The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Auburn
October 15, 2007 at 6:05am by TipsterHog
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football
Some random thoughts after watching the Auburn game.
The Good
– Certainly the best showing of the year for the defense. Coach Herring seemed to show more creativity and a more conservative approach to blitzing. Up until, that is, the all-out blitz on Auburn’s final drive that allowed the 30 yard pass completion and eventual game-winning field goal. Overall, however, holding a SEC opponent to just nine points should be enough to win.
– Lucas Miller (one of our favorite players here at RBN) stepped up and made a play when the Hogs needed it. At this point, that’s really all anyone is asking out of the receiving corps. Miller and Casey Dick both had big smiles (and looked relieved) on the bench after the touchdown. You just hate it that all the Razorback players weren’t able to enjoy that winning feeling for more than just a few minutes.
The Bad
– Offensive coordinator David Lee was apparently nowhere to be found by reporters after one of the worst offensive performances in years by the Hogs. Out of all the post-game reports, Lee was quoted in only one. (Maybe they took HogBlogger’s advice and told him not to talk to the press anymore.) In an article by Chris Givens of the Democrat-Gazette, Lee’s quotes once again didn’t fail to disappoint:
“We had some bullets. We weren’t using them,” Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee said. “I’m glad we saved them for the last drive. We had something going.” The Razorbacks had nothing going offensively before that drive, a fact that led to a follow-up question for Lee: If the bullets are there, why save them until there is 4:19 left in the game?
“We were trying to get our run game going,” he said. “A lot of these bullets are predicated on running the ball and making something happen. The game just unfolded that way. That’s all I can say.”
Nice. I’m glad we saved them too, Coach. No sense in ‘running out of ammo’ and trying to win the game early. And then there was this gem:
Lee had backup quarterback Nathan Emert warm up on the sideline, and would have put Emert in except for the fact that the Razorbacks needed Dick’s arm strength an the end of the game.
[...] “We tried to run as long as we possibly could until the end when we had to throw it.” Lee said waiting was the right thing to do.
“I’m not going to second-guess myself,” Lee said.
There’s no “second-guessing” where this is headed, is there? Right or wrong…somebody’s going to have to take the fall…soon. And it’s not going to be a coach.
– As stated above, the play of the defense was mostly ‘good’ and gave the Hogs a chance to win the game. But they were also responsible for some stupid penalties that hurt the team and kept their unit on the field way too long. 70 out of the Hogs’ 100 penalty yards were charged to the defense, including 45 yards in personal fouls.
The Ugly
– The ’sky kick’ (a term apparently invented by Houston Nutt and James Shibest…since I’ve never heard anyone else ever say it) has rarely worked in the past and Saturday night was no exception. Maybe…just maybe…the ‘squib kick‘…a slightly more popular choice used by every other team that plays football on Earth…should be studied in the offseason.
– Thumbs down to the guys tailgating next to us before the game. Apparently in an effort to get ‘fired up,’ they decided to play some Gordon Lightfoot, including his 1976 smash hit, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Then again, I guess it ended up being a pretty appropriate tune for the rest of the evening.
Walking on Sunshine contributed to this post.
Good Grief!!! Bullets?
Once again, it’s pretty obvious that David Lee needs to pick up his Big Chief Tablet & Crayons and go back to Dallas!!!
I hope he & HDN are happy with the fact that they single handily lost the Heisman Trophy for Darren .
He is a complete failure as a offensive coordinator.
Kudo’s to the “D”. With exception of a couple of very costly PF penalties, they played very well.
Winners find a way to win the tough games. Where does HDN fall in that equation?
TipsterHog, what? – no mention of the airplane this week! Last week it was on the Ugly side but it appears to be moving up the charts in popularity!
I imagine that by next week it might be in the ok column. We need to start to think about creating a pool as to what day Nutt’s departure is!
I’ve got November 26 on the departure date.
