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Used And Abused

September 17, 2007 by HogBlogger 

I’ll save the recap of the offense for Tuesday.  Today it’s the bigger problem — defense and special teams.

Coin flip…Arkansas elects to receive.  In six plays we gain a total of eight yards — 11 forward and three backwards.  Three short, safe passes (all into tight zone coverage) with two incompletions.  Arkansas punts from the 35 yard line.

Alabama gets the ball.  First play is not a running play like it’s supposed to be.  Fly pattern against (surprise!) man coverage to (surprise!) D.J. Hall for 43 yards.  Totally flips the field.  The Razorback defense gets a stop, but Alabama punts to the Arkansas one yard line.  Can anyone say “field position?”

Jamar Love / Keith Brown (AP Photo/Butch Dill)On third down and seven from the five, after two off-tackle plays, the Razorbacks throw a short, safe pass to the right.  Alabama drops the defensive end into the passing lane (very NFL of them)…Casey doesn’t notice…and a tipped ball results in an interception.

Alabama scores easily from the nine yard line.  Arkansas punts.  Alabama scores from 74 yards out in six plays — taking less than two minutes.  Arkansas punts.  Alabama scores from 80 yards out in four plays — in just one minute and eight seconds.

Man coverage.  Blitzes.  Fly pattern.  Crossing patterns.  Spread the field…run up the middle.  In their first 16 plays, Alabama has 201 yards of total offense.  There’s 1:27 left in the first quarter.  I’m thinking I’m watching the USC film, because this is the same stuff.

The offensive game plan of Alabama crushed Reggie Herring’s defensive game plan — to the tune of 12.6 yards per play in the first quarter.

Arkansas fumbles a kickoff return.  The first punt is nearly blocked.  A low snap and another punt block is barely avoided, but it’s returned to the three yard line.  Special teams’ woes continue.  I’m really tired of seeing this.  Do we ever win the special teams matchup?

Jerell Norton / Mike McCoy (AP Photo/Butch Dill)Mistakes along with the standard opening Arkansas defensive game plan combined to cost us 28 points.  Yet, we still come back and almost win the football game.  Had we ran the ball on 3rd and 12 with 2:31 remaining (using all possible clock) and then punted, I’m pretty sure we win the game.  Not a good time to decide to become a passing team.

We could have easily beaten these guys.  Trade punts in the first quarter and the game is ours.

My jury is now in on Herring.  Opposing offensive coordinators love to see him coming early in the year.  Whether Houston Dale stays or goes, I’m going on record that Herring should go.  He gets out-schemed way too often to suit me.  I have no confidence in him when he goes against a decent offensive scheme.  He gets used and abused.

My gut told me Alabama was going to do this to us.  I was hopeful we had learned, but obviously we haven’t.  Coaching staffs with NFL experience torch Herring.  I’m thinking he’s the one that needs to be in ‘high school.’  Yes…he does make adjustments during the game.  But, by then, the mascot is loose and the barn is empty.

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24 Responses to “Used And Abused”

  1. Dieing Hog on September 17th, 2007 4:35 pm

    I agree totally I love his passion at times but that just does not win football games. I said the same thing on the previous blog this loss is a direct result of him being stubborn and set in his ways. If your player gets beat the way Jerrel Norton got beat the first play of the game then you know either get him some help over the top or just switch the defense all together. It should not take us getting down 21-0 before making an adjustment. I know we have a lot of fans that want to place the blame strictly on HDN but I thought the offense played well enough to win this game. I also agree that the better coaches in this league exploit our defense.

  2. Mamahawg on September 17th, 2007 4:36 pm

    HDN must go,Herring must go,we need new blood and fast before we waste any more years figuring out what to do with the talent we are able to attract.Pretty soon,noone will want to be a part of this messed up,coaching disaster.
    HDN doesn’t deserve to have someone as talented as DMac save his butt every week….our ONLY bright spot in the otherwise bleak future of this season .
    I’m concentrating on the tailgate menu….

  3. Dan on September 17th, 2007 4:59 pm

    Save this kind of talk until the season is over.

    Yes, loosing to Alabama is not what we wanted, but its football season. Buckle your chin straps, because it doesn’t get any easier. Lets get ready for Kentucky and show them how to run the ball.

