Do you trust this Hog team vs Texas?

[fullfan]

I see many folks posting on here about how happy they are we are playing Texas in the bowl game.  First let me say it is great to be in a bowl game and I was hoping for a rather easy draw, put on the obligatory butt whooping and take major mojo into recruiting.

I see playing Texas as high risk/reward.   A win will have a positive effect on recruiting in Texas.   However a loss has the reverse effect and could hamper some future Texas recruiting.   By all accounts C Strong will get the shorthorns turned around in the future and needs a win over an SEC team to stop the bleeding.  You may not hear it from fans on a message board but the coaches and team will put every effort into making sure they knock off the SEC foe.

So to the title...Do you trust this Hog team to go into the Texas Bowl and beat Texas?   Its time for this team to step up and win a big game and gain some momentum for the offseason.   Someone has all offseason to deal with the season ending bowl loss...here's hoping its Texas.

[JONAS]

Not sure.  We are going to need a healthy Allen.

[grayhawg]

We will be fine.

[RazorbackRon]

Wish I could SMITE the OP.

[JeffSpicoli]

Tough to call. Bowl games are always a crap shoot. We can certainly beat them, but they can beat us too. I think Brett will have the boys motivated. So, if Texas comes out flat, the game is ours.

[Hook 'em Hogs]

I'm kind of hoping that we will come out and really let Allen loose.  Maybe that will save some of our running game for the second half.  In saying this, I recognize that it's a big risk letting Allen loose.  I question our ability to put Texas away if we keep doing the same thing we've done all year. They have 3 weeks to train 4* & 5* players to be Razorback killers. We don't have as much talent as they do. We have to do something different.  I'd give us a 40% chance to win.

[reddogjcss]

Take no team for granted! Prepare and execute! Play like you got to win and lash your shoes up tight!

[Bubba's Bruisers]

The program is moving in the right direction at a faster pace than I expected, but it's way too early to trust this them right now.  Not until the offense finds some semblance of balance.  Can we beat Texas?  Of course.  Can we lose?  You bet. 

[Razorback de Nosferatu]

Yes, I do trust the Hogs.  Ordinarily, bowl games for 6-6 teams don't seem all that important.  But I think these players and coaches know how huge this game is.  That it's against Texas just makes it that much greater.

On paper...

Arkansas has the edge in most categories, except passing offense (#83, TX to #99, AR)... and, well, neither team is ranked very highly in that respect.

Arkansas has the 28th ranked rushing attack, they're ranked 48th overall in scoring offense, and the average D they went against was approximately #45-50-- hard to figure in the hapless FCS team they played.  Arkansas played against 4 defenses ranked in the top ten nationally.

Texas ranks #88 in rushing and #104 in scoring offense, and the average D they went against was 72.  Texas played against four opponents who ranked #100 or worse in defense.

Arkansas has wins vs 0-12 Nicholls State, 4-8 Texas Tech, 11-2 Northern Illinois, 6-6 UAB, 8-4 LSU, and 9-3 Ole Miss.

Texas has wins vs 4-8 North Texas, 3-9 Kansas, 2-10 Iowa State, 4-8 Texas Tech, 7-5 West Virginia, and 6-6 Oklahoma State.


On paper, it's darned easy to heavily favor Arkansas.  But we all know Texas has the talent, and bowl games can yield just about any result in the world without it being much of a surprise. 

I'm looking forward to this one and might just find a way to make the trip to Houston.

[pigbacon]

I highly anticipate winning this game. We are no doubt the better team IMO.

[woopigsooie1222]

With bowl games you never know how a team's going to play. There is a long one month period between our last game and the bowl so anything can happen, but I'm still pickin' the hogs to win by 2 TD.

[mlloyd4]

I think you can throw the stats out the window for an Arkansas Texas game.
Way too much emotion to be considered normal in any way shape or form.

[reddogjcss]

The player, coaches and fans want to be there so that is a major positive

[RockyMtnHog]

I hope that this game turns out to be a showcase of Razorback Football and what's to come.

If we leave it all on the field, you cannot blame anyone for the effort.  Win or Lose!

[Bubba's Bruisers]

I think you can throw the stats out the window for an Arkansas Texas game.
Way too much emotion to be considered normal in any way shape or form.

I just don't see that for the players today...especially for TX.  There is no rivalry here anymore.  Emotion will be with AR fans by and large.  I don't think TX really cares.

[razorbackkid]

Yeah, I trust'em and I'm looking forward to having a healthy team with a nasty attitude to take out the Horns in a way that raises eyebrows across the country.