Has Materral Richardson ever played a game in his life where he didn’t get a personal foul or pass interference penalty? It also seems that the defense is good for at least a couple of moronic 15-yarders per game (MR’s penalty Sat. night should qualify as the favorite for Stupid Penalty of the Year). I read where Reggie Herring says he can live with “aggressive” penalties. I wonder if he puts Richardson’s and Fairchild’s in that category? I’d put them in the stupid and undiciplined category.
To Sunshine Walker:
A couple of points regarding your comments. First, regarding the personal fouls. The coaches have not yet taught the defense to not lead with the helmet when attacking the QB. Also, one of those penalties was a cheap call that couid have been ignored. The Arkansas defender had the Aubuun player well in the grasp before he went out of bounds. The Hog player did put the Tiger down hard which precipitated the call. But these personal fouls on out of bounds hits sometimes seem to be in great part subjective, like pass interference. I have seen worse hits on before out of bounds plays that have not been called. As long as that runner is in bounds he is fair game. Speaking of pass interference; Unless my poor eyes deceived me, I was sure that on one play the Arkansas receiver was pushed out of bounds and the crowd let the refs know it.. That pass interference call later on Auburn might have been a makeup. I didn’t get a clear view of it.
Second, regarding the possiblilty of a squib kick. Coaches don’t like it. Squib kicks are entirely unpredictable. Everything gets discombobulated, especially the defensive sets. If squib kicks were that effective then they would be used more often. Besides, a squib probably would have gotten the runner to the 50 anyway on the second kick.
Thirdly, it should be obvious that replacing Dick with Emert was an attempt to place the inoffensive offense on the starting QB. Does anybody really believe that Emert could have done any better than Dick given the offensive line and inablility of receivers to get open? Or catch the ball? A scrambling QB like Kodi Burns could have shaken up the defense, but Emert is no Burns. Besides, Tuberville did make such a change and until the fumble occurred in the Red Zone, the change was successful.
Fourthtly, as I have said, I don’t fault Reggie for trying to get to the QB. Reggie can be blamed for a number of things, but blitzing in that instance is like going for it on 4th and 1. If you make it you’re a genius and if you don’t you should have punted. The fact is that blitzing in that situation has worked before a number of times, including in the pros. It has also,has failed a lot too. A sack in that situation would have probably won it for the Hogs. I am not a big fan of Reggie and I will never forgive him for those two USC blowouts, Fans have criticized the Hog coaches for not being creative. So, in this case try to be a little more objective.
Lastly, isn’t Houston lucky he was forced to hire an offensive coordinator who can take the heat for him? As to who is really calling the plays, we won’t ever know, will we?
Words cannot describe how I feel about this coaching staff. Well they can, but I can’t use them here, so I will say these…
Thank goodness basketball season is fast approaching.
Jim- The PF on Fairchild was by far a good call. He had him three yards out of bounds and slung him over his whole body. Do you know why he did that? Because it was Kodi Burns and he was trying to make a statement for choosing Auburn over Arkansas when we all know the players know exactly why he chose them. Well, I’m sure Reggie had our guys all fired up this week to take their frustration out on Kodi. You think Tommy T. didn’t know that? The only reason Kodi got in the game is because of Hewitt’s other undisciplined tackle (and I like Hewitt) that knocked Cox out.
And on the passing game… any one who places blame on Dick or the offensive line or the WR’s need to rethink that. The only reason we don’t have a passing game is because we have a head coach who thinks you don’t actually NEED a passing game and does not place any emphasis on improving it in practice, much less have more than a handful of passing plays in the playbook… we don’t want to confuse any of our players. So, all you fans who booed Casey Dick or booed our WR’s the other night need to get a clue.
And I also have two tickets to the Florida International and South Carolina games for sale.
Defensively they played okay except for some silly personal foul penalities which can be reflected on the coaching staff. We might as well get ready and send our wish list to AD Long for a replacement or celebrate our Sun Belt Conference Championship, or did we come second? Let’s think about our the future of this program.
