South Carolina comments

[Buster Hog]

Outstanding post! You are right on.  Also if you go back and check the blocking, you will see we only had two blocks from the fullback position for the entire game.  I was very surprise.  I hope we get that taken care of.

[djgaffer]

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.

You shouldn't have to wonder too hard, Biggus.  We got three first downs and down the USC 12 on the last drive of the game before kneeling down three times. 

[HatfieldHog]

Great post Biggus, I am very concerned.  Tennessee will double Monk, and force us to throw to someone else.  Problem is, I don't know who will step up and accept the role, as "go to guy."

The "Stall, and win by default" is Nutt's M.O.  You can see it coming every time, and it will lose us games that we should win.

Saturday will be a true test.  If we go back to Malzahn's offense, we will be there right till the end.  The winner will probably be the team that has the ball last.

35-31  Arkansas or Tennessee.

See ya

[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.

You shouldn't have to wonder too hard, Biggus.  We got three first downs and down the USC 12 on the last drive of the game before kneeling down three times. 

Did go over that already, you know.  We ran 6 times for 14 yards and completed two third-and-long passes to Marcus Monk.  You were saying?  How do you think we would have called plays had we been behind?  How much more excited and aggressive would South Carolina's defense had been?  It would have been ugly for us.

[Apathy]

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.

Now you're talking.  I'm picking up what you're putting down.

[hogman64]

that is a very good post.........but I dont see how you can even possibly hope with any realism that  someone gets Nutt's ego in check....IT ISNT GOING TO HAPPEN..........Nutt isnt going to learn anything from the SC game.. he is going to do exactly the same thing next time he did this time.........if we get a 20 point lead on Tenn. he is going to call the exact same plays in the second half as he did against SC............NUTT IS NEVER GOING TO CHANGE.....he coaches like a scared little girl and he cant leave soon enough to suit me..........

[Biggus Piggus]

Great post Biggus, I am very concerned.  Tennessee will double Monk, and force us to throw to someone else.  Problem is, I don't know who will step up and accept the role, as "go to guy."

The "Stall, and win by default" is Nutt's M.O.  You can see it coming every time, and it will lose us games that we should win.

Saturday will be a true test.  If we go back to Malzahn's offense, we will be there right till the end.  The winner will probably be the team that has the ball last.

35-31  Arkansas or Tennessee.

See ya

I think we get lucky because Erik Ainge is out.  They won't score enough to beat us.  They put a lot of emotion into that LSU game.  If not for LSU's three picks (one returned for a TD) it wouldn't have been a game at Knoxville.

[TennesseeRaz]

The wife couldn't understand why I wasn't happy with the win.  BP nailed it.

[pigskinbyproduct]

The wife couldn't understand why I wasn't happy with the win.  BP nailed it.

Why is it that women always want you to be happy but they never are?

[pigskinbyproduct]

http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php/topic,89071.0/topicseen.html




Hey Biggus: Dana Caldwell wanted everyone to lay off Nutt this week and focus on the team. What's your opinion?

[djgaffer]

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.

You shouldn't have to wonder too hard, Biggus.  We got three first downs and down the USC 12 on the last drive of the game before kneeling down three times. 

Did go over that already, you know.  We ran 6 times for 14 yards and completed two third-and-long passes to Marcus Monk.  You were saying?  How do you think we would have called plays had we been behind?  How much more excited and aggressive would South Carolina's defense had been?  It would have been ugly for us.

I don't know what the play calls might have been IF.  I'm sure that IF we were behind, we would have called similar plays in perhaps a different sequence.  I'm not sure IF we would have won the game IF we wouldn't have rolled up almost 500 yards on them.  I don't know what would have happened IF the 1st down passes you want us to throw were incomplete or intercepted.  And the "turtle gameplan" as you called it got us in the red zone on 3 out of 4 possessions, and to the 22 on the other one.  It's not like we were sitting still. 

I do know that the way we played the 2nd half, even with failed red zone trips, we forced them to be perfect on their three possessions, because that's all they had to work with.  They weren't perfect, and we got a good win on the road against a pretty good football coach.  As a result, we're getting Game Day here for the first time in the history of the school.  It's not the IF scenario you like better, but I like where we are today. 

