Some random thoughts after the Razorbacks’ disappointing loss to Ole Miss.
The Good
Not much good in this game so we’ll pick something that at least made us laugh. Watching Houston Dale and the Rebels try to execute a two-minute drill at the end of the first half brought back some (not so) fond memories. The combination of clock mismanagement, questionable rushing calls and a huddling offensive unit looked way too familiar. What used to be a regular winner of the “The Ugly” here is now part of “The Good.” Unfortunately, it was Nutt who was laughing at the end of the second half. Which leads us to all the bad stuff…
The Bad
- How is it possible that we looked clueless on defense against a coach who everybody in the country has ‘the book’ on? Failure to stop Nutt’s go-to, favorite plays — passes to the flat, screens, draws — has us wondering who in the world our defensive coaches were preparing for all week. When our defenders looked shocked when Ole Miss ran a draw, we knew the Hogs were in trouble.
- We stopped counting at nine dropped passes…it could have been more. (And that doesn’t include all the throwing mistakes by Mallett.) The worst, of course, had to be Jarius Wright dropping a sure touchdown. That one was almost like committing a big turnover, since it took the Hogs a while to get over it.
The Ugly
- After a week of talking about mistakes by referees, it only took one play for them to screw up again after a bogus late hit penalty was called on Rudell Crim. This is football…right? With other controversial calls (or no-calls) in games at Starkville and Tuscaloosa, expect to see more reprimands passed out by the league office this week like the one that Bobby Petrino received last week.
- With the emotional loss last week to #1 Florida, many had feared that the Hogs would come out flat against Ole Miss. Flat, however, is an understatement…sleepwalking is a better description. Poor preparation, dropping passes, losing the line of scrimmage, costly penalties, missed tackles — all signs that the Hogs were outcoached and outplayed in maybe the most crucial game of the season. Unbelievable.
Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.
It was the Alabama game, 2009. We are just getting to know Bobby beyond his big offense. Preparing a team emotionally is a big key in college football. At Louisville his schedule may have allowed him more flexibility than he is going to find in the SEC. Our schedule this year certainly worked against us in many ways. This was another trap game.
Another 'bad' or should I just say 'missing' was our running game. We have excellent backs and, this is becoming a pattern. Especially in the face of a big rush or with a struggling passing game, it seems like we don't think about balance as much as we should. I do wonder if Petrino has fallen in love with the big arm and the long ball. Mallett is wonderful but he is not so well developed that you can't go to Wilson for a series or two is he is struggling. Any time you are below 45 percent, it is not just drops and protection. And even if that is a factor, going to more touch or mobility might help that as well.
As usual, Hootys got some 'spainin' to do. How do you stink it up on offense with SEC title contention on the line while not using McCluster? The boy is nothing if not consistent. Or is that inconsistent?
I love Bobby. He's talks good football. He makes sense. I'm not sure that makes him right all the time. It may take the next couple of years for him to catch up to the SEC. He is making some mistakes and getting outcoached here and there. He is not a finished product like old Hooty.
I think the players and coaches are more depleted physically, mentally and emotionally than they think and that wasn't dealt with properly in the preparation for this game (don't know myself how you handle this). I know we have to keep grinding but it sure looks like the grinding schedule won this battle. I know we have no control over the schedule but it sure would have made a difference if the Ole Miss/Fla game order could have been flipped. I think we should have done a Tn. against Fla. and left enough in the tank for Ole Miss ( more important game). Also the Fla. game not going away in the media all during Ole Miss prep week was a killer ( this dealt hooty all the right cards). You know Fla. was most likely flat and depleted after the LSU game and we took our performance against them to mean more than it really did-now its turn around and Ole Miss shocks us. This was the perfect trap game and we couldn't see it coming. The season is like running a long race you have to maintaing a fast enough pace to win but you can go out too fast or kick too soon before the finishline. We are a very young and talented team and the next "IT"team of the next few years but the coaches have to do a better job of maintaining the fuel level in the tank. Next year we will have our hard games at home and we will be a more veteran team. We just got beat by a senior heavy class next year they will have trouble. Hooty saw this schedule coming and timed his leap to a turn key "fat city" situation-very slick but not sure about long term.
GO HOGS!
I said two weeks ago I wished we could approach Florida like an off week. Of course we couldn't. These guys are competitors. I also think we were too high for Georgia. We imploded a bit. I see the logic. They thought a win there gives them momentum against Bama and sets them up as a 'shock the world' team. But, they were too young and too thin to really be thinking that way. Off of a 5-7 campaign you set your sites on 8-4 and if you get a surprise along the way, great.
I can't believe Houston Dale's jacket didn't make it into this week's GBU recap. Concealing the man-boobs was most definitely a "good". Very, very good. Made me stand up and cheer, anyway.
