South Carolina comments

[Biggus Piggus]

The Houston Nutt plan almost went disastrously wrong at Columbia on Saturday night.  One hopes the coaching staff takes note of the facts and adjusts accordingly, away from some unsuccessful tendencies.

Number one fact to notice:  Obsession with time of possession is a dangerous mistake.

First half time of possession: South Carolina 16:35, Arkansas 13:25.

First half score: Arkansas 23, South Carolina 6.

Second half time of possession: Arkansas 23:29, South Carolina 6:31.

Second half score: South Carolina 14, Arkansas 3.

Arkansas could have scored at least 11 more points if things had gone right in the second half, but they didn't go right, and they didn't because whoever was calling the plays went way too conservative.

In the second half, the Razorbacks ran the ball 16 times on first down, passed once.  Those 16 runs went for a total of 34 yards.  Eleven of those 16 runs went for 2 yards or less, for a subtotal of 1 net yard.  Eleven runs for a net 1 yard.  This was not what was supposed to happen when the Razorbacks added Gus Malzahn and Alex Wood to the coaching staff.  Saturday night yawed way too close to the bright orange crayon Houston Nutt offense of the past.

It's understandable that, after throwing a passel of interceptions at Little Rock the week before, Mitch Mustain grabbed some pine after starting the South Carolina game with a pick.  That was a bold move, one that begs the question of what would it take for Mustain to get another chance this season.  In place of the true freshman, sophomore Casey Dick had great stats but also brought more warning signs of the "same old" offense.

Dick showed some rough spots.  He did not show the same elan as Mustain in executing the offense, making his fakes obvious and taking a lot of the guesswork away from the defense.  This had a lot to do with why the Gamecocks were able to suffocate the Hogs' rushing game on first downs after halftime.  In addition, Dick never completed a downfield pass to anybody not named Monk, very similar to his passing tunnel vision of 2005.  He made three dumps to fullbacks, eight completions to Marcus Monk, and that's it for the whole game.  Nobody, not even the coach's dearest fans, ever wanted the Arkansas passing game to revert to the grossly simplistic junk that Houston Nutt regressed to during this decade.

If Mustain is unable to execute well in the passing offense, as has been apparent lately, Dick is certainly an adequate replacement even if he is being restricted in decisionmaking.  Even when not being allowed by his coach to throw to a secondary receiver, Dick made some spectacular plays under extremely difficult conditions.

If not for Monk's goal-line bobble that prolonged the game, Dick's statistics would have been outstanding, and the finish would not have been close.  Dick should have been 12-19 for 237 yards and two touchdowns.  It wasn't a particularly well-placed pass (and Dick also appeared inexperienced throwing the sideways tosses to the running backs), being quite a bit too high, but Monk should have caught it for a TD, or let it go past.

The really remarkable thing about Dick's performance was how predictable Arkansas's offense was in the second half, how obvious it was when the Hogs were going to pass and who was going to be the target.  Even within these ridiculous constraints, Dick made a bunch of great plays.

After halftime, Arkansas passed one time on first down, and Dick completed a swing pass to a fullback for 8 yards.

Three times after the half, the Hogs passed on second down.  Two of them were second and long.  Dick found Monk for gains of 18 and 24 yards.  The third was the bobble and pick on the goal line.

Of nine third down plays, the Razorbacks passed eight times.  Yes, the ultimate irritation of all fans of good, smart offense, Arkansas worked its way eight times to third and long after running into the pile on first and second downs.  It's a lot harder to pass on third and long, a lot harder to pass if you make it obvious when you are going to do it.  Any coach who pretends to be concerned about the risks of the passing game looks like a fool when he makes it obvious when he's going to pass.

For one game, Casey Dick defied the odds and made his greatest throws on third down.  In the second half Dick completed five passes for 73 yards on third downs.  He had just two incompletions.  Another play turned into a first down due to pass interference.