[a wild boar]

Great post Biggus, I am very concerned.  Tennessee will double Monk, and force us to throw to someone else.  Problem is, I don't know who will step up and accept the role, as "go to guy."

The "Stall, and win by default" is Nutt's M.O.  You can see it coming every time, and it will lose us games that we should win.

Saturday will be a true test.  If we go back to Malzahn's offense, we will be there right till the end.  The winner will probably be the team that has the ball last.

35-31  Arkansas or Tennessee.

See ya

Last week everyone was saying it would be the true test !!!  Think about it, had anyone said that we would be sitting on a 8 and 1 record, undefeated in the SEC and being talked about in the same sentence with the words "National Championship" ( as unlikely as those hypotheticals are) back in August....EVERYONE would have thought that was beyond what we were capable of.  But here we sit, controling our own destiny for the SECCG and a probable trip to the Sugar Bowl and people are too busy overanalyzing the game to enjoy the best season we have had in years and years.  I am not some hugger that thinks that HDN's poop doesn't stink, but give the man and the coaching staff some props for putting together a great year.  Enjoy the Ride!  - I know that someone will say it's not enough, we shouldn't be proud of a team that has one good year after 3 disappointing ones.  Well, this one is the start of something great at Arkansas, the pieces are coming together and I for one can't wait to see DMAC and MM in New York City next year waiting to see which one's name will be called. 

[501 Hog]

I can understand how Nutt could be apprehensive about turning over the offense to a former high school coach, but Malzahns stuff works.  He has proven it.  We are 8-1.  We need the motion and the trick plays every game.  We also need Damian and London to step up because Monk will be covered on Saturday.  I'm sure Houston is pumped about Gameday since he is the biggest cheerleader the Hogs have, but Malzahn should call the shots and throw early to keep the Vols off balance.  It would be scary to see DMAC running if we had a decent pass attack.  Beating the Vols would be great, I hate Tennesse so much!   :razorback:

[HogsRule]

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.

Our running game suffered because Mcfadden got horse collared out of the game. Those plays at the end were mostly Felix and he didn't do much all day against their D. 99 out of 100 coaches in the same situation would have run on 1st and 2nd down and thrown on 3rd just like we did. The clock is the opponents worst enemy in that situation. Was it the safe way to play it? you bet your ass it was. I would much rather go with the philosphy that works 70% of the time rather than the one that works 30% in that situation. They know we are going to run, but who cares. Taking time off the clock is just as important as gaining yards in that situation.

[Chuck Beavers]

Great post as always Biggus.

I disagree a little about one thing. Nutt's pattern when running out the clock is usually run-run-run, not run-run-pass. Notice that in the second half of the Auburn game we only passed twice. I believe one of the reasons the third down passes were successful is because they WERE surprises. For Nutt, this is equivalent to "opening it up". Let's hope he continues to open. I agree though that passing every once in a while on first down would be much better.

The coaches were afraid to allow Mitch to pass in the second half of the Auburn game. They feel much more confident about Casey being able to pass without giving  up turnovers. That's why he's the starter now.

I thought South Carolina did a really good job of defending the corners against us. The defensive ends always stayed home and forced everything inside. We were able to exploit this in the first half with some good runs inside the ends. We didn't in the second half. Twice on consecutive plays we forced swing passes that were blown up by the defensive ends almost resulting in interceptions. It was like we were determined to go straight against their strength instead of exploiting their weakness.

[proud2bpork]

Good post. 

Nutt needs to learn that the best defense is sometimes a great offense.  When your foot is on the neck, keep pressing until they're dead.  Don't let up and hope you can make it to the door before they come around.

Casey has the leadership we need to win down the stretch eventhough he doesn't do everything as well as Mitch. 

Does this remind anyone of the Chris Simms/Major Applewhite situation at Texas several years ago?

Go HOGS!!!!!

[kgr]

Excellent analysis.  One thing about MM.  They are not running the offense that GM made famous.  This screws up the QB timing.  If they went to the HUNH as at the end of the So. Cal. game, the timing would be there and so would follow better execution. 

If HDN continues to screw with the offense we are sunk.

[Corkscrew Johnson]

what are you guys worried about?  i read on here last week that the coaches only call downfield passes for CD, so now that he's starting, aren't we going to open it up more??

