Growing Up Strong
December 1, 2009 at 7:05am by HogBlogger
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Football
The most disappointing thing about the loss on Saturday to LSU in Death Valley was not the finish, but the beginning. The Razorback offense was ill-prepared to play.
Yes, I used the word ‘prepared.’ The Hogs weren’t prepared to be patient on offense. They weren’t prepared with a game plan to counter LSU’s blitzing. They got scattered and rattled (led by their quarterback/leader) and played horribly. Just like at Ole Miss. Overconfident again?
Against both LSU and Ole Miss, the Hogs got beat due to not being prepared for the road and not playing fundamentally sound. Individual effort that takes a player outside of the scheme — whether on offense or defense or special teams — can get you beat. Playing ‘frantic’ doesn’t work in any sport, much less football.
So for this year: John Chavis 1, Tyrone Nix 1, Bobby Petrino 0. SEC defensive coordinators like Chavis and Nix will find your weaknesses and exploit them. Yes, I used the word ‘prepared.’
The Hogs’ offense struggled when opposing defenses made the quarterback dance. Ryan Mallett, while improving, is not yet capable of playing effectively against pressure. (And I think NFL defenses bring pressure.) He’ll get there, or he’ll continue to struggle against the better teams in the SEC. Our offensive coaches must do a better job having a package of plays that will put the quarterback in a better position to be successful against the stronger defensive teams. Yes, I said ‘prepared.’
The Hogs’ defense struggled when opposing teams and their coaches forced them to have to think. I’ve never seen a year with so many defensive ‘busts.’ It seems obvious that whatever we are trying to do on the field has been too complicated to be consistently effective in the games. It shouldn’t take two years to put in a defense. Look at what Chavis and Monte Kiffin accomplished this year. Look at what Tyrone Nix accomplished last year. (Granted…all three did inherit some talented players.)
Allowing LSU to drive for the final field goal was extremely disappointing considering that one missed tackle probably made the difference in the game. Yes, I know…one play doesn’t make the difference in a game. But it can seem to make the difference.
The Internet and talk shows have been full of downright mean and ugly criticism of Alex Tejada for missing the final kick. Never mind that he previously made three high pressure kicks that served to keep the Hogs in the game. Never mind that a 36-yard kick from the far right hash mark towards NFL-sized goal posts leaves very little margin for error. (Remember the NFL narrowed the goal post and narrowed their hash marks.)
What was most encouraging about the LSU game was that, even with that laundry list of things to not be happy about, the Razorbacks nearly won the game.
I predicted 8-4 and the Hogs finished 7-5. I thought we’d beat Georgia and didn’t think we’d beat LSU. I was hopeful going in that the road woes would be corrected. They weren’t. This was a young team with a tough schedule. The coaches are still learning their way in the SEC. I’m hopeful next year both the team and coaches will mature into something special.
We’ve seen enough to know that the Razorbacks could be very good in the next few years. We’ve also seen enough to know we’ve got a ways to go.
Overall – this was a great season. Very fun to be a Razorback fan. Great to be in a positive direction – moving forward – toward the top. (you don’t think so, just wait till mid January and the BBall team is in Conference play… oooof, I can’t go there right now) – We had a TOUGH schedule this year and we played great. It was fun to throw the ball around. Next year will be very exciting!
But…
In the SEC the premier teams have the defenses to win lower scoring, close games. We have a very exciting offense – and one that will win in the SEC. We do not yet have a defense that will win us a 21-17 game, let alone a conference championship. We can beat the South Carolinas and Auburns 49-42, but we cannot count on our offense alone to beat Alabama and LSU.
I hope that Petrino will focus some extra attention to the defense during the off season. Do what it takes to pull it together.
Special teams is another – but geez – do we even know where to start?
Football season is so fun, I hate to see it leave. I already look forward to next season – the schedule looks great, the boys will be another year better, another off season stronger, faster. Yep, in 2010, it’s hard, hard to be humble.
Bobby and the staff are very aggressive. This is a bit like changing from Eddie to Nolan (and I suspect with similar result.) Frank and Hooty were playing the odds and, Bobby is trying to beat them. Aggression will get you beat just like playing not to lose but it is more fun to watch and easier to recruit.
SEC defensive coordinators play as many men in the box as needed to stop the run and dare you to throw. Bobby is just taking the dare. He’ll adjust, he’ll learn. But he will always want to score on every possession. Field position, time of possession, protecting your defense, I fear that that is all a thing of the past. We’ll see.