Hang on fans! Again, to quote Ole Lou, “Nothing is ever as great as it seems [i.e. teams that formerly appeared to not be beatable such as LSU, FLA, left coast USC], or as bad as it seems.” Support HDN and he will get the talent in place again. As fans have found out, the margin of victory is very narrow. Surely, one thing that fans have learned is that you can have the best backfield on the field, but if the holes are not there, it makes for an ordinary backfield. Also, surely the fans have learned that if you lose your top receiver to injury, then lose another top receiver to injury, and then another great receiver to injury, that really blocks one’s ability to pass consistently. Backs know that if the holes are not there they will be ordinary runners. I do not know why (except maybe amnesia) fans do not know that. According to the dictionary amnesia is defined as “sudden loss of memory”, and perhaps it can be defined as “selective loss of memory”.. So fans, don’t just remember what your favorite negative is but remember EVERYTHING that affects a team’s performance. And there are many of them if each will be honest. Sure hope your boss does not evaluate you at work in the same way that you evaluate HDN. If your boss does evaluate you in the same way, I suspect many people will be in deep trouble.
Yes, Defense does seem to have a propensity to commit penalties at the most damaging time. Sometimes, that is just youth. Auburn was the annointed one this time around. HDN has had an outstanding career beating Auburn…this of course was not one of those years, although HDN’s team with his no star, one star, and two star recruits (for the most part) played Auburn with their 4 and 5 stars and Auburn has had year after year of so called top recruiting talent. Factor that in and you see what an outstanding coach that we have at Arkansas. He deserves our support!
However, most important of all is the fact that HDN has turned around the dismal graduation rate of his recruits. That is what they go to college to do…graduate. And I think that with White being our top educator surely agrees. HDN should be retained if for no other reason than his recruits graduate with a far higher level than previously was being done. Our former basketball coach reportedly almost had no graduates, but one player (Johnson with Atlanta) was quoted as saying that if his coach had been encouraging them about grades as much as he gave them H…for their play, they would have done well. Very few college players are able to make a career out of their sport, whereas if they concentrate with the encouragement of their head coaches, they can get that degree to upgrade their life in the future without the aid of the sport.
Go, Hogs, Go! Beat Ole Miss!!
Well DWC, it is good to hear from you. I’m glad HDN still has 1 backer. The number is dwindling.
I won’t attempt to point out the things most of us see that you don’t. You make some good points but I don’t share your belief HDN will “get the talent in place again”. We will just have to agree to dis-agree I guess. You view things one way while a growing number view them another.
Again, it is good to hear from you!
Could any of you former players, coaches or sports analyists ever stand flat footed and jump 3 feet in the air and wave your arms in support of 70+ thousand people cheering for you?? It’s called adrenalin and it can cause people to lift cars from those who are trapped under heavy objects such as automobiles, rafters and such. It also causes players to sack a qb, flatten a kicker and push a player out of bounds with extreme prejudice when the ref is only a few feet away. It is very hard to discipline the energy in one’s body and to control during a “this is the game boys”. I certainly give the defense a vote of support because they knew more than anyone that it was up to them to stop the Auburn offense and they tried. So what if they lost it causing penalties. It wasn’t the only factor contributing to the loss. These are boys we are talking about. The greatest loss factor had a banner flying overhead with his name on it.. The defense gave their undisciplined best at the time. Go Hogs
2 things.
1. Don’t start those jet engines just yet to fly DLee out of here. He is the sheep not the herder. Is he completely out of his league, yes. Is Houston pulling all strings, also yes. Cut off the head….
2. Those who think HDN will right the ship need to have their heads examined. He is sub .500 in SEC play since he’s been here. He has only won 2 bowl games of 7 in 10 years, and he has won no SEC championships. The ship has not been right since he got here. With the facilities we have we should compete every year, not every 3-4 years. Mediocrity is for the Missisippi schools, not Arkansas.
It appears that the “mediocre” Mississippi schools might just kick our @$$ this year. Where does that leave HDN.