Another thing that can make a team look like they are sleepwalking is the wrong "too heavy" pregame meal both type of food and amount and timing of the meal. Also amount and quality of sleep on Thursday and Friday night. This game showed all the signs of a young battle fatigued team-receivers dropping passes, qb not going through progressions and getting the ball to the right people in the right places, oline not blocking, poor tackling and the most telling was our dline not whipping thier oline-that was a foregone conclusion. Yes Ga. and Fla. were sucker punch games that set us up for the for the knockout punches of the Ala./Ole Miss games. We should have used Wilson and other young players more in the GA/Fla. and saved the first string more for Ala/Ole Miss then we recoup with E. Mich. Oh well what do I know about anything. Everone is young and learning including the coaches.
I have a good…how about Tejada? His leg was good on Saturday…too bad the clock couldn't be managed.
Excellent point… even if it was only by a hair on the 51 yarder. Kind of interesting that Bobby was willing to let him attempt this one.
Tejada came back and had a better game than anyone else. I still believe the following two things:
Offensive game plan was good enough to score in the 30's if players has executed in an average way. Dropped passess. 100mph dunk off throws.
Defensively, it is like some game plans are good and then others are horrible. I could have told you after Snead throws his second pick that he will not be throwing downfield. So, what do you watch? You watch the screen pass, stay at home, guard your lane. And why not have someone shadow Mcgruber, Mccluster.
Unfortunately and hopefully eventually fortunately we are still playing freshman and sophomores. This was Mallets 10th start if I am not mistaken.
I felt I had seen this game before. Perhaps it was the 2007 UT game in Knoxville which I unfortunately attended or the 2008 Cotton Bowl. All games where we probably should have won but got creamed. In games like this you can usually tell from the first play and Saturday was no exception. I’m still amazed it was a close as it was, it really shouldn’t have been. Last year I felt sorry for Petrino having to hear the Rebel fans chant “Houston Nutt” but this year he can listen to it. As for Rebel fans, don’t you have to wonder why you haven’t used McCluester like that all year. Baffling.
And, whoever set the off week for week two wasn't working hard enough.
If the SEC wants to be the premier league in college football they need full time refs and, they should control off weeks during week five, six, or seven. Competition is too stiff. They could at least guarantee the kids some rest.
Got to get this off my chest. Two major things that keep the refs honest are instant replay and the TV announcers. In case one didn't notice with the SEC broadcast there were no reviews of penalties and little, if any comment on called penalties. Calling the number of the player and then giving a replay gives the viewer a picture of the degree of of the presumed illegality. Two examples: On the personal foul penalty with McCluster I couldn't tell whether Dexter was out of bounds. What I saw was his left foot in. They didn't replay it from an angle that would have answered that. If he was in bounds and still fighting and the whistle had not blown before continuation of the defensive player it would have been a bad call. Then there were the delay of game calls. Lundquist and Danielsen and their crew would have shown the clock. Especially with the 51 yard field goal. Call me paranoid but I got the impression that the SEC referring is badly tainted. The calls in the Ole Miss game were probably correct absent the no call hold on Childs, but after the Gator game and complaints by other SEC coaches, the league has a lot of explaining to do. No one, I say no one, could have made that Sheppard call without some ulterior motive. It could be that the league wants Bama and Florida as well as another SEC team in the BCS bowls. There is a lot of money riding on that outcome. I would love to see the replay of the MSU game regarding the presumed missed call by the replay official. The two week suspension of the refs is giving the SEC time to figure out how to PR this. Here's my take (probably wrong): The head joker (Crules, I believe) will be given a year's leave of absence to rest up from the pressures of referring. The others will be given "reprimends" and slowly worked back into a rotation. Crules (?) will quietly "retire" with a hefty, under the radar, payoff for services rendered. The other boys will be admonished with "don't make it look so obvious".
This game reminded me of our game against SC during Holtz's first year there. Nutt and Burns really wanted to win the game against their old coach. They had some good schemes and the team was sky high at kick off. Same thing here, but in reverse.
I won't go so far as to say Nutt has been saving Mccluster for this game, but it is odd that he had his coming out party against us when all season long the pundits have been saying he needs to get the ball more.
It makes you wonder about old 8 and 4 Hooty. Was he wise enough to dodge the trap that got Bobby this year? Actually hold back in the tough games to have the best season overall? I doubt it but, so much of what old Hooty does is curious. You want for it to make some sense although it seldom ever does.
Seems to me old Hooty was playing OC (calling the plays) until the Ar game them the media got on his case and he let Austin do his job. Old Hooty knows everything that is said about him in the media and the Internet. He is smart enough to make corrections when people criticise him publically because he knows its going to do him in otherwise. Lets ignore him and quit giving him a script to use againt us and secure his current position. He gets criticised for not using McCluster and turns around and gives him the ball a million times. Lets just ignore him and maybe he'll go away!
