NFL
By: Randall Slifer
The Arkansas Razorbacks are starting the year 1-0. Yes, they played North Alabama. Did it look great? No, it did not. The one thing Arkansas fans can talk about is how Silverfield approached the post-game, and it’s intriguing to see how he responds.
Ryan Silverfield said the first half was the worst offensive performance he’s seen as a coach. Is that a positive thing? It depends on how you look at it. Arkansas fans should know there is a learning curve when a new regime starts in year 1. The upside of his comments is that Arkansas fans can see how he responds as their head coach.
The Arkansas Razorbacks play a night game in Utah this Saturday. Let’s take a look at how Ryan Silverfield should respond in a top-25 matchup:
Can the Arkansas line improve?
The Arkansas Razorback offensive line was the roughest part of week one. Against North Alabama, they allowed 4 pressures and 2 sacks. That doesn’t seem bad, but run blocking was a bigger issue. North Alabama closed gaps and allowed only 2.5 yards per carry between Braylen Russell and Sutton Smith.
Continuity is key to good offensive line play. Malachi Breland was the only offensive lineman familiar with Ryan Silverfield’s vision for the blocking scheme. Bryant Williams is a transfer from a smaller school, so he needs some time to get used to the SEC defensive lines. The tight ends did not block well, and they will need to be an integral part of the blocking scheme versus Utah. The issue is they only have a week to figure it out.
Utah is known for their physicality on the defensive side of the ball. They generated 26 pressures against Idaho last week. Their outside linebackers accounted for 9 pressures. They send their linebackers to blitz to help stop the run and rush the passer. They accounted for 5 defensive stops and 8 pressures.
Arkansas will need to make sure their tight ends are ready to chip well (not just chip) to disrupt the timing of their outside linebackers. This will help the offensive tackles combo block and move to the outside with time to go 1-on-1. In the run game, the offensive line will need to build gaps using pins and pulls from their tackles to ensure that certain gaps can open up for the running backs. The guards and centers will need to anchor down and keep their gaps.
Can KJ Jackson show he deserved the starting role?
KJ Jackson had a rough Week 1 outing as the starting quarterback. In a full off-season where the coaching staff preached ball security, KJ Jackson threw 1 interception and fumbled the ball once. He was pressured 9 times, sacked 3 times, and posted a poor 33% pressure-to-sack ratio. His decision-making was average, but he made some nice throws and kept plays alive with his scrambling.
The Utes blitz, and KJ and the offensive line will need to know that. They blitz on almost half of their defensive snaps! That typically means they play man behind their 5-man pressures, so the wide receivers have a tall task as well. Chris Marshall and Ismael Cisse looked the best in their route running, and they should be the focal point of the passing attack this Saturday.
Ryan Silverfield will need to make things easy on KJ Jackson. Quick passes to get him comfortable and into 2nd and 5-7 instead of 2nd and 9. If the running game can get going, then Ryan Silverfield can open up his playbook to search for explosive plays. Against an inferior North Alabama, KJ Jackson threw only 2 balls over 20+ air yards. He only threw 5 balls in the intermediate (10-19 air yards). To create space and spread out the defense, you need to respect the deep ball. Since Utah is a heavy blitzing team, find your 1-on-1s, and let it rip and give the wide receiver a chance to make a play.
Can the pass rush improve?
The Arkansas Razorbacks’ defense was the highlight of the game. They allowed 153 total yards and only 40 rushing yards. That all sounds good until it’s against North Alabama, and Arkansas is heading to Utah this Saturday.
Arkansas managed only one turnover in the matchup, and it came from a fumble. They only pressured the quarterback 6 times and got 1 sack. That is unacceptable for SEC play. Charlie Collins led the team with 4 pressures and 1 sack, while Quincy Rhodes laid a goose egg in all pass-rush stats. Now, Quincy Rhodes did play a lot inside to contribute to the run defense. The issue is that Quincy Rhodes is a dynamic pass rusher, and Silverfield needs to let him loose. Quincy Rhodes can get hot in this game, and this will lead to advantageous 1-on-1s elsewhere on the line to let everybody get to the Quarterback.
Utah has a very experienced offensive line with only one transfer. They are all in their 3rd-5th year of college, so they have the continuity Arkansas desperately needs. They only allowed 2 pressures with 0 sacks in their matchup against Idaho.
Ron Roberts is a defensive coordinator who likes to disguise blitzes and send in their defensive backs to contribute. This will need to be a brilliantly called game for Roberts to rattle Utah’s quarterback, Devon Dampier. He played clean against Idaho, but he turned the ball over plenty in 2025. If Roberts can bring disguised blitzes and get Dampier’s feet unsure, Dampier accounted for 17 fumbles in 2024 and 2025.
This will be the major key to the game. Can Ryan Silverfield and the Arkansas Razorbacks win the turnover margin? If both teams commit zero turnovers, I would favor Utah in the matchup. However, if Arkansas wins the turnover margin by +2 or better, then they are talking about flying back to Fayetteville 2-0.
The Arkansas Razorbacks face off against the Utah Utes this Saturday at 7:15 PT/9:15 CT. Vegas has Utah as a heavy favorite, which makes sense given their top-25 status and how Arkansas came out in week one. Ryan Silverfield elevates his teams against tough opponents, so this can be a statement game for him. The biggest positive about traveling to Utah? The temperature at kickoff will be under 90 degrees as opposed to over 100 degrees. If you do not think that played a factor in Arkansas’ Week 1 game, then I don’t know what to tell you. As always, Go Razorbacks.
