I still remember the joke: “Son, can you pass the ball?”
“Coach, if I can swallow it, I can pass it.”
That’s about how familiar the Razorbacks are with the passing game.
Wally Hall said this today:
The offense tried, but it was obvious the Badgers were concerned only with stopping Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, which they mostly did.
Wisconsin had studied the film, and Arkansas’ passing game was not something it appeared to be worried about.
J.R. and Henry reflect the feelings I’ve heard from many fans:
While Houston Nutt will celebrate his first 10 win season and a likely finish in the Top 25, this season will be about another let down – an inability to focus and solve the two biggest problems entering the season: kicking game and passing game. Sadly, those two problems rest with the head coach. It’s Houston Nutt’s responsibility to get his team ready to play.
I took a little grief for a previous post about Damian Williams going to USC. Watching USC’s receivers in the Bowl game only reinforced my view that Damian will be better off there. As Bob Griese pointed out in the bowl telecast, Arkansas receivers don’t run very good routes. All year they’ve had problems getting open. That’s due to both design and coaching.
It’s hard to be good at the quarterback position when no one is open.
Watching the other bowl games convinced me that the Arkansas offense ranked pretty low on the innovation and capability scale. The success we had was due to a senior offensive line and two absolute stud running backs. I’ll give Gus credit for improving the running game playcalling variety as well as getting both DMac and Felix on the field at the same time.
I’m sure someone will comment on bringing back the single wing ‘Wildcat’ package as an example of innovation. Maybe so. It was also an example of distraction and lack of identity on offense. A gimmick that we came to over rely on and that ate up a lot of practice time that could have been put to better use.
Just as I feel that Damian will be better off at USC, I feel that Mitch Mustain would be better off somewhere else.
Don’t get me wrong – I like Mitch. I think he can be a great quarterback. I want him to stay and be great for us. I just think the odds of him accomplishing this at Arkansas are remote.
I know, “just wait until Gus gets his offense in place.” I don’t think Gus is ready for prime time. We passed 32 times against Wisconsin. I saw nothing great about the play design at all. We have the worst passing offense of any bowl team I’ve watched.
Maybe Gus is stuck under Houston Dale’s thumb. If so, that will be true next year as well.
Houston Dale’s influence is going to dominate the offense no matter who the assistants are. I saw a lot of offense in the spring and fall practices that I never saw on the field during a real game. Frank doesn’t think Gus’ offense can be successful. Houston Dale doesn’t trust the players enough to run it.
As to Mitch – Houston Dale does not develop quarterbacks. The only real quarterback Houston Dale has ever had was developed by Joe Ferguson. Other than Clint and Matt Jones, we’ve not had a quarterback under Houston Dale worth a darn. The passing offense has no sophistication. Mitch’s learning and growth will be stunted by the environment.
Mitch’s latest comments didn’t exactly indicate to me he was set on staying with the Hogs:
But the player who is perhaps the most uncertain about his future is quarterback Mitch Mustain, whose freshman season included everything from eight straight wins as the starter to being at the center of controversy after his mother had a meeting with athletic director Frank Broyles in December.
Mustain decided not to transfer, but the former Springdale High star hasn’t been too committal when talking about his future with the Razorbacks.
“I’m not going to get into that,” Mustain said when asked after the Capital One Bowl if he’d be back at Arkansas next season.
I think the easy answer to that question was “yes,” but that’s not what we got.
The common element in the lack of success at quarterback is Houston Dale. Quarterback coaches have come and gone. Receiver coaches have come and gone. Danny, Mike, and Houston Dale are the constants.
Felix Jones actually said it best without intending to:
“We’re used to both quarterbacks,” Jones said. “Quarterbacks weren’t a factor. We just couldn’t move the other team. It was just one of those days that we couldn’t get it going.”
In a successful offense, the quarterback is usually a factor.