I suspect you are right about Willy too. He is trying to do too much. Bobby may be encouraging that as well.
Arkansas has had great kickers in the past. This is why you don’t give kickers a scholarship until they prove themselves. Tejada needs to move to a lesser conference for a second chance and open up that slot.
Hogblogger: To quote a line from an Isley Brothers classic “Shout”, Now wait a minute, wyaaat a minute. Hogs did not nearly win, they had it won. Nearly more implies that they were behind but couldn’t catch up. But all this talk about bad, bad Willy losing the game with his prevent defense, to me represents very shallow thinking. Consider this oh wise ones. What was the coaches biggest fear? A fear based on past performance including one in the game that was currently being played. It was being beat by the “big” play(s). LSU had that capability especially with Holliday. Willy’s Hobson’s choice was giving up ground slowly or quickly, with the latter giving LSU time to score a TD. It was the coaches hope that LSU might self destruct enough and the defense could hold up enough to get a stop (it “nearly” happened). If LSU had scored or set up a score with a “big” play then the boo birds here would be wondering why Willy didn’t use a looser defense to prevent it. I don’t like the prevent and I hate it in the pros against the 2 minute offense. I can’t recall and count the number of times Kenny Stabler (and many other QBs) would quickly work down field on sideline passes and, voila, be set up for a score with little time remaining. But collegiates are not the pros. They are more error prone and the QBs and receivers are not that adept at sideline passing. You can add to that the potential of Mile’s clock management. Give Willy some slack here. We know the defense needs help and improvement especially in the secondary on “big” plays. Earlier in the year tackling was atrocious, but that has improved. If I had to lay the blame on losing this game relative to the different units, I would have to say special teams with the biggest damage having been done with Holliday’s return. Kick coverage seems to be a terrible weakness on this team. I don’t know how you can improve it, but they did end up punting high giving away field position to negate a big return, kicking way from Holliday, and even doing that lost art of kicking out of bounds on punts (Good job Breedling). Insofar as Chavis is concerned, hey, his team gave up 30 points and, except for the return, his team’s defense was worse than Arkansas’. So, where’s the criticism there? So Chavis is better than Willy? Grass is greener? Better look at the stats Hogbloggger. In case you didn’t know, Chavis was not enamored at Tennessee. He was know as “Third down Chavis” because of the VOLS propensity to give up third down plays (One area that the HOGS need improvement in is making third downs). It’s alright to critique and second guess after the fact, but its pretty cheezy to really get down on a coaching staff that has produced a winning season after a losing one, gotten the HOGS to a bowl, and win, lose, or draw has given the fans exciting football.* Bottom line is, I don’t know if Willy is a good defensive coach or not. Time will tell. But there was nothing wrong with Willy going to the prevent at the end considering the alternatives.
*I wonder if some of the boo birds here that are down on Petrino and Robinson are still festering about Nutt’s leaving. Sorry guys, from an inexpert opinion, next year Arkansas will be up and Ole Miss down, relatively speaking. Nutt loses McCluster, and unless Nutt finds another Dexter, I don’t think that Snead has shown the cability to carry a team. 2010 maybe a bad year for Nuttaholics, but who knows?
Jim Dogg – they may have “had it won”, but they didn’t win,but it was close. Therefore they “nearly won”. Whether you say “had it won” or “nearly won,” you end both of those phrases with, “but they lost.”
I don’t think I really got down on the coaching staff. We are way ahead of where we were under Houston Dale. I think if you’ll go back to past post you’ll see I was pretty hard on him at times too.
I do agree with you that the punt return was the biggest one play of the game. And, I agree that kick coverage has not been great this year. During one game this year the kicker made 5 tackles in a row on kick-offs. That’s not a good thing.
I stand by my comments in the post. Other than at Florida, the offense was terrible on the road. If you have any doubt, “better look at the stats.” As to Willy – even he was second guessing himself. Jefferson was bad under the Ole Miss pressure the week before on the last possession.
We edited out my ‘laundry list’ of things that I saw wrong against LSU. It was pretty long. In spite of all those things, we “nearly won” or “had it won,” whichever you prefer. A major point that I wanted to make was the loss was not just Tejada’s fault. The whole team had a role in it.
