Could coach B be the savior?

[bruisemeister]

Heres a more positive thought. I know there are a lot of Bielema haters out there. I know that some think that we should have hired Gus instead. It appears he is the future. He has charisma, charm and a brilliant offensive mind. He also has Arkansas ties. He played at coached at the UA. He was also a legendary HS coach. Bielema is an outsider. He played at Iowa and coached at Wisconsin. He is a bit of a dud in the personality department as well. Things look bleak now. Gus was a minute away from a national title in his first year at Auburn. Bielema is still looking for his first SEC win. However, history could be in the Hogs favor:

Lets go back to 1984. Lou Holtz is fired after a horrible 6-5 season(sarcasm). The Hogs hire a popular former player, Ken Hatfield, out of Air Force. He has a national coach of the year on his resume already. His Falcons are coming off of a 10-2 season and 2 straight bowl wins. He also runs a variation of college football's most explosive offensive formation at the time, the wishbone. His is the flexbone. He goes 7-4-1 in his first season. He is 10-2 by year 3 with a bowl victory over Az State. He does the unthinkable in 1986 and wins at Texas. They even go to the Orange Bowl. Thats where the problems occur. The Hogs are blown away by Oklahoma. The following year, Miami does the same to the Hogs at Little Rock. Even back to back Cotton Bowl trips in 1988-1989 doesn't impress the fans. They realize the Hogs are no longer a national player based on the Oklahoma and Miami games. What makes matters worse is the both teams are coached by Hog alumni, Barry Switzer and Jimmie Johnson. The bigger headache is the fact that the most successful of the two, Johnson, is the guy who Broyles passed over for the Hog job for Hatfield. This was a hire that still haunts Hog fans. It made  sense at the time. Hatfield had more success at his other job(Johnson had one only one winning season at Okla State), had state of the art offense and was a Hog hero. Hes the guy who beat Texas with a punt return in 1964. However, Johnson took Miami to another level and his offense was more successful and exciting than Hatfields.

Lets now go to 1998. There is opening for head Hog. There are 2 candidates. One is a former Hog player and coach that openly expresses his love for the Razorbacks. He also ran an exciting offense at Murray State. In fact, he took a quarterback that couldn't get the starting job at Arkansas and made him into a NFL player. The other was another Arkansas native but he played for an AIC team. He then coached at Miami and was currently at Ole Miss. He was ok  but a little less exciting then the other guy. ESPN announced he had the job. This was not true.  The Hogs hired the exciting guy. He was Houston Nutt. This would make up for not hiring Jimmy Johnson.  The other was Tommy Tuberville. Hog fans were so glad they had Houston as the head Hog. He won his first 8 games. One of those included a blowout of Tommy Tuberville's Ole Miss team. People were even more glad when the broadcast showed his pregame speech. It was so dull and boring. It paled in comparison to Houston's inspired pregame, halftime and post game sermons. Tommy took the Auburn job the following season and the Hogs blew them out too. We had the right guy. Fast foward one year. The Hogs go 6-6. Auburn is in the SEC title game. Pretty soon, Auburn is competing for the SEC West title every year. The Hogs compete for a for a few years but soon start to fall. Auburn is not only competing for SEC titles, they are competing for national titles. Tommy T's Tigers go undefeated in 2004 while Houston suffers his first losing season. It appears the Hogs have made another bad hire.

Now lets fast foward to present day. Is it possible that this boring coach we hired from the Big 10 could be the next Jimmy Johnson or Tommy Tuberville? Is is possible that Gus will soon fizzle like Nutt and Hatfield did after a few years? Will Gus be the next Steve Spurrier or will he be another Hal Mumme, Joe Tiller or John Jenkins? Only time will tell. The possibility exists that we made the right hire. We shall see.

[Peter Porker]

I actually think Bielema's personality is more exciting than Malzahn's.

