Some random thoughts from the Sunshine after watching that butt-whuppin.
The Good
- One bright spot…Darren McFadden played, and played pretty well (5.5 yards per carry). He admitted to being only about 80 percent, but it was good to see him out there giving everything he had.
Mitch Mustain finally got in the game late in the fourth quarter and led the Hogs to a perfectly executed TD drive. Much is being made of the booing of RoJo and the cheering for Mustain. Even the casual fans can see…if he is the future, let’s get him ready as soon as we can. Play him. Let him take a few lumps. Everyone is ready for the future to commence…even if he will make the occasional mistake. People will accept that during his maturation process. Will HDN, Gus and Alex make the move?- Chris Houston, who followed Jarrett all over the field, held the All-American to five catches for 35 yards. Excellent job.
- USC will be the best team we face this season…thank goodness.
The Bad
- Peyton Hillis only touched the ball five times (3 rushes, 1 reception, 1 KO return). For the guy that can do it all…not much to write home about. Most definitely underutilized in game 1.
- Can’t blame the defense entirely for the “half-a-hundred” as the turnovers gave USC a short field for much of the night. Being on the field for 80 plays (compared to 59 for the Hog offense) would wear even the best units down.
- I’m sensing that we have lost some of our ability to run the ball effectively. I will withhold judgment in this area until I see a few more games. But something tells me we may have borrowed something from Peter (aggressive rushing attack) to pay Paul (pass protection).
The Ugly
- Felix Jones…you can’t throw the ball on the ground three times like that in the first 16 minutes of the game and expect to beat anybody…much less the #6 team in the nation. Felix looked like he was someone who hadn’t been tackled since last year.
- USC’s 31 points off of the five turnovers.
- Another record crowd of 76,564 leaves Razorback Stadium with a loss. Will we ever win a big game here in this great venue?
On chris houston, I'll say that might be a blueprint for the Blackshirts of NU on how to play Jarrett, that was a great job by CH
on Peyton Hillis, don't forget he dropped one pass without a trojan within three yards of him
on running the ball, I thought the same thing about the hogs, the holes just were not there or even close to it for most of hte game
on USC being #6; well they should move up after the 9th, someone has to lose between UT and OSU meaning one step up for teams 4,5, & 6
On Chris Houston… was I watching a different game???? Yeah, he jammed him pretty good some of the time, but Jarrett caught at least 2 third down passes for first downs and Houston let Steve Smith STREAK across the middle not once, not twice, but three times… only once did they throw him the ball. But, one time, Steve Smith made a move on him right off the snap and he was already at the other hash mark before Houston picked up his jock. He reminds me of Batman Carroll. He's about the only CB we have left who played with Batman and he acts like it. He likes to talk even when he really didn't do anything. Therefore, all the fans look at him jawin' and pointin' and stickin' out his chest like a little rooster and they think "oh, he must of done something good" when in reality the ball was three feet over the receivers head.
Oh, one more thing on the comparison to Batman and Chris Houston… Batman was so good at his boasting he's in the NFL getting a pretty sweet check. But, last time I checked he's still getting burned and he still talks after making a routine tackle… on top of getting into bar fights and fights with his fellow teammates. Green Bay would get rid of him if they could find someone to take him.