Some random thoughts after watching an ‘instant classic’ LSU game.
The Good
- We’ve been a pretty harsh critic of Offensive Coordinator David Lee this season. But give him his due respect this week. Lee mixed his plays well, got his three best players (McFadden, Jones and Hillis) on the field at the same time and let them make plays. The DMac TD pass to Hillis was the play call of the year. Nice job.
Early in the game, after the opening kickoff fumble and a three-and-out by the offense, the Hog defense “put out the fires” and held LSU to two field goals. Had LSU converted and scored two TDs instead, it might have been a very different game.- Casey Dick was solid. It’s not easy to come in every fourth or fifth play and convert a third and long. Seven of Casey’s ten completions went for first downs.
- Darren McFadden, Robert Felton and several other players were quick to let Les Miles know that the team he just lost to was not pronounced “Ar-Kansas.” But don’t hold it against Miles…he is a Michigan grad.
- Peyton Hillis likely played his best game as a Razorback. Four touchdowns, 151 total yards, and a victory over the #1 ranked team had to be sweet for the senior from Conway.
The Bad
Did you notice how many LSU players were laying down hurt after virtually every play? I lost count at a dozen. I kept thinking to myself, “Is this a soccer game? Are they trying to flop around and draw a yellow card?”- Two thumbs down to the Cotton Bowl for not bothering to send a representative to the game. It is, of course, just a short drive from Dallas and all three of the other bowls who are courting the Hogs (Independence, Peach, and Liberty) were present and visited the dressing room after the game.
The Ugly
After LSU scored to tie the game with :57 seconds left in regulation, Felix Jones gave the Hogs some hope with a big kickoff return back to midfield. After three plays (two runs) and a timeout, Dick threw one in the seats with :03 seconds to go. We’ve lost count here at RBN of how many two-minute drives we’ve botched this year. So we’ll just say ‘who cares’ this time. Go Hogs!
Walking, you need to go back and modify your comment on Casey to include throwing a fairly impressive block to free McFadden for his long touchdown run. IMO – that or Felix's two pointer was the play of the game!
All TOO true. We had these same players in September if I recall. If memory serves these were the very ideas being called for long and hard. It don't take a scientific rocket to see the potential of this backfield. Great game, great waste, ten years and counting.
Wait until next year! The pro passing attack is goin' to surprise 'em. Hopefully we will get to scout Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Florida will be a welcome addition next year as well. Those two wins should get you into the top 10.
For those of us convinced that HDN needs to help make some other program successful, this game was a mixed bag. I am thrilled for all the Hogs everywhere that we had this really fine win. I just hope it does not provide the entre to any more Nutt-ball. Anyone can view this one game as vindication for the HC, or, like me, you can view it as proof that we have failed miserable at utilizing our available talent for the majority of the season.
What would have happened if we had this backfield plus Mustain in a spread offense? OH, just to know!
Did any of you guys notice the Hogs decided to play defense to start the first OT? I honestly believed that would be the "bone-head" call of the year when I saw it. It turned out ok, but I just can't see the logic in starting out on defense, when they had already been on the field on LSU's last TD drive. We still needed to score first, and put the pressure on LSU, not the other way around.
No matter what the situation…………..you ALWAYS go on defense first. You have to know what you are up against before you go out and try to convert your overtime score.
I don't know about ALWAYS. It's usually true unless you are very confident you can score a TD. That is what HDN thought in the 3rd OT. I guess it worked out since our D stopped the 2 point conversion.
BlindHog:
Victory over Florida next year? Bad timeing. You must not have seen the Florida-FSU game and the Gators have everybody coming back. Euphoria over one game can damage the common sense neurons. I was at the LSU game. LSU came out flat. Two bad punts and a lost fumble at the 25 and LSU could only get 6 points? The fans sensed something was wrong and were not responding in their usually cacaphonic loudness. Before LSU woke up it was 7-6 and halftime. The Tigers had been complacent and were taking the Hogs for granted. I think that Nutt probably gave the old "we can beat these guy, go give it all you've got" speech at halftime. And they did..Flynn was inaccurate, LSU was inconsistent, and at the end it was anybody's ball game. I would also imagine that Nutt also used the Richardson approach of "we don't get no respect " because of Miles" really, really stupid comment on the pronunciation of Arkansas. It should be the bone head comment of the year. I was surprised that no commentators mentioned that Miles had coached at OSU and knew darn well how the Arkansas River is pronounced in Okie Land as opposed to in Kansas.
One of the reasons that LSU was unprepared was probably because of MIles' smugness in thinking that he could easily outcoach Nutt. Didn't work.
