ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Williams, Mallett, Green too much for USC

Junior tight end D.J. Williams caught seven passes for 137 yards and Broderick Green scored two touchdowns as the University of Arkansas handed South Carolina a 33-16 defeat in Southeastern Conference play.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Game Stats (PDF), Post-game Notes
• ESPN.com: Mallett’s 329 yards lead Hogs past Gamecocks

Video

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Razorbacks roll Gamecocks, Post-game Comments
• ESPN.com: Arkansas Tops South Carolina, 33-16

Articles

• Chris Bahn: Razorbacks Respond Well to Petrino’s Pressure, Two-Minute Drill
• Jim Harris: Comeback Kids Spark Arkansas’ Big Win Over South Carolina, Spurrier: Arkansas ‘Thoroughly Beat Us’
• Harry King: Mallett has best game as Razorback
• Clay Henry: Mallett Displays Touch

Opponent News

• The State: Coming unraveled: Hogs handle Gamecocks, QBs aim to be elite company, Oh, snap: O-line’s crumble continues, Morris: Lack of progress maddening for USC
• Charleston Post Courier: Autumn swoon: USC stumbling — again, QB Mallett lives up to hype against USC
• The Greenville News: Gamecocks hit bump on the road

Rotnei Clarke scored 21 points and was one of five Arkansas men’s basketball players in double figures on Thursday night at Bud Walton Arena which witnessed the Razorbacks eclipse the century mark in a 102-69 win over LeMoyne-Owen.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Game Stats
• Chris Bahn: Communication Key To Victory For Razorbacks In Final Exhibition Game
• Brady Holzhauer: Full Court Press
• Brandon Marcello: Hogs react after win over LeMoyne-Owen (Video)

Seriously…we think Goporkers might be Mr. Spock.  The pure dispassionate logic of that prediction — fascinating.  Congrats, Goporkers…we’ll beam your RBN t-shirt to you via subspace channels.  Live long and prosper.

As for this week, it doesn’t take much logic to realize it’s ‘do or die time’ for the Hogs.  Win and the rest of the season stays interesting.  Lose and we all start going to watch Razorback basketball games.  Then again…maybe we don’t do that, either.

If anyone needs a quick refresher on how we judge the winner of our little weekly contest, you can check the rules here.  So here we go:

Walking on Sunshine: Injuries to the Carolina offensive line and secondary may really start to show up this week.  However, we should not underestimate Eric Norwood and the Gamecock front seven — they are very good.  If the Hogs can pressure Garcia and protect Mallett, it should make for a fun day in the Ozarks.  Arkansas 31, South Carolina 28.

HogBaller: The Hogs continue their march towards bowl eligibility with a big win over the Gamecocks.  Arkansas 42, South Carolina 24.

HogBlogger: The Ole Ball Coach calls up some ball plays that take advantage of the ‘give up the big play’ habits of the Razorback defense.  The Hog offense sputters a bit too much under pressure.  Hope I’m totally wrong.  South Carolina 31, Arkansas 24.

TipsterHog: Play this game in mid-September and it’s no contest.  But injuries and suspensions to the Gamecocks’ defense give the Hogs just enough of an opening to begin salvaging what’s left of the conference season.  Arkansas 28, South Carolina 20.

Leave a comment with your name, e-mail address and pick.  And feel free to add your own take like “It’s a morning game but Spurrier can still play 18 holes afterward” or “This time we pass for 541 yards.  Hogs roll.”

The phrase ‘late season swoon’ just doesn’t do the last two years justice for Coach Steve Spurrier and the ‘Cocks.  Some have more accurately described them as “complete collapse.”

In 2007, USC started off 5-1, and reached a lofty #6 ranking in the AP poll, before dropping their last five games and failing to reach a bowl.  Last year, the Gamecocks started 5-2, before losing four of their last six, en route to a 7-6 finish.

Like the Hogs early in the season, Carolina lost to Georgia 41-37, in what may have been the most entertaining game in the SEC this year.  Four straight wins followed, including a 16-10 exposing of the Ole Miss Rebels in an ESPN Thursday night affair.

But since then, the results have been a bit shaky.  Two-point and four-point wins over bottom feeders Kentucky and Vanderbilt are coupled with losses to Alabama (20-6) and Tennessee (31-13).

