Give And Take Away
September 25, 2007 at 2:05pm by HogBlogger
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football
A final recap of the defense and special teams from Saturday’s loss to Kentucky.
The Razorbacks ‘pin back your ears and go after the quarterback’ style of defense in the first half was very effective. Herring did not get out-schemed this game. He really did some interesting things along the way that worked well.
Unfortunately, you can’t play a whole game that way with the lack of depth on the defensive line. Kentucky’s second half was due not only to smart offense, but tired defense. Just shows you that time of possession isn’t always meaningful.
Obviously turnovers both helped and hurt the Hogs. Each defense got a fumble return for a touchdown, but Kentucky got a major lift just before halftime. Even before that, though, I thought we were in trouble. Not getting in the end zone has a way of biting you later in the game.
Special teams both gave and took away. Tejada is very solid (and unfortunately a reason to play even more conservatively). Punting Kentucky deep and then returning the safety kickoff for a touchdown was great. Fielding punts, however, is still iffy.
The field goal penalty was just a freak thing. And Kentucky was already on both a mission and a roll, so I’m not sure it really made a difference. I think they would have scored again anyway if we didn’t keep the ball away from them.
This team now reminds me very much of two years ago: amazing offensive numbers in the running game…not enough points on the scoreboard to win. It’s just too hard to run the ball all the way into the end zone on every possession. It requires either a big play or more perfection in execution than is possible in today’s game.
You have to understand your team well enough to know that you can’t play conservative against KY or SCar.;Alabama and Auburn, maybe.
I do think they would have scored more and the outcome the same but, I don’t see how you call that field goal penalty a freak play. You have to practice and coach that well enough to understand the circumstances. We took momentum from our own team there when we needed it very badly.
04 was of course the Robert Johnson year when our passing was no where to be found. We have lost 5 of our last 6, and it all started when Mitch was pulled at QB. (Tenn was DMac’s wildhog explosion, Miss St. was won with defense and special teams.) This is the 04 team without Mitch. You can say that their numbers were about equal but you can’t say that their skill or their results were even close. The more I see the parrallels the more I think we could well be headed to 6-6.
You must be able to pass the ball. David Lee even thinks so.
Hogblogger:
That time of possession is not always meaningful is not very profound. Scoring more than your opponent is, no matter how much you controlled the ball.
I am beginnig to get suspicious that Wally Hall is looking over my shoulder. Immediately after the game i criticized the conservative calls that resulted in a field goal. I zeroed in on the 4th and 2, but Wally got after the whole sequence. Again in an earlier contribution here I said that the Heisman doesn’t necessarily go to the best player but the best player on the best team. So, Wally reiterated that in his column. It was probably coicidence but then I began to wonder if the sportswriters aren’t reading bloggs to pick up ideas to use and perhaps elaborate on. What do y’all think.
Another interesting thing about Wally’s column today. He was critical, but was very supportive at the same time and urged fans not to give up on the team. On the other hand is Wally telling us what he really feels? On the Voices Page (letters to the editor) a letter writer excoriated Nutt calling for his head. It occured to me that this was possibly a surrogate critique that Wally wouldn’t say in public. I don’t like homer sports writers like Wally, but in a state with only one major national sports franchise (the Hogs) it is counterpordutive for the press to go too negative. Another thing, I don’t like are comments on sports on the letters or editorial pages. They should be put strictly on the sport pages as they are in other newspapers. What I’m hypothesizing here is that future criticisms might be hand selected by Wally for Meredith Oakley (editor of Voices) which lets Wally off the hook. If Wally goes negative in his own column, then Nutt is through. In the past I used to interpret Orville Henry’s negativity as a coach’s obituary since Henry almost never criticised the “Backs. Orville was getting his orders from Frank. Henry was like a buzzard circling a soon to be dead carcass. In other words, If you want to know where Nutt really stands with Frank, read Wally.
Hot topic of the day is Coach Gundy’s (OSU)defense of one his players in an angry rant. Good for Gundy. Noted is that it was directed to a female sports writer. As I have said before, females covering men’s sports is unnatural. (and unnecessary) Perhaps part of Gundy’s anger was that he knew the chick hadn’t played football and didn’t really understand the physical and emotional aspects of the game. My yardsitck is that you don’t understand the game until you have had that metallic taste in your mouth after a good Hit (usually from somebody else). But Ms PC didn’t understand one thing for sure; You don’t hammer the players until they’re being paid big bucks. Would Houston Nutt stand up so passionately for one of his own players?. We probably won’t find out because our sports writers presumably have more class than leveling personal attacks.against individual players.
Jim Daly Sr. – to some people time of possession is profound. I agree with you. Scoring is the key stat. Some say ‘defense wins championships’ and ‘you must stop the run’ yet somehow Indy managed to win the Super Bowl last year. Scoring more than the other guy is all that is necessary.
Don’t under-estimate who reads blogs and such. Wally probably does. I know others that do that would surprise you.
As to Gundy – I heard the rant. Howard Cosell would disagree with you about ‘playing the game’. I totally agree with you on the personal attackes against individual players. I don’t even care fo the coaches saying things like ‘Casey could have run’ or ‘Powers wasn’t supposed to rush the kicker like that’.
