Hogwired.com: No. 12 Arkansas Gets Huge Games from McFadden and Monk to Top Gamecocks
No. 12 Arkansas forced South Carolina dual-threat quarterback Syvelle Newton to the bench, surviving a spark by backup Blake Mitchell, and rode Darren McFadden and Marcus Monk to a 26-20 road victory Saturday.
Also:
- Hogwired.com: Game Stats (PDF), Post-game Notes
- ESPN.com: McFadden early, Monk late too much for Gamecocks in loss to Hogs
- AP Photos: Darren McFadden, Marcus Monk / Carlos Thomas, Darren McFadden / Carlos Thomas, Syvelle Newton / Jamaal Anderson, Sidney Rice / Chris Houston, Seth Edwards / Kenny McKinley, Felix Jones / Stoney Woodson, Steve Spurrier, Blake Mitchell, Darren McFadden
- YouTube Video: Darren McFadden Touchdown Run, Marcus Monk Touchdown Reception
RazorBloggers Network
- Walking on Sunshine: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly – South Carolina
- HogBlogger: Coming of Age?
The Morning News
- Alex Abrams: A Quarterback Controversy? Maybe Not
- Grant Hall: McFadden Moving On Up UA Career Charts
- Vernon Tarver: McFadden Earns More Praise
- Ryan Malashock: Second Chance
- Harry King: Arkansas stays unbeaten in SEC; Atlanta in sight
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- Bob Holt: Maintaining a good run
- Otis Kirk: All of Monk’s 192 yards needed
- Scott Cain: Mitchell brings Gamecocks back, Instant Replay
- Rob Keys: Casey is mighty off bench
- Chris Givens: QB change spurs rally, Inside The Matchups
- Wally Hall: Let the controversy end before it gets started
- Nate Allen: Houston gunning to make special teams impact for Razorbacks
- ArkansasOnline Focus: South Carolina Game Photos
Opponent News
- The State: Same ol’ story, QB shuffle should make late season fun for USC, Hogs’ passing game proves to be a deciding factor against USC, Mitchell thrust back to pass-fail grading, Bench provides rest for Boyd at start
- The Greenville News: Razorbacks spoil USC’s upset bid
Updated 11/5/06 4:55 p.m.
I'm still trying to comprehend this win… don't get me wrong. I'm very excited that we won. But, I came away with more questions after a win than I can ever remember.
Casey played great. Mitch threw one pass. Could he have been great, too? We'll never know. But, once you've annointed the golden boy how can you bench him? Again, not complaining, just wondering.
Why do we continue to play man when our corners can't cover anyone? Yeah, I know, they're in position to make plays…. but they seem to never make plays…. unless we're in a zone… funny how that seemed to work. I could've drank a quart less pepto if Herring would've done what I told him to do after the first drive in the 3rd quarter
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If you are going to play man, why continue to put our shortest corner on their tallest and best receiver? Materral Richardson could not have done worse and he at least would've had a chance to knock the pass down…
I don't what's going on, but we have the football gods on our side. Plays that we haven't made in the past we're making, calls we haven't got in the past we're getting, and balls that seem to never bounce our way seem to be coming to us like a magnet. I don't know what's going on…. When the Cardinals made they're run in the World Series I told some friends that if they won then I would begin to believe this might be the season for our Hogs… well, I still do. Please don't let me down against Tennessee. Strange how we can wrap up the trip to Atlanta this week (pretty much… I still don't care that MSU beat Alabama).
Give our corners some credit. On the two Mitchell TD drives USC's pass and catch was the best I've ever seen (been watching since 1973). Herring and Spurrier both said the same thing. I felt like you while watching the game but, since I taped it, I went back and watched those drives again. Some the catches were phenomenal as were nearly all the throws. I'm just glad that Mitchell came back to earth when we needed him to and Vinnett made the play when he got the opportunity. It's simply a shame that Grant blew his knee on the Rice TD (just one of those phenomenal catches) and McFadden now has a high ankle sprain. Hopefully, with Casey Dick throwing as well as he is, we won't need to put the team on Darren's back next week.
