I sometimes wonder if some Razorback fans and media really have an appreciation for what the football Hogs have accomplished this year.
Since I didn’t make the trip to Starkville, watching the film was necessary before saying anything about the Mississippi State game. Even though most of the shots on the Houston Dale show are much too ‘tight’ for my football viewing pleasure, I think I got the gist of what went on.
This game was a fight. Starkville is always a tough place. Mississippi State has improved as the season progressed and had the advantage of two weeks to prepare. The ‘hunted’ Hogs faced a stout challenge. This game was doomed to be a ugly fight. Plus, the Hogs faced a ‘pucker’ factor that the program hadn’t experienced in almost forever.
It was a gutty performance. Closing out the game in the fourth quarter with a 16 play, 80 yard, nine minute drive made a statement. The efficiency of the six play, 80 yard drive that preceeded it was clutch. The defense forced seven punts and forced Mississippi State to turn the ball over on downs at the end of a long third quarter drive. Special teams again were a big key.
A few observations:
- I agree with Rick Schaeffer – we missed Peyton Hillis. Especially his blocking in the running game. I stopped counting missed blocks early as it was taking up too much time.
- I thought overall Casey did a good job. I noticed he threw the ball away several times. When the throw was there to be made he was pretty spot on. Protection lasped several times and he handled it pretty well. He’s demonstrated pretty good mobility the last few games. Looking off the safety and then hitting Damian for the touchdown was a big league play. The long pass to Monk — having to catch the ball and throw it quickly while moving to the left — was right on the money. There were some other throws I liked. Two or three weren’t so good.
- I thought the play calling had enough variety to get the job done. There were a number of different types of passing plays called. We did all of our usual stuff in the running game. I do think we are overdoing the running just a bit at times.
- Yes, usual stuff. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We have a lot of variety in the running game, but teams are better able to prepare for us now. Especially if they have two weeks.
McFadden and Felix are pretty special. That was tough going out there and they managed to make yards. They are always a threat to take it to the house.- Good to see Damian Williams more involved. This guy is good.
- The Razorbacks ability to manage field position has been a big this year. This game was no exception.
- Our defense was well prepared and played well. Chris Houston obviously watches film. Richardson needs to realize that the stripes have their eye on him.
My hats off to Mississippi State for playing well. My hats off to the Hogs for fighting through it. It has been a long, long, long time since we’ve had the type of team that could win a game like this.
LSU comes next. Truthfully, the next game to win is Florida. With the pressure off and a short week ahead, I wouldn’t waste too many bullets on LSU. The national championship game is out of the question for the Hogs at this point. Our injured need to heal. LSU is tough to play and seems to take a lot out of teams. I wouldn’t have expected to ever say this, but in the grand scheme of things at this point, the LSU game is fairly meaningless.
But since we are playing for history, might as well win it too.
HogBlogger, you make a number of good points here… however, just because we've had a couple of bad years it doesn't mean that we lower our expectations. Sure as the first game kicked off, I expected a better game than was delivered. That didn't happen – not totally surprised but I expected more from the first game (can't a person dream some). As the weeks rolled on and we were more and more successful, my excitement and expectation rolled on too – upwards. I believe that we continued to get better and better game after game until Miss. St. True, we didn't "finish" the South Carolina or Tennessee games as strong as I'd like – call it "running out the clock" or "preventing injuries" – whatever! My point being that if we really are having a "magical" year (which I believe we are) then we need to go for broke and do what we can to "take it to the house". There are very FEW teams that get to work themselves into the opportunity to play for the national championship. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of luck! Very strong finishes against South Carolina, Tennessee, and Miss. St would have added to our ability for folks within the nation to say – hey, how 'bout them Hogs. These guys are good… they aren't the same team that play poorly against USC in the first game. I wonder how they'd stack up against Ohio State. Remember, it's all about the DREAM.
We need to lay it on the line with both LSU and Florida! Don't settle for – shucks, it's just LSU and it doesn't matter. We need to show Florida that we are serious! We ARE the best in the West. Then with Florida, we need to show the nation that we ARE the best in the SEC. After all of that, we just have to see how things play out and see if we get any of that LUCK that I mentioned earlier.
We've got to dream BIG! Then when the season is over, we can sit back, relax and say – How 'bout them Hogs!
Michigan and Ohio State have had closer games against lessor opponents this year and it was not held against them. We just need to win. Forget about strong finishes. Manage the game- particularly on the road- to ensure that you win the game and we did. Winning takes care of everything else. except for a couple miscues we would have closed SC out in fine style. MState was closed out in fine style with a 16 play drive. It did not matter how many points differential we had. What matters is USC and Notre Dame losing. The only reason we have a chance is because a whole bunch of teams lost in front of us last week.
These guys are dreaming big and laying it on the line. They are beat up and getting closed to used up I imagine. They have not only had to fight the other teams but their own fans in many cases. I expect them to play hard this weekend. I dare not predict what happens but I looked at LSU's roster and they are healthier than we are. LR will help with the emotion. The coaches need to pull out the right moves to get them as physically ready as possible. But they are still dreaming as you say and so am I.