Sometimes Dick threaded the needle when Monk was double- or even triple-covered.  The real cappers came on the Hogs' last drive, during which they ran out the final 5:05 on the clock.

Two times, the Hogs ran Felix Jones for little or nothing on first and second downs.  Two third and long plays, absolutely no pretensions about where the ball was going to go, but Dick passed to Monk perfectly in stride, wonderful timing and placement, for gains of 26 and 14 yards, the two most important first downs of the game.  They were the difference between giving the Gamecocks' passing game one more shot at our depleted defense, and the victory formation that the Razorbacks assumed with a little more than a minute left to play.

If Tennessee is doing anything this week, the Vols are coming up with a way to force Arkansas to find somebody other than Monk.

For the game as a whole, Casey Dick completed seven passes on third and long for 141 yards and a touchdown.  That is more than 60% of his yards, made almost entirely to Marcus Monk on third and obvious.  Not a plan you want to carry into another week.  Not likely to recur.

Arkansas clearly had a chance to put away the Gamecocks and have no concern about how many times Blake Mitchell could throw the football.  Going into the stupid shell, as in the past, slowed down the Razorback rushing game, which looked world class in the first half. 

First half, tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones ran 16 times for 156 yards and two touchdowns.  That's almost 10 yards a carry.  Second half, McFadden and Jones went an overdone 30 times for 116 yards and zero scores.  That's less than 4 yards a carry, and 53 of those yards came on two carries.  The other 28 tries netted barely more than 2 yards an attempt.  This is called stubbornly running one's head into a brick wall.

McFadden got his 219 yards on 25 carries, but too many of those carries were way too difficult, running into too much opposition, and that is why he was spent well before the end of the game.  Using up McFadden too soon was almost a loser's mistake.

It really looked like Nutt started trying to run out the clock at 15:00 in the third quarter.  Managing a shoulda been blowout win into a lucky-to-win is not smart coaching.  Let's hope somebody gets his ego and check and recognizes exactly who was responsible for this hot start in SEC play, and who wasn't.

And the Razorbacks, sadly, really were lucky to win a game they should have won going away.

The initial defensive game plan worked to perfection.  Reggie Herring completely solved Syvelle Newton, the "athlete" playing QB for Steve Spurrier.  We were supposed to believe that South Carolina, after a really ugly start to the season, had become a completely different offense when Newton took over at QB, three games deep.  The young, smallish offensive line was supposed to be incapable of protecting slowfoot QB Blake Mitchell, who had been the guy intended to marshal Spurrier's big play passing offense with all those tall receivers.  You know, Sidney Rice for Heisman.  Mitchell was a sack magnet.  Newton, moved back from receiver, took pressure off the blocking and added a run threat.

Herring decided not to be so afraid of Newton's feet, not to have the line hang back and try to contain him.  The Arkansas plan was to rush Newton, not give him time to throw.  Surprise, Newton was not elusive enough to dodge the Razorback rush.  He became the sack magnet, as South Carolina's plan never anticipated the defensive front not playing back on its heels.

All would have looked fine and dandy, had the Hogs not squandered a red zone opportunity late in the second quarter, settling for 3 points after having first and goal (two inside runs and a too-safe pass on third down).  Had the Razorbacks not wasted a red zone trip late in the third quarter (with the high pass to Monk, bobble and pick).  Had Arkansas not wasted a scoring chance late in the fourth quarter (two stuffed runs, a third and long incomplete to Monk, and a missed field goal).

But all was not fine and dandy.  Spurrier did two things at halftime.  He went back to Blake Mitchell, he tighted up the line gaps and put in blocking backs, and he started throwing the football nonstop.  It took almost the entire second half before Herring adjusted.

Mitchell feasted on Herring's man coverages, and the pass rush completely disappeared.  Mitchell never hit a long bomb--his biggest play went 23 yards--but he completed 15 of 21 after Newton had gone 7 for 19.

