The Five Edges

[FANONTHEHILL]

First of all, this isn't an indictment of Coach Bielema or the staff.  If you're looking for that, find another post. I love the Arkansas staff and feel that they do a great job. 

Here's my point.  Alabama is the bar that all other teams are measured against.  Every week Bama beats someone like Western Kentucky or Kent State by 30 or 40 and Saban is mad about something.  He's yelling a Kiffin, another coach, or a player.  Then when he's asked at the press conference, he says this,

"You can't get away with those mistakes when you play a quality football team"

Coach Bielema talks about the same things but communicates them by calling them the 5 Edges that he expects from the team.  Quickly they are:

1) Be physically and mentally tough
2) Play fast and through the whistle
3) Play clean
4) Win critical areas
5) You earn everything

Last night, the team didn't adhere to the edges.

Fumbles that killed drives at midfield and in the red zone.
A missed blocking assignment by a wideout on 4th and goal.
A personal foul on a third down that was about to get Arkansas the ball at midfield.
Missed tackles.
Poor communication that leads to missed blocking assignments between Oline and Rbs.

The team played physically tough.  Not always mentally.
They did play fast and through the whistle.
They didn't play clean.
They didn't Win critical areas.
As a result they earned the "L"

I have the luxury of sitting with my son, a redshirt freshman that isn't on the conference travel roster.  Every offensive play he can tell me what should have happened and who, if anyone, missed their assignments.  It's the ultimate color commentary. When the game ended last night, he said it as simply and clearly as possible.  "We didn't play by the edges and we earned the loss"

Texas A&M is a quality football team.  You can't make the mistakes Arkansas made and beat a team of that caliber.  Avoiding those mistake is what Arkansas is coached to do and it's why Coach Saban at Alabama is so emphatic every week.   Coach Bielema and the staff are already at work with the team to prepare for Alcorn State.  They will be doing the same thing this time next week to prep for Bama, and so on and so on.  No one that has anything to do with the program on the inside is happy about the A&M game.  None of the fan base are happy either.  You learn from your mistakes.  Apply what you've learned, and move on.  Arkansas learned a lot the first four weeks.  They can be a very good football team.  They also learned that if they don't play their best, they can't beat a really good team.  Lesson learned, it's time to focus on Alcorn State.

[JaketheSnake]

Thank you for this post. 

[rzrbk4life]

Well said Fan. Appreciate the post

[Danny J]

I agree however I am happy about being 3-1 with one good road win already. We played clean against TCU and won...against aTm not so much however if it weren't for the mental miscues we are right there with a top 10 team at a neutral site. I think some people need to sit back and think about that for a second. We are not that far off from being a 10 win team. 

[Dr. Starcs]

Good post!

[FANONTHEHILL]

I agree however I am happy about being 3-1 with one good road win already. We played clean against TCU and won...against aTm not so much however if it weren't for the mental miscues we are right there with a top 10 team at a neutral site. I think some people need to sit back and think about that for a second. We are not that far off from being a 10 win team. 

Alcorn should be a "W".  Back in July if you had told me 4-1 going into Alabama, I would have taken it. 

[Danny J]

Alcorn should be a "W".  Back in July if you had told me 4-1 going into Alabama, I would have taken it.

Yeah...no doubt. I figured we would be a 8-9 win team in the regular season. That's still doable as long as there are no significant injuries. With all we replaced on offense I think that's pretty damn good considering our preseason #4 ranked schedule. I guess that's why I am not all that upset about the loss to aTm. It looked like a prime time heavyweight fight for 3 quarters. I watched a lot of other games yesterday from across the country and our game truly felt like 2 giants battling it out. I can't complain.

[Hoggish1]

First of all, this isn't an indictment of Coach Bielema or the staff.  If you're looking for that, find another post. I love the Arkansas staff and feel that they do a great job. 

Here's my point.  Alabama is the bar that all other teams are measured against.  Every week Bama beats someone like Western Kentucky or Kent State by 30 or 40 and Saban is mad about something.  He's yelling a Kiffin, another coach, or a player.  Then when he's asked at the press conference, he says this,

"You can't get away with those mistakes when you play a quality football team"

Coach Bielema talks about the same things but communicates them by calling them the 5 Edges that he expects from the team.  Quickly they are:

1) Be physically and mentally tough
2) Play fast and through the whistle
3) Play clean
4) Win critical areas
5) You earn everything

Last night, the team didn't adhere to the edges.

Fumbles that killed drives at midfield and in the red zone.
A missed blocking assignment by a wideout on 4th and goal.
A personal foul on a third down that was about to get Arkansas the ball at midfield.
Missed tackles.
Poor communication that leads to missed blocking assignments between Oline and Rbs.

The team played physically tough.  Not always mentally.
They did play fast and through the whistle.
They didn't play clean.
They didn't Win critical areas.
As a result they earned the "L"

I have the luxury of sitting with my son, a redshirt freshman that isn't on the conference travel roster.  Every offensive play he can tell me what should have happened and who, if anyone, missed their assignments.  It's the ultimate color commentary. When the game ended last night, he said it as simply and clearly as possible.  "We didn't play by the edges and we earned the loss"

Texas A&M is a quality football team.  You can't make the mistakes Arkansas made and beat a team of that caliber.  Avoiding those mistake is what Arkansas is coached to do and it's why Coach Saban at Alabama is so emphatic every week.   Coach Bielema and the staff are already at work with the team to prepare for Alcorn State.  They will be doing the same thing this time next week to prep for Bama, and so on and so on.  No one that has anything to do with the program on the inside is happy about the A&M game.  None of the fan base are happy either.  You learn from your mistakes.  Apply what you've learned, and move on.  Arkansas learned a lot the first four weeks.  They can be a very good football team.  They also learned that if they don't play their best, they can't beat a really good team.  Lesson learned, it's time to focus on Alcorn State.