Hogblogger… I’m confused. You mentioned Tejada having to kick towards NFL-sized goal posts in the LSU game. Why is this? No pro teams play on that field and I don’t know why they’d have the smaller size posts up for a college game. Maybe I missed something. Please explain.
It all has to do with the angle. For example, if I’m sitting front and center of a 40″ TV, I see 40″s of the screen. However, if I move either side of the by 10′, the visible perspective of that 40″ TV has been reduced to something… say 32″s. What happened to the 8″? It was lost due to the angle.
Same thing applies to the field goal post. Based on college hash marks being where they are and the relative position based on the yard line you are at, it becomes harder to hit the field goal at certain distances and angles. Your point of entry has definitely been reduced on some attempts.
If you think about it, why do some teams try to put 3rd down into the middle of the field… it’s to make the angle a non-issue with the kick!
Hog ‘n Iowa – NFL and college goal post are the same size.
http://www.sportsknowhow.com/football/field-dimensions/nfl-football-field-dimensions.html
Hash Marks:
NFL Hash marks are the narrowest of all the levels of football play. They measure 70 feet, 9 inches from the sidelines and are 18 feet, 6 inches wide. (same as the width of the goal posts)
High School: the width of the hashmarks are 53 feet, 4 inches
College: hashmarks are 40 feet wide
Goal Posts:
As mentioned before, NFL goal posts are 10 feet high and 18 feet, 6 inches wide (same as NCAA)
High School: Goal posts by contrast are 10 feet high and 23 feet, 4 inches wide.
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The ball was spotted at the 26 yard line for the kick. OwassoHog can do the math on the impact of the hash marks on the target width.
Ok, so I worked the numbers.
A kick from the right hash mark, 26 yard line has to go through goal post that are, based on angle, effectively only 78% as wide as the goal post a kick from straight on has to go through.
So, the kick Tejada attempted was 22% harder than a kick from similar distance from the middle of the field.
When you consider that Tejada draws the ball normally, the margin of error got even smaller. When you worry about drawing the ball you sometimes hit it straight. He missed by maybe two yards to the right on a well hit ball that didn’t draw at all.
For him, that was an extremely difficult kick. Had the kick been from the left hash mark his margin of error and comfort level would have gone up quite a bit given the fact that his natural ball flight is a draw.
Yes, I know, he’s supposed to hit all kicks from that distance. However, if you chart his misses you’ll find he’s much less accurate from the right than the left side of the field.
I think we improved and considering where we were last year and how far we have come this year with very close games against Florida and LSU, I’ll take it. There are so many people involved on offense, it is fantastic. If one goes down, it is an opportunity for someone else.
I still think we have a long way to go with Special Teams. I also think we have to get better defensively. I am not just talking players. They weren’t the ones that decided to go prevent on the last drive. They weren’t the ones that called for a sky kick (special teams/head coach).
I really think we are getting closer to what we all want. I think next year will be harder than people think, because people will be ready for us and there will be no sneaking up on anyone.
I am really anxious for the red shirt that played basketball for awhile to compete with Tyler for backup QB to see how good he is.
I would love to pull in some line recruits and a couple of physical playmakers in the secondary.
How many redshirt freshmen are there that will be able to contribute next year?
I totally agree with you. I’ll leave it to Sunshine to give you an answer on the number of redshirt freshmen question.
I come down on the side of you guys who are pleased with the coaching job this year. Clearly, in my mind, the biggest obstacle to offensive success in the first half was Mallett’s anxiousness and the receivers dropping way, way too many passes. How many times have we all heard about how sure handed Hamilton and Childs are? Unbelievable drops by both of them. It happens, even in the NFL.
Go back and look at our games with Alabama, Texas and Florida last year if you can stand it. How much better are we on both sides of the ball? This sounds really, really bad, but——-WHAT ‘TIL NEXT YEAR!!!
I agree with you. The only point I add to the comment about Mallett’s anxiousness is that pressure plays into his issues. Designing the early offense to better deal with the pressure and get him into a more comfortable zone has got to be a big part of the plan on the road. We didn’t get that done very well on the road all year. I was hoping to see us deal better against LSU, but we didn’t seem to have learned.
As for the drops – we’ve seen that when the quarterback and the receivers get uncomfortable and start pressing the drops increase dramatically.
I’m way pleased with the coaching. I’m just pointing out that there are aspects of it that need a bit of tuning.
Mallett may have an NFL arm, and his decision making greatly improved over the course of the year, but he still has big issues at times. I’m not sure yet whether he’s going to turn out to be Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf.