[ChitownHawg]

Heres a more positive thought. I know there are a lot of Bielema haters out there. I know that some think that we should have hired Gus instead. It appears he is the future. He has charisma, charm and a brilliant offensive mind. He also has Arkansas ties. He played at coached at the UA. He was also a legendary HS coach. Bielema is an outsider. He played at Iowa and coached at Wisconsin. He is a bit of a dud in the personality department as well. Things look bleak now. Gus was a minute away from a national title in his first year at Auburn. Bielema is still looking for his first SEC win. However, history could be in the Hogs favor:

Lets go back to 1984. Lou Holtz is fired after a horrible 6-5 season(sarcasm). The Hogs hire a popular former player, Ken Hatfield, out of Air Force. He has a national coach of the year on his resume already. His Falcons are coming off of a 10-2 season and 2 straight bowl wins. He also runs a variation of college football's most explosive offensive formation at the time, the wishbone. His is the flexbone. He goes 7-4-1 in his first season. He is 10-2 by year 3 with a bowl victory over Az State. He does the unthinkable in 1986 and wins at Texas. They even go to the Orange Bowl. Thats where the problems occur. The Hogs are blown away by Oklahoma. The following year, Miami does the same to the Hogs at Little Rock. Even back to back Cotton Bowl trips in 1988-1989 doesn't impress the fans. They realize the Hogs are no longer a national player based on the Oklahoma and Miami games. What makes matters worse is the both teams are coached by Hog alumni, Barry Switzer and Jimmie Johnson. The bigger headache is the fact that the most successful of the two, Johnson, is the guy who Broyles passed over for the Hog job for Hatfield. This was a hire that still haunts Hog fans. It made  sense at the time. Hatfield had more success at his other job(Johnson had one only one winning season at Okla State), had state of the art offense and was a Hog hero. Hes the guy who beat Texas with a punt return in 1964. However, Johnson took Miami to another level and his offense was more successful and exciting than Hatfields.

Lets now go to 1998. There is opening for head Hog. There are 2 candidates. One is a former Hog player and coach that openly expresses his love for the Razorbacks. He also ran an exciting offense at Murray State. In fact, he took a quarterback that couldn't get the starting job at Arkansas and made him into a NFL player. The other was another Arkansas native but he played for an AIC team. He then coached at Miami and was currently at Ole Miss. He was ok  but a little less exciting then the other guy. ESPN announced he had the job. This was not true.  The Hogs hired the exciting guy. He was Houston Nutt. This would make up for not hiring Jimmy Johnson.  The other was Tommy Tuberville. Hog fans were so glad they had Houston as the head Hog. He won his first 8 games. One of those included a blowout of Tommy Tuberville's Ole Miss team. People were even more glad when the broadcast showed his pregame speech. It was so dull and boring. It paled in comparison to Houston's inspired pregame, halftime and post game sermons. Tommy took the Auburn job the following season and the Hogs blew them out too. We had the right guy. Fast foward one year. The Hogs go 6-6. Auburn is in the SEC title game. Pretty soon, Auburn is competing for the SEC West title every year. The Hogs compete for a for a few years but soon start to fall. Auburn is not only competing for SEC titles, they are competing for national titles. Tommy T's Tigers go undefeated in 2004 while Houston suffers his first losing season. It appears the Hogs have made another bad hire.

Now lets fast foward to present day. Is it possible that this boring coach we hired from the Big 10 could be the next Jimmy Johnson or Tommy Tuberville? Is is possible that Gus will soon fizzle like Nutt and Hatfield did after a few years? Will Gus be the next Steve Spurrier or will he be another Hal Mumme, Joe Tiller or John Jenkins? Only time will tell. The possibility exists that we made the right hire. We shall see.

There are not as many as you might think. They are just loud. 