No doubt the Gamecock offense has struggled, only managing 21.9 points per game (11th in SEC).  Inconsistent play in the offensive line is the culprit — somewhat due to injuries, the rest a result of inexperience.  Sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia, when not on his back, has been good, throwing for 232.7 yards per game with 12 touchdowns.  USC has allowed 25 sacks on the season.  Yikes!

On defense, the ‘bell cow’ is without question senior linebacker Eric Norwood.  The All-American has 54 tackles on the year, including 6 sacks.  You know you’re big time when you get your own web site — ewood40.com.  On the flip side, pro prospect free safety Chris Culliver will be MIA this week, according to ESPN’s Chris Low:

“The loss of Culliver in the secondary is a big blow.  The Gamecocks were already playing two true freshmen back there and don’t have any depth.  This is the last week you wanted to be short on defensive backs going against Ryan Mallett and the Arkansas passing game.”

Familiar faces are leading the Carolina defense, as former Arkansas defensive assistants Ellis “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” Johnson and Lorenzo Ward will face off against Petrino and the Hogs.  Spurrier’s penchant for running off/through assistant coaches is legendary.  Five of his nine current assistant coaches are in their first year at South Carolina.

Vegas has the Hogs as a 5 1/2 point favorite in this one, which means they didn’t watch the third quarter film of winless Eastern Michigan scoring at will.  If the Hogs are to have success this week, getting pressure on Garcia will be one of the keys.  As bad as the Hogs pass defense has been, having Garcia get comfortable in the pocket will be a recipe for a long day.

Senior Michael Washington led all scorers with a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Arkansas men’s basketball team to a 77-59 exhibition victory over Dillard University on Monday night at Bud Walton Arena.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Game Stats
• ArkansasRazorbacks.com (Video): Post-game Comments (Pelphrey), Post-game Comments (Players)
• Chris Bahn: Razorback Roster Shuffle Keeps Basketball Interesting
• Brady Holzhauer: Full Court Press
• Bob Holt: Arkansas in flux, tops NAIA foe
• Robbie Neiswanger: Short-Handed Hogs Claim Exhibition Win

The Good

• The highlight from Saturday night, without a doubt, was seeing Joe Adams back where he belongs — on the field catching touchdowns.  Adams led all receivers with 109 yards and was piling up his usual ‘RAC’ yards on each of his three catches.
• Knile Davis (59 yards, TD) and Ronnie Wingo Jr. (51 yards) each had a nice night, but Broderick Green stole the show.  Green’s 99-yard touchdown romp in the second quarter set Arkansas, and tied NCAA records for longest run from scrimmage.  The run was the seventh 99-yard rush in NCAA history since 1941.
• And speaking of Green’s big run, you have to love the effort of receiver Jarius Wright making two blocks on that play — one on the 10-yard line and one on the other 35-yard line.  That’s the second time this season that Wright has thrown a block well downfield to help a teammate (Greg Childs in the Florida game) score on a big play.

The Bad

• After holding Eastern Michigan to 36 first half yards, the Halloween version of the ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ Arkansas defense had a third quarter to forget.  The ‘mighty’ Eagles scored three touchdowns on their first nine snaps in the quarter, while rolling up 214 total yards.
• Having to make several ’starter changes’ after seven games based on the amount of effort shown in practice is disappointing.  We realize the coaches are just trying to get everything out of this young team (and, in particular, the defense).  But you would think being 1-4 in the SEC would provide all the motivation needed to give maximum effort every day.

The Ugly

• Once again, the Arkansas defense allowed another career day performance.  This time Eagles quarterback Kyle McMahon was the beneficiary.  McMahon’s 231 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a gaudy 196.3 passer rating were all career marks for the junior.
• The red pants.  Need we say more?  We realize that opinions may vary, but seriously…with that wide white stripe, do they not make us look like a Mountain West team?  I guess if we only wear them on Halloween, we can claim they’re ‘part of the costume.’

Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.

George Orwell once wrote, “The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.”  And as the Northwest Arkansas newspaper “war” comes to an end, there are definitely no winners to be found.

