It’s been a busy week for the ole HogBlogger, but I know loyal RBN readers need me to write interesting, witty and astoundingly deep commentary about our beloved Razorbacks. Unfortunately, they’ll have to make do with my usual drivel…
When you think about the Hogs defense last week against Auburn, the name Jerico Nelson (10 tackles) has to come to mind. He seemed to be everywhere: directing traffic, applying pressure and changing the tone of the defense.
Elton Ford (9 tackles) is also someone you have to give a lot of credit to. There is no doubt the Arkansas defense has been much better with him on the field. Jerry Franklin (9 tackles) and Wendel Davis (4 tackles) are playing with a lot of speed and intensity. Ramon Broadway and Andru Stewart (both with 7 tackles) hit hard.
When the Hog defense keeps its head on straight — playing their gaps and trusting their teammates — they play very well. The big plays Auburn had came from mistakes followed up by extremely bad angles by a few players. There are some who haven’t yet figured out the speed of the SEC game.
Florida brings a very physical, punishing running game. They pound hard the entire game. The Razorback defensive line will face a point of attack charge like none they’ve seen this year.
Gang tackling will be a must…which will put extreme pressure on the secondary. Expect to see play action and short or skinny posts often to keep the Arkansas linebackers and safeties guessing.
Florida likes to run the split end deep while bringing the slot receiver underneath the safety, counting on the safety to provide help on the split end and the linebacker to bite on the play fake. They’ll throw some version of this 5-7 times a game…usually with good results.
As for the Razorback offense, the old Lou Holtz comment, “I absolutely positively guarantee we will move the football…I just hope it’s forward,” definitely comes to mind. With the best defense in the country comes one of the best defensive lines and linebacker corps. While our offensive line play is vastly improved over last year and improving weekly this year, Florida will be a stern test. The Razorbacks must avoid negative plays and penalties.
If the Hogs somehow manage to get three scores ahead by the middle of the second quarter, Florida will be challenged to catch up. They haven’t shown the ability to put up a lot of points in SEC play, preferring instead to playing a brute force kind of game. With the Petrino offense and a break or two, it is very possible for the Hogs to pounce early and place Florida in an unfamiliar position.
I’m hoping for a surprise and expecting a good game. I’m thinking the team that wins the first and third quarter will win the game. Go Hogs!
The Gators have given all the right lip service to the trap game angle but, they don’t expect much trouble with Arkansas, just like their press and their fans. They are focused on Alabama.
We have become a more complete team than the numbers show. The young defense needed to get some experience and players back from injury. They won’t be the same defense we saw against Georgia; same for the offensive line. This will not be a pass heavy offense. We will develop our depth at runningback.
Arkansas will start fast off last week’s momentum. Florida will start slow after last weeks trip to Death Valley. Florida won’t worry; they will come back before and after the half but, the game will be on. It won’t be a trap game. It will be a whipping and Florida will profess new found respect in the papers on Sunday.
Alabama isn't on our schedule. We aren't worried about them.
Good luck getting up by 3 scores, that's just not happening.
The "bad angles" thing should be a big worry for you, one band angle or misses assignment usually means a TD with Demps, Rainey.
I am hopeful we'll start to air the ball out more (Troy saw our most pass attempts, and Tebow was still in the game against UK to work with a receiving corps that's lacking depth and has had health issues), but in Fayetteville last year I saw the two backs break onto the national scene by breaking the long runs.
This Gator team seems very mature- they don't care what you or I have to say, they take their W and go on to the next week. We were supposed to have a hangover when we took our road trip to UK after the UT game… and put up 31 points in the first quarter. After the LSU game, Carlos Dunlap's facebook status was "just got back from a business trip to Louisiana".
This game is Homecoming, and it's against the best QB we'll likely face this season, in the SEC anyways. I don't think they'll lack for reasons to pay attention to this game, and I don't think they are the sort of team prone to that kind of thing.
It's a shame that all of your tough games are on the road this season, I think Petrino is making strides, and that this is a very good Arkansas team- I'm just not sure it they can be considered a top 5 SEC team, not when they'll have such a tough record with all those road games. Good luck with the rest of your schedule, and don't take it too badly when we win and cover this weekend.
See what I mean.
It's funny. I was just thinking how Auburn and A+M fans showed up on here the last two weeks predicting 3 touchdown wins for their teams and I hadn't seen any such behavior from Florida fans. My thought was "when you know your good, you don't have to talk a lot of trash." Then I come on here and get these comments from JB. Maybe there is a little more uncertainty in the swamp than I originally thought. Go Hogs!
The key to the game is balance on offense. We have to move the ball in the rushing game to manage the game clock. If it is all passing, even if we score, we put our defense on the field for more than they can handle in Florida's beat-down style rushing/option attack. If the team that showed up against A&M and Auburn shows up for the rest of the season, even if we don't pull this upset, we should be at 8-4 to 7-5 territory, a solid season considering the schedule and the young defense.
Speed is the name of the game here, and if we're not able to somehow corrall the speed of Florida, it will be bad.
They are very dangerous on the outside edges with their RBs. Our defense will have to make all the right reads with that motion and option style offense the Gators run, otherwise they'll be breaking enough big plays into our secondary to put us in the doghouse early.
On defense, this will definately be the fastest opposition our O-line has seen to date. If we're not able to limit our penalties and hold our blocks consistantly, Mallett will be scrambling for his life again, much like he did against Alabama.
I'm not real sure we're that far along yet, but I do expect the Hogs to hang with the Gators for at least a while.
Hopefully, it'll be enough to keep the score respectable.