[Pig Worshipper]

The only thing I know is that any coach coming into Arkansas' present situation should be given a minimum of four years to turn things around. It looks to me like Bielema will get at least that. Any comparisons to what has happened in the past are difficult. With the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri, the continuing dominance of Alabama and LSU, improvement at the Mississippi schools, etc., the Hogs path to the top is harder than it has ever been. I don't care if a young Bear Bryant was our coach, he would have a monumental task ahead of him. People need to give Bielema time and just root as hard as they can for the Hogs.

[Pork Twain]

Way too soon to say one way or the other but we seem to be headed in the right direction

[Inhogswetrust]

There are not as many as you might think. They are just loud. 

That's usually the case with any negative nannies. They are the ones that like to shout even if in a library...............................

[Hawg_Thai'd]

The only thing I know is that any coach coming into Arkansas' present situation should be given a minimum of four years to turn things around. It looks to me like Bielema will get at least that. Any comparisons to what has happened in the past are difficult. With the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri, the continuing dominance of Alabama and LSU, improvement at the Mississippi schools, etc., the Hogs path to the top is harder than it has ever been. I don't care if a young Bear Bryant was our coach, he would have a monumental task ahead of him. People need to give Bielema time and just root as hard as they can for the Hogs.

I think Arkansas' situation requires the right hire. The mental anguish must be reversed and hope restored. We'll get there, but the word "savior" is pretty bold. Time will tell.

[three hog night]

I think the Gus mania will subside in a year or two.  The state of Alabama is a weird place full of hatred between Bama and AU fans that borders on Sunni and Shiite sectarianism.  The Bama faithful will try to change the rules to keep AU from abusing them, and they will find a way to get dirt on AU.   The Bama faithful are scratching for any piece of dirt they can find on Gus and his program.  The Bama fans do not like that the Gus offense is abusing rules of the game to the very fringe of decency to get an advantage.   AU beat Bama in a dramatic fashion, so the drama will be amped up too.   

[ChitownHawg]

I think Arkansas' situation requires the right hire. The mental anguish must be reversed and hope restored. We'll get there, but the word "savior" is pretty bold. Time will tell.

True considering we hire men and we all have weaknesses. "Right fit" is a better phrase than savior.

[Hawg_Thai'd]

True considering we hire men and we all have weaknesses. "Right fit" is a better phrase than savior.

Well, I didn't mean that in a religous way, just that for someone to be annointed the term "savior" would take are really big step. I'm talking NC or pretty close year in and year out. Saban would fit that mold after some of the years that had prior to him, IMO.

[Mike_e]

CBB appears to be directing his teams towards the style of play that best suits the talent that the state provides an if so will maximize the talent available to him- assuming that the out of state players don't change.  And he's doing this through a more generalized style than specific.

Specific styles are fine as long as you have the key talent to run them but it gets rough when you don't have those key players.  Either through injury or just bad luck in there not being anyone in a particular class or two.

Being more general means that you have a larger base (foundation) to build upon and more room to move around if one facet of your program is lacking either through injury or lack of talent (No, last year doesn't count as CBB hasn't been here long enough to actually put together the program to his specifics).

So, overall, for the long term I'd think that a program built and maintained by a generalist will perform better than one built by a specialist at least as far as being able to utilize the talent that you have available to you.

[Mike_e]

The two best college coaches right now are specialists, Meyer and Saban.

Meyer I'd agree with, but Sabin?

Sabin has been a beat you with mine or yours coach since he moved down south.

[ChitownHawg]

He's a defensive specialist.

So what qualifies as a "well-rounded" coach? Since all coaches become a coordinator for one side of the ball. I cannot think of a coach who has held both.

Or did I not understand? 

[LZH]

Do I now think we should have hired Gus?  Yes.  At the time, would I have passed on him, too?  Yes.

Could Beliema be 'the' savior?  I doubt it.  Now that doesn't mean that I don't think he can win here - any good coach can win here.  But THE savior?...I just don't see that "it" factor with Beliema that you see with some guys.  Certainly nothing he did last year would suggest anything special.  Maybe Gus has 'it'...no doubt he sure impressed me with what he did last year.  And you could see 'it' with Petrino because he designed and called the plays and you just had that confidence that he could out-think the defense 99% of the time.