Mitchell guided the Gamecocks on twin 90+ yard drives for touchdowns, both taking less than 3 minutes of game time.  Big targets Rice and Kenny McKinley ran outs and fades, with the occasional crossing pattern, and Arkansas's aggressive coverages were useless without a pass rush.

Herring finally adjusted his exposed strategy when the Hogs were near death.  The missed field goal, leaving Arkansas ahead a sparse 26-20, left South Carolina in perfect position to drive to victory.  Completions of 19 yards to McKinley and 14 yards to Rice had the Gamecocks sitting with first down at the Razorback 41 with more than 5 minutes to play.

At last, Herring switched to a zone coverage and sent only four useless rushers at Mitchell instead of five or six.  This was the point where Mitchell showed why he had been replaced early in the season.  He did not have the legs to exploit a four-man rush, and he did not have the judgment to read the zone.  Mitchell's pass into traffic was picked off by senior Darius Vinnett, the oft-injured corner, giving the Razorbacks a chance to kill the rest of the game clock.

If not for Dick's two remarkably good throws on third and long that enabled Arkansas to retain possession at the end, South Carolina would have had another chance to throw against an Arkansas defense missing its starting free safety, Michael Grant, who took a freak knee injury during the Carolina comeback.

It was one-half a good show, one-half a scary regression to simplistic Razorback offenses of the past.  Where does Houston Nutt go from here?  He has all the opportunity in the world laying in his lap, the chance to become legend, if he does not choke and make all the same bad decisions that cost him in the past.  Two running plays and one wide receiver will not win the SEC.

[HogHillbilly]

This is why Biggus is the Master...................

[Melhog]

Starkville that was long. Pretty much right on too.

[HogFaninGA]

Excellent post.  That should be stickied.

[GolfingAndy]

And the Razorbacks, sadly, really were lucky to win a game they should have won going away.

Unbelievable statistical research.

This is the statement that jumps out at me the most, and I couldn't agree more. People, just go back and look at the difference in play calling versus the Auburn game. The element of surprise is gone. South Carolina's defense was not kept off balance. Does anyone really want to state that Carolina's D was better than Auburn's?

Something changed, and not for the good.

[OneLardAlmighty]

Excellent analysis.  

Surely Nutt has analyzed these same stats and won't make the same mistake again.  

Doesn't he?  

Surely?

[hogtheball]

Thanks Biggus! I am always humbled by your fact-backed approach to analysis.  Your posts make people think rather than start blasting goofy opinions (well, most people).  Your posts are one of the reasons why Hogville is my best source for Razorback information.  Thank you.

[mtpockets]

Here I will say it before some hugger does. 8-1.  Now that it is out of the way I want to thank Biggus for all the time and effort he put into his post.  I agree with everything you said.  Lets hope that we will not be exposed in TN.

[Tmac813]

Excellent post BP.  Your analysis is always dead on.  In HDN's defense though, I think part of the reason why the offense seemed to slow down in the second half is because the OL seemed to lose ground on some of those stretch runs.  Also, the team seemed to lose some of it's intensity after CD's pick in the endzone.  The defense I thought was above average.  You have to give South Carolina credit.  Blake Mitchell made some throws that were near impossible to defend.  That TD that Sidney Rice caught on the Michael Grant injury was phenomenal.  Overall your post did address some of the concerns I had after the game as well.  BTW I still think this Year's Razorbacks are gaining a swagger that I've yet to see in a long time of following hog Football(At least since 1998).  These guys believe they can win....

[louisianahawg]

We dropped at least 2 scores and had one INT.  It would have been ugly if Damian Williams and Monk would have caught the ball and this arguement would be DEAD.  Other than that GREAT POST!!

[Wooisme]

Sorry, Biggus.

Don't you KNOW?  All is SWELL....just ask any HDNer.

What are trying to do...throw cold water on an 8-1 Houston Dale Nutt?

4-7 OR 8-1, HDN is what he is AND he ain't what he ain't...and that's NOT GOOD.

