I like this post by Biggus Piggus over on Hogville. I haven’t agreed with everything he’s said all year, but do find myself agreeing with a lot of it. I particularly enjoyed his description of the Razorback offense:
…an ever-changing hybrid hodgepodge jerry built jury rig gimmick laden crapfest.
While walking away from the Georgia Dome, Son1 had an observation that struck me. “All year we’ve never had a consistent identity on offense.”
I think that’s really been the case. The ‘Wildcat’ package actually ended up being a distraction to the overall offense. That’s a lot of new stuff to be putting in over the last few games of the season. Not getting Mitch work in practice prior to LSU was due to the extra time spent putting in ‘new stuff.’ While Matt Jones was amazing, he was also a distraction to actually having a real offense. Houston Dale likes having a ‘hero’ on his team.
We went from trying some Gus stuff in the USC game back to our identity as a running team. So much so that we didn’t even bother to fully flesh out a passing game. Why bother, it was said, when you run the ball as well as we do.
Then we discovered the ‘Wildcat’ and fell more and more in love with it every week. Versus Florida we were changing out 3-4 people per play, back to our old style of ‘telegraphing’ what we were going to do by the ‘package’ we had in the game.
The result was that even ‘that which we were good at’ got somewhat lost in the mix.
While special teams mistakes were key, my take is that neither the offensive or defensive game plan was that great. Playing man-to-man constantly on defense is begging to be periodically abused. We were. The issue is not talent on the field. The issue is that playing constant man-to-man defense is akin to thinking you have an advantage over the house in Vegas. The house will always win over the course of time.
Offensively — what were we thinking? All of that wide stuff against the super fast defense of Florida was iffy at best. After watching their defensive schemes for a few plays, it was obvious to me that they had our number on that stuff. Running right at a fast defense is typically the better strategy. A strong play-action passing game, used early and often, typically helps also. We did neither of those things. I think we underperformed our capabilities on offense.
It is funny that Urban Meyer’s offense follows many of the ‘rules’ or strategies in Gus’ book. He has really adapted over the course of two SEC seasons to the speed in the SEC. I think he had as much offense as he needed against Herring.
It is obvious Monk is the only real receiver we have. Cedric Washington bailed on the pass in the end zone in the 4th quarter, not even making a honest attempt at the ball. Damian grew ‘gator arms’ and appeared more worried about getting hit than catching the ball. Cleveland probably should be used a lot more in the passing game, but his lack of blocking ability from any position limits his on-field time.
Not developing more receivers over the course of the year, as well as a more capable passing game, became the issue against the tougher defenses we faced at the end of the year. You must pass in a real game and involve multiple receivers to actually have a dependable passing game. We have some talent there — just needs to be exercised in live situations to gain confidence.
While we overachieved for the season based on where we were coming from, we ended up underachieving based on what it seemed we were actually capable of. I still can’t decide if I should feel happy or sad.
I’d just prefer to not lose three straight games on national television. Not good for the image.
Well said Hogblogger. History repeated itself on Saturday.
A few of thoughts here… if you remember back to Matt Jones (since you mentioned him), does anybody remember the key fumbles that Matt made trying to made the extra long run or that critical play? It always drove me crazy that for every "great" play he made if offset it with a "dumb" play that offset it. Sure he was (and is) a gifted athlete but it seems that you have to take the good with the bad. Not to dump on Matt here but it seem relevant.
HogBlogger said "While we overachieved for the season based on where we were coming from, we ended up underachieving based on what it seemed we were actually capable of. I still can’t decide if I should feel happy or sad." —- Oh, how can I appreciate this comment! Especially knowing that I firmly believe that we could beat both LSU and Florida and have a chance to play for the… never mind!
Finally, I also believe that part of the problem the last few games was not having Peyton Hillis to dump off to. Just seems to me that this would have added an extra option to the bag of tricks.
The good thing here is that we are quickly coming to an end of major discussion points for this season! We will all have to turn our sites on next year!
Anybody want to guess who starts at QB next year? Just kidding folks!
This is another example of how you get good at what you practice. Yeah, we had one of the top rushing offenses in the nation, but the lack of developing a passing game throughout the season killed us in the end (that and special teams). Heck, there were a number of things, but the passing game could've compensated for all of our shortcomings in the other areas.
Sure, having one of the best rushing offenses in the nation is nice and sure it wears out the defense and sure it chews up clock allowing the game to be shorter, but what happens when you get down big in a game and you are limited in time?
The fact is we couldn't put points on the board fast when our running game wasn't clicking and we were facing a top-notch defense like LSU and Florida.
This is where I think it is more evident than anything else that our new O.C. that we told all these freshman was going to have "total control" that is in fact NOT in "total control". I'm pretty tired of everyone saying Malzahn is not calling the plays. I think he most definitely is. I think it is obvious he is because there's no way our rushing game is as creative as it has been and I will even take one step further and say McFadden and Felix do not have the season that they've had without the creativity of the rushing game. No way they have the year they've had in HDN's offense from last year. You even see spots where Malzahn and Wood have affected the passing game.
But, to me the #1 reason to think that Malzahn does not have "total control" is the fact that we aren't good at passing the ball. I've heard many a comment by Malzahn that "you get good at what you practice" and it's obvious we're good in the running game, but the fact that we can't throw the ball well and the fact we do not have even the SLIGHTEST resemblance of a 2 minute drill tells me Malzahn is not in control and that we don't practice passing the ball as much as we obviously should. There's only so much time in a practice, but if we want to be balanced shouldn't our practices be balanced? Does anyone think that Malzahn would not at least practice a 2 minute drill since he wrote a book on it???? When we were down by 10 with 6 minutes left and only 1 timeout did anyone else find it strange that we're huddling and walking up to the line of scrimmage like it's the first quarter????
