3-And-Out: Red Zone Woes Troubling For Razorbacks, Cobi Hamilton Hopes 'More To Come'

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3-And-Out: Red Zone Woes Troubling For Razorbacks, Cobi Hamilton Hopes 'More To Come'

by Chris Bahn on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012 8:16 am

Arkansas needs better running inside the 20 to help fix the Razorbacks' red zone woes. (Photo by Mark Wagner)

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

News and notes from Tuesday’s Arkansas media availability…

I. Red Zone Woes
Paul Petrino has tried making sense of the numbers.

He can’t.

Arkansas ran 98 plays on Texas A&M. On those plays the Razorbacks tallied 515 yards. They finished with 10 points in a 48-point loss.

How can a team put up those kind of offensive numbers and not come away with more points? It’s frustrating for Petrino, who said much of the team’s prep last week was on red zone — or as he calls it, “critical zone” — preparation.

“I’ve never lost a game in my life putting up that kind of yards and having 98 plays,” Petrino said. “You have 98 plays and 515 yards you should win. We just didn’t get it done in the critical zone. Five times. That’s 35 points. We have to get touchdowns.”

Arkansas’ trips inside the 20-yard line were a mixed bag of bad and continued a problem that has been there for them all season. Entering Saturday’s 11 a.m. game at Auburn, the Razorbacks (1-4, 0-2) have scored in the red zone just 12 of 19 times this season. That total ranks worst in the SEC.

It’s been an ongoing problem, but one highlighted by how poorly the offense scored at A&M. Fixing that will be critical if Arkansas has any chance at winning Saturday and in the seven games that remain.

Where do the Razorbacks start?

Everywhere.

It doesn't help that tight end Chris Gragg was out against A&M and fullbacks Kiero Small and Kody Walker are out for the season because of injury. Penalties, turnovers, dropped passes and lack of a running game are among the factors when the offense has stalled. Essentially, the Razorbacks can’t get out of their own way.

“Believe me, we are somewhat and have been our worst enemy, you know?” Smith said. “We’ve got to realize that as coaches and as a team, and say, ‘OK, we’re going to take care of ourselves and we’re going to fix this.’ It’s our consistency and mistakes.”

II. Wanting More
Texas A&M didn’t do much to take wide receiver Cobi Hamilton away from quarterback Tyler Wilson. As a result Hamilton finished with 11 catches for 162 yards.