[Theolesnort]

Biggis's post above is a must read for those who look at the second half and say to those of us who are complaining. Please keep a open mind on this and I will cut to the chase. Yes we did pass so many times in the second half but have you ever asked why? It is because we had to many 2nd and 3rd and longs and we had to. Something changed, the running was not as effective in the second half as it was the first. Why? It is pretty obvious that that misdirection, motion and deception disappeared from the offense the 2nd half. This looked like last years offense and we became predictable. Casey did a admirable job baling us out in these situations something you can not always depend on.

[Swino]

http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php/topic,89071.0/topicseen.html




Hey Biggus: Dana Caldwell wanted everyone to lay off Nutt this week and focus on the team. What's your opinion?

Great post as always Biggus.

I disagree a little about one thing. Nutt's pattern when running out the clock is usually run-run-run, not run-run-pass. Notice that in the second half of the Auburn game we only passed twice. I believe one of the reasons the third down passes were successful is because they WERE surprises. For Nutt, this is equivalent to "opening it up". Let's hope he continues to open. I agree though that passing every once in a while on first down would be much better.

The coaches were afraid to allow Mitch to pass in the second half of the Auburn game. They feel much more confident about Casey being able to pass without giving  up turnovers. That's why he's the starter now.

I thought South Carolina did a really good job of defending the corners against us. The defensive ends always stayed home and forced everything inside. We were able to exploit this in the first half with some good runs inside the ends. We didn't in the second half. Twice on consecutive plays we forced swing passes that were blown up by the defensive ends almost resulting in interceptions. It was like we were determined to go straight against their strength instead of exploiting their weakness.

We didn't have 3rd and long against Auburn.

[Oklahawg]

HDN had nothing to lose...right up to the INT to start the game. Suddenly, he had to actually coach. He was fine until halftime when he got a chance to think about it. EOI.

[SpareRib]

Haven't read the rest, but Biggus, you sure can call 'em.  Thanks for the post.

Pork Out!

[whatsshakinbacon]

Excellent breakdown Biggus - these were my thoughts as well in the second half.

We may very well pay the price for Dick's telegraphing of plays against a much better Tennessee team.

We'll see.

Bacon out...

[LSUFan]

There is a big difference in playing to win, and playing to keep from losing.

[olehog]

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.

If we wereso conservitive how did we have
over 250 total yards the second half.
We just didn't excute plays when we needed
to.Monk's tip pass for interception,missed field goal,Damian Williams missed pass.
Missed touchdown on goal line because we
passed.Were all these plays mentioned above conservativetism.No they were not.
They were lack of excution.
Can't buy your analysis at all.

[98hogs]

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.

What he said is correct.  So basically some people on staff are being used because of HDN's ego.  We all want to win but if you blow this you will be one of the most despised Coaches in UA history.  Greatleaders surround themselves with awesome subordinates.  You are only as great as the people you lead.

[olehog]

that is a very good post.........but I dont see how you can even possibly hope with any realism that  someone gets Nutt's ego in check....IT ISNT GOING TO HAPPEN..........Nutt isnt going to learn anything from the SC game.. he is going to do exactly the same thing next time he did this time.........if we get a 20 point lead on Tenn. he is going to call the exact same plays in the second half as he did against SC............NUTT IS NEVER GOING TO CHANGE.....he coaches like a scared little girl and he cant leave soon enough to suit me..........

How in the world are we 8-1 just had 495
total yards.If we just had a coach we would
have had 900 yards.
Fire him now

[olehog]

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.

How come you put all the blame on the
play calling.The offense put SC twice on
the one yard line & our defense let them
have two nintey-nine yard drives.Why aren't
you complaining about Herring's defensive
calls.Why did you not bring that up.You
don't have a little agenda do you?

[Albert Einswine]

Biggus,  that is awesome analysis.   The way you break it down is unmatched.

You have put into factual,  analytical prose what I've know for a few years but haven't been able to articulate so eloquently.

You have confirmed for all but the blindest of Nuttophiles that Houston is the "Marty Shottenheimer" of college football.

[Albert Einswine]

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.

How come you put all the blame on the
play calling.The offense put SC twice on
the one yard line & our defense let them
have two nintey-nine yard drives.Why aren't
you complaining about Herring's defensive
calls.Why did you not bring that up.You
don't have a little agenda do you?

Apparently you didn't read the whole post.

[olehog]

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.