The latest rumor is with the Cowboys.
DWC and the rest of the apologists are the same ones picking us 11-1 and winning the SEC. The crap never stops on the field or off.
This is a very average team that should have never been hyped. So much more could have been done to help this team win but of course that can not happen with this staff. I thought the O-line would help the defense get established but it is now our biggest weakness. That is saying a lot with our recievers but we really don’t need them except to block as long as Dale is calling the plays.
It was obvious a few weeks ago. This is the 2005 team reborn. With coaching they could make a bowl. Without it they won’t.
This is why coaches are fired in the middle of the season, to stop the months of dissention. We are going on 9 months now.
BlindHog you forget Boss Hog(Broyles) is still roaming around up there, had they got blown out then yes sir this would have been interesting Monday. Best believe the Ole Ball Coach is coming on 11/03/07 and he isn’t goint to take it easy or play Pee Wee football with Arkansas. Dont settle for the bottom half, get your short list of coaches ready.
Frank and Jim got him into this mess. I guess they feel like they are obligated to make the rest of us pay for it.
I agree with a lot of the comments here in the post. I also agree with DWC. But, there has to be a balance in there somewhere.
Does Arkansas have more 2- and 3-star recruits than Auburn? Yes. But our defense showed up the other night and played a hell of a game. Has Herring made the defense better? One might say yes, but answer this question. As much of a gamble as a blitz is compared to going for it on fourth down… during how many game-winning (or losing, if you look at if from the d-side) drives have we blitzed this year? I count three.
As much as we want to think it, Arkansas is not a traditional powerhouse when it comes to football. While we may be competitive each year, it takes a few years to reload the talent that we sometimes happen across. Last year, with the class from Springdale and Malzahn, it appeared that we were headed in a direction of year-in and year-out compeating for the SEC title.
Then something happened towards the end of last season. I’ve heard story after story that says Nutt was calling all the plays during our last three games. Is it any wonder why Malzahn left for, gasp, Tulsa? Is it any wonder why Mustain and Williams left for USC? No. With all the turmoil and stories that came out of our camp over the past year, it’s no wonder why Burns and Ziemba wanted to get out of the state.
I don’t blame David Lee for his “play calling.” Because he’s not really calling the plays. What I do blame him, and the entire coaching staff, for is seeing week after week someone saying, “we weren’t prepared.” What do you mean you weren’t prepared?
Lee is definitely the fall guy here. But I’m off the Nutt ship now. I want to start fresh. Enough hard-headedness is enough. Poor Dmac, no heisman for you.
Let’s hope the team can right the ship and surprise some of us with our remaining games.
What an incredible team for gross, semi-vulgar commentary—-a couple of dicks and, in my opinion, way too many nutts. I am a big-time fan of HDN for his overacheiving efforts of the past. While no one has given me any awards as a first-class judge of football talent, I believe it is fair to say that this group of Hogs falls into the underacheiving catagory. Who to blame? I do know this—-a fish stinks from the head. Maybe the Head Hog is the cause of the stink and it may be as much Frank as Houston. Who decided to bring in the Springdale crowd and treat them so poorly? If it is Frank, he has been much more successful than otherwise in his magnificent service to the Hog Nation. However, he is out of here and it is time to move on. I cannot get out of my skinny head that we could very easily be #2 or #3 in the BCS, but losing three games that we led in the fourth quarter. How very bizarre life is. God is great and there are many more important issues facing all of us than Razorback football!!!!
Personally, I would concede tons of that stuff. Arkansas has to rebuild, not reload. We only have a shot at the SEC once every three or four years. A conservative, close to the vest style can make a marginal team more competitive and reduce the number of blow outs. It’s easier to build linemen and recruit tailbacks than anything else. Fine. Its also true some marginal teams play the spread because they can’t recruit enough linemen to compete with the big boys.
None of that describes where we are with this pee-wee football or poor recruiting. It is a mess and has been since Dale stopped coaching and started relying on politics.