  4. HOGFAN23 on September 17th, 2007 5:55 pm

    Lets all hope that Herring learned alot from this game, which I think he did. If we bring the same defense against Kentucky, it’ll be over real quick. I know that the caoching staff is trying their hardest to pad DMAC’s Heisman numbers, but there is absolutely no reason he should be returning kicks. We have possibly the best returner in the conference for that. Maybe DMAC would have been on the field at the end of the game without the extra work. As bad as this loss was, I hope that it will actually help. I’m confident the coaching staff learned alot and will make some necessary changes. I thought Casey Dick really showed alot of heart and played pretty well after a very tough start. His receivers SUCK! All that said, I think we’ll handle KY because they’ll have a huge let down after the big win against Louisville. GO HOGS!!!

  5. Mamahog on September 17th, 2007 7:18 pm

    What makes anybody think that Reggie Herring can do anything on his own. If the rule stands true, he has to say, Daddy Dale, may I???

  6. BlindHog on September 17th, 2007 8:29 pm

    Poor Special Teams play was the hallmark of a Danny Ford team.

    What is Reggie Fish even doing on the field ahead of Crosby Tuck? How do you make a decision that bad?

  7. HOGFAN23 on September 17th, 2007 8:39 pm

    BlindHog, I’ll go a bit farther. What is Reggie Fish even doing on this team? It’s apparent we don’t need him as a receiving threat.

  8. Reason Rules on September 17th, 2007 10:06 pm

    Think Reggie is still making a gamble that he has the talent on this defense to play the coverage he likes in the secondary. However the last two games the only coverage that was successful was zone which gives the secondary more time to react instead of strictly covering. My opinion is when we play teams with 3 or 4 good receivers, we don’t have the talent to cover them. Especially if our line cannot get pressure on the quarterback.

    Our lack of a passing game really hurts and it is old news but losing Damian really hurts right now. That is why you have to have a passing game so you can recruit more than one or two talented receivers. Monk is great, but there is a significant drop off after that.

    I suspect with a soft schedule for awhile, (provided we can win this weekend) they will continue to get better till November when we always find out what we are made of.

    McFadden was definitely a man amongst boys on Saturday Night. He was a warrior. If we only had someone on defense to match his intensity.

    I thought it was great to see two Arkansas kids playing quarterback on Saturday with Michigan and Auburn. And another redshirting at USC. Our state can be proud that our High School Programs are really producing some talent.

    Anybody with thoughts about what next year might be like without McFadden and a tougher schedule?

    Florida and LSU are the cream of the crop right now.

    Have a great week!

    Think positive thoughts for me as I am from Springdale and am a recovery Nutt Unfan. Hate is such a strong word.

  9. BlindHog on September 18th, 2007 9:18 am

    Nutt starts Tuck but pulls Crawford instead of Fish. The boy is a genius.

    UnNutt Disclaimer: I don’t hate. I just love good football. Dale is just in over his head. If he hadn’t had friends in high places he would never have been considered for this job. If he were gone tomorrow do you think that a coach with a fews years Division 1-AA experience and one year of D-1 experience with a 6-5 record could be considered for any job in the SEC? I hoped he would grow into the job but that has not happened. Matt Jones and Darren McFadden have saved his bacon. It would be fascinating to know how he would have done without Frank but, that is all water under the bridge. I wish Houston and his family the best.

    Next year without Darren and Felix Dale is going to wish he had Gus and Mitch back. He will almost certainly leave this year on his own rather than face that.

    The bloom is off the rose with Herring. It is hard to pin it on recruiting or schemes. You can’ t play without the horses but Reggies seems to think that this is more about his reputation than winning games. You have to build a scheme that fits your players. We haven’t had a decent safety in years.

  10. Jim Daly Sr. on September 18th, 2007 11:02 am

    Blindhog:

    You’ve missed some blogs (comment #26 on the 41-38 previous article). I have already menttioned that all Arkansas will have next year will be Dick (play on words there). Well, maybe also Tuck and Cleveland, providing Tuck doesn’t get lured away by an offense that will passs to him. Lots of important shoes to fill and Nutt will have to have a helluva recruiting year with newcomers ready to play. I have also said that last year, after all was said and done, should have been the year considering the number of Raxorbacks fom last year who are now playing on Sunday. Anyway, if UA can beat UK than the upcoming scheduale will bring back hope and maybe glory.