The hardest hit, of course, are those writers and other employees who were laid off this past week.  Sportswriters who we have read for years and linked to regularly from this site like Chris Cocoles, David Showers, Terry Wood, Vernon Tarver and Heath Allen have all (apparently) been let go.  We certainly wish them the best during this difficult time and in the future.

Having said that, everyone understands that the newspaper business is just that — a business.  The status quo was unsustainable.  The economy has slowed, technology has become prevalent, and there are few media markets left in the country that can support more than one major newspaper.

So other than reducing the number of sportswriters on the Razorback beat, how will this affect coverage of the Hogs?  From the FAQ describing the new “joint venture”:

Q. What kind of Razorback coverage can I expect?

A. The papers will continue to provide coverage of Arkansas sports in the Northwest edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and through the Arkansas News Bureau.  Staff members of Hawgs Illustrated magazine, Clay Henry and Dudley Dawson, will also supplement the coverage.

Q. Why do I need to take the paper if I can read the stories free on the Web?

A. All the stories generated by the new organization will be available on the Web for its subscribers.  Access on the Web to full stories from all four newspapers will no longer be free for nonsubscribers.  [...]  Content produced exclusively for the Web by the newspapers will remain available at no charge.

Like we said earlier…there are no winners in all of this.  And that includes those Razorback fans — many from around the country and world — who choose not to pay to be online or print subscribers of the local and state newspapers involved in this new “partnership.”

We already posted our thoughts back in July about the decision by Walter Hussman, Jr. to move his online newspaper content behind a ‘paywall.’  Like many others, we disagree with that decision as shortsighted.

But the reality is, as of today, the majority of the print coverage about the Razorbacks will now be behind a paywall.  And it will be up to Hog fans to decide whether or not it’s worth paying for that content.

As for this site, we plan to continue with our decision to only link to free content on the web.  But as you can see from last night’s Eastern Michigan game, that will mean fewer links to articles in our ‘Stream’ and game recap posts.  And that’s a disappointing loss even when the Razorbacks win.

ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Eagles prove to be Razorback treat

It was Little Rock night for the Arkansas Razorbacks as central Arkansas natives Joe Adams and Broderick Green combined for four touchdowns as the Razorbacks dominated Eastern Michigan, 63-27.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Game Stats (PDF), Razorbacks haunt the Eagles on Halloween (Video), Post-game Comments (Video)
• ESPN.com: Mallett throws three TDs to drive Arkansas’ rout
• Chris Bahn: Adams Provides Inspiration, Big Plays In Arkansas Victory
• Brandon Harris: Two-Minute Drill
• Alex Abrams: Adams’ Return A Feel-Good Story
• Robbie Neiswanger: Hogs Have Easy Time
• Harry King: Arkansas Achieves Its Goals

Man…the levels that will people will stoop to get an RBN t-shirt!  Ha…just kidding, Niels…nice job.  (By the way, you’ve got mail.)  But the real question…will anyone try to “increase their odds” this week and pick Eastern Michigan?

Unfortunately, the rest of us didn’t do a very good job listening to Niels and the oddmakers last week, did we?  For the first time all season, all the RazorBloggers picked the…uh…wrong team.  Never mind that before the season, three of us picked Ole Miss to win the game.

As for the standings of our little predictions contest, after seven games it’s:  HogBaller 2, Sunshine 2, TipsterHog 2 and HogBlogger 0.  (Ouch!)

If anyone needs a quick refresher on how we judge the winner of our little weekly contest, you can check the rules here.  So here we go:

Walking on Sunshine: Guess who is one of the most famous alums of Eastern Michigan?  Former Razorback basketball coach Stan Heath!  Yep…that’s right…’Stan the Man’ is a Fighting Eagle.  And what did we learn from Stan?  Nice guys finish last.  Arkansas 49, Eastern Michigan 13.

HogBaller: Halloween night proves gruesome for Eastern Michigan as the Hogs slash and gash the Eagles on the ground and through the air.  Michael Myers 42, ‘Did you hear something?’ 3.

HogBlogger: Hogs find groove in Homecoming scrimmage.  Arkansas 42, Eastern Michigan 7.

TipsterHog: Look out…Donovan McNabb is starting to get it going and DeSean Jackson is on fire.  Even without Brian Westbrook, the Eagles will be…uh…oh wait.  Nevermind.  Arkansas 56, Eastern Michigan 7.

