Less Leads To More
November 10, 2009 at 7:35am by HogBlogger
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football
I decided to treat the USC East (otherwise known as the University of South Carolina) game week as opposite week.
I picked against the Hogs in the blog predictions post. I normally don’t tailgate for 11 o’clock games, so I planned and executed a nice tailgate. I wore official Razorback logowear from the RazorBloggers Fan Shop that had previously been involved in losing games. I even mixed Nike and Adidas Razorback apparel. Sometimes you just have to shake things up.
The Hogs have shaken things up a bit the last couple of weeks. The starters have been determined by effort in practice, not by…okay I’m wondering…what was the other criteria? But whatever…the new method appears to have increased the intensity of the gameplay.
Ryan Mallett seems to have been ‘coached up’ pretty hard the past couple of weeks. He actually ran the Petrino offense more like we saw in the fall practices than what we’ve seen in the games up to this point. Call it patience, maturity, ‘the film doesn’t lie,’ ‘tired of getting yelled at’…whatever…his field generalship was much improved against South Carolina.
Taking advantage of what the defense offered rather than constantly looking for the big play actually…created several big plays. Making an effort to remember and involve D.J. Williams in the passing game certainly helps. Mallett’s SEC offensive player of the week award was much deserved.
Following the 80-yard pass play that opened the second half, the Hogs had a chance to fall apart. Instead, the offense responded with two touchdown drives totaling 153 yards in 18 plays, eating up over eight minutes of clock.
So what made the difference? Take your pick: a commitment to the running game. Taking advantage of the short throws underneath the coverage. Sustaining drives by minimizing the zero-yardage plays on first down. Converting on third down. Giving the defense a break. Responding to the other team’s big play with strong, ball-controlling drives. All these things will work much better in the long run than pressing to hit a big play every now and then.
The Hog defense did gather itself following the Gamecocks’ first half scoring drives and, except for the one big pass, got stronger as the game progressed while South Carolina got more flustered. Having everyone staying in the right spots and trusting their teammates shouldn’t seem like such a big deal at this point in the season…but it is. Makes a big difference.
USC East under Steve Superior haven’t been a good road team. He’s obviously an offensive genius — stupid me would have just ran that quarterback sneak right away instead of taking two timeouts to set it up — but his teams have trouble after there’s a lot of film on them.
The Hogs appear to have multiple personalities…some good, some bad. It’s hard to know which one is going to show up. The confidence, intensity, discipline and execution we’ve seen in all phases of the game against Auburn, Florida and South Carolina lets us know the potential of the Petrino program.
It’s been a season of growing pains so far for this youthful team. I expect there will be more before it’s done.
Hmmm… good analysis. My only disagreement is with the last sentence. Ok, maybe, it’s not so much as disagreement in that it is I’m hoping that most of the growing pains are past us now!
Amen to all points razorblogger, just hope the remaining pains don’t result in a loss. Only point I would add is that Coach BP is still a work in progress, new to the SEC as HC and neeeds more reps, but still a good coach on his way to becoming a great coach. The way this season and last have played out may keep the media hype away until we are mature enough to handle and keep BP on the Hill for a few more years. Too much success too soon can be deadly from unwarrantable expectations. Rebuilding a program is a marathon not a sprint.
I think you got it right, HogBlogger. I also think a big part of recent success has been the emergence of Broderick Green as a runner. If Wingo and Davis develop as advertised, that will give the Hogs offense another dimension, a wide array of formidable weapons. (Sad to say, Michael Smith has had his career stymied by the unfortunate circumstances of a transitional period.) The thing about Mallett and his RPG arm in the spread offense is that it stretches defenses so they can’t stack the box against the running game the way they did during the ancien regime.
It is axiomatic in sports that “you’re only as good as your ‘B’ game.” We know the “A” game on offense is very good. The “B” game? A little shaky.
I think Petrino and the team need to work on those deliberate, methodical, fundamental aspects of play that allow you to win without beating yourself: procedure, execution. The defense especially needs to do those things: execute the form, stay home/don’t gamble, bend but don’t break.
I am not close enough to the team and the game to know how the Hogs defensive players stack up against SEC competition, but the pundits seem to agree that we are not as big and strong and fast as the top tier teams. If that is true then Willy Robinson has done as good a job as anyone should expect with the D, and people need to get off his case and give credit where it’s due, give him the opportunity to develop his squad. If he can’t cut it, I’m sure Petrino will try to get somebody who can. The fact that the Hogs are leading the SEC in turnover margin suggests that they have possession-oriented mindset, and they are doing a lot of things right.
I think Razored is right on point that Petrino is not yet a great coach. He may become one if he is fortunate and if he perseveres. Those things remain to be seen. Fortunately for the coaches and players, they have US, the redoubtable Razorbloggers, a bottomless fount of football wisdom available on demand!