But Petrino wasn't without flaws in his first year here, either.  So, to be fair, I'll have to admit that the jury is still out on Beliema because he has the opportunity to prove that last year was an anomaly and he's really a better coach than that.  But if his real area of expertise is getting the most out of average recruits like everyone suggests he did at Wisconsin, then his performance last year was so bad that it HAD to be an anomaly.

Initially Jeff Long might have gone after our savior, but ended up hiring who he thought was the best coach he could get.  I'm sure that the job was offered to a coach that has 'it' but for whatever reasons he passed.  The good thing is that Beliema has a wide-open chance to prove me wrong.

[ChitownHawg]

Do you believe he splits his time evenly between both? That's his defense about as much as Petrino's offense was his offense.

I get your point and disagree. UM may have concentrated on offense because he had Strong as DC. I believe all great coaches ensures all three aspects of the game are managed well. Guys like Gus and Bobby who are great at their side of the ball will only have a chance to win it all if all three aspects are being managed. Gus seems to have learned that. Bobby we are still waiting.

[ChitownHawg]

Meyer concentrated on offense because that's what he does: the spread offense. It had nothing to do with Strong.

Ok. 

[Hawg_Thai'd]

Could Beliema be 'the' savior?  I doubt it.  Now that doesn't mean that I don't think he can win here - any good coach can win here.  But THE savior?...I just don't see that "it" factor with Beliema that you see with some guys. Initially Jeff Long might have gone after our savior, but ended up hiring who he thought was the best coach he could get.  I'm sure that the job was offered to a coach that has 'it' but for whatever reasons he passed.  The good thing is that Beliema has a wide-open chance to prove me wrong.

I would have to agree with this. Let's let him win some games first and then we will worry about when to make a shrine. In all honesty, it would take a helluva coach to do here what Saban has done at Bama. Now, I know...Bama is Bama, yadda yadda. But to have an elite program here takes all the right moves. Recruiting, playmaking, fundraising, etc. I realize I'm preaching to the choir to most on here, but lets worry about having a good coach before we call him an elite coach.

[Peter Porker]

Do I now think we should have hired Gus?  Yes.  At the time, would I have passed on him, too?  Yes.

Could Beliema be 'the' savior?  I doubt it.  Now that doesn't mean that I don't think he can win here - any good coach can win here.  But THE savior?...I just don't see that "it" factor with Beliema that you see with some guys.  Certainly nothing he did last year would suggest anything special.  Maybe Gus has 'it'...no doubt he sure impressed me with what he did last year.  And you could see 'it' with Petrino because he designed and called the plays and you just had that confidence that he could out-think the defense 99% of the time.

But Petrino wasn't without flaws in his first year here, either.  So, to be fair, I'll have to admit that the jury is still out on Beliema because he has the opportunity to prove that last year was an anomaly and he's really a better coach than that.  But if his real area of expertise is getting the most out of average recruits like everyone suggests he did at Wisconsin, then his performance last year was so bad that it HAD to be an anomaly.

Initially Jeff Long might have gone after our savior, but ended up hiring who he thought was the best coach he could get.  I'm sure that the job was offered to a coach that has 'it' but for whatever reasons he passed.  The good thing is that Beliema has a wide-open chance to prove me wrong.

Out of curiosity how many wins do you think we would have had in 2012 and 2013 had Petrino not been fired?

[LZH]

Out of curiosity how many wins do you think we would have had in 2012 and 2013 had Petrino not been fired?

Probably 8 or so in 2012 and 6 or 7 last year.

[Mike_e]

Out of curiosity how many wins do you think we would have had in 2012 and 2013 had Petrino not been fired?

I don't know if you could say a number without pulling it out of a hat.