Blind – I thought the field goal play was a ‘freak play’ because even when guys run together they usually don’t hit the kicker. It was a called rush plus a hustle play that just went wrong. Not that you did, but I don’t think you can pin that on anyone. You are right about practice and circumstances, but players play and strange things just happen sometime.
Things fell the Hogs way a lot last year. We may have a bit of karma going on . . .
Not on subject, but here is what Nutt had to say about Michael Smith in today’s paper.
Regarding Credit Card Fraud of whopping 96.34.
I can’t believe you can be that stupid. What is surprising is that he comes from a great family, a great family. He doesn’t need it, he doesn’t need the money, he doesn’t need anything like that financially. So that’s what is so frustrating about that situation, it’s hard to explain, kind of like his fumble.
Let’s face it, we have no such thing as a punt return. I can’t believe Nutt continually discards important parts of the game of football, like fielding/returning punts and a passing game. Before Tjeda, it was a field goal kicking game that was ignored.
Even more unexplainable than Smith’s fraud charges & fumble (thanks HDN, I had almost forgot about that) is why Smith was running the ball on the play in the first place.
Smith’s defense is that someone gave him the credit card to use. But if the name on the card was not the same as the guy who gave it to him then there’s some ’splainin to do. Second hand use may not be as serious as actually stealing the card. Maybe Smith is not bright or worldly enough to understand that such things as credit card fraud by amateurs is easily uncovered with cameras and all. Some may remember a few years back when Mike Newell at UALR lost his two best players because they had “found” some credit cards and had used them. I knew both players and they were, for all appearences, good likeable kids. These two players had help upset Notre Dame in the NCAA tournement and should have beaten Kansas State except for some suspicious refereeing. They didn’t get jail time but were kicked out of UALR’s program. They went to Ball State and helped Ball State win a couple of NCAA tournement games. Newell also had a player in that group who went to the NBA as a role player. Newell never again had another team with that kind of talent.
ThreeANDout:
I didn’t forget that fumble. It wsn’t the fumble that bothered me. Those things happen. It was the lack of coverage on the ball carrier by other offensive players allowiing the defensive player to run untouched to the end zone. In a pitch play, for example, at least one player is assigned to follow the play to cover the fumble in the case of a botched pitch.
Hogblogger
I don’t think it is out of line for a coach to say that a player should have done this or that and then let just let it go. But the Gundy thing revolved around a personal insinuation about the player by the writer. Gundy was probably ready to blow anyway. OSU lost to Troy followed by a loss to Texas Tech.and at 1-3 is even under more pressure than Nutt. Imagine if Nutt had lost to Troy. Can anyone spell Kines?
Jim Daly Sr.
I’ve never heard of, or seen, such a thing as a player being assigned to follow a pitch play in case of a fumble. Which player would this be?
The bottom line is the Hogs weren’t well prepared to play. prehistoric play calling is the best this HC can do. David Lee does what he’s told, otherwise, he will be gone. Nutt is consumed with exscuses, because it has become a way of life for him. Never once, have you heard this man say, “put the blame on me”. “I have to do a better job of preparing this team to reach the level they are exspected to achieve’ “It’s my responsibility”, and were going to get better!!” You won’t here that kind of talk from a coach who doesn’t have the confidence in himself to get the job done. He will direct the attention to his players every time, garanteed!! This guy has about as much class as most 6th graders. At that age, they just simply don’t know any better. How did this guy ever get into the SEC? Oh yea, I forgot. Frank’s first choice was Tommy Tuberville, but TT wasn’t interested in working for the DICTATORSHIP, so he went to Auburn instead. Smart man. Of course once again, that left us with, well, leftovers….. Again!!! Frank has 2 personalities. (1) The Coaching Legend / Great Business Man (2) The Anti-Crist. Since (2) is enough by itself to dispell anything that (1) means, what does that leave you with? Nothin. Howcome? Because we,ve been dealing with a Nutt for 10 years now, and enough, is enough!! You cut the head, the rest will follow, so just be patient, it won’t be long now. GO HOGS GO BABY!!!!!
Jeff Long has a great opportunity to make a big splash in the SEC. He won’t be blind-sided with internal affairs of the past 50 years, nor does he have the “good ‘ol boys” affiliation in the back of his mind, to sway him in any specific direction. Frank isn’t dead, but he might as well be when it comes to the decision making of firing a redicules coach come January. Everything is catching up to Houston, and there’s nothing he can do stop the bleeding.
There is nothing that’s garanteed in life. That’s a fact, but I believe HDN will be gone at season’s end. The more I look at the schedual, the more I agree with BlindHog about possibly going 6-6. With the product that HDN is putting on the field, with the kind of talent he has, it almost looks inevitable.
I am rapidly losing faith in Mr. Nutt. Some of the decisions made in the Kentucky game are beyond my ability to comprehend. And, I have a real problem with his actions in the off season relative to Gus, Mitch and Donna.
If we have a crappy season it will be good to wish Houston well with the rest of his life. If he comes back and wins the SEC, I am not so sure that is a good thing. Finally, I feel sorry for Darren McFadden who has all the talent in the world, but has to put up with a program that cannot seem to achieve any reasonable level of offensive balance and thereby show off his talent to the maximum.