Regarding 2 Tour Hog’s comment: “The ship has not been right since he got here.”
Yeah right. Like we were sailing along just fine prior to HDN. We’ve either got some young posters here or some senile posters here.
Quick, somebody tell me how many conference championships Arkansas has had since Frank Broyles stepped down as Head Coach? In the last 30 years, how many?
THREE Dammit. A whopping three conference championships!
Look, I want Arkansas to compete for championships every year just like everybody else, but the expectations being scribed here are ridiculous.
If all things were equal, Arkansas would win a conference championship once every twelve years. All things are not equal. Let’s take South Carolina, Ole Miss, Vandy, State and Kentucky out of the equation. That brings us to one championship every 7 years. Therefore Houston is three years overdue. You expect two SEC rings? Who’s not going to win? Bama? LSU? Florida? Tennessee? Auburn? Georgia?
Let’s look at Divisional championships. Again ignore Ole Miss and State. That means if everything else was equal, we should make a Championship game appearance every four years. That means Nutt should have been twice – Hmm. You want it more frequently? Who are you going to move down the bracket? LSU, Auburn, or Bama. Which of those teams has less of a winning tradition than us?
Look, you want Nutt gone . . . fine. But let’s drop the delusions of grandeur. Please point me to one season since Frank Broyles coached, just one, where Arkansas had a better football program than what HDN has built.
Ship not right my arse. We didn’t even have a ship before Nutt got here.
Let’s see. Holtz, Hatfield, even Danny Ford’s championship pretender was more fun to watch that this BS. Who left Dale the 98 team? How much better has he done since then? Oh, yeah, he is better than Broyles 1975 team, no doubt. What a joke.
Well I wasn’t intending on comparing Nutt to Broyles but I would point out that Broyles’ 75 team lost to Texas, squeeked by Rice, and somehow managed to lose to Okie State.
Granted, we finished in the top ten but we somehow managed to follow it up with a 5-5-1 record the next season.
Again, I’m not saying I don’t wish for more; I just point out that the expectations being expressed here are 30 years out of date.
I also seem to remember Hatfield’s play book being option right, option left, option up the middle. Holtz, I’m a little more fuzzy. It’s been too many years.
Have any of you thought about Mustain and Williams at USC and what they are thinking. If the rumors turn out to be true about Reggie Bush and the money – they left Arkansas for a team that will get put on Probation, Loose TV Games, Loose Bowl Games, and not a chance at the National Championship. Granted it still has to be proven but maybe the grass wasnt quite as green as they thought.
Does anyone know why Peyton Hillis wasn’t used much in the game? He was one of the bright spots of the game.
Okie Hog, If it happens it happens. Living out here in the beautilful Lost Angeles people are exactly upset because they may have to settle for the Rose or Holiday Bowl. I tell my coworkers you don’t have anything to be upset about, at least you guys can complete a forward pass. Joe Adams doesn’t seem to be worry either he is already commited to USC. I think over the last 5 years Arkansas has produced how many 4 or 5 star recruits and Peyton Hillis is the only who became a Razorback. Mcfadden I don’t know he might be Number 2 everyone else went out of state. That is tell tell sign if there every was one. We will find out how under utilize Peyton was when his playing on Sundays next year.
Wow we are arguing about whether we should expect mediocrity or expect something more. Season must almost be over, we always have this discussion at the end.
I’m sure the grass isn’t greener, that is why Kodi and Ziemba went to Auburn, Ryan went to Michigan and Mitch and Damien left for USC. Three pretty good quarterbacks in there passed on Houston. Wonder why? He has never developed one that is why. We will never compete they way we want with a Bus Driver at QB.
darrell(Hog in LA): I agree with your perspective on Peyton Hillis. I’ll take it a step farther. For those of you that keep up with the Indianapolis Colts, if you know how good Dallas Clark is, then imagine Peyton Hillis switching places with him. The sky’s the limit for Peyton Hillis. I just hope he can hook up with a team that can exploit his talent.