Wrestling with his conscience, Sam Pittman found himself in the same position Saturday as other Arkansas football coaches in a one-sided game.
Exactly when does one say enough is enough and let the second and third strings play?
Lou Holtz had an explanation for everything, including what to do in a blowout. One of his early Razorback teams laid a big number on a Southwest Conference team, after which Holtz shared his philosophy in the post-game press conference.
"It's all right to run up the score," he said, "as long as you do it in the first half."
Arkansas led 45-0 at halftime Saturday in Little Rock against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a carefully selected opponent. Nothing else was expected in a matchup between Southeastern Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference teams. The game was notable mostly for its historical significance as the first meeting between the two schools and Arkansas' first against an in-state opponent since 1944.
Pittman, whose team in 17 previous games as a head coach has been on the other side of such scores, revealed himself as a man of compassion. Recognizing that Doc Gamble's UAPB team was playing hard but yet overmatched, Pittman rested his first teams in the second half. They even shortened the third and fourth quarters from 15 to 12 minutes, something you might see in a high-school game.
It ended 45-3, and about the only complaint one heard was that the Razorbacks were outscored 3-0 in the second half, UAPB kicking a field goal with 6:34 left. And that after seven mostly bruising games and with four more to play, Arkansas wasn't hitting on all cylinders. Oh, yes, and anyone who gave the 50.5 points -- did this one really require a betting line? -- was sure to be disappointed.
Again, Arkansas is growing a difficult breed of fans, some overly critical, hard to please, along with the dyed-in-the-wool supporters who rip any "negative" comments about the program.
Judging from the announced War Memorial Stadium crowd of 42,576, a growing number may be enlightened fans. They know the difference between chopped steak and filet mignon. With gasoline more than $3 a gallon, tickets selling for $40 to $50 (surely there were no scalpers) and the game airing on television, many stayed home.
Little Rock, it bears repeating, is becoming a road less traveled by Arkansas teams. The logic of Arkansas paying rent at War Memorial Stadium when it has a larger stadium on campus escapes me. Arkansas fans don't need a history lesson about Little Rock's importance to Razorback athletics, and what's more, they appear to be tuning it out. Have we heard the last of the Great Stadium Debate?
Perhaps they can sell out what I call the Mausoleum on Markham for the 2025 game against Arkansas State. If that matchup doesn't bring them out, then nothing is liable to. Because the days of USC, Stanford and Miami playing in Little Rock are long gone.
Hopefully, many on hand Saturday were watching their first Razorback game. KJ Jefferson put on a show in limited playing time with 194 passing yards and four touchdowns, two to Treylon Burks, who also ran 49 yards for a score. Those curious what a Bumper Pool looked like saw the Arkansas linebacker total a team-high eight tackles, giving him 301 for his Razorback career. They even witnessed the Razorbacks' first punt-return score (80 yards by Nathan Parodi) since Joe Adams' 51-yarder against Kansas State in the 2012 Cotton Bowl, Bobby Petrino's last game as Arkansas coach.
Malik Hornsby's numbers (one out of five passing for 19 yards) weren't sensational, but the backup quarterback rated more playing time in case Jefferson goes down. The Razorbacks lost two fumbles but collected two interceptions.
As further proof that time of possession means increasingly little in college football, UAPB had the ball 36:18 to Arkansas' 23:42 although outgained 504-223.
Little Rock native Zach Williams, with one of the team's three sacks, expressed the defense's appreciation for the overall effort.
"The younger guys that got in during the second half ... nobody got in the end zone," Williams said. "I'm really happy and proud about how the defense handled it in the second half. The older people, we just coached them up and they really loved the stuff we had to say. We just felt good about that."
Arkansas gets a week off to prepare for the big finish. Mississippi State -- which beat LSU at Baton Rouge but got crushed at home by Alabama -- comes to Fayetteville Nov. 6. After that, it's LSU -- happy trails, Ed Orgeron -- and Alabama on the road before a Thanksgiving Friday home game against Missouri.
It would take an awful collapse for Arkansas not to secure a sixth win and gain bowl eligibility. With 40-something games and each conference with multiple tie-ins, it says something if a team doesn't make a bowl. Arkansas' game against TCU last year was scrubbed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a sign of how far Arkansas has slipped nationally that the Razorbacks haven't gone bowling since 2016, when Bret Bielema's team laid a second-half egg against Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl.
Speaking of the former Razorback coach, Bielema's Illinois team made national headlines Saturday with the first nine-overtime game in NCAA history. Bielema, whose 2015 Arkansas team beat Auburn in four overtimes, also won this one, although the 20-18 game with Penn State was hardly an aesthetic triumph. As Bielema, still the only Arkansas coach to win his first two bowls, might say, this one was uncommon, a matchup of teams with past stars including Red Grange and Franco Harris.
Back home, on a glorious October afternoon, Arkansas took care of business quickly and thoroughly. UAPB fought the good fight, which one expected, and took home a $600,000 check. Think of it as money kept in state by two schools in the University of Arkansas system.
I'm not sure how it helps Arkansas get better in the SEC, but isn't everyone happy?