C.B.B. and staff have 3 weeks to get'em ready.  I'm thinkin' our Hogs will be well prepared and ready to put a hurtin' on Texass.

:razorback:

[Razorback de Nosferatu]

I just don't see that for the players today...especially for TX.  There is no rivalry here anymore.  Emotion will be with AR fans by and large.  I don't think TX really cares.

Heated rivalry or not, both of these teams are in similar positions.  Both SHOULD see this game as very, very important.

[HogInFlorida]

Yes. They're maybe the 9th best team we'll face this year.

[jjdlc]

As far as the matchup, on paper, this is the weakest opponent we'll have played outside our 4 non-con wins.  It's a bowl game, so who knows.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Heated rivalry or not, both of these teams are in similar positions.  Both SHOULD see this game as very, very important.

That I agree with.

[Sir Oinksalot]

....I believe the Hogs will beat the Horns.  First of all IF we are going to catch them this is the year.  Strong is trying to change a culture
that has crept into Longhorn Football the last several years.  He has instituted a lot more drug testing and some players have left.
He told all the players living in apts. w/girlfriends etc. to move into the dorm and start becoming a team.  Spring practice started with
blank helmets and the guys had to "earn" that Longhorn before it went on, so, as a result of all this he lost a lot of rushing yards,
passing yards, and tacklers prob. 10 contributors quit or got run off.......

He lost his QB. to concussions and he lost some starting O-line players.  As a result Texas looked weaker against TCU in the O-line
than I've seen them.  But don't be fooled TCU is strong on the D-line, their whole defense is big strong and fast.  TCU has a QB.
And a couple all world receivers...

But is wasn't Texas' defense that caused them to lose so bad, Texas' defense is really good, but Texas' QB. young guy who just wasn't ready
and threw several picks right to the linebackers, and I expect our defense to have a field day against the Horn O-fence...

We will win this game, GO HOGS ---



Keep Austin Weird !!

[cypert2]

Hogs win this easily.

[jrulz83]

I trust no Hog team going in to any game. Especially going in to bowl games.

[arlhog]

Here's our chance to step up and prove we play big boy football.  Everyone on this site talks about how good we are, well here it is.  We can beat them and show the world what we're made of, or we can fold like a house of cards.   They are very beatable.  They have 4 losses by at least 3 possessions.  I think that we play our game like we can and the longhorns have no chance.  We don't play our game and they have every opportunity of kicking our butts.  Simple as that, it's all about how the Arkansas Razorbacks do what they do.

[Nuttcracker, Sweet!]

Why wouldn't we? I trusted this team to win 6 games when all the chicken little's and the hand-wringers were saying 3-4 wins before the season.

I trusted this team when the above were saying we'd be 0-8 in the SEC and how can a coach survive two of those in a row, when it hadn't and didn't happen...

I trusted this team enough to go sit in the cold with potential snow or rain vs LSU with 17 straight (or whatever it was) SEC losses.

I wanted LSU then and I wanted Texass in this one. I would be more concerned going against ECU or some team like that in a faraway, possibly cold venue which might mean a low turnout for Hog fans.

This team will be into this game, especially given the two year bowl drought and playing a "name brand" opponent. If Texass is into it too, fine, bring it shorthorns..

[Sooie71923]

Didn't byu run for 500+ yards on them??

Not saying we will but we shouldn't get shutdown as much

[Dropkick]

We've beaten better teams this year.

[texas tush hog]

As far as the matchup, on paper, this is the weakest opponent we'll have played outside our 4 non-con wins.  It's a bowl game, so who knows.

Don't include Northern Illinois in that, they are much better than the Whorns.

[Razorbacker79]

Take no team for granted! Prepare and execute! Play like you got to win and lash your shoes up tight!

This is it in a nutshell!  If the game isn't taken seriously we could very well lose--that is what experience tells me.  I don't look at it as a matter of trust.

If I had to make a prediction, tho, I won't bet against my Hogs.  I think it will turn out much like the 1999 Cotton Bowl--one of the best days as a fan I've ever had.

[Choctaw Hog]

I see many folks posting on here about how happy they are we are playing Texas in the bowl game.  First let me say it is great to be in a bowl game and I was hoping for a rather easy draw, put on the obligatory butt whooping and take major mojo into recruiting.

I see playing Texas as high risk/reward.   A win will have a positive effect on recruiting in Texas.   However a loss has the reverse effect and could hamper some future Texas recruiting.   By all accounts C Strong will get the shorthorns turned around in the future and needs a win over an SEC team to stop the bleeding.  You may not hear it from fans on a message board but the coaches and team will put every effort into making sure they knock off the SEC foe.