One question I do have: what happened to Jones?! He averaged like 2.9 ypc for the game. It seemed like he couldn't get anything going against USC's defense in the second haIf. McFadden is indeed gimpy, we're gonna need a bit better than that against UTenn.
As if we needed more things to talk about this week before TN, now the talk will be all about the QB's. I have to agree with 10K. If you are going to immediately annoint Mitch at the first of the season, why bench him after a bad pass? I know he's had a few bad games. But how can you expect a QB to throw really great if you don't let him throw the ball every few downs. When Casey first came in the game, he threw two terrible screen passes that almost resulted in two turnovers. Why wasn't he benched at that point? Since they did not bench him, Casey was allowed to throw the ball more and allow him to get a rythm and flow to the game. Let Mitch do the same and I think we would have seen the same results. I STILL think Casey played great. He threw some really good balls into tight coverage.
I'm not too worried about our secondary. Even though they didn't make any huge plays, they seem to be in position to make them. I think it's a matter of time. Also, Mitchell had all the time in the world to throw the ball. It's not totally the secondary's fault. When our D-Line was able to hurry Mitchell's pass, he didn't have as much success. We can't give TN's QB enough time to check 2 or 3 routes before making a pass.
As has been said before, Mitchell was making perfect passes, not to mention we didn't have our pocket passer package in place for this game (the one we had vs. Bama and Auburn), we will against Ainge and Crompton.
We'll mix in more zone, but last night we used it to get the big play when we needed it, good coaching.
Dick does some things that worry me (lock in on one reciever, hold the ball looking for the bomb which leads to sacks and fumbles, doesn't have great toch on screens and stares the back down before hand), and these are the same things I noticed about him last year. I hope Mitch gets offended by getting pulled, works doubly hard in practice to get the job back and lights it up against UT and leads us to the promised land. Don't sulk Mitch, get angry.
Why bench the starting quarterback after one simple passing error on the road in a critical stretch run conference game? Gee, I don't know. Maybe it was the eye-black. Coaches may not have, but I took exception to a freshman starting quarterback making a cutesy eye-black fashion statement instead of coming out stone-cold ready to play this football game and lead his team against another very good SEC team. If he is going to be the leader of a bunch of nearly grown men and have them respect and follow his lead, he better start acting like a grown up quickly and take this thing serious. Every one of those men will be looking right in his face in the huddle, and the last thing they need is any sort of distraction from the task at hand. This is the SEC. There is no room for cute in the huddle or on the field. These guys have to be stone cold ready every second of the game or they will get their collective clocks cleaned. That said, my heart goes out to Michael Grant. Best orthopaedic in the world is still Andrews at UAB. Good luck and fast healing. I'll be pulling for you and hope to see you back full strength and full speed on the field.
Didn't mean to focus on negatives. Too many positives with Mustain to put him back on the bench. He has great mechanics, smooth fakes, smart handoffs, good touch passes and shows tremendous poise in the pocket. I see incredible upside to his potential and the plays he is going to make as the seasons go by. …I just get annoyed by things that bring attention to " I " by the players instead of complete team focus.
Wow… fashion statement? Seriously… wow…..
I am afraid our coaches are making a rule that if something goes bad and it was your fault (Mitch's pass) then you should come out of the game. You put Mitch in during the USC game and he came through right when you put him in. You believed in him and even trusted a freshman with those important games (Alburn). But now you are taking him out because of one pass. Man I just don't see where they are coming from. You have to learn college football is going to have those things. Believing in someone should never end no matter what. I don't think that Nutt is not as confident in Mitch as before, no thats not what I'm saying. I just feel that we didn't give Mustian a chance that game to show what he has to bring to the field. One thing goes wrong and we expect the worse. Now Casey Dick goes in and throws to passes that were almost turnovers and he stayed in the game. And just wondering didn't he have any interception? If someone can answer that please do. I just dont want that move of taking Mitch out because of his pass effect him later maybe like this weekend. When Mitch isn't on the field and the hogs need what he has to bring for us. I believe with all my heart the hogs will win. However, someone has to decide on the stone game plan. GO HOGS!!