[HOG RED UMP]

Again      +1 for Biggus Piggus!!!!!

[Hawgon]

Your analysis is always dead on.  In HDN's defense though, I think part of the reason why the offense seemed to slow down in the second half is because the OL seemed to lose ground on some of those stretch runs.

Listen, there really isn't any excuse.  This is the same pattern we have seen since HDN's first year here.  It wasn't the Stoernover that killed us against Tennessee in 98, it was the fact that we scored 3 points in the second half because we went into an ultraconservative shell.  

Playing lights out in the first half and spending the second trying to sweat out a lead has become an Arkansas tradition under Nutt.

[LAHOGG]

One thing that I found was obvious is that Dick has way more arm strength than mustain.  Thats the only way he was able to fire it to a triple covered Monk for 8 catches.  And please lets not forget that we had 497 yards or something like that.  We were just a few dropped passes away from blowing them out. 

[GolfingAndy]

One thing that I found was obvious is that Dick has way more arm strength than mustain.  Thats the only way he was able to fire it to a triple covered Monk for 8 catches.

That's laughable.

[HogFanLR]

We did play some zone early in the second half (at least a few plays- I have deleted my save so I cannot go back and watch) as I recal but still blitzed.  Did not work out because the zone caused some mismatchs with the recievers.  Excellent point tho about rushing 4 and dropping backers back into a zone...show a blitz then dropped back confused Mitchel.  Bet we see much more of that against TN.  

[PigPusher]

That is exactly what all of us in our watch group was seeing for the second half, but it takes Biggus to put in very eloquent words.  Very well said.  If we continue on the second half course we are in very big trouble for Saturday.  And, that is why on Monday the assertion was made that Nutt was directing the plays in the second half.  It had Nutt written all over the situation.

Nutt needs to get some killer instinct about him.

[LA HAWG]

Great post Biggus.  Right on the money.  We are playing with fire as usual with Dale and we will soon get burned.

[Qball]

Amazing.  I was saying the exact things watching the game.

:razorback:

[WetSnout]

A savage tour de force by BP!

[Tmac813]

Your analysis is always dead on.  In HDN's defense though, I think part of the reason why the offense seemed to slow down in the second half is because the OL seemed to lose ground on some of those stretch runs.

Listen, there really isn't any excuse.  This is the same pattern we have seen since HDN's first year here.  It wasn't the Stoernover that killed us against Tennessee in 98, it was the fact that we scored 3 points in the second half because we went into an ultraconservative shell.  

Playing lights out in the first half and spending the second trying to sweat out a lead has become an Arkansas tradition under Nutt.

Well right now the in the present we are 8-1.  We failed to score fewer points in the Second half of this game due to poor execution.  The throw to Monk as a T.D.  The missed FG.  The D-Mac run at the end would have been a TD if not for the Dog collar of a tackle.  I don't think the playcalling was ultra-conservative, maybe predictable.  Their defense did not stop us in the entire second half.  I don't remember seeing Jacob Skinner, except on the missed FG attempt.  Look at the total yards we had in both halves......

[Apathy]

Arkansas could have scored at least 11 more points if things had gone right in the second half, but they didn't go right, and they didn't because whoever was calling the plays went way too conservative.

I disagree.  They had two goal to go situations and both times failed to score a TD because they got cute and were not conservative enough.  When it's third and goal from the 1 1/2 yard line, we don't need play action to the tight end. Just give to McFadden, get the six and worry about style points later.  In fact, leading 23-6 at that point, I believe they should have committed to giving it to him twice if necessary.

It wasn't a particularly well-placed pass (and Dick also appeared inexperienced throwing the sideways tosses to the running backs), being quite a bit too high, but Monk should have caught it for a TD, or let it go past.

I disagree.  Dick threw a perfect pass in that situation.  High, where only his 6 foot 6 receiver could catch it. Monk got both his hands on it and then laid it in the corner's lap. 