Playing against defenses that are totally discounting your ability to pass the ball has to be embarrassing. Ask yourself, “Could the Razorbacks have made the drive that Oklahoma made against Boise State late in the fourth quarter?” Oklahoma went 80 yards, no-huddle, passing every play, and scored in about a minute of elapsed clock time.
We have no two minute drill. We have no possession passing game. Take away the running game and we have nothing.
It’s been like this for years. It’s not going to change. Bring back the wishbone.
Sheesh, Hogblogger, is your life really that miserable?
Pull yourself together, man. We went 10-4, yeah, it could have been better. Yeah, the quarterback play needs to be improved. Yeah, we finished the season on a bit of a downer.
BUT, we did finish 10-4. First time since, when? We have how many starters coming back next year (14, not including Felix Jones)? The qbs and receivers will be a year older and a year better. Neither Lunney or Stoerner were all world their freshmen/sophomore years, let them get a little seasoning. Come on, now…lighten up. Enjoy success when you see it.
As for a HDN developed qb, I don't know, but I'm guessing Mike Cherry qualifies a decently HDN developed qb. Granted it was at Murray State, but Mike Cherry who didn't/couldn't beat out Barry Lunney was the one who went to the NFL for a few years, not Lunney.
I will say that the kicker and passing game needs to be improved. However, I challenge you to find one team in the NCAA that doesn't have an area that needs to be improved. Since there isn't a team in the NCAA that is #1 in EVERY statistical category…by definition, EVERY team in the NCAA has areas that needs improving.
So, put the gun down, back away slowly, and enjoy reminicing about what did go right this season. Hey, you might even find yourself smiling after that bit of exercise, and not find yourself so suicidal.
See there, the world is getting brighter by the minute!
as for Mike Cherry – he was a talent but a bad fit for the offense that Ford wanted to run.
What kills me is where is the offense with lots of passing that Houston ran at Murray State? I was hoping that was going to be his calling card when he came here but we've never seen it. Why? Is it JFB? Is it Houston? Is it both?
As my Dad use to say "Crap Or Get Off The Pot" Mustain needs to either commit to being "A RazorBack" Or Him and is Mommy need to find a new college. Nobody gives you anything in life …. you have to earn.. I think Mustain could take the Hogs to the next level… But he needs to realize there is NO "I" in team…
Your interpretation of the quotes are just that, your interpretation. I took Mitch to be saying that "I'm not going to get into that" as hey its too soon to be talking about that stuff and I'm not going to say anything after having this mom/Frank Broyles meeting/book stuff. So, I think he's here to stay. Even though he's still young, I think he has enough maturity and character to make a commitment and remain committed. Wow, do I sound like Houston Nutt or what?! I mean, what a place to be to have been starting 8 games and fighting for starting quarterback during his freshman year? How many freshmen get to do that?
10 – 4 season… after this season we must remain optimistic for the betterment of the Hogs we agree should be the best team in college football.
HogBlogger, Rome wasn’t built in a day. 10-4 is a good start, not the finished product. Compare what Stoerner looked like as a Fresh/Soph to when he was a Junior/Senior. You’ve gotta do what you can do….and this year, that was run the ball, and wait on the QBs to develop to further engage them in the passing game.
The Beef I’ve got, if anything, is that we didn’t play the guy (Mustain) that’s going to be the eventual meal ticket enough late in the year to allow him to get that seasoning quicker. The quicker he gets over the learning curve, the quicker we can be a legitimate contender for championships of all kinds.
The way you write your articles HogBlogger, it sounds like you'd be better off someplace else.
Walking on In Sunshine Rick's Shoes — How do you know that Mustain is going to eventually be the meal ticket? Do you not trust the ability of our coaches to evaluate the talent on the team? How is Mustain the only piece to the puzzle in becoming a legitimate contender?
I was excited about a 10-4 start but I don't think I will be alone in calling for a new coach if we have another 10-4 season next year with a loss in the bowl game. I mean how long do you need to prepare for one team. HDN should atleast be at .500 don't hype me up for a great season only to lose both of the biggest games of the season.