Even in Nutt's first 8 years we had a "2 minute drill". I remember several practice reports where he'd say "We had a great day today. We worked on every situation… we worked on the 2 minute drill at the end… " yada yada yada. So, why is it now that we don't even have it. I haven't seen many practices lately, but I know in every preseason practice I saw ( 7 or 8 ) they worked on the no huddle offense/2 minute drill.
I just wish someone would give me a good answer as to why we don't have one now. I wish a reporter would ask him why we don't have one or ask Malzahn for that matter. Mike Irwin talks a big game on the message boards and on his radio show, but he doesn't have the guts to ask HDN tough questions like this as well as any other journalist for that matter.
Anyone want to take a stab at it?
I have a few comments inspired by all the above.
1. Somewhere along the way the Razorbacks lost the counter play from their base run package. The counter stuff they ran was with Jones in the slot. That play lacks the deceptive action that gets a fast defense wrong footed. I thought a counter trey might be nice against Florida.
2. No guarantee that giving Malzahn "total control" would have resulted in a better offense. The route Nutt took was a secure path to 10 wins. It's asking a lot to give a rookie college coach that much control, because it would have meant he was controlling the bulk of daily practice time.
3. How Nutt manages recruiting and special teams remains a critical question about the program's future.
Nice blog.
Great thoughts from all.
Biggus, I'm right with you on the counter play. It 'went missing'. As did some of the trap plays that we saw against Auburn. As to Malzahn getting 'total control', I think that would have resulted in a long learning curve that would have cost us more than some might think. Even Urban Meyer admitted last year that some of his stuff wouldn't work consistently in the SEC as the speed of the defenses was much superior than what he was used to.
Glad you like the blog. We've linked you so much you're practically one of the bloggers!
10K…I really wish I could answer your question. Like you, we also saw first-hand a lot of no huddle and two minute drill practiced in the fall. Apparently it's so bad now (it wasn't when we saw it) that it's not even worth trying the last two games when we we needed it. Guess the coaches were worried that we were going to lose ugly by trying it. But that's kind of the way it happened anyway, wasn't it?
Biggus…Thanks. Your post from today was also a good one:
http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php/topic,98…
Finally. Someone acknowledges that giving a first year college coach complete control of an SEC offense might not have been the "cure all" it was believed to be. I grew tired of hearing about the genious of Gus on every TD and the interference of Nutt on every stalled drive as well as the apparent outrage over Nutt's insisting on having some control over the play calling. He is still the Head Coach. And whoever is calling the plays I'd say we saw steps toward offensive balance this year. It not where any of us would like to be but it doesn't happen over night. I'm on dial up right now so I'm not going browsing for stats but working from memory I'd say we had considerably more passing TD's this year than last. Its a process. There are certainly some issues to be addressed. As mentioned above, how we recruit and carry this momentum into the future will be a big one as well as growing those young QB's. But Damn I enjoyed this season and told before hand we could come off of 5-6 and 4-7 and go 10-3 with a trip to the Cap 1, I'd take it. Not to mention how fun it was to see gameday in Fayetteville and to have a Heisman candidate. Go Hogs!
Fair enough. I will agree with the whole premise of not giving "TOTAL" control to a rookie O.C. straight out of high school. But, why do we not have a 2-minute/no huddle offense? Someone please tell me why.
And I will admit that the way it ended has tainted my view of the season. If we would've lost the first three games and then won 10 straight I think I would feel differently. But, like Michigan, if you don't finish strong then all previous successes seem less prolific. Right or wrong, it's a "what have you done for me lately" world.
I don't know, guys.
I think we've had a great season, period.
Before the season started, I thought we'd win 8 games, and that next year was going to be our run to the SEC Championship game. It turns out we showed up a year early. I'm afraid to pick an SEC Championship run next year on the same premise of getting all excited after we beat Texas and was ranked #7 before the bottom fell out…i.e. I just don't know how well these guys will keep a level head, stay humble and continue to work hard. If they do those 3 things (and we are able to overcome key injuries – ala Oklahoma this year), the sky's the limit, if they don't 8-4 will be the likely scenario.
Keeping a level head, staying humble, working hard and overcoming key injuries to Fairchild, Grant, and Hillis are the main reasons we got as far as we did this year, and it will be the key to our success next year.
As for the QB situation, I think I've got this right, but Mustain is 8-0 as starter, Dick is 4-4 as starter. You can argue til your blue in the face about strength of opponent, but the bottom line is still wins and losses, and until Mustain loses, I think we need to keep him in there, even when he is winning as ugly as Jay Barker of Alabama used to do.
As for Malzahn, one of the writers at College Football News named Malzahn THE Offensive Coordinator of the Year. I can't think of a higher affirmation, other than the Broyles Award, to best sum up our offensive coordinator's work.
I'm ecstatic about this season, could it have been better. Sure. But, let's not kid ourselves, it could have been a lot worse, too.
We've got some horses in the starting lineup, and (for once) we've actually got some horses in the stable. Recruiting is looking pretty good, so let's enjoy the ride…it's gonna be fun!
Taxhawg, one thing that has continued to cross my mind is that if Casey was say 12-17 in the LSU game (instead of 3-17) and maybe 15-22 in the Florida game (instead of 10-22) and yet we still lost both games, we probably wouldn't still talking about Mitch's lack of playing time!