What Sam Pittman said after Arkansas beat FIU
Sam Pittman hadn’t had many chances to speak positively about his team in the 2023 season.
For Arkansas fans, it must have been good to see him feeling good after Saturday night’s win over Florida International.
Pittman was mostly asked about his individual players after the game. Guys like Isaiah Sategna, Andrew Armstong and Isaiah Augustave all played well and drew praise from their head coach.
But Pittman was also asked about a conversation he supposedly had with ESPN analyst Rod Gilmore. Gilmore had said during the broadcast that Pittman told him he would not be fired this year. Afterward, Pittman said he didn’t say exactly those words in his interview.
The coach then bemoaned the state of journalism before continuing on about his team. It was an unusual moment in an otherwise ordinary presser.
Check out what Pittman had to say below.
Opening statement
A lot of people out there. I appreciate the noise and how our fans helped us win the game. Felt like they were a big part of it. I want to thank them for coming out and supporting their football team.
Big rushing day
It’s game 11, so it would be there, but any game, whether it be 1 or 11 or whatever, very happy to get 300 yards. I was proud of Isaiah. He ran unbelievable. We handed it off one time and what should have been a dead play and he got 12 yards on it. Proud of the offensive line and the runners. KJ’s a big part of the running, as well. Good to see Dommo (Dominique Johnson), come in and split that. Good to see him back.
Augustave's big game
Our plan going in is that we were going to play R-Dub and Isaiah more than what we had. R-Dub got hurt. Rocket got hurt, as well. The great thing about is we had an opportunity practice Isaiah with the 1s, so it really worked out well for us.
Mood after FIU took lead
Everybody is going to get down six points every now and then. We were just trying to figure out how to rush the football, protect it. We were giving up some big plays. We needed to stop that. We had some bad penalties, too. Special teams was causing us position. We were talking about how we could stop hurting ourselves with those. There really wasn’t anything magical about being down six that we did.
More on Augustave
His youth would have kept him off the field, not understanding all the plays and calls. Like a lot of freshmen. But going into this week, I wanted to see what he could do in a live game. We needed a shot and running back. We needed somebody to make people miss, run over people, hit holes with some urgency. We thought it might put some urgency into all of that group, as well, by seeing he was going to get the opportunity to play. That was our thought.
Injuries to Rocket and Dubinion
Rocket’s got a shoulder and R-Dub’s got a knee but I don’t know how bad.
Dominique Johnson's day
It meant a lot to me. I hope it meant a lot to him. Fourth-and-2 deal with nobody in the middle of the field. I’m sure he was really excited about it. His face was glowing when he came off the field. Pretty big hole there and he ran straight ahead to the goal line. I’m happy for him.
KJ's record-setting day
I think he’s handled the season well. He competed tonight for us and for the team. I’m really happy. We recognized him after the game about being the all-time passing yard leader and passing touchdowns. I hope, I know it meant a lot to him. It meant a lot to us that we’ve been able to have him for four years now. Feleipe Franks was here tonight, too. That was cool for him to come back and witness that. I know it wasn’t his record, but it was neat he was able to come back. KJ’s meant a lot to our program. He’s going to mean a lot Friday, too.
Firing rumors
I don’t remember having that conversation with those guys. That’s Hunter. You need to ask him all that kind of stuff. I will say this, when we start talking about firing all this, it kills us in recruiting. It does. Especially when we fabricate stories. It kills us in recruiting. When we give opinions about who is coming in and all those type things, it kills us. I got a wife and she’s a human being. We’re going to put out stuff that’s not true? I know it’s an opinion world. I don’t think I’m getting fired or he would have told me I’m getting fired. I’m not for sure why I have to answer these questions about getting fired or not. I don’t. We’ll kill recruiting if we keep talking about it. If you’re an Arkansas fan, it’s going to hurt us. Opinions, media has become opinions. I wish we’d post the facts and whatever the facts are, we can deal with it.
Limited Jaheim Thomas
He played some, I think. He may not have. But he was out there. If he didn’t play, he ran off some. He was out there. No, we just thought Grier had a good week. Unless someone says, but Dave never came to me and told me he was hurt or anything. Grier, we thought he earned the right to start. Jaheim is a good player for us and hopefully he’ll be back and help us.
Walcott with two picks
Big. One was Al, one was KJ and one was Augustave. But that a big-time play, the ball kind of went around the helmet, got it and ran it in on the first one. The second one, he really, he stole it. The second one was one where he was in the flat and drifted on the guy, guy didn’t see him and threw it right to him. Made some good tackles tonight, too. I thought we tackled better in the secondary. … I thought Al played a good game. We’re beat up back there. We’re beat up at corner because Braxton didn’t play. We’ll have enough to throw out there against Missouri on Friday.
Momentum for Mizzou?
It’s a rivalry game. They’ve got a really, really good team. They do. We’ve got a lot of respect for their program. I think a rivalry, you never know what’ll happen. I know we’ll have our kids prepared. They will as well.
Cam Little is human
You’re really good when you miss a couple and people talk about it. He is. The last one that he made, I had a fake called and it was 4th-and-2 and we didn’t get the look we wanted and Scott called it off out there. He made that one. I don’t think there was anything. He’s not Superman. He’s super. I’m not worried about it. I know why you asked the question. I don’t think it was a bad hold or anything. I think we just pushed it right.
Jaedon Wilson
He works hard. Did he run a reverse, too? Wasn’t real good, was it? We’re trying to get the ball in his hands a little bit more. He’s done that all year in practice. Glad he had an opportunity to catch one tonight.
Andrew Armstrong consistent
He’s the one thing that is consistent. KJ that’s kind of his go-to guy, as well. He’s a hard-working kid. If we can talk him into coming back, I think he’ll be even better next year for us. I’m proud of what he’s done for us all year.
Sategna lotta touches
I thought it was a really good call by Kenny. Obviously if it had went for minus-2, I’d have thought it was a bad call. Good timing on it. Got the edge on it. We thought we could get the edge because the tackles were going down, which we did. He made a really nice run. It was good to get the ball in his hands. Probably the highest kickoffs he’s had returned, punts he’s had returned, the reverse and he caught the touchdown. Good night for him.
Good to dominate?
Good to have a game where you thought you were going to win where there’s two or three minutes left. That was fun. Our kids needed that for confidence, too, especially after last week. Coming off the high of Florida and the low of Auburn, to be able to come back. We’ve got a lot of things to work on from today, but there are some things we did that we can teach on for some positive stuff and I think that’ll help us for next Friday.
Senior Day on Friday
I think it’s all positive. Any time you can have emotions running. What’s a little bit different is, I hope we’re going to have four or five guys that’ll come back. Senior Day is special, especially for the guys that know they’re definitely leaving. I think that’s what the game is all about, as well. Most of the guys are going to have their degree. Pretty cool deal.
