema said during his Tuesday media availability. “Last year we did not start fast and were a 1-3 team coming out of it.”

 

Looking to avoid the same catastrophic start to this season, Arkansas’ head coach revealed he plans to take a page out of former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly and current Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz playbooks.

“I started hearing about this five years ago,” Bielema said. “I dabbled in it when I was at Wisconsin, and I began to think about it a little bit. One of the first teams I heard talk about it was Oregon, when I talked to Chip… Last year, Iowa, I talked to Kirk (Ferentz) quite a bit.”

So how exactly will Arkansas avoid another slow start? By taking Thursday off from the practice field and hitting it hard Friday, the day before the game – a practice typically reversed in order to rest player’s bodies for game day.

“A lot of teams have gone to de-loading the amount of activity on Thursday and increasing on Friday,” Bielema said. “(Head strength coach) Ben Herbert got up and gave a whole presentation to our team. When they get done with practice on Wednesday, they won’t have any type of high-level intensity movements until Friday afternoon. Then we’ll engage in a 45-minute to an hour up-tempo… not a walk-through, but not a practice.”

If Arkansas looks more prepared to start the season, Razorback fans may have Chip Kelly and Kirk Ferentz to thank.