    A humorous anecdote here. My wife was checking the calender for games I’m going to and she said we were playing Florida in Little Rock. I said ‘WHAT!” “Let me check the scheduale again,” she said. “There it is, Florida. I said, “that’s Florida Atlantic.” “There’s a difference?” she asked. Florida’s Florida she continued, unless, of course it’s Florida State. My wife is a Razorback fan and watches the games. But is she any different from most women, in that she is a fan of a given team but not a knowledgeable person about football in general? In case some of you haven’t noticed, one Big Ten telecast uses a woman as a play by play commentator. Now that seems to be like a man covering women’s field hockey. Maybe I’m wrong but most guy sports fans have played some football, flag or tackle, or followed it all their lives. A woman covering football seems as about as out of place to me as a giri in the men’s locker room. Okay, for you guys out there that think that I’m a misogynist, I would like to know what the ratio is of men to women playing fantasy football (some something I know nothing about).

  11. Dieing Hog on September 18th, 2007 12:04 pm

    The one thing I must say I was happy about from Saturday is the Kentucky win hopefully that means with a win this week we will be back in the top 25 because it seem as though they have only given the SEC so many spots how else can you explain a team dropping as far as we did and another jumping so far. I don’t think that we were the first team in the Sec that has happened to this year.

  12. Momahog on September 18th, 2007 12:29 pm

    RE: Daly, Jr’s comments on women and the Hogs and women and football. I agree with you on one point. Women have no place in front of a camera with a microphone in hand reading off comments probably originating from a “wiser, more knowledgeable male.” Remember her paycheck is a lot bigger than yours. As for wives and mothers who don’t know their x’s and o’s from the sale page of the local newspaper, believe me some of us know and even tho we never played anything more than powderpuff football, we know. Razorback football is a life long addiction and we don’t want a cure. During the off season a true football fan man or woman will watch ESPN Cl and other channels to see games of last year and beyond. Regarding your lovely wife, she probably thinks you have enough interest and passion for the both of you. Just give her the check book and let her have her fun. We Hog fans will have ours every Saturday . Here’s another ancedote, re:Fantasy football, I have two teams both are 2-0 so far and last year my team went 11-2. bye

  13. Carolina Hog on September 18th, 2007 2:11 pm

    Its the SEC! You are going to lose some! Its too damn early to quit and whine. Suck it up! Go Hogs!

  14. T-towner on September 18th, 2007 2:49 pm

    Blind, has your wife seen this?

    “Non-BCS Team of the Week: Florida Atlantic. In the biggest win in program history, the Owls shocked Minnesota 42-39, getting 463 yards and five touchdown passes from unheralded Rusty Smith. While it wasn’t exactly South Florida over Auburn, it is the type of game that Howard Schnellenberger can point to when he hits the recruiting trail later this season.”

    Get that checkbook back boy and make her go to the game to see if these are mini-me Gators!

  15. T-towner on September 18th, 2007 3:09 pm

    Blindhog, of course your wife may have a better sense of college football minutia than you think as Florida Atlantic is not on our schedule, but Florida International is.

  16. BlindHog on September 18th, 2007 3:30 pm

    That was Daly. My wife would be highly offended at any idea that she did not know the difference between one Florida school and another. She knows that JoePa is going to overtake BobbyB. She knows who Tebow is. She knows that Houston Nutt is still calling plays and making a mess of it. She has to read during the games or she gets too excited. She does still ask a lot of questions but, she can out talk her sisters about all matters football.

  17. T-towner on September 18th, 2007 4:29 pm

    Blindhog, my bad on both of the above posts. I just saw Daly say, Blindhog in his post and I lost it. We should all hope our wives are more like the girls we fell in love with and married and not the rabid fan that Theresa Pruitt is—-did I really say that?

  18. Jim Daly Sr. on September 18th, 2007 4:40 pm

    T-towner. Your right. She is smarter than me. On the other hand, I may have been caught up iwth Florida Atlantic’s win over Minnesota but I did explain to her about Florida Atlantic, International, Central, and South. Just a typo, but anybody can be confused. I have seen all but International play and that maybe why i hit the wrong keys. Also, that’s one game I won’t be going to because of prior committments. Thanks for the correction tho, embarrassing, but a signal to be more careful as to what I write..

    Mommahog: I wasn’t saying that there aren’t well informed female fans out there, but I was referring to a ratio of attention to football knowledge comparing most males and females. All the females in my family who are from or in Arkansas are rabid Razorback fans, but they couldn’at tell you who won the Heisman last year. Good for your fantasy football success. Some women do know their stuff and you seem to one of them. I always get a kick out of it when a woman sports writer does better in predicting football scores than her stuffed-shirt male colleagues. I also agree with you about the sideline nitwits who interview with ridiculous questions. But when the men do it they seem equally ridiculous. I’m not sure how many women are like you and are glued to ESPN and the games they feature, as opposed to those ladies watching Lifetime or One life to live, but I’ll bet it’s not many. I thought that most women, when not looking at Soaps or chick flicks on TV, are baking cookies and standing by their man. Oops, I guess that’s Hillary’s bag. I have found out that the secret to marital happiness is having two TVs. Hoping you continue your success with fantasy football (which I repeat, I know nothing about).

