The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — Missouri State
September 7, 2009 at 8:05am by TipsterHog
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football
Some random thoughts after watching the Razorbacks’ big win over Missouri State.
The Good
We have to start with the first play of the game. Dennis Johnson’s opening kickoff return TD (the second of his short career) made sure the Hogs got off on the right foot this season. All 11 players did their part, but a huge block by Van Stumon was key to springing Johnson.- Quarterbacks Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson were almost flawless. Shattering the school single-game passing mark of 387 yards, both were as sharp as you could hope for to start the season. 10.9 yards per attempt is off the charts.
- Of course, all those passes had to be caught by someone. Receiver Jarius Wright was racking up yards all night, while Joe Adams turned a routine wide receiver screen into a 40-yard touchdown with his extra effort. And despite Mallett firing bullets, Razorback receivers did not drop a pass all night. In all, thirteen different players caught at least one pass on Saturday night.
- Several freshmen got a chance to gain some valuable early experience. David Gordon, Cobi Hamilton, Austin Moss, Colton Nash, Anthony Oden, Terrell Williams and Darius Winston all saw action. True freshmen running backs Ronnie Wingo, Jr. and Knile Davis ran hard, ripped off big chunks of yards and looked good in their debut.
The Bad
- While he did eventually plunge across for a first quarter touchdown, Broderick Green was denied five other times inside the Bears 5-yard line. Partial credit to the Bears’ defense but we didn’t see Green ‘delivering the blow’ that you want to see from a back his size. We’re still not sold that this team’s short yardage problems from a year ago are solved.
Kicker Alex Tejada was sporting a new number on Saturday night: #2. And two is also the number of field goals that Tejada successfully converted. Unfortunately, it’s also the number of kickoffs that he kicked out of bounds. Which leads us to…- Minus the kickoff return touchdown to start the game, the special teams play was bad. Having three kickoffs go out of bounds was worse than just the usual ‘opening game sloppy.’ A muffed punt, a kick catch interference penalty and allowing a long kickoff return (setting up Missouri State’s only touchdown drive) will give special teams coach John L. Smith plenty to work on during the bye week.
The Ugly
- Cox sucks, and we don’t mean Georgia starting quarterback Joe Cox. How many monkeys does it take to put on a simple pay-per-view channel once a year where paying customers actually get to see the ENTIRE game??? Don’t ask Cox Cable…they wouldn’t know.
- We’ve heard the excuse about how it was some sort of satellite signal problem. Whatever…that supposed ‘glitch’ didn’t seem to be affecting any of your competitors. Customers on DirecTV, Dish Network and U-Verse were reportedly just fine. Maybe it’s time for Hog fans on Cox to find a new ‘friend in the digital age.’
Update 5:30 p.m. – Cox Cable is now (finally) apologizing and saying it will be “automatically issuing a 100 percent full refund to all customers who ordered the game.” Full text of the press release is over at WholeHogSports.com. Our response: competition is a great motivator.
Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.
ESPN Game Plan via DirecTV was flawless. The commentary was not too impressive, but the signal was there without interruption. I can only imagine the frustration in NWA over this.
10K will be switching to Uverse when it becomes available.
Really enjoyed it. Hope you do one of these after each game.
If I recall correctly, all of the kicking tees were placed near the hash on the same side that we kicked them out of bounds. Why so far over? This already ensures that you have that much less field to work with. If they had kicked more from the center of the field, I’m guessing that 2 of these out of bounds would probably have stayed in bounds. The other thing that was very concerning for me is why did both kickers have this issue?
What we attempted to do was kick the ball between the numbers and the sideline, thus cutting down the amount of field that must be covered by the kick coverage team. When well executed, this is a good strategy to limit big returns.
However, kicking it out of bounds kinda defeats the purpose.
Correctable mistakes.
The ST issues will have to be corrected over the next 2 weeks leading up to Georgia. We need every advantage we can get before SEC play begins.
This is a very important game for the Hogs. It could very well be the launch pad for a very sucsessful season.
GO HOGS GO, BABY!!!!!
What can you say, this is exactly how this game was supposed to go.
Beyond that, it is obvious, the talent and effort on the field represents great improvement in one year. No wonder Petrino seems more relaxed on the sideline.
The offense will go as far as the line will carry it. The skill positions are stocked and playing hard and well. I was especially glad to see the quality depth at running back and great effort by our recievers.
The defense is still a work in progress but, by midseason they may surprise you. I hope so.
Tejada’s kicking is like a bad day at the golf course, it’s all in your head. The kid has got to relax and kick away.
It was fun, now two weeks until the season really begins.
For 1 year and the beginning of number 2 I continue to hear people say that Tehada’s problem is all in his head, he just needs to relax. Well how long does it take to relax. This is major college football we don’t have the time to let someone relax very long. He had all off-season and is one year older and we have the same problems. At some point we have to step out and say what everyone is beginning to see and that is he is just not a very good college kicker. The kid from Evangel Christian last week when they played Shiloh is a better kicker than Tejada right now. We need to find a kicker this year, that has to be a priority.
By the way, Forester who is one of our punters had to fill in at kicker while he as at Hawaii and I heard he did pretty good. Give him a try.
Tejada worked hard all summer. It wasn’t unusual to see him out on the practice field with a bag of footballs.
Last year he got way too much coaching on how to kick. Plus, he had a nagging injury. This year they’ve messed with his kicking motion again. He was a much better kicker before they started coaching him up.
To agree with GolfHog and go a bit further – Tejada has too many ’swing thoughts’ going on. Just get a good snap and hold and kick it.
I’ve watched Forester quite a bit. As long as the kick is under 33 yards he would be fine.
The kick-offs you saw Saturday were not really representative of what we saw in the open practices. They were trying to get a bit cute as Sunshine said – call it ‘in-game practice’.
Not to agree with myself but, if they have messed the kid up, maybe it is time to give him some time on the sideline, take the pressure off a little, bring him back slowly. Leave him at home a couple of games if needed. Who is Frank’s old buddy that was a kicking coach??
Smith has not shown the improvement on special teams that is needed. The return (offensive) teams are better but the kicking (defensive) teams are worse if that is possible. This staff is so agressive, I hope it doesn’t take them too long to understand, the SEC is ultimately about defense.
Poor Pelphry, the boy is snake bit. How does he get out of this one? Do we play with 8 again this year?
I don’t believe anything will happen with the situation on the basketball players. There hasn’t been any charges filed yet, and I seriously don’t think there will be.
Some young 18 year old chick got drunk at a frat party, got a little carried away with the sexual induindo concerning 3 of the basketball players, got them a little excited, and whala, guess what happened next?
She wakes up the next morning, all of her friends tell her the redicules details and what the end result was, and guess what? Automatically it becomes all their (players) fault.
Well boo-hoo-hoo, if you can’t cut it in the kitchen little girl, then quit acting like the cook!
I recorded the game and went back to look at the plays Broderick Green ran. Missouri State was expecting run on every one and loaded up the center with extra players. I’m sure the coaches upstairs noticed this but they called middle runs anyway. I suspect they were testing the line and Green and didn’t care about the points because the game was well in hand. I hope everyone learned something and improve in the future.
The Cox signal was perfect in Tulsa. The broadcast was rough around the edges and not very professional. I did enjoy Clint Sterner – he’s got a future in broadcasting if he stays with it.