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UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 21, 2017

Bret Bielema

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Auburn - 52, Arkansas - 20

COACH BIELEMA: Obviously very disappointed. The guys had a good week of practice. I thought our guys were excited to get in the game, and obviously the first half, other than the last touchdown that we gave up defensively; come in there at half-time here in a battle. Would have liked to have scored a couple touchdowns, but we did kick two field goals, 11-point game.

Feel excited about coming out the second half, hopefully get a stop and our offense in the first half seeped like we knew we would have a couple good plays and we would have a negative play, whether it be a penalty or some miscue that would give negative yards that we just weren't able to sustain a drive.

But the plan going into the game was on offense to run a couple different tempo plays, do some things that Cole does well. Give a chance for our offense to limit what Auburn was able to provide defensively.

But after the half-time, really liked the look in the guys' eyes. Came out and scored that opening drive and we never really -- we never really responded well after that. Obviously we got sloppy on defense with some tackles. Gave up some big plays that were routinely done in the first half and then offensively, we again fumbled on ball security in the pocket. One of the big things Cole is going to have to do is learn his awareness there and keep two hands on the ball. We have to do a better job of protecting him.

From an injury standpoint, unfortunately Chase Hayden has got -- we'll get future results but he's possible going to be out for a significant amount of time. Lost Deâ€™Andre Coley during the course of the week in practice, as well as Kendrick Jackson didn't play today. He actually lost his mother on Thursday night, so he was back home and wasn't able to join us today.

Austin is getting better. Was able to actually go and throw a motion this week, so he's probably closer to being back than he ever has been, and we'll see how that bridge -- how we cross that this week.

But certainly disappointed for our guys, our players, our fans. I thought we had a live crowd out there and it was really fun to walk out in that environment, and obviously we didn't give them a reason to sustain it in the second half, but appreciate the environment our kids walked into tonight.

With that, open it up to questions.

Q. As the losses have mounted, have you put any thought into your job security and do you expect to be back next season?
COACH BIELEMA: Yeah, obviously it's unchartered waters for me. I've never been that situation where we're 2-5 and disappointed where we're at. The greatest thing about a coaching position is this: You just worry about day in front of you. I know it's probably not the answer you want or the thing that you want to write, but I do -- you just get in there and go to work.

I know we're close. We end up, I think really getting heavily down on ourselves; that third quarter got ugly at the end there, and our kids did resiliently come back.

But I can't worry about anything but the day in front of me. I don't really worry about the future or anything like that. I just worry about Ole Miss now.

Q. With Chase's injury, and I know Auburn didn't return for as many yards as they did last year, but still they ran for a lot. What did you think of the run defense?
COACH BIELEMA: I don't want to comment on Chase until I know for sure. I know it's a lower leg injury and haven't confirmed anything from there.

Obviously we knew, not just from a year ago, but obviously that they have been able to run the ball effectively. They are averaging a pretty big number of rush, and had the idea to make the game go in our favor, we had to stop them from running the football. At times they did in the first half but the second half it just got out of control.

Again, we lost the edge on a couple plays. Lost some tackles that needed to be made and be able to get the ball down.

Q. How much of this stuff, the problems with protection, goes back to the offensive line?
COACH BIELEMA: Yeah, we're just -- again, numbers; wish we had more healthy numbers. Johnny Gibson is trying to get -- he didn't really practice during the course of the week. Try to get him through to the weekend.

You know, Colton; we have Brian Wallace in there, trying to find the five best guys last week when we moved Frank to guard, it was really because -- we didn't think it B-Wall and Paul Ramirez, who was going to be able to play, and that's why we had to move him out.

But again, it's just, got to continue to work and keep pushing ourselves. Obviously keep bringing guys along and hopefully develop some players here in the next five weeks, and obviously recruiting takes effect.

Q. Where is the hope coming from for the rest of this year and next year, and what is the hope you're selling?
COACH BIELEMA: The hope is everybody is going to do their job, starting with me obviously. I don't think that probably the outside world can figure the other part out, but whether you're 7- or 2-5 or anywhere in between, the part that you work on is how do you get better every day. Never lose focus on that. I never deviate from that. The hope is, obviously, you've got kids with great character and you're around kids that want to be successful.

Q. Have you seen anything? How does that keep happening?
COACH BIELEMA: Going back to obviously the last two games from a year ago to where we are today, the second half is a mental barrier. There are certain things we do do during the course of practice to try and emphasize it. It definitely gets talked about but I think it just comes down to being able to have guys make plays.