I gues I am the only one who liked the article.
Bizzaro – I think most can see that Mitch has the greater upside. The quicker he ascends to the top and becomes productive the better off we’ll be. I’m safe in saying that I trust our coaches more than any of the RBN bloggers, but I think they did what they did with the QBs to win now, rather than prepare for the future. They had to in the interest of self-preservation.
Re-read my original comment…I didn’t say Mustain was the only piece of the puzzle to becoming a legitimate contender, but he is certainly one of them. A reliable kicker and more cover guys in the secondary are the other missing components in my view.
I know this is sort of off topic but does DW have to sit out a year at USC.
Walking on Sunshine said "but I think they did what they did with the QBs to win now, rather than prepare for the future". However, Casey didn't bring the "wins". So, once again, we've lost out!
My understanding is yes DW will have to sit out next year at USC. This is standard procedure but why didn't he play in the bowl game then announce his transfer? I'm assuming this might have prevented him from transfering this spring? Just guessing.
I know that everyone says it was the best move DW to go to USC but with him sitting out a year and talent out the rear there he might not get his shot even then so all that transfering would just have been a waist of time so I hope he gets a good education while there because playing time is not promised.
OwassoHog, I can't remember a time when a coach did not put the best player on the field to win a football game. To say that Casey is the best option at this time, but play someone else hoping that he will improve and one day be the best is, well "Less than Smart".
It IS one of the top educational institutions in the nation. I just read a book written by the president of USC, Steven Sample, called "The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership". Very good and one several CEO's of Fortune 500 company's could take some advice from…. but I digress.
HogBlogger says, "Maybe Gus is stuck under Houston Dale’s thumb."
Heck yeah he's under his thumb. Anyone who thinks AGM's gameplan was to pound the ball against Wisconsin and to not prepare our passing game to be at least average in 3 weeks is sticking their head in the sand.
On this note, I was burning the 2006 football games to DVD this year (don't ask me why) and decided to watch the first 5 minutes of the USC game. Wow, man that was a fun five minutes even though we had two fumbles and then later on in the 4th quarter when we ran the no huddle again with Mitch it was fun. I don't want to blame all this on one play or one person, BUT if I had to it would be Felix Jones. I think if Felix doesn't fumble on that first drive we go down there and score and MIGHT even win the game… Ok, now I'm smoking the green, I love Felix and really don't blame this on him, but seriously, we might not have won the game, but I don't think we would have trashed everything we had practiced up that point if we had scored on the first drive. It takes a "Contrarian" to do something different than conventional thinking and that was what it would've taken for HDN to stay with Gus' offense.
Then, that same week afterwards we hear Clay Henry writes an article about how JFB, back in his day, would go and get an offensive genius and put their offense in in the spring and August and even run it in the first game and then more often than not he would scrap it. Does that sound familiar to what happened this year. I think it eerily does. Either HDN and Frank have ESP and are so in tune with each other that it's scary or Frank is calling the shots… which is what I think is happening.
That last part is what is unfortunate. Because in my limited time on this earth so far I have noticed a common theme in successful leadership. If you undermine the people that work for you then nothing good can come from it. You hire people that you have the confidence to perform the job and then you let them do their job. If they don't do their job up to the standards you set then you fire them. It's that simple. But, when you are undermining everything the people that work for you do then you give them no confidence and you limit their abilities and thus you have a problem. In this case, JFB undermines HDN and HDN then undermines AGM and you have an offense in disarray.
I tried using initials for all coaches involved.
OK, I was a little harsh on the firing… at the coaching level I think that is the way you handle it, but in the business world it might be a little different. Maybe you find where they fit best. But, at the coaching level it is very clear what a coach thinks they do well and what their superiors think they do well and if they don't do it well then they need to go.
