Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield vouches for effort, so what’s broken?

Ryan Silverfield got the question he saw coming Monday.

Reporters wanted to know if the Arkansas players had checked out. He gave them the same answer he’s given on plenty of other Mondays.

The effort is fine. The guys care. They’re mad about losing. I’ll buy that for now mainly because there’s no evence to dispute it.

But even if it’s true, it doesn’t settle much. It just moves the problem somewhere else.

Pull effort and attitude off the table and two possibilities are left standing.

Either the coaching isn’t getting through or the talent isn’t there. It could be some of each.

Auburn felt like a rerun

The Razorbacks were in great shape early at Auburn on Saturday. They went up 10-0 and had the Tigers bottled up.

Auburn gained 15 yards in the first quarter. That’s it. Tigers coach Alex Golesh probably felt like his seat was starting to get a little warm by halftime.

At the break, the Hogs had piled up 176 total yards to Auburn’s 109. The rushing split was 111-18 in their favor.

Arkansas even carried a lead into the fourth quarter. Then it lost 26-23 in yet another one-score game that’s become a habit around here..

The second half played out like somebody swapped jerseys at the break. Auburn racked up 165 yards on the ground in the last two quarters. Arkansas had 61.

Most of that came from one guy. Tigers quarterback Byrum Brown ran for 116 yards after halftime.

Silverfield’s review Monday was blunt.

Silverfield sees problems in every phase

“Looking back upon Saturday, really a lack of execution in all three phases for four quarters,” Silverfield said during his Monday press conference.

He was just as direct about the defense letting a quarterback run wild.

“You turn around the second half and give up over 120 yards rushing to the quarterback, and he throws for two touchdowns and you’re not able to get him down,” he said.

He’s not wrong. He’s also describing a problem that usually gets pinned on the staff mainly because none were hired because they don’t know what to do. For some reason the team can’t seem to do it very consistently.

A defense that owns a game for 30 minutes and then can’t find an answer for one quarterback raises halftime-adjustment questions. Those go to the coaches, not the linebackers.

That might not be totally fair. It’s still how life goes in the SEC.

A familiar Monday script

Silverfield knows people are tired of his locker room report. He brought it up himself.

“I understand that people say, ‘Ryan, you seem to be giving the same answer a lot of times on these Mondays about the guys’ attitude and approach.’ But I’m not going to tell you anything other than the truth,” he said.

OK, but what else is he supposed to say?

The other choice is standing at a podium and telling the world his players aren’t good enough. No coach does that in November with recruits and his own roster listening.

So the repeat answer might be the truth. It might also be the only one he can give without throwing his guys under the bus.

My guess is it’s a little of both.

“The guys are pissed,” Silverfield said. “They’re frustrated because they know the opportunities are there, but they also are saying, ‘OK, coach me, coach.’”

Players want answers too

That “coach me” line stuck with me.

It’s a good sign when players ask for more teaching. It also hands the ball right back to the staff.

“They’re hungry for a win,” Silverfield said. “They’re hungry to do right. They show up. They’re putting in the work.”

He said he’s as ticked off as anybody.

He’s also hunting for some positives of any sort. Considering the season, that’s probably a full-time job.

Still, a team that’s asking for coaching this late in a rough year hasn’t mailed it in yet.

Drives keep dying short of the end zone

Arkansas doesn’t have much trouble crossing midfield. Finishing is another story.

Too many trips end with a negative play, a flag or a short gain that kills the drive. Then Max Gilbert trots out for a long kick, and kicking hasn’t been a strength this year. Sometimes it’s just a punt.

“We’ve had to settle for too many field goals,” Silverfield admitted.

He said the staff keeps digging into what goes wrong once the Hogs get close.

“We’ve not been as effective and we’ve got to have those answers and find different ways to expose whatever the defense is going to give us,” he said.

Is that the plan or the people running it? From the stands, linemen getting beat looks a lot like bad play calls.

I can’t tell you for sure. Neither can most of the folks yelling about it online.

You’d need a key to the building

Some rosters just can’t pull off what the coaches want week after week. When that happens, the staff takes the heat even if the plan was sound.

Sometimes it’s the reverse. Decent players get stuck running something that doesn’t fit them.

Without being around this team every day, nobody on the outside can say which version Arkansas is living.

Silverfield says effort isn’t the problem. I’m willing to believe him.

That just makes the next question harder.

The fix has to come from the roster, the staff or both. South Carolina is up next, and one Saturday won’t sort that out.