How come you put all the blame on the
play calling.The offense put SC twice on
the one yard line & our defense let them
have two nintey-nine yard drives.Why aren't
you complaining about Herring's defensive
calls.Why did you not bring that up.You
don't have a little agenda do you?

Apparently you didn't read the whole post.

Oh someone else with a agenda.8-1 bottom
line.

[TheRealDeal]

He also said on his coaches show that he knew they had 8 or 9 in the box but that he didn't want to throw the ball. 

One other item of note-he said if they had that 3rd down play on the goalline to do all over they would have ran the ball, i.e. "I would have over-ruled Gus brutha and rammed it up the poopchute."

If I remember correctly we pounded Auburn in the second half and people proclaimed "Gus takes what you give him. What a genius."  We pound it out this game "same ole Nutt garbage we have seen for 8 years."  If McFadden breaks loose for a touchdown on the horsecollar play, who is complaining??

The running the ball on 3rd and goal from the 13 seemed to work pretty good in the first half.  I guess that was Gus's call because he is a genius.  Running on 3 and goal from the 2 would have been stupidity if Nutt had made that move.

If we lost this game it would not have been because of NUTT, it would have been because of two dropped TD's, a missed field goal, and not getting in on 1st and goal from the 5.  I dont really know how you can find a way to heap that on Nutt, but people are.  "

All the drama people try to come up with is garbage.

[Hollywood_HOGan]

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.

Wow.
That guy knows how to pick apart a game!

Hopefully we dont revert to the old 5 yard out pattern. Also need to throw to somebody not named Monk.

Just mix it up a little bit.

[HedgeDweller]

You are truly consumed....

[olehog]

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.

How come you put all the blame on the
play calling.The offense put SC twice on
the one yard line & our defense let them
have two nintey-nine yard drives.Why aren't
you complaining about Herring's defensive
calls.Why did you not bring that up.You
don't have a little agenda do you?

Apparently you didn't read the whole post.

Read the last paragraph where he is summing up his post where he is saying
what he needs to do.Does he say one thing
about Reggie needing to get his pass defense straightned out.Not.If we don't get
our pass defense corrected it won't matter how good our offense is.

[Dances With Hogs]

Get your head out of your botoot, Biggus told it like it was, great post and correct, if Nutt does it again Saturday night we will lose, mark my words, if you know anything about football you could see it.the ugly orange and LSU will eat us up if we go back to the old crap.

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.

How come you put all the blame on the
play calling.The offense put SC twice on
the one yard line & our defense let them
have two nintey-nine yard drives.Why aren't
you complaining about Herring's defensive
calls.Why did you not bring that up.You
don't have a little agenda do you?

[Dances With Hogs]

Man, you cant see the field for the Nutts.quote author=olehog link=topic=89367.msg1239186#msg1239186 date=1162941502]

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.

If we wereso conservitive how did we have
over 250 total yards the second half.
We just didn't excute plays when we needed
to.Monk's tip pass for interception,missed field goal,Damian Williams missed pass.
Missed touchdown on goal line because we
passed.Were all these plays mentioned above conservativetism.No they were not.
They were lack of excution.
Can't buy your analysis at all.
[/quote]

[Newhopehog]

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.

Did you also notice that SC blew two other interception opportunities on the screen and swing passes that Dick threw...Also that second half off was straight out of the HDN can. Dick ran half way to the sideline on several occasions to get instructions from HDN not Gus.

[olehog]

Get your head out of your botoot, Biggus told it like it was, great post and correct, if Nutt does it again Saturday night we will lose, mark my words, if you know anything about football you could see it.the ugly orange and LSU will eat us up if we go back to the old crap.

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.

How come you put all the blame on the
play calling.The offense put SC twice on
the one yard line & our defense let them
have two nintey-nine yard drives.Why aren't
you complaining about Herring's defensive
calls.Why did you not bring that up.You
don't have a little agenda do you?

Oh now we have Mr. Professor of Football.
Well I have been watching Uof A football since he 50's & where I went to school 8-1 is
about as good as it gets & I am not going to
sit around a bitch & moan & complain.
Can you ever be happy.
SAD

[olehog]

Man, you cant see the field for the Nutts.quote author=olehog link=topic=89367.msg1239186#msg1239186 date=1162941502]

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.