So to the title...Do you trust this Hog team to go into the Texas Bowl and beat Texas?   Its time for this team to step up and win a big game and gain some momentum for the offseason.   Someone has all offseason to deal with the season ending bowl loss...here's hoping its Texas.

College football players look forward to playing in venues like this and it isn't a high risk / high reward anything.  It's a bowl game and I'm confident the players will give great effort. 

[Quickdraw]

I trust CBB will have this team ready to play! And I trust Charley Strong will have his team ready to play also. If we can make good play call decisions in the second half, we will have a chance to win the game.

[SPAL]

Not if they stuff the run.

[HogsBalls]

It will be an Ole Miss repeat. Their QB likes throwing picks. I trust our guys to be ready to go!

[Danny J]

I think we could hold them to less than 10 points rather easily if our D plays as well as it has been playing. I think we could beat them by 3 TD's.

[elksnort]

We need to have better QB play than Texas. 

[jgphillips3]

I think we are their worst nightmare.  A battle hardened, big, physical SEC team that will hit them in the mouth on both sides of the ball.  Yes, they could beat us, but I think with three weeks to get healthy we will be a buzz saw.

[Smokehouse]

Strong isn't exactly lighting up recruiting in-state considering it's Texas. He'll do better once he has a more established relationship with high school coaches, but it's not like he's close to opening up a landslide and a bowl game win will do the trick.

[BigSexyHog]

All depends on which team shows up.  If we are ready we should be ok.  If not prepare for the worst

[Fayettechill14]

Texas has a bad offense and a pretty salty defense. Best case scenario, it goes like the LSU game. Worst case scenario, like the Mizzou or Miss State games. Just fill the gaps against the run, don't give up any big pass plays (they have a burner named Harris), and don't turn it over offensively and we should win, perhaps handily.

[hogwild210]

I disagree that a loss would hurt recruiting. It would depend on the manner of such a loss. That said, I believe that we win.

[JIHawg]

Yes I have confidence in this team.  They have proven that.  They had two bad quarters, 4th against TAM and 2nd against Georgia.  Other than that, they were in every game we played this season.

[FelixJonesorDMAC?]

We will beat the dog shirt out of Texass!

[goodguytex]

We came within one point of tying up the team that will probably be NCs. What Bielema needs to do is have a film session with the players, show them the 1969 Texass game, have Broyles, Switzer, and other Hog greats of years past talk to the team, get them some education on the rivalry. And get them fired up to kick some Texass Ass.

[FelixJonesorDMAC?]

We came within one point of tying up the team that will probably be NCs. What Bielema needs to do is have a film session with the players, show them the 1969 Texass game, have Broyles, Switzer, and other Hog greats of years past talk to the team, get them some education on the rivalry. And get them fired up to kick some Texass Ass.

I hope the players and coaches realize the importance of this game.  This game was gift wrapped to us.  There was not a better opponent we could get going 6-6 on the season. 

[East Clintwood]

No, not at all.

[goodguytex]

I hope the players and coaches realize the importance of this game.  This game was gift wrapped to us.  There was not a better opponent we could get going 6-6 on the season.

What concerns be a little is this generation of players just may not have the Texass hate that us fans who remember playing Texass every year do. It will help that we have quite a few texas born players on our team. But the team really do need to involve some Hogs from years past in this.

[hollywood hog]

I don't trust them and I sure don't trust the play calling in the 4th quarter if we aren't up by 3 scores or more.  But this is the game I was hoping we'd get and now hope we show up ready to take care of business.  Would love to see us be able to win this one with a late 4th quarter drive. 

[PolishPigPower]

Honestly, I care more about the extra practice time than I do the result of this game.  I wanna destroy the Longhorns and hope Bevo has a sideline aneurysm, but growth for the upcoming years is more important to me.

[redeye]

I think it's a great match-up for Arkansas, anyway you wanna look at it.  However, I'm not confident we'll win.  Strong went 3-1 in bowl games at Louisville, with wins over Florida and Miami, so he has a nice record in bowl games.

In contrast, Bielema is 2-5 and one of those wins was over us, when we were without a coach.  I like a lot of what I'm seeing with our coaches, but things like playing a hurt QB against Missouri, make it hard for me to have too much confidence.

One thing I'm confident about is that Strong will have Texas ready to play.  The question is if Bielema will have us ready?

[PolishPigPower]

No, not at all.

Your avatar makes me glad I'm a straight man.  +infinity