Defense wins the day. It’s something Arkansas football is not used to hearing. The team had its first real scrimmage inside Razorback Stadium Saturday and it was refreshing to see the guys on that side of the ball dominate for a change. They came up with multiple stops during the 160-play scrimmage.
“We came out knowing that everybody in the stands, everybody, all the fans are looking for the offense to come out and beat on the defense,” said defensive end Trey Flowers. “That happens every year, but we had a little chip on our shoulder like we have to come out here and make a statement.”
“I think it was a good spark and will help their confidence, which we need,” said head coach John L. Smith. Like I told them, we need to be good defensively for us to be a great football team.”
Defense will define how the hogs do in the SEC this season; just like the past three years when they had a dynamic offense. Having the most points in the league and a mediocre defense isn’t good enough for this program. That all starts with stopping the run, something John L Smith thinks has improved but it’s still not where it needs to be.
“It’s been OK. We have to continue to emphasize it, but we have gotten a lot better. We have to continue to get a lot better. I like the way we are running to the ball and swarming to the ball. So that part is good. We have to continue to play with that great attitude and great effort.”
“We’re going to keep having that attitude about it,” said Flowers. “We’re going to keep going in to practice knowing that we got a good offense. We got one of the best offenses in the SEC and we got to get our defense right. So us working hard in practice, we’ll definitely improve.”