I think that that is closer to the truth. The first two games looked so much more like Hooty than Saturday.
Interesting game in Oxford. If you have never been to Oxford, treat yourselves and go at least one time. Beautiful university setting. Nicely mannered fans. The Grove is everything that I had heard. Beautiful stadium which I first learned existed by the RB from San Antonio who jilted Arkansas for Ole Miss two years ago The UGLY at the game was our Arkansas fans. They entered the area boasting and putting down Nutt as if they were there for that purpose alone. Ole Miss fans never did that to us. However, they did nicely let the BIG MOUTHS know that they knew very little as exhibited by their manners and lack of football knowledge. Finally, I suppose their rum ran out and they faced like fog as the Ole Miss score mounted.
Sounds as if some of us fans do not recognize a good defense when we see one and a good running game. We have none. At this point in our progression, we resemble Texas Tech somewhat except TTU is actually more fun to watch but sometimes has a sub-par defense. That is fun to watch but no fun to watch on the scoreboard. We are loaded at running back but apparently no imagination coming out of our overpriced coaches. Likewise, just look at Auburn's running attack. It does not exist. AU indeed looks like it is being run by a high school coach. No, I apologize to high school coaches for I saw one locally with Michael Dyer playing and it looked better than AU's scheme, although in that one game I have seen much better backs than Dyer was on that particular night…perhaps because of the opposing team. Dyer better stay away from no running attack AU who have a non utilized, nice back there in Tate. If they cannot use Tate, how in the world can they use Dyer. And as far as Arkansas' running attack, we have yet to see it go this season, although they are loaded at the position. I am surprised by Arkansas'lack of a running attack. It only took one and one-half years for it to evaporate. Passing is good with an NFL caliber QB who needs to learn to put more touch on the shorter passes and better game management. The Razorbacks were very fortunate that Ole Miss did not hang 50+ on them because we were lucky on three tipped passes where the D came up with two and the offense lucked into one for a TD. Give Nutt credit for his team beat us in every faze of the game. Defense, Offense, Passing, Game Control. He also has other very good RBs but thus far they have been shy of breaking good runs. Thus, the scatback appears. You will have to admit that a 160 pounder cannot take a long schedule in the SEC. To me, that is good use of his players. Pay me now or pay me later with that scenario. Nutt has a very experienced OC in Austin. I did not figure on Petrino being outcoached but we must face the music for he was out coached. Oh yes. Another thing that a good running attack does is wear the other team's defense down. We cannot do that at this stage of the game.
We lack talent! BS! If that were true how did Arkansas hang with Florida? Blast a talented AU team. Blast a TAM team and push a talented Georgia team to the end. I will admit that when you change coaches not many can use the talent on hand when they swich schemes (altnough Hatfield successfully did it even though much of the team on D walked out on him).
Why is DJ Williams not being used? We all thought that he would be at least an all SEC TE and All-American. He has disappeared period.
I am not down on our coach but my original reservation of him was that Louisville's conference is nothing like the SEC, week end and week out. And that does matter. There is a huge difference. One reservation I had with him was whether he would have a good running attack. He emphasized that he wanted a good running attack with a big back. Well, we have the big backs. Come on. Show case them. Then, I was surprised that last year he said that they thought they would win quicker in the SEC and that he did not realize that the other schools had good coaching. Was he kidding? That surprised me. Perhaps, he had been drinking "moon juice" or was just being flipppy with the press. He sometimes does appear to be a dry-humor guy. His program on Sunday night was exceedingly boaring but I have noticed a little change for the better. The first programs were so dry and boaring that I just could not stay with the show. At 10:30 pm you better give us a more energized show.
Give him time. It takes time to put your plan in place and he has no Broyles telling him what to do,who to hire and thus far has no AD causing him to be be dragged out for four long years with an NCAA investigation that hurts your recruiting. We need to be patient to see how it all develops.
Next year, I read that OM will lose 12 seniors and that will take a toll because experience DOES count immensely in football. McCluster will be gone but another back may step up like McAlister did not so many years ago. Arkansas appears to have the backs and I did expect to see more of Wingo but quite honestly I do not remember Wingo getting any touches at OM. Is he saving him, although his red shirt has already been burned?
Nevertheless, pure and simple, it is just a game…nothing more and nothing less. Enjoy life and do not hang your joy for one day on a game. Move on. Seems as if some of our fans' job is in trying to put someone else down. Oh yeah, I am sure they have some fans just like a lot of ours but I sure have not met them. As a former coach told me when he went to a Baylor game in Texas versus Arkansas, our fans were very obnoxious. Be like the OM fans that we met last Saturday, enjoying life, nice to all, and moving on. Meanwhile, beat them Gamecocks!
Defense – really outstanding comments!