LSU fans asked me if I thought that this game saved Nutt's job. In my opinion, I said only if he wins the bowl game, something he has not done very well with. I said that a lot depended upon what coaches were available and whether they would come. One thing that LSU and the Hogs have in common Is the loss of quality seniors. It was senior day at Tiger Stadium and I was amazed at the number of important starters leaving LSU. This fed into a discussion of MIle"s position. Listeniing to the LSU commentators while coming back home i was surprised that they or most of their callers were not mentioning that all of LSU's stars and redshirts were recruited by Sabin, At last one caller acknowledged this but the radio poobahs said that MIle's had recruited well. Oh really? Like Charlie Weiss at ND? .We'll know next year whether Miles is still there or not. The feelings about Miles in southern Louisiana is spliit as with Nutt in Arkansas. Everybody assumes that Miles is headed to UM but it may, naturally ,come down to money. Many are sayihg good riddence.
Bacon Bits:
Good comment. Defense is always the first option in OT.
Sorry Daly Sr. I had my tongue firmly pressed in cheek. With Arkansas having Texas and Florida on the schedule next year and Florida, Texas, Georgia on the schedule in 2009 the Drama Queen had better secure another 2 year pass. With what we have coming back 5-6, 4-7 could look good.
Unless his luck holds out and he has another Matt Jones/Dmac hidden in this next class he is in deep, deep trouble. You can slice that two ways. Either bring in the new guy and avoid the boos and bad press or let him sweat out the disaster and bring in the new quy in 2010. If he were smart, which we know is not the case, he would leave now when there are good openings available and he still has some credibility. Hopefully, he is just holding out for a little more money on his way out the door.
LSU clearly overlooked us. They were focused on Miles, the SEC Championship, and the National Championship. Miles game plan was very poor, very basic. You could tell that he had not taken us seriously either.
It is such a shame to be stuck in this mess when college football has reached real parity. Frank's ego cult and now White's ego have doomed us to several more years of this stupid drama in place of football. With college football as popular as it is these people are held harmless by ticket buyers who are afraid to lose their premium seats. They can give us baloney and call it steak and we have no recourse.
Looks like there will be no cupcakes at all in 09'………….Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida…………talk about strength of schedule…………………Jeff Long…………..throw in Arkansas State, will yah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S GONE,HE'S GONE,HE'S GONE.ESPN'S JOE SCHAAD IS REPORTING THERE WILL BE A PRESS CONFERENCE AT 6:30 TONIGHT AND THE REIGN OF HDN IS OVER.IF IT IS TRUE WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY.
Two down; one to go!!!
I had a sneak suspicion something like this was going to happen. There have been years where I thought we could stay with LSU and we get blow out and there are years where I think we are roast pig and we beat them. I am happy for this win, but then again where was all of this against Auburn, Alabama and Kentucky three games we clearly should have won, now were are suppose to be happy about the Cotton Bowl. Come on Jeff make the decision.
Blind Hog:
For what it's worth, i agree with all of your comments. You might also be interested in this since it is related to what the Hogs may have to do next year. Defense Wins Championships please pay attention. One of the Louisiana commentators on the radio talking about the LSU-Arkansas game brought up the fact that the newest fad in college football is the spread offense. And contrary to Frank Broyles it's working. As I have said before Defense you win by scoring more points than your opponent. If he scores 49 you score 50 (check out Colorado-Nebraska). The idea of the spread is to get the ball in the hands of the most skilled players and let them go with it. This is what the wildcat, wildhog or wild whatever is all about usng McFadden as much as possible in an offensive set that has more options than just up the middle. The emphasis is now is on finding the new style quarterback who can pass effectively and still make plays with his legs. Drop back is dropped out. Lots of passing with running backs who can catch the ball. Dinosaurs like Nutt and Tuberville can have a lot of talent, but they had better be able to outscore the Tulsas (or Appalachian States and Louisiana Monroes, If there ever was a Jurrasic Park game in the 2007 season it had to be Auburn-Arkansas, with both coaches afraid to open up the passing game until crisis time). This analysis, by the way, is not mine but was given by a man who does NFL profiles and does Florida pregame shows. In the absence of McFadden and maybe Jones next year, the Razorbacks will have to develope a better than average passing attack. Hopefully we'll have recruited or transferred in some receivers by then.
Rush Limbaugh, on his radio show, caled the Miami-Steeler game a "Trap" game for the Steelers. That is, a game that the Steeler staff maybe overlooking. The Arkansas game was a "Trap" game for LSU. James Carville said, iin effect, that he feared the tusk, especially McFaden and Jones. He was right. I feel sympathy for all the Razorback fans that were not at the LSU game. In the Hog end zone area, the fans, the token band, and the players all went nuts after the game. Shoulda been there Hogballers!
This has certainly been a rollercoaster year for the Hogs and Hog fans. While Coach Nutt is not perfect, I was ashamed to be a Razorback for the first time in history. Booing our coach or players is just an embarassment. Come on people, this is college football. Most of those boys (and yes, they are boys) aren't old enough to have a drink and shouldn't be expected to put up with a bunch wanna be players and coaches that have had entirely too much to drink!! Grow up, and try to keep this in perspective. I don't blame Coach Nutt, I would be running as fast as I could away from Arkansas fans. If this is how we treat one of our own, I would sure hate to be the next guy. Good luck to Coach Nutt and his family!!