Leave a comment with your name, e-mail address and pick.  And feel free to add your own take like “Sisters of the Poor had a scheduling conflict” or “Eagles rock.  Hogs roll.”

You can see the complete BlogPoll over at CBSSports.com. Here’s the RazorBloggers ballot for this week:

I definitely agree with Bobby Petrino…the team took a huge step back.  The Hogs weren’t ready to play this game.  While in person it was apparent their heads weren’t in the game, the replay showed a Razorback team struggling to get its head into the game while navigating what appeared to be unfamiliar or unexpected territory.

The performance on the field was not a result of lack of effort, but of preparation.  The Hogs weren’t ready for what Ole Miss threw at them.  I think responsibility for that type of preparation falls into the coaching pay grade category.

Let’s start on defense.

• We didn’t effectively defend the stretch play — a play you knew going in you could expect to see 15-20 times.
• We didn’t effectively defend the safe passes to the sidelines to the slot guy and the fullback — all Houston Nutt staples.  As we all know, he almost never throws over the middle.
• We got burned on the infamous ’smoke draw.’
• We got burned on a Wildcat play that we had been previously burned on at Alabama.  Apparently we have learning and retention issues.

I’ll give Houston Dale credit.  He had a great offensive game plan.  I’ll say the same thing I said last year — he calls plays much better when he doesn’t have to go into the weekly meeting with Coach Broyles.  He has a good offensive coordinator helping him game plan and a quarterback he trusts.  He also has a defensive coordinator that is miles ahead of Reggie Herring.

Our defense made the same mistakes as early in the year.  Our linebackers think that just because they hit a ball carrier…they’ll fall to the ground.  Our secondary guys take poor angles against speed backs.  We had a lot of flying at guys trying to get the big hit only to miss.  The whole thing would make a good comedy reel.

It’s interesting that the Hogs defense has been good against spread teams, but terrible against teams playing primarily from under center.

On offense, Ryan Mallett was both better and worse than he appeared in person.  While there were a few drops, there were a few great catches of balls thrown hard at helmet level.  He made only a few good throws all day, but the good ones were really good.  The Jarius Wright drop on a perfectly thrown ball was a potential game-changer.

My criticism of Mallett is about his decisions.  There were a number of times he threw to the wrong receiver.  The concept of nibbling away at the defense with short passes appears beyond him.  He ignored a number of open guys while trying to take longer shots down the field.  He didn’t step up in the pocket many times when he could have.  He missed a number of obvious reads at the line.

Overall, my biggest criticism goes to Coach Petrino.  We didn’t seem to have an offensive game plan that took into account Ole Miss pressure — pressure that had to be expected as it was classic Houston Dale.  Or, perhaps Mallett’s poor game management or reads at the line (or reads during plays) just made it appear we weren’t ready.  Either way, that’s on coaching or preparation.

So what about third down performance?  We hear a lot about that, but that wasn’t really the issue.  The issue was first down performance.  Here are some stats that I compiled.

The Hogs averaged an anemic 2.46 yards per play on first down, with 58% of the first down plays going for zero or negative yardage.

By contrast, Ole Miss averaged 7.9 yards a play on first down, with only 14% going for zero or negative yardage.  In the first half, Ole Miss averaged 9.5 yards per play on first down.  35% of Ole Miss first down plays went for 10 yards or more.

The Hogs ran 33% of the time on first down, averaging 2 yards a rush with a long of 5 yards.  Ole Miss ran 70% of the time on first down for an average of 6.6 yards with nine plays going for 10 yards or more.

So here’s some final thoughts before we put this one behind us:

It’s obvious that bump and run coverage causes our passing game to sputter.  Timing is disrupted giving pressure an extra second to get to the quarterback.  Pressure leads Mallett to start rushing and sailing the ball, affecting even throws where he has time.  The receivers get tentative…looking to get hit…leading to dropped balls.

If we are going to have an NFL-type offense, we are going to have to use an NFL-type approach to pressure.  Quick reads with quick throws from two-step drops.  That stuff was open all day.  Unfortunately, we seem enamored with our big-armed quarterback taking deep drops and flinging the ball 25 yards down the field.

