June 19, 2013

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — Alabama

September 17, 2012 by

Some random thoughts after the Razorbacks’ historic shutout loss at home to Alabama.

The Good

  • (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) The pre-game report that highly touted center Moses Kingsley (6-10, 215) had orally committed to Mike Anderson’s basketball team was easily the best news of the day.  Kingsley, who was an AAU teammate of Hog commit Bobby Portis (6-10,225), is nationally ranked as a Top 50 player by most services.  A big ‘get’ for sure.
  • The crowd was actually pretty loud and into the game early on.  Knowing that it was going to be an uphill battle, Razorback Stadium was rocking when the Hogs’ defense forced a three-and-out on the Tide’s first offensive possession.  The sixth largest crowd in stadium history (74,617) was raucous until…

The Bad

  • …new deep snapper Will Coleman sailed one over the head of punter Dylan Breeding.  After the game, John L. Smith admitted replacing regular snapper Alan D’Appollonio during the week with Coleman for coverage purposes.  Note to John L.: The position is called “Deep SNAPPER”…not “Deep BEST AT COVERING.”
  • (AP Photo/David Quinn) We lost count of the number of times the Hogs put the ball on the ground Saturday.  We later found out it was eight fumbles, three lost.  The combination of wet conditions, quarterbacks shuffling in and out, and a dominating Alabama defense made for a long day.

The Ugly

  • Say what you want but, like Tyler Wilson, we saw a lot of ‘quit’ in this team in the second half on Saturday.  Most notably at the beginning of the third quarter when a Dennis Johnson kickoff return fumble was sandwiched between Tide touchdown drives of five plays and two plays.  Wilson’s post-game comments might be hard for some to hear…but it was the truth.

Of course, we can’t possibly mention everything that was “Good, Bad and Ugly” for a game that was the worst shutout loss in Fayetteville since 1914.  What did we leave out?

TipsterHog also contributed to this post.

Filed Under: Arkansas Razorbacks, Football Tagged With: ,
  • OwassoHog

    Wow… things are pretty bad when you have to include a non-football item as a “good”.
    One thing that I left out from the first game… the new intro is AWFUL!!! Especially with all of the muted colors… so much for our makes our new HD look pitiful. Too bad it wasn’t something more flashing. It could have have made a huge splash. I’m guessing this muted effect is having an impact on our game. :-(

  • HungryHog

    I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to say to the team either. (That’ll be $850,000, please)

  • GolfHog

    The more you watch Grandpa Smith operate the more you wonder how anyone could have considered him the solution to one of the biggest coaching problems in Razorback history. Having your team ready to play emotionally is the Head coach’s first job. Grandpa doesn’t appear to be able to get himself interested. It’s really hard to see a way out at this point. Maybe a win over Rutgers will right the ship. There is still good offensive talent on this team. It’s hard to imagine how PP can fail to make first downs.
    Mitchell needs to stay at reciever until basketball season. It is his natural position. If they want to run some option or wildcat with him fine but, Allen is your quarterback until Wilson is able to return (I still can’t believe they allowed him to get beat up against ULM with Alabama up next. PP better hope Bobby gets another job fast. Despite his great rebuilding job, BMFP may have a hard time getting a good job once interested ADs get a good look at this defense.)

  • Carolina Hog

    Good: Not playing Tyler Wilson. What would be the point and he is the only hope for the rest of the season.
    -also Wilson’s press conference.

    Bad: The platooning of quarterbacks every play at the start and then when Mitchell shows some hope of moving the team, we go almost exclusively with Allen for the rest of the game. I think Allen will be good in the future, but right now I believe Mitchell was the only chance of staying close.

  • uvahog

    Ugly:
    Not being able even to get a field goal against Bama’s third string defense in the 4th quarter; of course, the team had already given up well before the 4th quarter.

  • GolfHog

    The only solution at this point is to give BMFP at new 3 month contract. Who else is available?

  • Roadhog

    Bad-ugly: Tyler’s post-game, take-no-questions “press conference.” While many fans think Tyler showed heroic and passionate leadership, the truth is that it reveals a breakdown in the chain of authority. If Smith cannot regain his authority and take charge of the team, this season will be lost, if it’s not already. Individual situational leadership will not pull this team together. Only a strong head coach asserting his authority can unite the team now, and we have not seen this yet.

  • HogBlogger

    You forgot that terrible hot dog I had. That was definitely the worst thing of the day for me. All of that game stuff I kinda expected.

    • GolfHog

      War Memorial serves an excellent dog. Jeff can’t buy a good weiner for RRS??

      • HogBlogger

        It’s bad. Very bad.

