The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — Florida
October 6, 2008 at 10:05am by TipsterHog
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football
Some random thoughts after watching the Florida game.
The Good
Where would this team be without the play of running back Michael Smith? The 5-foot-7 junior had 182 all-purpose yards on Saturday and showed a toughness and determination that impressed everyone. After the game, Paul Petrino said Smith is giving “everything he’s got,” while Urban Meyer made a point of calling Smith “a heck of a player” in his post-game interview.- For three quarters, the defense and tackling were better. Simplifying the scheme looks to have helped the Hog defense execute faster.
- Along those lines, Wendel Davis was back at middle linebacker and tallied 11 tackles on Saturday. Moving Davis allowed Jerry Franklin to slide over to outside linebacker…a position he looks more comfortable playing.
- The hurry-up drive right before halftime was going great…until the interception. Still, the mere ability to execute a decent two-minute offense is something we’ve begged for on this site for years. (And the catch made by Joe Adams during that drive was spectacular.)
The Bad
- The key drive of the game was after the Hogs intercepted Tim Tebow late in the third quarter. After an ill-advised deep ball attempt to London Crawford on first down, two passes were completed short of the first down yardage. As hard as the defense had played up to that point, they really needed the offensive players and coaches to produce more than a quick three-and-out.
- The Razorbacks are still looking for that elusive first quarter score. They trail their opponents 41-0 collectively this season after one period of play.
The Ugly
- This team is not good enough on either side of the ball to overcome being penalized as much as they were on Saturday. And speaking of not scoring in the opening quarter (see above), if you look at the Hogs’ first quarter drives on Saturday, they both stalled out after false start penalties.
- Unlike the rest of the team, special teams took a step back on Saturday. In particular, the short kickoffs, blocked field goal and muffed punt. (Luckily, a kickoff returned by Florida for a touchdown was called back after kicker Jeremy Davis took a block in the back ‘for the team.’) After five games, Arkansas has not played a team this season that hasn’t had a superior special teams unit.
Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.
We showed up. We looked like a football team. We were in the game through 3 quarters. We have said for a few weeks this year is going to be about enjoying watching this team grow. We did. It was fun. As much as I would love to pick on Casey a little he deserves the same consideration. He may improve, is improving. If Tajada has lost his place kicking job, how about letting him kickoff? We need someone to put it beyond the 10.
What encouraged me the most was seeing the swagger in the defense. Yeah, they got torched at times, but they never got their heads down, and they were still running hard and hitting hard up to the end.
This team will win again this season. Maybe a couple of times. That’s not the type of “optimism” we had at the beginning of the year (most of us), but at least this week gave us some positives.
This was my first chance to watch this team. My wish is that I would get one good quarter to enjoy the game and then go do some chores. I was thrilled to get 3+ good quarters. I was worried as to whether or not we are growing but I think its clear to see that we are and we’re not that far away. Michael Smith, DJ Williams, London Crawford, Dennis Johnson and Joe Adams give us a lot to look forward to. I don’t understand where Jarious Wright has gone. He was supposed to be the most impressive of the freshmen coming into the season.
I’m such a homer that it doesn’t take much for me but I’m excited about the future after what I saw on Saturday. Keep on working! Go Hogs!
I’m with you Carolina. I sat down in front of the T.V. Saturday with a beer, thinking I was going to be cursing at it before too long, but unexspectedly, I found myself giving my oldest son a few high fives, and saying such words as “hell ya baby!!!” There was some frustration involved when the offensive drives would stall, but enough incouragement to keep my hopes alive. Micheal Smith is the most determined player i’ve seen in quite a while. He inspires me. As was said earlier, Adams made a great catch. He’s definately bigtime, and will only get better with the way he run’s after the catch. He and Crawford are both dangerous on a reverse play as well. What this team is missing more than anything is leadership that only develope’s in time with real game exsperience. The future is looking pretty good to me right now. GO HOGS!!!!!