Obviously as coaches we have to put them in a better position but guys have to make plays and be able to move the chains on offense, score in the red zone and on defense we have to make tackles.

Q. I think four of your losses have been to teams that are ranked in either both or one poll. I know the second half is tough, too, but it looks more manageable. How do you feel going into this last part and having a shot to get to a Bowl?
COACH BIELEMA: Yeah, absolutely. 2-5, you've got five in front of us, and I think the thing that you have to be able to understand is the only way you can get to the end is by working tomorrow. If we try to -- you know, I cut off a conversation earlier; that it's natural to start, this week, they were talking about how we changed from 2-4 to last time we were in this position and won six out of the last seven and I did reference what was in front of them.

But if anybody starts worrying about how they are going to get to the end of the year, we are not concentrating on what's in front of us and that's the only way, whether you're winning or you're not winning; you have to focus on the task in front of us.

Tomorrow we'll make our corrections, watch the film and then we'll jump into Ole Miss preparation, and we've got to concentrate 100 percent on beating Ole Miss and everything that we have to do to prepare for that.

Q. With all the negativity surrounding the program, what can you do for yourself and your players to keep them in track for the rest of the season?
COACH BIELEMA: I know it's probably easier for us as coaches. I know players obviously go to class. They have family. They have social media that they deal with.

As coaches, your approach and your plan isn't different whether you win or lose. Every minute of the day it's pouring everything you can into the preparation for next week. That's where it is. I don't think you can be oblivious to it. I get it. I think our players especially know that.

We have got a good group of -- we don't have a lot of seniors, but we have some guys that have weathered the storm and been through these situations before and I think they will be the guys that control that locker room, as well.

Q. What did you see on the kickoff return for the touchdown? And also, did you ever think about putting Ty Storey in?
COACH BIELEMA: The first part, the KOR, this guy is obviously -- I think I said it the other day, 32 of his 49 have been touchbacks, so we knew when we were kicking into the wind in that direction, there was a good chance we were going to get a runner. It's a return that I put in probably two weeks ago, and we've just been working it and finally got the chance. Everybody blocked it up. I thought Deâ€™Vion made a nice initial through the hole, but then bounced it through the left and just out-ran some people and obviously a positive thing on a negative day.

Oh, Ty Storey, I think maybe if there was one more possession, but I think with Cole, we just wanted to keep repping him and getting him as many rep opportunities as we can. We didn't want to take him out of there on a negative note. Wanted him to be positive, and obviously getting that score was big.

Q. 50, 48, 41 and now 52 points in the four losses: The defense that you put in place in the off-season, are you still happy that it was the right choice? Do you make any significant changes? The points are all above 41.
COACH BIELEMA: You know, obviously the defense, again, at half-time, the guys are doing some good things, very, very positive. We turned the ball over and gave them some good field position. Obviously the last touchdown before the end of the half was a botched punt return.

All those points, I get it. It's good to read them off. But they are not on the field for some of those. They are going to keep getting better. Unfortunately with a loss, again, you want to limit the points but we are a 3-4 team and hopefully getting better each week.

Q. Did Austin throw it or did you just say he did a motion?
COACH BIELEMA: Yeah, he was over there on the side today. Last week, or last week at some point, he got full range of motion and now it's just a matter of getting the strength back in there. Yeah, he's further along than he obviously has been the last few weeks.

Q. The no-huddle, that kind of goes against what you've always kind of believed in. Did you feel like you were forced to having to do that with the rules the way they are, or just trying to find something that works?
COACH BIELEMA: Yeah, I think for two things. First, what we always try to do, is put our players in what they do best at the forefront. I think Cole, for sure, he just -- again, since his first day on campus, when he would run two-minute drill, he was very natural, a very instinctive guy. He sees the field really, really well. That's kind of the driving force behind it.

Also, when you're playing teams defensively that like to sub certain personnel groupings; if you're able to go no-huddle had and keep that substitution rule working in your favor, we could capitalize on that.

I think we just got to do whatever we can to try to win a ballgame. If that means we've got to go tempo, we've got to go tempo. I thought our guys had a good preparation week on it. We had the ability to kind of go three different phases today, three different speeds and used all three.

Q. Looked like you guys only had nine defensive players on the field, their first touchdown; how does that happen?
COACH BIELEMA: Yeah, again, when they had a big play, we knew they tried to go as fast as they can and somebody yelled for a substitution to go in and we just weren't able to do that. Made the adjustments after that play to make sure it didn't happen again.

Q. Inaudible.
COACH BIELEMA: Correct.

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