We must commit to the run better.  The Hogs ran on five of 14 first downs in the first half for a 3.4 yard average.  Watching the replay, it appeared to me that we could have had success running the ball.  Dennis Johnson had 3 carries for 15 yards and one for a -2 into a blitz that Mallett obviously should have checked out of.  More Dennis Johnson required.

Most of you may think I’m crazy, but I want to see Wilson play.  He is much better than Mallett in the ‘under 20 yards’ passing game.  He reacts quicker, throws quicker, is very accurate and has great touch.  He deserves some minutes considering the way Mallett is playing.  Physical capability impresses everyone, but results are what matters.  Mallett, as they say in golf, is leaving a lot of putts out there.

Coaches Petrino(s) and Willy Robinson are not proving up to the SEC task right now.  The Hogs are 1-4 in SEC play with two admitted, and arguably three (if you count the defense against Georgia) games where the Hogs were not adequately prepared to play.  While I appreciate the honesty, I could do without the need for it.

The Ole Miss crowd shouting “Houston Nutt” late in the fourth quarter just emphasizes (as if it was really needed) that playing Arkansas is a huge deal to him.  The Razorbacks failed to match him in preparation and intensity.

I hope we are not seeing a pattern develop.

The Good

• Not much good in this game so we’ll pick something that at least made us laugh.  Watching Houston Dale and the Rebels try to execute a two-minute drill at the end of the first half brought back some (not so) fond memories.  The combination of clock mismanagement, questionable rushing calls and a huddling offensive unit looked way too familiar.  What used to be a regular winner of the “The Ugly” here is now part of “The Good.”  Unfortunately, it was Nutt who was laughing at the end of the second half.  Which leads us to all the bad stuff…

The Bad

• How is it possible that we looked clueless on defense against a coach who everybody in the country has ‘the book’ on?  Failure to stop Nutt’s go-to, favorite plays — passes to the flat, screens, draws — has us wondering who in the world our defensive coaches were preparing for all week.  When our defenders looked shocked when Ole Miss ran a draw, we knew the Hogs were in trouble.
• We stopped counting at nine dropped passes…it could have been more.  (And that doesn’t include all the throwing mistakes by Mallett.)  The worst, of course, had to be Jarius Wright dropping a sure touchdown.  That one was almost like committing a big turnover, since it took the Hogs a while to get over it.

The Ugly

• After a week of talking about mistakes by referees, it only took one play for them to screw up again after a bogus late hit penalty was called on Rudell Crim.  This is football…right?  With other controversial calls (or no-calls) in games at Starkville and Tuscaloosa, expect to see more reprimands passed out by the league office this week like the one that Bobby Petrino received last week.
• With the emotional loss last week to #1 Florida, many had feared that the Hogs would come out flat against Ole Miss.  Flat, however, is an understatement…sleepwalking is a better description.  Poor preparation, dropping passes, losing the line of scrimmage, costly penalties, missed tackles — all signs that the Hogs were outcoached and outplayed in maybe the most crucial game of the season.  Unbelievable.

Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.

ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Razorback rally comes up short

The combination of a slow start by the Razorbacks and a career-day from Ole Miss running back Dexter McCluster and quarterback Jevan Snead resulted in a 30-17 defeat for the University of Arkansas at the hands of the Rebels in Southeastern Conference football.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Game Stats (PDF), Post-game Notes
• ESPN.com: Mississippi’s 1-2 punch too much for Arkansas

Video

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Razorbacks come up short in Oxford, Bobby Petrino Post-game Comments, Willy Robinson Post-game Comments
• ESPN.com: Ole Miss Holds Off Arkansas Late, 30-17

Articles

• Chris Bahn: Razorbacks ‘Take Step Back’ With Loss To Rebels, Two-Minute Drill
• Alex Abrams: Ole Miss Too Much For Arkansas
• Robbie Neiswanger: McCluster Runs Through Razorbacks
• Nathan Allen: Salters, Davis Score First Touchdowns
• Harry King: Ole Miss Offense Comes Alive

Freshman Marshawn Powell scored 19 points for the Red team, but it was the 1-2 combination of White’s Mike Washington and Courtney Fortson who scored 14 and 13, respectively, to lead the White team to a 35-26 victory in Friday night’s annual Red-White game at Bud Walton Arena.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com (Video): Webcast Replay, Post-game Comments, Post-game Player Interviews
• Brady Holzhauer: Powell Shines in Arkansas Red-White Game
• Robbie Neiswanger: Hogs Concentrate On Teamwork

You can see the complete BlogPoll over at CBSSports.com. Here’s the RazorBloggers ballot for this week:

hoglar69 will not be receiving an RBN t-shirt because he forgot to include a score for the referees in his prediction.  He has been suspended for two weeks and his eligibilty to make a bowl prediction is in jeopardy.  …PSYCH!

