Sam Pittman, Hogs aware of threat Louisiana Tech poses

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is looking to close out the home portion of its schedule with a win on Saturday and become bowl eligible.

Arkansas (5-5, 3-4) is set to host Louisiana Tech (4-6) who is coming off a big 12-7 win over Western Kentucky. The Razorbacks fell to Texas 20-10 in its last outing.

“I think our team is fairly healthy,” Pittman said. “Excited about the opportunity for senior afternoon on Saturday against Louisiana Tech, a team that is playing extremely well. They’re holding teams to low scores defensively and putting up some points. Last week obviously was a hard-fought game against Western Kentucky, who was leading that league, and they were able to win. So we have a hot team coming in here.”

Quarterback Evan Bullock is someone the Hogs are very aware of. The quarterback enters the game having completed 135 of 200 passes for 1,518 yards, 12 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions.

“Yeah, I think he’s grown,” Pittman said. “He’s a redshirt freshman and I think he’s really grown as the year’s continued to move on. He’s polished back there. He doesn’t play like a young guy. Obviously he’s started now, I think this will be his eighth start coming in here. But he’s very accurate and has a strong arm. They do with him what they need to to win. Obviously last week was more of a running game for them. But very accurate. I’ll tell you he’s got a lot of fantastic receivers, guys that have a lot of speed out there and so we’re well aware of him. He’s poised back there, especially for his young age.”

Defensive back Doneiko Slaughter gave some inside on what the Hogs have to do against Tech’s offense. Slaughter is second on Arkansas in tackles with 59, including 36 solo, 1 sack and 5 pass breakups.

“They’ll do a lot of unique formations,” Slaughter said. “They’ll throw a lot of eye candy out there to mess up our eyes. We’ve just got to stay disciplined and handle our business out there on the practice field and go win one day at a time and then execute on Saturday.”

Linebacker Stephen Dix Jr. also praised the Louisiana Tech offense and talked about how the Hogs need to defend it. Dix is third on the Razorbacks with 52 tackles, 20 solo, 2 sacks, 1 pass breakup and a recovered fumble.

“Obviously their record doesn’t really mesh with the way they’ve played,” Dix said. “I think their offense is pretty good. They do a whole lot of different stuff, which is kind of confusing to keep us on our toes. We just have to be really good with adjusting. … But we’re treating every team as a faceless opponent. We’re playing ourselves. We’re going to go out there and play to our standard of ball, and not to the team that we’re playing. We’re not going to play down, we’re going to play up. Just the standard of what we do and how we perform.

“I think they have a pretty good scheme. We’ve just got out there and prepare and play assignment football and play together as one.”

It sounds like the Hogs will get one defender back and also an offensive player, but the news isn’t as good on Anthony Switzer.

“(Selman) Bridges is back, (Braylen) Russell is full speed,” Pittman said. “Has been all week. And Switzer is probably doubtful.”

The game will kickoff at 3 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+ and SEC+.