Bret Bielema faced some tough questions following Arkansas’ narrow win over Coastal Carolina
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Arkansas survived what would have been perhaps the most embarrassing loss of the Bret Bielema era Saturday by getting a 39-38 win in comeback fashion over lowly Coastal Carolina in Fayetteville. The performance was so perplexing following the Razorbacks’ big comeback win over Ole Miss last week.
Immediately after the game, Bielema took some tough questions in his postgame press conference from media, especially considering the lack of touches for running back T.J. Hammonds.
Here’s a portion of Bielema’s comments following the too close for comfort win:
Opening statements:
“Obviously, it was a game that our guys battled through. Give a lot of credit to Coastal Carolina. I think in the first half, anything that could go wrong did go wrong. Offensively we got three out of four, but we had to keep moving the ball. Defense did some uncharacteristic things like some balls got thrown deep, they took advantage of some open looks. I think the biggest things on the defensive side of the ball were adjustments in the second half and trying to keep the ow of the game differently. We made big plays at the end.
“I can’t say enough about (sophomore running back) T.J. Hammonds, obviously a guy we try to bring on more and more. The kid’s got a special gear. I said get him in the game. Whatever else he does, our coaches, we’ve got to do a better job of getting him in there and seeing that he runs with it.
“We did plan on getting (senior quarterback) Austin Allen in there. He practiced almost all practice on Tuesday, and Wednesday and Thursday was 100 percent. We intended to get him in there, but obviously the ow of the game, we were going to come out in the second half a little bit because of the score and the situation, really felt for (redshirt freshman quarterback ) Cole’s (Kelley) development just to keep staying where he is. He’ll be a hundred percent next week which will be exciting for us and our preparation.”
T.J. Hammonds and his lack of catches. Do you think he’ll get more?
“Absolutely. He’s a special player. That play was locked up nicely, and he did a great job. As far as the amount of touches, we’re trying to get him the ball, more and more. I think the better he learns the offensive in all phases he’s going to help us. We can’t dictate on the ow of the game when it’s in there. As head coach I’m hoping we get him in there as much as anybody.”
Do you wish you would have gotten Hammonds the ball more the last two years?
“No, I think you look forward and say I’m glad that he’s there and try to get him the ball as much as we can. I think negative people think negative thoughts, we try to stay positive.”
On McTelvin Agim’s ejection:
“I know the hit came high. It was a shorter quarterback, there’s no doubt in my mind that Sosa wasn’t going to come in and try to harm him. And the thing I argued on the sideline was bam, bam. If he threw the hitch, we’re going to have to hit him and they agreed, probably shouldn’t have been a roughing, but they couldn’t take away the fact that it went helmet to helmet. That’s what our discussion was about.”
On Austin Allen’s status:
“Yeah, I think the great thing is we’ve got two guys that have won football games. I’d like to keep that as a surprise for Saturday, not today.”
Thoughts on the offensive line play?
“They did a good job. We thought last week they did a better job of keeping our quarterback protected. Cole’s understanding to get rid of the ball.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