  • GolfHog

    And so it goes…. ESPN passes on Ark v A&M to take the Bama blowout of Ole Miss and the S Carolina thumping of Kentucky. 11:00 is probably better for College Station anyway.

  • texhogforever

    Hey Razorback Nation, its being reported that JLS thinks we’re full of crap!! We have no idea what we’re talking about. He’s a great coach! We just made a few mistakes last Saturday! Come on everybody, smile! It’s gonna be just fine!! BTW— FIRE the Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator and Defensive Coordinator and FIRE THEM NOW!!!!

    • Carolina Hog

      We have enough drama without you taking comments out of context. He didn’t say fans are full of crap, he said he doesn’t listen to that crap which is what most of us would call it if we had 30,000 people calling for our job. I will say that I miss the days when my username was stored on this site without my having to register with this Disquis, whoever the hell that is.

  • Bleed razorbackred

    Ugly: Watching Darius Winston attempt to tackle anyone. It goes to show that high school recruit ranking services aren’t worth anything. We obviously lost more than we thought when Bequette, Franklin, etc. departed last year.
    I think we have a an ok coaching staff that, with better players, would be ok. But we simply lack any depth on the defensive side of the ball. I was pleased to see Austin Flynn though, he looked pretty good from what I saw.
    Please stop with the re-hire CBP stuff. We couldn’t simply outscore everyone the last five years so why would this year have been any different.

  • HungyHog

    It’s all about saving the Arkansas Razorbacks Brand right now.

    I know Jeff Long doesn’t want to admit JLS was a mistake, but it is the best thing to do – in order to save face for the program. At the beginning of the season we were a top ranked team. It was obviously over-hyped, but that was the PERCEPTION of our program. The SEC West is the toughest division in College Football. There is Alabama and LSU, with Arkansas catching up… We need to keep as much of that perception as possible in order to get a good coach in December. If we keep the circus that is the JLS show, we are going to completely lose all the respect we have built, and end up in the same spot Ole Miss was in last year – a bottom feeder no-hope program – bringing in the ASU coach. geez.

    Jeff Long needs to own up to the mistake – and let JLS go. Put in Tim Horton as Interim Head Coach. Tim Horton is a class guy. He will represent the University of Arkansas with class and professionalism that is completely missing right now. He loves the Razorbacks and will step up to save face because he has integrity.

    JLS is a clown – and as long as a clown is in charge, the Razorback program will be a circus. JLS is not going to change. We need to change.

    • Bleed razorbackred

      Agreed, this team needs structure and discipline right now, not touchy feely BS.

    • GolfHog

      ULM was considered a fluke and Alabama was considered unwinnable. Alabama is not the time to react. Long is always afraid that his next hire will think he is too reactionary if fires the previous coach. He will want to wait until after the season no matter how bad it gets because he thinks it makes him look like a better boss. If this bunch doesn’t show up for Rutgers, that would be better timing to admit the experiment is not working. They need leadership. Horton is a logical choice at this point. This team is good enough to win 5 games on this remaining schedule, maybe even 7 or 8 if they can get rolling.
      Grandpa and PP are making a bad situation much worse. Arkansas fans have had way too much of this hogwash in the last ten years, football and basketball. We take the heat as a crazy fan base. But, it didn’t start with us. We are just tired on being fed a load manure.
      (I still don’t believe, with our O-line, that you allow Wilson to stand in for that type of punishment. Wilson is going to have to learn to get down or his future may be impacted.)

      • HungryHog

        I understand what you are saying and I do see that Long wants to show his mild temper and not shoot from the hip. But I wish he would at least tell JLS to STFU when a microphone is put in front of him.
        “I don’t know what to say.”
        “We’re going to keep doing what we are doing, slap these boys on the butt.”
        “SMILE.. You guys are acting like it is the end..”

        I am just worried about the perception of our program. I want our Head Coach open position to be attractive to good candidates. I want to be an opportunity for someone looking to prove themselves in the toughest division – against the biggest names. Right now we are still there – we are a great program that got shafted by a great coach/foolish man. Someone else could come in and right the ship. I don’t want to turn into a bottom rung on the ladder – impossible row to hoe – starting all over – in the middle of a hillbilly circus.

        Losses are one thing. The lack of leadership is going to turn into more losses if someone like Horton doesn’t put his foot down and say The Buck Stops Here. Right now our concussed Quarterback is the only one. The Hillbilly Grandpa Old-Koot act is hurting the Razorback Brand.

        College Football is a cut-throat business. JLS’s days were numbered when he signed the contract. I think we should go ahead and release him from his golden handcuffs.