McFadden got his 219 yards on 25 carries, but too many of those carries were way too difficult, running into too much opposition, and that is why he was spent well before the end of the game.  Using up McFadden too soon was almost a loser's mistake.

I disagree.  I think it impossible to say his carries were "too difficult" when he averaged 10 yards per touch with his longest being 43.  As far as using McFadden up, he got a high ankle sprain on an awkward tackle; you could give that guy the ball 40 times and game and not "use him up."  He is a horse.

At last, Herring switched to a zone coverage and sent only four useless rushers at Mitchell instead of five or six.  This was the point where Mitchell showed why he had been replaced early in the season.  He did not have the legs to exploit a four-man rush, and he did not have the judgment to read the zone.  Mitchell's pass into traffic was picked off by senior Darius Vinnett, the oft-injured corner, giving the Razorbacks a chance to kill the rest of the game clock.

Very true.

[CorningHog]

Great post Biggus!

I fear that since the SEMO game and even the Utah State games back early, when we had opportunities to work on a four receiver set that actually floods a zone, crossing patterns, slants and the like and failed to week after week that the "true" control that HDN is exerting was becoming real.

We now face a team that can surely do what SC did and MORE in stopping the running game and will have to rely on Hillis in the short passing game, along with finding a 2nd and 3rd receiver in a passing attack that has "rarely" if ever produced these type results in an SEC game.

Tennessee has a better defense than any team we have faced.  Speed to burn.  Maybe like Holtz used to say, they will get to the wrong place faster....haha, but it will be tough going I imagine.

Thanks for the hard work!  I agree totally!

GO HOGS!

[iCalledThatHogBrotha!]

Sticky! 

I agree wholeheartedly to almost every line.

[LAHOGG]

One thing that I found was obvious is that Dick has way more arm strength than mustain.  Thats the only way he was able to fire it to a triple covered Monk for 8 catches.

That's laughable.

Whats laughable?  What will it take? a nat championship to convince everybody.  Or will you critique that win as well.  I really appreciate the thread it was a good read.  Just not my idea of the game thats all.

[hogtheball]

One thing that I found was obvious is that Dick has way more arm strength than mustain.  Thats the only way he was able to fire it to a triple covered Monk for 8 catches.  And please lets not forget that we had 497 yards or something like that.  We were just a few dropped passes away from blowing them out. 

Ok - I think CD is a good QB.  I even think the case for starting him is good.  However, his arm strength is nowhere near MM's. Casey will even tell you that.  Watch the video, when Casey has to throw over 40 or so yards, the ball ducks out in the air.  ALL of his long throws were short.  The only pass he got enough air under was to Monk at the front corner of the end zone.  Monk was running a wide post, Casey threw the ball about 5 yds. outside Monk's route and Monk did  a  great job of adjusting to the ball - although he dropped the pass. Casey does have great accuracy on those hooks and curls at 15 - 25 yds.  Better than Mitch.  That is his strength - not his arm.

He reminds me of Barry Lunney - not Steorner.

[Wooisme]

In my experience as a Razorback fan, the ONLY qb that can rival Mitch Mustain's arm strength combined with accuracy is Joe Ferguson.

My favorite Arkansas signal~caller?  Bill Montgomery. 

[hogtheball]

In my experience as a Razorback fan, the ONLY qb that can rival Mitch Mustain's arm strength combined with accuracy is Joe Ferguson.

My favorite Arkansas signal~caller?  Bill Montgomery. 

Thanks for that.  I see Joe from time to time.  I'm gonna ask him if Mitch has the arm he did.  I know he's a big fan of Mitch. 

[Chief Mac]

Excellent analysis.  

Surely Nutt has analyzed these same stats and won't make the same mistake again.  

Doesn't he?  

Surely?

I promised yesterday I would not bash Nutt or else I would give you a definitive answer.

WPS

Chris

[MGCAPRI]

Biggus I got one thing to say.......WOW!!!!!!!

[pimpndistress]

Excellent post.  That should be stickied.

