And so it begins. Morning News columnist Harry King officially starts the “Year of the Dog” spin cycle in Wednesday’s newspaper.
Just to catch everyone up…Kurt Voigt, a sports editor for the Morning News, was allowed behind the scenes access to last season’s run to a state championship by the Springdale Bulldogs, led by head coach Gus Malzahn and quarterback Mitch Mustain.
Voigt’s access was pretty much unfettered and the publication of his book based on the season, Year of the Dog (affiliate link), has been highly anticipated for several months now. But maybe not for the reasons you might expect.
Voigt, who broke the story of Mustain’s re-commitment to Arkansas in January, apparently does a fine job detailing the ‘Dogs undefeated and dominating season.
But it’s a quote, finally confirmed in King’s column, that has been fodder for message board conversation over the past several weeks:
Mustain was at Voigt’s home on that Sunday night after Arkansas’ 2005 victory at Ole Miss when a still picture of Nutt appeared on the TV screen. He heard Barrett ask Nutt if Casey Dick had checked into a play that resulted in a touchdown pass and he heard Nutt respond, “That was a called play, and I called it, Chuck.”
After more back and forth between coach and announcer, Mustain stood up, pointed at the television, and said, “Oh my God, did you hear that? Old ‘H’ has lost it. He has absolutely lost it. How can they let him get away with that? They ought to fire him on the spot. Of course, they’d have a better chance of getting me if they did.”
(Harry left out that there was a “brotha” thrown in somewhere in that radio interview as well.)
So what to make of this? King thinks that the quoted reaction by Mustain “will get too much attention” and I tend to agree. Many of us, when standing around the water cooler, have probably made slightly more…uh…colorful comments about Houston Dale than “Old ‘H’ has lost it.”
And like others, I can tell you for certain that I’ve said, “they ought to fire him on the spot,” both during and after the Hogs have played a gridiron battle.
But then again, none of us are going to be competing for the starting quarterback position next spring, are we?
In fact, it sounds like the portrayal in the book of Notre Dame’s recruitment of Mustain is much more damning. Charlie Weis might be playing in the Sugar Bowl this January, but it certainly appears he was playing a little hardball with Mustain during last January.
As for rumors that the “powers that be” (whoever that is) have delayed the book’s publication until after the Hogs’ season, they also appear to be unfounded. Additional writing and overseas printing issues are supposedly to blame for the wait.
In the end, I actually enjoyed this quote from the book more than any other I’ve heard:
[Regarding] legendary [high school] coach Gus Malzahn: “If you wanted to talk football, he’d talk football. If you wanted to talk politics, he’d talk football.”
So what’s your take? Am I not being enough of a “darksider” here?
Update: Houston Dale says he doesn’t plan to read the book.
sheds a little light on why he has been screwing mitch around this year. you know for sure nutt knew darn well about everything that had been said. by the way, where's that "quck trigger" been?
i wanna know if mitch is coming back next year or if he is gone? i don't know if it is nutt or gossip, but i don't like what i'm seeing on the field. i think mitch needs the start on jan 1.
Regarding the quick trigger, you may see it in the bowl game if Casey is as careless with the ball as Mitch has been. With Mitch that's been a consistent trend. Which of these stats is better? 1 INT per 17 throws vs. 1 per 29 throws? 1.4 to 1 TD/INT ratio vs. 3 to 1? 128 passer rating vs. 162 rating? Casey's superior stats include his very poor LSU showing, and were accomplished against tougher competition. It's pretty easy to see who takes better care of the ball, whether he's playing well or not. Mitch will be great, better than Casey, imho. He just isn't right now, and his tendency to sail balls 10 feet over WRs' heads and throw into the arms of defenders he didn't see underneath simply can't be ignored, and outweighs anything bad that Casey's done so far. (Casey's catching up, though. It's almost time to at least give Mitch a series or two.)
I want you idiots in the print media to start helping the program instead of breaking it down. Maybe if you had a little more positive outlook you would sell papers instead of the whole world reading your gibberish for free on the internet.
128 vs. 162 passer raiting? Wow, I'd take either one of those if they were true which makes me question your other stats. I don't have the time to check your stats, but I think you're wrong. Please let us know where you got those stats.
