The Good

• Good?  Seriously?  We saw something good during that game?  The best we could come up with was that it was good to see Frank Broyles and Darrell Royal together again for the pre-game coin toss.  (Last week the ‘good‘ was the weather and the halftime show.  Sheesh.)
• Oh…and John Pelphrey’s basketball Hogs begin practicing in two weeks.

The Bad

• Alex Tejada’s first quarter missed field goal may have been his last for a while.  His replacement, Shay Haddock, kicked a 30-yard field goal, but was shaky in his only extra point attempt.  As if this team didn’t already have enough holes to plug.  And to think placekicker was a position that most felt comfortable with before the season.  (Of course, when you’re getting beat by 40+ points, do you even need to try another field goal?)
• As bad as the offensive line was in allowing seven sacks, as a quarterback, you can’t just sit back there forever and wait to be tackled.  We’ll cut true freshman Tyler Wilson some slack…but senior Casey Dick should know by now how to throw the ball away or scramble away from pressure.  As much as anything, negative plays are killing this offense right now.

The Ugly

• Hmmm…let us count the ways.  When it’s the most lopsided loss to Texas in over 90 years, quite frankly, there’s more ‘ugly’ than we’d care to go through.  Let’s just say that it was a miracle that they didn’t run out of ammo for that cannon they shot off all day.
• One ugly moment late in the game, however, did stick out.  Guard Wade Grayson’s failed attempt to block (or even slow down) a Texas defender — lined up directly in front of him — causing Tyler Wilson to throw a fourth quarter interception returned for a touchdown.  It was certainly a fitting end to a frustrating day.

Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.

We were not disappointed.  What a pleasure it is to watch a Bobby Petrino team practice.  Organized, fast-paced, attention to detail…it was all there.

Here are a few of our casual observations made while watching the two hour practice:

– Freshman wide receiver Jarius Wright and running back De’Anthony Curtis were expected to impress…and did not disappoint.  Both look like major contributors.

The newcomer that really surprised me, though, was freshman running back Dennis Johnson of Texarkana.  Johnson (5-7, 195) is cat quick and showed an elusive burst that is going to make him hard to bring down.  For those who have not seen him, just imagine a younger, less experienced version of Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Chip Gregory also looked much improved at running back after his injury-hampered spring.  Running hard and breaking tackles with strength is not a problem.  Hanging onto the ball, however, continues to be as Gregory fumbled again during one of the Hogs tackling drills.

– As for the quarterbacks, Tyler Wilson and Jim Youngblood are good prospects.  Both have strong arms and showed flashes.  But both probably need to redshirt if the Hogs can get by without playing them.

Wilson needs to improve his strength (especially in his lower body) and Youngblood needs to improve his mechanics.  Both of those deficiencies, of course, are pretty typical for most incoming freshman quarterbacks.

Ryan Mallett is just off the charts.  He will be a superstar when his time comes.

Finally, while other units were running their drills, quarterbacks coach Garrick McGee was taking two five-minute periods to work with all the quarterbacks on making the proper pre-snap check (audible) after a defensive shift.  Very interesting and fun to watch.

– On the defensive side, I felt a little better about the linebackers after getting a closeup view of Ryan Powers, Jermaine Love, Jerry Franklin, and Freddy Burton.  These four along with senior captain Elston Forte might be okay as a group, but they are so ‘smallish’ by SEC standards that it’s still an area of concern.

Some of the tackling drills on Saturday seemed to indicate that true freshman Tenarius Wright (6-2, 230) was taking a small step back for the moment.  It’s obvious that junior Wendel Davis needs to get healthy again over the next few weeks.

Heavy rains in the Fayetteville area forced the Hogs inside for the second practice on Saturday.  Expect some shakeups (like the move of Wade Grayson to first team) after the coaches review the film of Sunday’s scrimmage.  It should be a fun week to watch the depth chart.