Home > Football, Razorbacks > The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — Louisiana-Monroe

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — Louisiana-Monroe

September 8, 2008 by TipsterHog 

Some random thoughts after watching the ULM game.

The Good

  • Casey Dick (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)The ‘Studs‘ did their thing: Casey Dick throwing for 323 yards; Michael Smith running for 157 yards; and D.J. Williams receiving for 124 yards and two TDs.  Tight end Williams showed he had another gear when he nearly outran the ULM secondary on his huge 76-yard catch in the fourth quarter.
  • The catch made on the fourth-and-1 play by Warren freshman Chris Gragg was a tremendous play.  Certainly a memorable moment for his first collegiate reception.  And after only two games, it’s already very apparent that Bobby Petrino will roll the dice when he thinks he can surprise the opposing defense.
  • The two extra points made by backup kicker Shay Haddock split the middle of the uprights and were the difference in the game.  Other than that, see “The Ugly” below.

The Bad

  • To say that the first pay-per-view experience of the Jeff Long era had a few ‘technical difficulties’ is an understatement.  To start the game, many viewers had video…but no sound.  (Does that cost extra?)  After that was corrected midway through the first quarter, half of the second quarter was marred by a corrupted video signal that caused the picture to look like a bad impressionist painting.  On the bright side, that issue kept Hog fans from having to watch ULM block a punt.  Which leads us to “The Ugly”…

The Ugly

  • Overall, special teams were very ugly.  Poor execution and bad decision making have been the norm so far this season.  Having said that, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a kicker implode like Alex Tejada did on Saturday.  Two missed field goals, a missed extra point and then a delay of game on the ensuing kickoff before kicking the ball out of bounds, giving ULM the ball at the 45-yard line.  Ouch.
  • The biggest ugly of all?  The remaining schedule.  We may soon be referring to these first two games as “the good ole’ days.”

Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.

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Comments

8 Responses to “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — Louisiana-Monroe”

  1. Carolina Hog on September 8th, 2008 12:10 pm

    Some random thoughts:

    Its way too early to blame DC Robinson for the mess that is our Defense. They sucked last year and half of those guys are gone now. You can’t coach what you don’t have. We just need to see progress right now. (This is in response to comments to the last post)

    I am worried whether Tejeda ever gets his head back together. This sounds like a pitcher who gets so mixed up in his head that he can’t throw to home anymore.

    Where is Jarious Wright? All the hype was over him before the year and we haven’t heard from him yet.

  2. New Orleans Hog on September 8th, 2008 12:47 pm

    Is Casey Dick gonna get any respect from the SEC office? I mean, I know we’ve played subpar oppeents the last two weeks, but seriously, he has played outstanding and lead fourth quarter comebacks both games. Not only that, but he is the ONLY SEC quarterback to throw for over 300 yards in a game so far, and he’s now done it two weeks in a row! On secsports.com, neither week was he even mentioned as “other outstanding performances”. And the award for offensive player of the week was given last week to Vandy’s QB, who’s numbers were nowhere near Dick’s. At least they gave Arkansas some respect this week by giving Joe Adams Freshmen of the week honors and mentioning DJ Williams. Come on SEC, notice our QB!

  3. Texas Week Trough « Hawg Blawg on September 8th, 2008 1:06 pm

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  4. TipsterHog on September 8th, 2008 1:21 pm

    Oh yeah…I forgot to mention the Dodge commercials that we had to watch during the broadcast. And it was especially nice when a (Ram Tough!) commercial would run long and cause viewers to miss the next play.

    Isn’t the whole idea of pay-per-view that I’m paying so that I don’t have to watch commercials?

    One more rant and then I’ll shut up…can we get the scoreboard clock at War Memorial working before the LSU game?

  5. OwassoHog on September 8th, 2008 1:35 pm

    TipsterHog, as for the PPV with commercials, that’s just another reason that I’m opposed to them!

    As for Casey’s pass, after reading more about this, I’m still amazed that it was caught and that Bobby had enough guts to call a play with a possible pass. Wow! Talk about taking chances. Just imagine what the press (and fans) would have said if the pass wasn’t caught!

    As for Tejada goes, what’s the story here? Seems most feel that this is a “head” thing but is it really? I heard that there was some sort of injury over the summer. Is it possible that there is something else? I didn’t notice anything during the first game but I didn’t think he attempted any field goals.

  6. GonzoHog on September 9th, 2008 10:59 am

    If thier going to have PPV, then they definately need to cater to what the viewer is wanting, especially when it’s La. Monroe, for cryin out loud! If most of the big games are already going to be broadcast by someone anyway, then this little deal with the PPV is gonna be a bust before they even get started. I didn’t pay for it, opting to listen on the radio instead, but with all of the complications I’m hearing about now, I definately won’t be interested in purchasing the next one either, reguardless of who were playing.

  7. GonzoHog on September 10th, 2008 8:53 am

    Texas has a very good D-Line, so if the Hogs offense is going to have a chance to score some points, then the O-Line is going to have to get after it. RBs will have to step it up, and not get caught flat-footed on blocking plays, and give Casey time to throw the ball. Dropped passes will have to be negated, otherwise, it won’t matter much. Special teams will have to play almost mistake free. If we do these things, it still won’t garantee a victory in Austin, but we can still play well enough to gain some much needed confidence. If we do that, I think were capable of pulling off a win against Bama at home.

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