Arkansas coach Sam Pittman after blowout loss to Notre Dame: 'If I was a fan, I'd be mad at me too'

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman understands why Arkansas fans are not thrilled after the Razorbacks’ third straight loss.

Arkansas was blown out 56-13 by Notre Dame at home on Saturday to drop to 2-3. The Fighting Irish scored 42 points in the first half and also scored the final 28 points of the game as QB CJ Carr threw four touchdowns and Notre Dame had 641 yards of offense.

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Pittman entered 2025 likely needing a good season to calm any questions about his job security after Arkansas had gone 18-20 over the past three seasons. And as he was asked multiple questions in his postgame news conference, Pittman said he knew why Arkansas fans would be frustrated.

“I understand. I get it. If I was a fan I’d be mad at me too, you know? I’d be frustrated as hell at me,” Pittman said. “But here’s what I’ll say is as long as I’m the head coach at Arkansas, I’m going to fight my butt off to get the guys out there and how long that is, that’s not — it is partly up to me because of what we put on the field, but that’s not my call. And if I’m worried about that all the time I won’t be able to do as good a job as I possibly can.”

“But I will say this, if I was the fans I would be mad at me too. Hell, I’m mad at me to be perfectly honest.”

Arkansas lost at Ole Miss in Week 3 before blowing an 18-point lead and losing a fumble on a late go-ahead drive in the team's 32-31 loss to Memphis a week ago.

Pittman has never shied away from addressing the job questions that come with coaching a college football team. And Arkansas’ rough start has come as Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek openly admitted that the football program wasn’t set up to contend for a national title.

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Granted, that was a bit of an obvious statement; Arkansas hasn’t won 10 or more games in a single season since 2011 and has six winning seasons in the last 14 years. But it’s still a rare topic for an athletic director to address so directly.

The coach of that team in 2011 was Bobby Petrino. And guess who is the current offensive coordinator at Arkansas? Bobby Petrino. His presence on the Arkansas staff surely has some Arkansas fans dreaming of the days when the team went 21-5 in his final two seasons before his unceremonious departure.

But Saturday showed that it’s clear Arkansas has a ways to go to get back to those heights, just like Yurachek said.