Both '12 and '13 were adversely impacted by having the proverbial rug pulled from under them.  Even if bp had stayed there would have been serious fallout from team's prospective of their leadership.

If harleygate hadn't happened at all then we might have gotten back to 10 wins in '12 and 7 or 8 in '13.  We'd be looking at 8 or 9 this year if we were lucky and a few defensive players managed to come on board.

[LZH]

I don't know if you could say a number without pulling it out of a hat.

That's all you can do.  I'm just guessing.

[GuvHog]

I've never had a problem with Bret Bielema, I just believe he was put in a bad situation that he shouldn't have been put in. Hiring a head coach who uses a system that is the exact opposite of the system the talent on campus was recruited to run is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Eventually CBB will change the round hole to a square and THEN we'll see what happens.

I strongly oppose hiring Gus Malzahn in ANY capacity at the University of Arkansas.

[Hoggish1]

I actually think Bielema's personality is more exciting than Malzahn's.

Bingo!  Whoever thinks GM has an exciting personality is out of touch with reality.

Oh, and Mal-a-zahn didn't play for Arkansas LOL...

[Hoggish1]

I think the Gus mania will subside in a year or two.  The state of Alabama is a weird place full of hatred between Bama and AU fans that borders on Sunni and Shiite sectarianism.  The Bama faithful will try to change the rules to keep AU from abusing them, and they will find a way to get dirt on AU.   The Bama faithful are scratching for any piece of dirt they can find on Gus and his program.  The Bama fans do not like that the Gus offense is abusing rules of the game to the very fringe of decency to get an advantage.   AU beat Bama in a dramatic fashion, so the drama will be amped up too.   

It's unfounded mania.  AU should have had at least three loses last year...

There will be hell to pay for Gus in Tuscaloosa this year.

[chitwnhog]

Bingo!  Whoever thinks GM has an exciting personality is out of touch with reality.

Oh, and Mal-a-zahn didn't play for Arkansas LOL...

If you mean "play" he didn't start or see the field...you are correct. He was however a walk-on under Hatfield.

[TeedupHigh]

Do I now think we should have hired Gus?  Yes.  At the time, would I have passed on him, too?  Yes.

Could Beliema be 'the' savior?  I doubt it.  Now that doesn't mean that I don't think he can win here - any good coach can win here.  But THE savior?...I just don't see that "it" factor with Beliema that you see with some guys.  Certainly nothing he did last year would suggest anything special.  Maybe Gus has 'it'...no doubt he sure impressed me with what he did last year.  And you could see 'it' with Petrino because he designed and called the plays and you just had that confidence that he could out-think the defense 99% of the time.

But Petrino wasn't without flaws in his first year here, either.  So, to be fair, I'll have to admit that the jury is still out on Beliema because he has the opportunity to prove that last year was an anomaly and he's really a better coach than that.  But if his real area of expertise is getting the most out of average recruits like everyone suggests he did at Wisconsin, then his performance last year was so bad that it HAD to be an anomaly.

Initially Jeff Long might have gone after our savior, but ended up hiring who he thought was the best coach he could get.  I'm sure that the job was offered to a coach that has 'it' but for whatever reasons he passed.  The good thing is that Beliema has a wide-open chance to prove me wrong.
[/quote

[AFWarrior83]

Anybody that has followed coaching at a school after CBP had a difficult time winning games, because he recruits to his system. Gus had an amazing first season at Auburn, but he recruited many of the players that were on the roster while he was an assistant, and they got lucky a few times.

CBB is a proven winner, and the BIG conference may not have the depth that the SEC has, but it's still a Big 5 D1 conference. We had a horrible season, but I'm seeing continual improvement. CBB deserves 5 years, period! If he can't get us back to winning 8-9 games by year 4, then he'll be let go. But I like CBB's personality and swagger. Hopefully that rubs off on the team, because we need to be mean, big, and confident if we want to challenge BAMA/LSU/Georgia...