How is Casey the "best"? I have yet to see that… maybe I am blind. I really don't care who plays as long as they play well and up to this point neither QB has played well. I agree with HDN when he says there's not a clear starter going into the Spring… that would be a true statement to me. But, like I have said before, it is more about how the players are being coached and what we focus on in practice that has more impact on why neither QB has been highly successful in my opinion.
Walking — Thanks!
Whether you believe it or not this team had every intention of opening up the offense and spreading the field. But, even Gus admits that the receivers or quarterbacks were ready or capable of doing whats needed to be successful. They had to take a step back to win now! I believe that is what everybody wanted. However, I also believe that you will see much improvement in the passing game next year. I never want to see this team a spread the field, passing team. We need to compliment our running game with the pass, not the opposite. Be happy with what we acheived this year and be excited about next years potential.
Bluffhawg, understood… but after the first game… Casey wasn't better, after the second game, Casey wasn't better, after the third game, Casey was actually worse, after the fourth game, Casey was still worse… shall I go on?
First of all, Mitch won… we all know this and understand. Could Casey have done better (and the Razorbacks still lost the same games) but the change be the "right" move – sure. But now looking back (or even during the season), it was quite obvious that we didn't get ANY thing by changing from Mitch to Casey (even assuming that Mitch continued at the same pace). So, the up side was that Mitch could develop. Not sure that I totally buy into this theory as Casey had 2+ years to grow too but the point is that Houston had a chip on his shoulder more than he had a feeling that Casey was better for us (IMHO).
The sooner that Houston recognizes this fact, maybe – just maybe the QB situation can be put to rest (either way) and the fans can rally behind the team (and maybe a COACH).
Are we better off with Casey, maybe – but not if you look at the results from 2006!
There will NEVER be a QB developed under Dale Nutt that is selected in the NFL Draft under the "QB" position. Period. The man just can't do it. The only reason Stoerner made it to the level he did was due ENTIRELY to Joe Ferguson. Dale's offense that Gus is running, (we saw Gus' offense for 1 game, USC), incorporates pass routes that don't allow the QB to succeed, if you wan't proof look at the last 9 years. I agree with Hogblogger that Mitch needs to get himself to a program where he has a chance to reach his potential.
As for 10-4, it looks good on paper but if you take into account 7 of those wins came against 1-11 Utah St, 4-8 Vandy, 6-7 Bama, 4-7 SEMO, 4-8 Ole Miss, 4-8 LA Monroe, and 3-9 Miss St it kind of loses its luster. Other than that we beat Auburn and QB-less Tenn. If we hadn't of added that extra game would you be satisified with 9-4? The fact is this team had the chance to be great, but as usual Houston Dale couldn't make it happen. After 9 years we peaked at the Cotton Bowl. Outstanding. We will never be successful under Dale in any aspect of Football except for running the ball. Earth to Dale, if this was the 50's we would dominate, to bad its not. As long as Dale is our coach we will be average, just like him. Yes 10-4 is average, if you look at the History of Razorback Football we have had a higher winning percentage than this in 33 other times. I guess things aren't alwasys as they appear….
I don't think either quarterback was better than the other in quarterback play, other than turnover ratio. Casey was clearly better in that area.
I disagree with belairhawg on a quarterback developed under the current staff. You sound like a bitter man with an agenda.
Interestingly, both had the same # of attempts.
Casey had more yards and fewer interceptions.
Mitch has more completions and touchdowns.
Essentially the same…
Interceptions is the key OwassoHog. Casey was less likely to put us in a bad situation.
I TOTALLY disagree here. Obviously, you need some examples:
Hail Mary at the end of a half… interception – yes… bad? not really… counts against the QB but is a "meaningless" one
Receiver should catch the ball but due to HIS error, ball is intercepted – yes – counts against the QB but isn't a result of the QB action
There are probably others…
What about completions that should have been interceptions? Maybe the receiver makes a GREAT defensive play to cause the incompletion. Should have been an interception but wasn't. Only counts as an incompletion.