YES for sure needs to be in the paper

[EastexHawg]

In my experience as a Razorback fan, the ONLY qb that can rival Mitch Mustain's arm strength combined with accuracy is Joe Ferguson.

My favorite Arkansas signal~caller?  Bill Montgomery. 

I'm a big Bill Montgomery fan, too.  He was the definition of what a QB should be. 

Montgomery, Bill Burnett, and Matt Jones are my three favorite Hogs of all time.

[Mike_P]

I guess the more you type, the more the minions love it. The minions should check out "War and Peace".

Why keep it simple when you can type for days?

Basics...Dick had 3 TD's dropped...Just before the 2nd TD for McFadden, the pass that was picked and the fade to Monk just before the missed FG. May be wrong but off the top, I don't remember Casey throwing a bad pass the entire game.

Also, while we're typing...whoever called the 3rd down play from the 2 yard line, first possession of the 2nd half, totally out smarted themselves by calling a roll out instead of running the ball thus having to settle for the FG.

In the 2nd half if the players execute...the game is a blowout. Alas, the coaches can't do that for them. Absolutely nothing wrong with the play calling (save the roll out from the two), no matter who's doing it.

But wait....that's not what the minions want to hear.

[HawgWild]

219 yards by DMac is far from conservative. There were several dropped balls in that game with Monk dropping two TD catches. The screen pass wasn't working as South Carolina sniffed that out. The play calling was fine, but the offense just did not execute well in the second half. Call it conservative if you will, but the bottom line is that the HOGS won the game and are 8-1, 5-0 sec.

[T-hawg]

Nice analysis. +1 to your insight.

[werehog]

Whoa! Arkansas pull up 495 yards total offense. It should of been more but both Monk and Damian Williams bobbled two very catchable balls that should have been touchdowns. We also blew a makeable field goal. All Casey Dick can do is throw the ball, he can't catch it and he sure as hell isn't the place kicker. CD's work on the last series of downs was fantastic and it allowed Arkansas to run out the clock. As for the elan question, Casey has a large and in charge personality not a rah-rah cheerleader personality. Casey is a warrior, hardened by the brutally tough high school football wars in East Texas. Mitch did not face anything approaching the tough teams Casey Dick faced in high school. CASEY DICK is our leader, End of Story.

[DeltaBoy]

That is exactly what all of us in our watch group was seeing for the second half, but it takes Biggus to put in very eloquent words.  Very well said.  If we continue on the second half course we are in very big trouble for Saturday.  And, that is why on Monday the assertion was made that Nutt was directing the plays in the second half.  It had Nutt written all over the situation.

Nutt needs to get some killer instinct about him.

Nutt needs to get some killer instinct about him.
Amen Nutt is Nutless when it comes for going for the Kill!

[Rzrfan]

Vote for Darren McFadden


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/contests/index

go there and scroll down to vote Heisman and VOTE

[onehogfan]

second half stat for you ...............0 thats right 0 punts.....

players have to excute.....and do you really believe Nutt called a pass on the goal line??

Now that would be a real stretch there

[Chief Mac]

Whoa! Arkansas pull up 495 yards total offense. It should of been more but both Monk and Damian Williams bobbled two very catchable balls that should have been touchdowns. We also blew a makeable field goal. All Casey Dick can do is throw the ball, he can't catch it and he sure as hell isn't the place kicker. CD's work on the last series of downs was fantastic and it allowed Arkansas to run out the clock. As for the elan question, Casey has a large and in charge personality not a rah-rah cheerleader personality. Casey is a warrior, hardened by the brutally tough high school football wars in East Texas. Mitch did not face anything approaching the tough teams Casey Dick faced in high school. CASEY DICK is our leader, End of Story.

So you are saying that Jenks Oklahoma and Shreveport Evangel are not tough??

I'm not going to disagree with you that Texas football is of a higher quality than Arkansas, but your statement is a little off base.