[Country Stylz]

Out of curiosity how many wins do you think we would have had in 2012 and 2013 had Petrino not been fired?

9 in 2012...7 last year.

[Peter Porker]

Probably 8 or so in 2012 and 6 or 7 last year.

That gives him the same 6 year record as Nutt.

[Spikes]

That gives him the same 6 year record as Nutt.

So do you think CBB resume will look better then HDN in 6 yrs?

[Peter Porker]

9 in 2012...7 last year.

Basically Nutt's 6 year record with no wins vs Bama and no SEC West titles.

[Spikes]

Basically Nutt's 6 year record with no wins vs Bama and no SEC West titles.

With CBP the team was trending up, fans believed, and were showing up for the games, as with HDN teams started to avg out, and fans were starting to see 3 yrds and out..  By the way CBP had 4 more wins then HDN at the 4 yr mark, and much harder SEC to deal with as well..   

[Peter Porker]

With CBP the team was trending up, fans believed, and were showing up for the games, as with HDN teams started to avg out, and fans were starting to see 3 yrds and out..  By the way CBP had 4 more wins then HDN at the 4 yr mark, and much harder SEC to deal with as well..

Petrino played an extra game each year. 11 game seasons vs 12 game seasons.

Also, most ppl say we would have taken a step back in 2012 and 2013. So, no, not trending up.

[Chief Mac]

With CBP the team was trending up, fans believed, and were showing up for the games, as with HDN teams started to avg out, and fans were starting to see 3 yrds and out..  By the way CBP had 4 more wins then HDN at the 4 yr mark, and much harder SEC to deal with as well..

point of fact, the SEC west is even more difficult now than it was three seasons ago

[Spikes]

Petrino played an extra game each year. 11 game seasons vs 12 game seasons.

Also, most ppl say we would have taken a step back in 2012 and 2013. So, no, not trending up.

1 st yr was equal in games, 2nd-4th was 1 more game each year. Not worried about what most people "think", facts are he was winning and improving, HDN was leveling out and fans were starting to see the writing on the wall.

[Spikes]

point of fact, the SEC west is even more difficult now than it was three seasons ago

You mean the SEC lost the National championship between 2008-2011?  The SEC is tough, no matter what year.  Teams are up and down, your team is either prepared to attack weakness,win or they are not.  W vs L is all that matter in College football!! Just like the first game of the year is at Auburn, we are prepared and win or we lose.. Not a fan of we are getting better, you either win or not..

[ChitownHawg]

That gives him the same 6 year record as Nutt.

True about the record, but I didn't cringe when I heard Bobby speak. 

[ChitownHawg]

You mean the SEC lost the National championship between 2008-2011?  The SEC is tough, no matter what year.  Teams are up and down, your team is either prepared to attack weakness,win or they are not.  W vs L is all that matter in College football!! Just like the first game of the year is at Auburn, we are prepared and win or we lose.. Not a fan of we are getting better, you either win or not..

So what you are saying is Bobby's SEC was tougher than Nutt or Brett? Kind of selective if that was your point.

[LZH]

That gives him the same 6 year record as Nutt.

Sounds about right.  But the SEC is much, much, much, much tougher then than it is now!.....so that doesn't count haha.

[Spikes]

Not hardly my point.. Was not say SEC was down cause they lost the championship last year.   Was saying the SEC was winning national championship during his time here.. Hence it was a very competitive league. 

I would say the SEC was harder during his 4 yrs vs HDN time here. The SEC is about the same or just a little better now compared the CBP 4 years. It all comes down to W vs L in the end. Well at least to me it does.

[Peter Porker]

  1 st yr was equal in games, 2nd-4th was 1 more game each year. Not worried about what most people "think", facts are he was winning and improving, HDN was leveling out and fans were starting to see the writing on the wall.

So you're of the opinion we were going to win 12+ games in 2012 and 13+ games in 2013 had Petrino stayed?

