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Nov 26th, 2007 02:07AM
by: whatsshakinbacon

Poor Little Ole Arkansas
Volume LXXXII
November 26, 2007

Well isn’t this fun?

Wars and rumors of wars are supposed to mark the end times, are they not? In a microcosmic sort of way, maybe they do mark the end times of an embattled coach at the University of Arkansas.

One minute Houston Nutt is given a vote of confidence from the Chancellor and a potential two year extension, the next minute we hear of Jeff Long visiting Bo Pelini to fill the yet to be vacated position.

Somebody’s brother in law’s second cousin heard it at the Jiffy Lube that the guy who changes Jim Lindsey’s oil is staking his reputation on a four million dollar buyout. But the team’s orthopedic surgeon’s nurse has said Nutt smiled at her this morning at church, a sure sign he will be back.

So the blogs (er, Houston, that’s message boards for the internets-savvy among us) burn like Californian wildfires gobbling up the latest fuel of rumors. And in the end all we’re left with is a charred landscape and smoky skies.

And forgotten in all of this is our team performed admirably in Baton Rouge last Friday, something the fans should be proud of. Only four times in the Razorback’s storied past have we toppled the nation’s best team, and Thursday we were indeed the better team on the field. We outgained LSU by about 100 yards and our lines controlled the point of attack against most excellent opposition.

Congratulations to our seniors and juniors who will be leaving early. This was a fantastic note of climax bringing positive closure to a regular season filled with turmoil. After being called Ar-KANSAS by Les Miles in game week press conferences one had to smile at the retaliatory strike to what was one of the lowest blows in SEC football since Steve Spurrier told Tennessee the Citrus Bowl couldn’t be spelled without a UT in it.

Granted, LSU wasn’t particularly on its game, but Arkansas played its collective hearts out in a hostile environment and brought the boot home. And the Heisman candidacy of Darren McFadden took on a new life with a very impressive 206 yard effort, one displayed nationally in what was likely the highest viewed Razorback game in years. America emerged from a tryptophan induced slumber in plenty of time to watch yet another great overtime battle that included the Hogs.

This was indeed a game for the ages here in Arkansas.

So all is well now, right? Uh…no. You see, every time Arkansas has stumbled this year we’ve been spoon-fed excuses from the Nutt-apologists that poor Arkansas should never expect to win these types of games. We don’t have the talent they say. Injuries prevent us from being all we can be, they say. We simply can’t recruit athletes to Arkansas like, well, LSU can, they say.

Pardon me for disagreeing, but right now our football team is stocked as well as any other team in the country at skill positions. Heck even Casey Dick has shown good form in the last couple of games. But, alas, the apologists will tell you we’re only good now because a healthy Marcus Monk has re-emerged and re-energized the team. Not so fast friends, Marcus had only two receptions for twelve yards against LSU.

I can say right now the same thing I said in August. This Arkansas team has the talent to be SEC West champions, SEC champions and even national champions. So for anyone to pin Nutt’s future coaching hopes on one win in a late November contest at Baton Rouge is woefully shortsighted.

Losses to Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee turned us from contenders to pretenders and once again left Hog fans on the outside looking in at conference races. Oh sure, we were close, but moral victories have grown stale at Arkansas. Apologists have said again and again this season that we don’t have the recruiting base to compete with the great national programs. I find that argument laughable as I look at this week’s BCS standings. Need I remind these folks that if bowls were announced today Missouri and West Virginia would be competing for the Sears Trophy?

We’ve gotten to where we’re at talent wise because the recruiting base for Arkansas is actually rather strong. Not to mention the fact that a number of great players have been slipping through that fence to other venues.

Arkansas is a one-team state. That’s one BCS team in a state with a population of 2.8 million. Other than Louisiana, all other states in the SEC have more than one BCS program splitting apart the population. For instance, Auburn and Alabama represent 2.3 million people apiece, Tennessee and Vanderbilt 3.0 million apiece, Florida, FSU, USF and Miami 4.5 million apiece, and Ole Miss and MSU 1.5 million apiece.

In Oklahoma 2 BCS teams vie for a population of 3.6 million, or 1.8 million each. Yes, this is a rather simplistic approach, but the argument that there are not enough people in Arkansas to sustain our program at Auburn or Alabama levels is a smokescreen. With the rising talent of our high school programs, Arkansas is set to field a nationally respectable program year in and year out. Need I remind anyone that Peyton Hillis, Freddie Fairchild, Antwain Robinson, Marcus Monk and Darren McFadden are all native sons?

I’m sorry, but this poor little ole Arkansas shtick has worn thin. We have the facilities, money, fan base and fertile recruiting area needed to be atop the BCS standings. In the end, the victory over LSU was great indeed. Not just because we beat the number one team in the country, but because we all believed, if only for a moment, that we can be a great team again.

Now if only the powers that be in Fayetteville would see the same silver lining, and fire and hire accordingly. Don’t tell anyone, but my barber’s cousin’s sister says we’re about to do just that.

Bacon out…