WPS


Chris

[djgaffer]

If, If, If.   

The conservative offense in the second half led to exactly zero punts.  Of our four possessions, we got inside the 10 twice, missed a field goal, and finished the game in the victory formation.  If that's conservative, give me conservative every time with some better execution at the end of drives.

If you wanted to play the if game, you can just as easily ask "if we pound the ball instead of running play action bootleg on the goalline", if we catch the touchdown pass instead of get the ball intercepted, if we make the field goal.  All of a sudden, it's 37-20 and we have the ball at the end of the game. 

We did what was necessary to win the game.  We led by 20 and only allowed USC 3 possessions in the second half.  And, oh by the way, we still haven't shown a more wide-open passing attack which has been added to the practice plan. 

[hydrophonic]

Thanks for posting BP.

[Biggus Piggus]

In HDN's defense though, I think part of the reason why the offense seemed to slow down in the second half is because the OL seemed to lose ground on some of those stretch runs.

Watch those stretch plays.  They must have looked at lots of tape and photos at halftime.  Dick didn't sell the stretch very well, and the D went right to the ballcarrier.  We made it obvious what we were going to do, contrary to the design of the play.  Didn't once fake the stretch and burn them.  Didn't run any of the little tricks that had been catching opponents off guard.  Back into the shell.

[Biggus Piggus]

I disagree.  I think it impossible to say his carries were "too difficult" when he averaged 10 yards per touch with his longest being 43.  As far as using McFadden up, he got a high ankle sprain on an awkward tackle; you could give that guy the ball 40 times and game and not "use him up."  He is a horse.

I didn't make my point very well; surely you didn't want me to be even more verbose.

My point was in the second half he often had to run into hopeless pileups and took lots of shots he wouldn't have been taking had the offense been making any pretense of balance.  If we treat our superstars as though they're Earl Campbell instead of Gale Sayers, they will get their speed pounded out of them.  We have to maintain their speed, or our offense loses its unique qualities and falls back to our line's rather ordinary man-on-man capabilities.  Compound that by sending one option plus a dump out for obvious third down passes, and we're really making raspberries.

[chshog]

Excellent analysis. 

Surely Nutt has analyzed these same stats and won't make the same mistake again. 

Doesn't he? 

Surely?

That would be first.

[Biggus Piggus]

The conservative offense in the second half led to exactly zero punts.  Of our four possessions, we got inside the 10 twice, missed a field goal, and finished the game in the victory formation.  If that's conservative, give me conservative every time with some better execution at the end of drives.

Better execution didn't happen because of the turtle game plan, not despite it.

I reflect on this some more and have to come back to...

With 5 mins left, we had to get one of our rare picks from a backup to save the game.  Save the game!  Save the game we should have dominated.  South Carolina was physically less talented than Arkansas, no doubt in the world.  Less talented but better coached.  They had no business rallying on us.

Our running game was so dead by the end, one wonders whether we would have moved the ball if South Carolina had taken the lead.  We certainly couldn't have counted on a field goal.

[Biggus Piggus]

Have to say, too, if Dick gets first team reps I'd expect his in-game performance to get a lot sharper.  His rough edges would get polished off pretty quick, though the really hard part would be getting him capable of reading defenses and throwing to an off receiver without doing something bad.  Don't expect to see much of that anytime soon.

[pigskinbyproduct]

+1 to you, BP. However, I think it is clearly obvious to everyone what needs to happen. Read the line under my avatar.

[Biggus Piggus]

Players have to execute, but coaches have to put players in position to succeed not fail.

Don't set up the Razorbacks to fail, HDN.  You tried really hard last Saturday night.  We were lucky to win, and it was your decision.

[Niels Boar]

It's unfair to claim that Nutt completely devolved the offense back to the past.  My sources say that at half he carefully picked the "atomic tangerine" crayon, not the lame bright orange of the past.

Good stuff.  I didn't realize how much the running game slowed down in the second half, though I noticed we weren't scoring any points.