[Spikes]

True about the record, but I didn't cringe when I heard Bobby speak. 

Records are not the same, even it you take out the extra games . CBP sill had more wins

[Peter Porker]

True about the record, but I didn't cringe when I heard Bobby speak. 

Probably fell asleep. Talk about monotone.

[ChitownHawg]

Not hardly my point.. Was not say SEC was down cause they lost the championship last year.   Was saying the SEC was winning national championship during his time here.. Hence it was a very competitive league. 

I would say the SEC was harder during his 4 yrs vs HDN time here. The SEC is about the same or just a little better now compared the CBP 4 years. It all comes down to W vs L in the end. Well at least to me it does.

Appreciate the clarification.

[Spikes]

So you're of the opinion we were going to win 12+ games in 2012 and 13+ games in 2013 had Petrino stayed?

I feel he could have keep us at or around 10 games a year.. His style and playing call is what won us games( yes he needed to improve Def)  but I'm also not someone that can see in the future, just someone that uses facts vs opinion.
Here what we all felt during CBP years as a coach, we always felt we had a chance to win games, even against Bama, LSU, Ohio State, all the good ones... I lost that feeling after the 4 yr with Nutt and didn't have it last year and don't have it this year.. Hope I'm wrong, but just don't see us having a .500 or better record this year. Time will tell all and be all...

[Peter Porker]

Records are not the same, even it you take out the extra games . CBP sill had more wins

Not counting bowl games Nutt was 29-15 in 44 games and Petrino was 32-16 in 48 games.

11 game regular seasons vs 12 game regular seasons.

[Peter Porker]

I feel he could have keep us at or around 10 games a year.. His style and playing call is what won us games( yes he needed to improve Def)  but I'm also not someone that can see in the future, just someone that uses facts vs opinion.
Here what we all felt during CBP years as a coach, we always felt we had a chance to win games, even against Bama, LSU, Ohio State, all the good ones... I lost that feeling after the 4 yr with Nutt and didn't have it last year and don't have it this year.. Hope I'm wrong, but just don't see us having a .500 or better record this year. Time will tell all and be all...

Then Petrino was levelling off if you thought he would win 10 games each of the last 2 seasons.

His playcalling won him games? Here i thought it was the 4 and 5 star offensive talent on the team.

[Peter Porker]

Petrino won 17 SEC games here. How many were against teams that had a winning conference record?


Here ya go

But these 17 SEC wins were all awesome...


17 games

2008
Auburn 5-7 2-6
LSU 8-5 3-5

2009
Auburn 8-5 3-5
SCAR 7-6 3-5
Miss St 5-7 3-5

2010
Georgia 6-7 3-5
Ole Miss 4-8 1-7
Vandy 2-10 1-7
SCAR 9-5 5-3 (1st SEC win vs opp having winning SEC record)
Miss St 9-4 4-4
LSU 11-2 6-2

2011
Auburn 8-5 4-4
Ole Miss 2-10 0-8
Vandy 6-7 2-6
SCAR 11-2 6-2
Tennessee 5-7 1-7
Miss St 7-6 2-6

49-87 combined SEC record.

Average of 3-5 SEC record.

[Big Poppa Z]

I strongly oppose hiring Gus Malzahn in ANY capacity at the University of Arkansas.

I cannot disagree.

He's personally fraudulent.

[Spikes]

Then Petrino was levelling off if you thought he would win 10 games each of the last 2 seasons.

His playcalling won him games? Here i thought it was the 4 and 5 star offensive talent on the team.

Well if leveling off at 10 wins a year vs 7-8, then I will take 10 wins and a big to major bowl game.  You don't like CBP, that is obvious.. He proved you can win and be a top 5 team here. So let see CBB get us to 10 wins. That all he has to do. That's where the bar was set. So time for him to do so. Starts in a couple months at Auburn... Win or Lose.. This game is a very important game and could potentially set the tone of the year.