I'm pretty sure Dick's passer rating has been in the teens the last 3 games. Anything over 100 in the NFL is MVP material.
It looks like the raiting system in college football is really jacked up… in the Ole Miss game Casey had a raiting of 311.07 per espn.com. On the Mitch quote I would of said the same thing about Ole "H" if I was Mitch. When do you ever here the big names like Meyer, Spurrier, Bowden, etc… say stuff like that. Nutt is about Nutt unlike Meyer who is about Florida. I don't know what will happen but it is obvious that Nutt's ego may very well destroy the best instate tallent we have every had, and thats the bottom line.
Off topic but what are others hearing about Hillis and his future?
Now now belairhawg, hell hasn't quite frozen over yet. I would give it a few days to see what happens. One thing is for sure, the best in-state talent we have ever had doesn't quite live up to his reputation when playing on Saturday. Yes, we have some issues on the hill that might cause some uncomfortable situations in the next few weeks, but the bottom line is the players and staff are a lot less worried and a lot less focused on all the hoop-la surrounding the book and other things than the fanbase is.
Darren McFadden is the best talent (tallent) this state has ever (every) seen, hands down. I'm sure the rating (raiting) system on Mitch is still far from final, but he has the talent to be a top notch quarterback, as long as he cuts down on forcing the ball and turnovers.
Brett Favre forces the ball and he's won a couple of Super Bowls last time I checked.
John Elway had a reputation as a gunslinger.
Heck, I couldn't stand Clint Stoerner the first two years he was here. I called him the ATM – Automatic Turnover Machine. And to me, that's the best example of letting someone take their lumps as a freshman and sophomore and then when they're a junior everything seems to slow down. I'll guarantee you Matthew Stafford will be very good before he leaves Georgia because of this season. We were even winning with Mitch taking his lumps (unlike Stafford) and yet we take one step forward and then decide to take two steps back by pulling him.
If Mitch Mustain is as good as everything thinks and hopes he is then we should've and need to going forward let him play so he can develop as a QB. He's not going to do that on the scout team.
But, maybe Casey will end up being the better QB and maybe he is right now. It's hard to see through the muddy water nowadays.
Hey, 10K Hog. Pass efficiency ratings are calculated differently in the NFL & NCAA. A 100 score in the NFL is very good; in the NCAA it sucks. Do a google search & you can find the 2 different formulas.
As far as the diff between Casey's & MM's pass ratings—it means very little. They both have such a small # of pass attempts, that one good or bad game can change their ratings significantly.
Georgia would not let Stafford "take his lumps" if they had another qb that was half as good and ready to play.
Dieinghog…. Do we have one?
I am too old to worry about a bunch or 18,19, & 20 year old kids. I have really enjoyed this season, and I hate to see it end like this. We just can't get over the hump. If Mitch wants to go, let him go. This reminds me of Gary Breashers.
I can not imagine how many times out of frustration and relief, excitement, or anger I have said things that I had not thought about enough. I distinctly remember several times that I have made a statement like 'Son, I told you such and such' when in effect I had never told him or I was wrong about my perception of what happened. I am sick and tired of this argument about calling the play. If you hate Nutt then it was an egotistical move to take credit for something he did not do. If your a realist it is very likely that the man who calls all the plays makes a emotional statement immediately after a win in a horrible season of losses and criticism without thinking that the play had been changed at the line of scrimmage. Of course, it doesn't matter that the same coach is the one who designs what plays are checked off to based on formation and such.
That is the reason I told my wife that I would never ever contest a divorce. I have been to divorces and it is amazing what is said. A friend of mines wife was granted a divorce for the statement he made- "I am going to go get the gun". His statement was made during a argument after she said "I am so mad I could go get the gun and shoot you". he said "Fine, I am going to go get the gun so you can put me out of my misery". Sometimes accidents happen and this one by Nutt was minor and blown way out of proportion.
If Mustain leaves so be it. If Nutt leaves so be it. I for one give little credibility to the quote. The writer wants to sell books. I magine that a little creative fiction is added to the history.
If I am wrong so be it.