If we wereso conservitive how did we have
over 250 total yards the second half.
We just didn't excute plays when we needed
to.Monk's tip pass for interception,missed field goal,Damian Williams missed pass.
Missed touchdown on goal line because we
passed.Were all these plays mentioned above conservativetism.No they were not.
They were lack of excution.
Can't buy your analysis at all.

[/quote]
You are pathetic

[Idahog]

When a 20 year old kid can call the pass to Hillis in the flats on 3rd and long you know you're back to playing Nuttball again...  luckily it looked like he checked out of his primary and went to Monk instead...  even though he had a ton of people around him...   this is scary stuff.  I was wondering where the ingenuity had gone in the second half... Why is it things changed so drastically that we could only score 3 flippin points!!?!  Just so frustrating. 

This game was on track to remove ANY doubt about who the Razorbacks are as a team going into the half but then flatlined the second half of the game to keep it too damn close.  We could have won BIG had there been less stubborn people calling the plays.  This is the difference between finesse and stubborn.  Had Nutt not taken over playcalling in the half there would be ZERO doubt about the rest of the season.  Now things are still as up in the air as they ever were.

I pray we see the same ingenuity this weekend against Tennessee that we saw earlier in the season.  I'm scared that Nutt has taken over completely when he says things like

"we never could have won the games we had without Mustain but now its time for experience."

I worry that this is translated into all aspects of Razorback football and GM is benched now as well.

[snortyann]

Thanks BP for summarizing my disappointments with the game and enlightening me as well.
The 2nd half brought back some dreaded feelings of past games lost because of poor ...
well, you said it.
I've pledged to abstain from negativity til after the game Saturday.

[Razor_back]

Great post...anyway to have nutt's eyes see this?

[loserhog3-7]

Yes. Overall Dick did a good job of throwing the ball. Second half was stagnant due to Nutts play calling of past years. We better not see this again for his sake not mine. He's one more mistake from losing a perfect season after he allowed us to get hammered on national T.V. the first game.

Why regress? It's Nutts team. He's taking it back in full swing. I fear the losing master has gone wild. He's lost his nerve. Again he wants everyone to know he is the mighty one in charge. So let it be. Let him take his team back full swing. We all know what that means. 1-3 in November.  We lose the SECCG and our bowl game.

Go Nutt Go! Woo Nutt Soooooooie!

[Dirty D]

I agree with the analysis, but maybe the coaching staff went into the game not wanting to give too much of their offense away to Tennessee or LSU and played a different type of game. I am being very optimistic with this comment, I just hope that we don't use this same gameplan against Tenn. this week because they are a lot better than SC.

[Brand X Hog Fan]

Biggus, in the future could you please back up your insinuations with some statistics?

I hope beyond all hope that something changes before Saturday.

[classof74dinosaur]

I monitor hogville and don't post often but I thought BP's analysis was one of the better post's I've read on this board.

I'm just a poor humble fan and not privy to what goes on inside the razorback brain trust, but the 2nd half of the SC game and in particular the 4th quarter looked like classic Nuttball to me.  Run it up the middle, pass only in an emergency, pass only to your primary receiver, play not to lose and hang on for dear life.

The thing most of the Nutt supporters don't understand is this.  It's not this year that concerns many of us, it's the future of the Razorback program.  Some are of the firm belief (right or wrong) that if Nutt is allowed to return to his old ways, then we are doomed to return to average records of 6-5 or 5-6 (11 game season) with an occasional 8-3 or 9-2 sprinkled in.

HDN appears to be emboldened by the success this year and he appears to be slowly but surely reverting back to Nuttball.  GM becoming a figurehead OC and HDN slowly reasserting himself can only lead to disaster in the near or long term future.

Just my humble opinion.

[HogPharmD]

Wow... BP... can I sit by you at the game on Saturday? That was truly a insightful post.

Go Hog!!

:razorback: :razorback:

[razor]

Touchdown Biggus! Oh My! Thanks for explaining in plain English why we "darksiders" want a new coach, despite the 8-1 start.

[HogbyBirth]

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. 

Casey made great passes but you're very wrong about the arm strength.  I've seen the kid (Mustain) throw it long and large.  He's still adjusting to the speed of the game.  It's clear.  Casey is a great QB but don't mistake Mitch's mistakes for lack of arm strength.  He has a rocket arm Casey can't imagine.