    Momahog this observation is from an old goat and is just for you and the other woman out there reading this site. The rest of you can ignore this. I have determined that women before they get married will do things with their future spouses that they stop doing after marriage. In my case my wife would go fishing with me and even go walking in the woods while I scouted for wildlife (in the snow, no less). After the wedding band was on, no more outdoor activities together except for picnics. Also, when I played intermural and recreational basketball she didn’t came to watch. However, she never missed a baseball, football,, soccer, swimming, or basketball game that our kids were involved. in. In fact that’s when she first learned the rules and complexities of those games. I am not complaining. Her attention to the kid’s activities is what’s called being a great Mom. Her inattention to my own sports activities was a small price to pay for her being the best thing that ever happened in my life, along with our children, of course. We have a lot more in common than just sports. But I’m sure that other men have also experienced the same feigned, premarital interest in a guy’s activities. It’s just part of the mating game. If you want something on the other side of the gender aisle then many women find out after the honeymoon that their spouses really don’t like to or don’t want to dance.

  19. Skywalker on September 18th, 2007 4:46 pm

    Am I the only one who thought the pass on the final third down was the right call? Considering how vulnerable our secondary was all night, I doubt that losing forty seconds would have hurt Bama much; they would have simply had to throw down the field quicker instead of burning us across the middle a dozen times.

  20. GonzoHog on September 19th, 2007 12:19 pm

    HogBlogger: I agree and disagree to a certain extent. You can say we are young in the secondary, or we are out-schemed, it could be a little bit of both, but it doesn’t hurt the Tide to be bringing back 9 starters on the offense either, but I’ll take it a little farther than that too. If your run defense is good, and ours is, but the pass rush is inconsistant,and we are playing not to lose, with 3 down linemen,the less pressure your line gets on the QB, the more passes he’ll complete. The more passes he completes, the longer the defense stays on the field. Our D-line is not what I exspected this year. There is still plenty of time to fix the problem, but our overall defense is not consistant enough to stop high-powered offenses at this time, especially the exsperienced one’s we have to play on the road. Look for the Hogs to improve against Kentucky. GO HOGS GO!!!!!

  21. petetohouston on September 20th, 2007 4:21 am

    Improve against Kentucky -a TOP 25 team that is 3-0-without a week off from getting BEAT by a FIRST year coach -after a week off? Are you out of your mind? A spead offence against a lousy defence-not to mention the inaccurate and non-versital Q/B . Face it -Macfadden and Jones are great however the edge we needed to win is no longer apart of the Razorbacks-thanks to pride and arrogance..

  22. Defense Wins Championships on September 20th, 2007 8:27 pm

    This “junk sports” just gets “nut…ti..er and nut.ti..er”… Hasta la vista! I wish you the happiness in life that I am experiencing!! Hasta la vista!

  23. GonzoHog on September 21st, 2007 7:00 am

    I don’t believe the Hogs will even come close to shutting down Woodson, but turnovers will be key. The Hogs will have to play more zone coverages in this game with a dime package, and have a LB play back on the TE Tamme. He is a major weapon for the QB in short yardage situations. He isn’t All-SEC for nothing. If the Hogs can get enough break-ups, and cause a couple of balls to be intercepted, it may let the offense get going with a couple of easy TD’s, with good field position. I’m not saying the Hogs should rely on this to win, but the defense is going to have to step it up a little more in this one, and create some extra opportunities for the offense. Herring will have to pull his head out in this one, and call for blitzes at just the right times. As poised as this QB is, someone is going to have to get his attention a couple of times during the game to keep him honest. If he doesn’t have to worry about someone taking his head off, he will gain more and more confidence, as the game continues. This will be vital for the Hogs. GO HOGS GO!!! SKIN THEM CATS BABY!!!!!

  24. beachbum on September 22nd, 2007 9:12 pm

    this is getting ugly! I would pass on the Hogs every down, they never know where the ball is. A lot of talk about when we beat Kentucky it will be better, well, now what. We get out coached most every game. Sometimes we manage to have enough talent to win though. All I can say is Go Hogs!! It is easy for me, I am a Cubs fan too!!!!!!!!