I agree with Kendall. Who freakin' cares what these high school players said?! I don't. They're in high school and we're all dumb at that age. I'm sick of talking about Mustain. If he's so good, then why didn't he prove it while he was on the field.
Plus, I think the writer is adding a little fiction to sell books too. The play calling incident with Nutt and Chuck happened over the RADIO. Read the section in Tipster's post one more time. Why would Mustain stand up and point to the TV after hearing Nutt?!! It's sounds like Voigt added a little Hollywood. You are better off using his book as fire starter this winter.
Hogsdill – I hate to break it to you, but he was watching the Sunday night news and they had a picture of Nutt on the screen and replayed the comment. But, I get your point. Who cares that our coach is running off the best football player to come through the state. I guess 7-0 isn't proof enough. You can throw out all the stats you want, but 7-0 is all I need with a win over the #4 team in the country on the road and another against a perennial powerhouse at home even on a "bad game".
It's sad that this has to happen because really now people are taking sides. Sure, people have been taking sides on Nutt for a few years now, but now they're taking sides on Mustain or the Springdale Kids or whatever. It's sad kids can't just be kids and just play football.
the point of it all is that you DONT run off the the# 1 rated QB in the nation. all freshmen struggle.
10KHog, when your butts on the line for the job, work the practice sessions everyday, watch the players and their effectiveness, then you might be able to include the 7-0 part of the situation into the mix. Until you do that can only be included as one part of the big picture.
Not taking sides, just letting the people that we hired to do a job be held responsible. If our winning percentage goes down in the future then I'm sure required steps will be taken. Until the GO HOGS!!!
10K, Mitch may be destined to do great things but I think the best player to come through the state is headed to NY this weekend. So much drama!
Carolina Hog I definitly agree. If Mitch was the greatest his name wouldn't be in the discussion of more playing time right now.
I should've said best QB. I agree that McFadden is the best player to come through here, but he was not as decorated as Mitch coming out of high school. Brock said it best.
10K He may be the most decorated, but he still has to prove it on the field. Not saying he won't do it, but I have seen quarterback after quarterback be successful because of the system and when they move out of that system they struggle. It became obvious as the year progressed that Mitch struggled more and more as they opened up more of the playbook. I think this year is a prime example of a team wanting to open it up more, but had to play to its strengths to be successful.
Carolina, to answer your question about Hillis, I have it from a reliable source, who obtained this information first hand, the following information:
1.Hillis is no longer suffering from a deep thigh bruise to the point where he could not play.
2. Hillis is not happy playing the role of fullback/3rd tailback. He thinks he deserves to be a larger part of the offense, and is considering transfering to UCA to get more touches.
[edit]
4. Someone (possibly an agent, but hopefully not Scotty Thurman or Olu Famatimi's) is whispering in Hillis' ear that he is a top 3 fullback, and would surly draft high if he were to come out, which he is considering.
5. Hillis has missed quite a bit of practice lately. Don't attend practice, don't attend games. Which may no longer matter, because if something doesn't happen soon, Hillis may no longer be a hog.
We all know what Hillis means to this team. With him we have great blocking, and a big fast back that can catch the football. His catching ability gives our struggling QB's the option of that little 4 yard flair into the flats which was a big help on 3rd downs. I would like to see his mom (or someone who cares about him) talk some sense into him, he play another season, and then go on to a solid career in the NFL. If not, I wish him well.
2Tour – Had to edit your comment. That was just a little bit more personal information than we want to discuss here.
Sorry. Just thought everyone already knew that one, and wasn't sure it was bad since he is doing the right thing.
10K. this is where I take issue with the whole argument. Who cares that Nutt is running off a player? I do a lot but I am not convinced he is. ANd I am not a big Nutt supporter. But I do believe that many people have convinced themselves he has and regardless of what happens their will be selffullfilling prophecies. How is he running him off? By not playing him? Olajabutu got busted to 5th team. Jackson got busted to 4th team. They came back as team leaders. I'll bet Mustain is made of the same stuff. Of course if he leaves it is becuase Nutt ran him off not becuase he made the decision on his own.
Great year for the hogs. Who cares about the BS! That's all it is.