Oh no——–not Ryan Leaf——is this related to inappropriate and excessive alcohol consumption? Hopefully the only thing Mallett has in common with Leaf is a first name.
No, I don’t mean Ryan Leaf in that type of negative fashion. Ryan Leaf in terms of having a big, way impressive arm but an inability to really become a quarterback that could execute against the high level defenses.
Mallett is a hard worker. Leaf was not. The thing they share is seemingly not always knowing that playing quarterback is about a lot more than just being able to throw the ball hard.
Remember that, based on size and physical skills, Drew Brees has no business being an NFL quarterback. Neither did Joe Montana. It’s very much a head game with a certain amount of physical skills being table stakes. Mallett’s poor performance on the road has been all about the head game.
You guys know so damn much, you leave me nothin’ to talk about!
HogBlogger: Were you implying the team was “unprepared”? I think you nailed it when you said we were “not playing fundamentally sound,” meaning, I think, a deliberate style you have to play on the road to compensate for fan noise. The Hogs did improve fundamentally throughout the season, except for a few lapses.
“Playing ‘frantic’ doesn’t work in any sport, much less football,” states the case aptly as to why Mallett wasn’t connecting with his receivers or they weren’t hanging on to his passes very well. Earlier in the season somebody said, “The game is starting to slow down for Ryan Mallett.” Of course the game doesn’t slow down; they player’s mind speeds up as he acquires more routine thoughts and motions. If Mallett develops that kind of mind, the poise, the composure, to stand in the eye of the storm, he will be a great NFL QB.
If hope Tejada’s replacement is a good tackler.
Swineherd – “unprepared” in the sense that the game plan didn’t seem well designed for the blitz. And in the sense that the play calling just didn’t fit very well for a road game after the first few plays. I did note that Mallett was looking long and not short again. He really has had the most yards in games where he threw shorter passes, not longer passes.
I think the interception got Mallett off onto a bad track and he just didn’t play very well the rest of the first half. He was pressing. Team play many times is very much a reflection of the quarterback’s play.
The play calling put Mallett in some bad situations against the blitz. I think Coach Petrino needs to show a little more patience on offense on the road. He adjusted well the second half. Needed to adjust before the first quarter was over. The SEC is tough. You are not going to blow people out in the first quarter very often.
Teams are also a reflection of their coach. I said after Georgia that they were ‘too high’ for that game and, I think it was true again at LSU. They not only make more yards concentrating on the short yardage, underneath throws, they play calmer and more focused in “must win” games as opposed to “big” games, “shock the world” games. Bobby and the team are anxious to explode on the scene. When the pieces are in place, Atlanta here we come!!
i thought it was a great game, although i wished the hogs could have won. it did not boil down to the last defensive play or the kick at the end, although they were both important. Yes, they should have stepped up and made the big plays. However, there were mis-communications throught the game that essentailly determined the end result. Ryan Mallett throwing too high, the recievers not catching the passes, the defense giving up big plays to their LSU offense. all of these contributed to the LSU win las Saturday. in the first half of the game, the offense looked unprepared; they had this deer in the headlights look when they came out. They had pressure on our quarterback and that made him uncomfortable. Heck, he threw an interception after the hogs made a good drive down the field.
We’re improving steadily as a team. We went from being a team last season that got blowed out against the best competition, to a team that had a chance in every single loss this season, except Alabama. Even then, it was a good game before we fell apart completely in the 4th qr.
Last season, we finished 5-7, with some close wins to teams that weren’t supposed to be all that good.
This season, we beat the teams we were supossed to, and beat them convincingly, and we almost pulled off wins in Gainsville and Baton Rouge.
I think that says a lot about how much this team has improved.
Next season, we should be that much more improved again.
I see a 9-3 season coming, or possibly 10-2, with a good BCS bowl.
Do we have any stats on how many losses we can directly attribute to Tejada? Please tell me that guy is graduating. Everyone loves to defend the kicker. It’s real easy, he doesn’t get hit, plant hits, or even really have to worry about it that much. He has one job, that’s it. It wasn’t a 52 yarder he missed here. He’s a choke artist. And don’t try to hand me that crap about the rest of the team being at fault for relying on the kicker. They should be able to rely on him. They did their job, got him in range for a pretty run of the mill FG, and he blew it. I want to know how many games have come down to this guy’s inability to make a FG under pressure.