Or what about "blind" luck? Remember Monk's South Carolina pass before the half? It probably should have been an interception but due to luck (NOT SKILL), Monk ended up with the ball (no great defensive play here)… yet we get credit for a catch when it should have been an interception.
Since I can't recall all of the interceptions for either QB, I'll probably grant you that Casey was possibly less likely. But for every interception that was made, I'd take a touchdown to offset it. In many cases, an interception doesn't turn into 7 points but a touchdown is ALWAYS 7 points!
Unfortunately Mitch only had 1 more touchdown than Casey to that MAY get Casey a net of 2 (Mitch -3 on INT and Casey -1 on TD). Again, this is somewhat meaningless as these numbers are TOTALLY out of context to the game.
How is this important? These stats are ALWAYS subjective so what are we left with? WINS and LOSES!!!
An we ALL know who won this battle! Of course this is misleading too as one win isn't the same as another win! I should would trade a win (Utah State, SEMS, Louisiana-Monroe) for a loss (LSU, Florida, Wisconsin) most any day.
Casey in 99% of situations would throw the ball away versus trying to make something out of nothing. Granted, and I was upset about it as anyone when he took the sack in the LSU and the Wisconsin games.
Mitch will get better at this and it's obvious given time will be the best quarterback. However, I still think that for this year the best decision was made to make us successful and give us the best opportunity to win games.
I have to take one thing back. We probably would have had a better chance to beat Wisconsin if we had set Casey and Mitch down and put Mcfadden, Jones and Smith in the game.
I've used this analogy before, but Brett Favre also had the reputation for trying to make something out of nothing… and guess what, a lot of times he did. Sure, he had a risk-taker's reputation, but he also has 2 super bowls.
You can't make something happen unless you try…. we could go into the parable of the talents on this one, but I digress.
At this point in time I really don't think it is fair to talk about Mitch Mustain and Brett Favre in comparison. In Bretts' early seasons with much talent surrounding him he could push the bar, take chances and it come out positive, but in his later years as the talent around him subsided it has come back to haunt him, Green Bay has lost many games over the last few years (without the surrounding talent) because of those chances. Mitch or Casey do not have the superior receiving talent around them at this time to take those chances.
I agree that we don't have superior receivers! So, with this assumption, maybe part of the problem is that Mitch has taken too many "chances" on passes as a result. At the high school level, maybe they did have superior receivers and it was much easier to make the play.
What if we had better receivers? Would Mitch (or Casey) have fewer INTs and more TDs? Who knows? I do know that watching other teams, they have better separation between their receiver and our defender time and time again.
Looking back on the South Carolina game, I was amazed how many passes were pinpoint passes in the second half when they go going. In those cases, it didn't matter that we had them well defended as they pass was perfect. Excepted the one we intercepted which was greatly needed.
Pinpoint passes as opposed to "in the general direction of" passes?
Remember that the passing game is a sending/receiving combo. I think there are probably 3 kinds of passes:
1) Sometimes passes are planned to be targeted to a certain spot (i.e. corner of the end-zone). The QB can be right on "target" and time but if the receiver doesn't get there who is at fault?
2) You are waiting for separation and trying to lead the receiver. Should be somewhat on target.
3) Maybe you are rushed (maybe not) but you throw the ball up with the intention of only allowing the receiver to have a chance (i.e. one-on-one coverage). You got to expect the receiver to do some adjusting to the ball.
It seems that most of the other teams have had many more "pinpoint" passes vs. us (my feeling was we had very few… maybe more by non-QBs than our QBs)
So, I can identify with the McFadden, Jones, and Smith recommendation here.
Finally, the last point I want to make on a previous topic passing. INTs also happen when the receiver makes the wrong cut and the QB is left high and dry… if this is all timing, QB could be charged with a INT.
I think we all have a tendency to over complicate the rating of a QB. It's not all about stats. This was a point that I tried to make earlier in the seaons. Like most stats, you can make them out as you like.