Thank you, Fanonthehill.  I hope everyone reads your post.

[swineology]

Thanks Fan

My thoughts were this was our Toledo game against a tough SEC team. Take care of Alcorn St., then go beat Bama!

:razorback: :razorback:

[Tejano Jawg]

I would have loved a live audio feed from Fan's son during the game.

[gchamblee]

I am happy I opened this thread. Thank you for the insightful post and best wishes to you and your family. I know you must be proud of your son, and as a total stranger so am I.

[SemperFi]

Outstanding post! Nothing to add or debate. Thanks for your input.

[jowl@themoon]

Thanks Fan, your post helped clear away the gloom. Bring on the elephants. Woo Pig!

[Biggus Piggus]

Fumbles that killed drives at midfield and in the red zone.
A missed blocking assignment by a wideout on 4th and goal.
A personal foul on a third down that was about to get Arkansas the ball at midfield.
Missed tackles.
Poor communication that leads to missed blocking assignments between Oline and Rbs.

Sometimes, blocks and tackles are missed because of the athletic ability of the opponent. In my view, Arkansas called too many plays that were unrealistic, given the ability of the opponent.

Could be that the playbook did not include enough plays that the Hogs could execute against this opponent.

I was surprised, though, at how many plays Arkansas ran that Texas A&M had seen the Hogs run in previous games. And also surprised that the Hogs relied largely on the inside run near the goal line.

It was not the coaches' fault that RWIII fumbled when going into the end zone. That sequence should have worked out well. Otherwise, Arkansas ran into the strength of the Aggies' defense far too many times. You already noted that yourself in a previous post.

We have seen this happen at times in every season that Bret Bielema has been coach.

[ChitownHawg]

First of all, this isn't an indictment of Coach Bielema or the staff.  If you're looking for that, find another post. I love the Arkansas staff and feel that they do a great job. 

Here's my point.  Alabama is the bar that all other teams are measured against.  Every week Bama beats someone like Western Kentucky or Kent State by 30 or 40 and Saban is mad about something.  He's yelling a Kiffin, another coach, or a player.  Then when he's asked at the press conference, he says this,

"You can't get away with those mistakes when you play a quality football team"

Coach Bielema talks about the same things but communicates them by calling them the 5 Edges that he expects from the team.  Quickly they are:

1) Be physically and mentally tough
2) Play fast and through the whistle
3) Play clean
4) Win critical areas
5) You earn everything

Last night, the team didn't adhere to the edges.

Fumbles that killed drives at midfield and in the red zone.
A missed blocking assignment by a wideout on 4th and goal.
A personal foul on a third down that was about to get Arkansas the ball at midfield.
Missed tackles.
Poor communication that leads to missed blocking assignments between Oline and Rbs.

The team played physically tough.  Not always mentally.
They did play fast and through the whistle.
They didn't play clean.
They didn't Win critical areas.
As a result they earned the "L"

I have the luxury of sitting with my son, a redshirt freshman that isn't on the conference travel roster.  Every offensive play he can tell me what should have happened and who, if anyone, missed their assignments.  It's the ultimate color commentary. When the game ended last night, he said it as simply and clearly as possible.  "We didn't play by the edges and we earned the loss"

Texas A&M is a quality football team.  You can't make the mistakes Arkansas made and beat a team of that caliber.  Avoiding those mistake is what Arkansas is coached to do and it's why Coach Saban at Alabama is so emphatic every week.   Coach Bielema and the staff are already at work with the team to prepare for Alcorn State.  They will be doing the same thing this time next week to prep for Bama, and so on and so on.  No one that has anything to do with the program on the inside is happy about the A&M game.  None of the fan base are happy either.  You learn from your mistakes.  Apply what you've learned, and move on.  Arkansas learned a lot the first four weeks.  They can be a very good football team.  They also learned that if they don't play their best, they can't beat a really good team.  Lesson learned, it's time to focus on Alcorn State.

Thanks for providing this insight. We definitely earned that loss. Now we have to do something else he preaches - don't let A&M beat you twice. Take care of Alcorn St.

[HawginFL1991]

Great post! :razorback:

[FutureMan]

Awesome, insightful post.  You always bring a great perspective.

[RazorBassin]

This may be one of the best posts I have ever seen on this website and that says a lot as I have been around since 2006.  Thank you for a little perspective on Monday morning.

[AugustaHog]

Good stuff.  In the heat of watching the game live it's hard to recount all the mistakes that we made that got us to the point where that game was 17-17 and we're on the goal line trying to punch it in.  As bad as we played, we had the opportunity to be up at least 2 TDs at that point.  We made lots of boneheaded plays and failed to defend even the simplest of plays.  I can't recall seeing that many runs up the gut with zero defenders even at the second level.  This was a collaborative team effort L and as you said they "earned" it.  I hope this fuels them to be precise and technical over the next two weeks.  They can make everyone forget about the TAMU game by going out and beating Alabama.  In the SEC there's always another opportunity to distinguish yourself right around the corner.  Look at OM.  They were dead in the water with nothing going well and drubbed an overrated UGA team.  Now everybody is back on the hype train.  If we go out and beat Bama, all will be well again. 

[devildoghawg]

This post is why I used to love coming to Hogville.  Need more of this and less of the garbage.

[HogFansReunited]

Good post, thanks.  I know we lost this game by quite a few points but we can all go back and see exactly where we could have won the game but made mistakes.  We eliminate those errors and we win.  I am not upset though, the kids played their hearts out and never gave up.  I am really impressed with AA and his heart and fire.  He is a leader and a good QB.

[ChitownHawg]

I will also add that A&M earned the win as well. They are much improved.