If anyone needs a quick refresher on how we judge the winner of our little weekly contest, you can check the rules here. So here we go:

Walking on Sunshine: Hogs pass rush against a shaky Ole Miss O-line makes this a ’special’ day in Oxford.  HDN’s team “lets go of the rope” in the fourth quarter.  Not even close.  Arkansas 30, Ole Miss 16.

HogBaller: Bobby Petrino is in his second year at Arkansas.  Houston Nutt is in his second year at Ole Miss.  Enough said.  Arkansas 55, Ole Miss 10.

HogBlogger: The Hogs now know they can be pretty good.  Time to start a string of W’s.  Arkansas 42, Ole Miss 17.

TipsterHog: Ed Orgeron may be wearing an orange shirt now (when he’s actually wearing a shirt), but his old recruits in Oxford are still wearing red, white and blue on defense.  As for the Rebel offense…meh…high school.  Arkansas 20, Ole Miss 14.

Leave a comment with your name, e-mail address and pick.  And feel free to add your own take like “Nutt delays team entrance again to avoid boos…at home” or “Score evened.  Hogs roll.”

The yo-yo, up-and-down cycle that is life with Houston Nutt (13-6, 2nd year) is churning wildly down in Oxford these days.  Ranked as high as #4 nationally until exposed by South Carolina, the Rebels (4-2) are starting to experience what Razorback fans lived for a decade.  I’ll give the Rebel faithful credit, though, they are figuring him out faster than we did…much faster.

It was like going back in time perusing through the Ole Miss message boards after their 22-3 loss to Alabama two weeks ago.

“Why don’t we throw any passes to the middle of the field…it’s wide open?”

“Does the tight end ever catch a pass in this offense?”

“Snead has regressed and we have no passing game.”

“Who is actually calling these high school plays we’re trying to run?”

Last week, Nutt was even asked by the media (to his chagrin) who was calling these plays.  Apparently some Rebel fans thought the offensive coordinator, Ole Miss alum Kent Austin, was calling the plays.  While that’s a valid assumption, if you know and understand Nutt, it’s actually absurdly funny.

Nutt’s rambling response made it sound like it’s a “group effort.”  If things go bad, well, it’s everyone’s fault.  If things go good then, of course, “I called that play, brotha!”

Ole Miss is coming off a 48-13 win over a hapless UAB team.  For some reason, the Rebels celebrated like they had done something, and believe their offensive troubles are now behind them.  Quarterback Jevan Snead threw for 240 yards (season high), and three touchdowns, and was rarely touched or harassed by the Blazers defense.

“That was a good dose of medicine that we needed tonight,” UM coach Houston Nutt said. “I thought Jevan got back on track tonight.  That’s the Jevan that we know and that’s going to help. Hopefully, we can take off with that.”

On defense, Ole Miss is fast.  They currently rank third in the SEC and eighth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 13.0 points per game.  The Rebels are the SEC leader in third down conversion defense, holding the opposition to just a 23.4-percent success rate — a stat to watch during the game given Arkansas’ troubles on third down (26.3%).

Pine Bluff’s own Jesse Grandy is a dangerous return man, averaging 32.7 yards per kickoff return with a touchdown.  Kicker Joshua Shene has been solid, hitting all 5 of his field goal attempts.  Freshman punter Tyler Campbell (Catholic High School, Little Rock) is averaging 45.2 yards per punt, but has had two blocked.

If the Hogs are to have success Saturday, they’ll need to put pressure on Snead who threw 9 picks in the first 5 games, and contain “Mr. Wild Rebel” Dexter McCluster.  Ole Miss’ shaky offensive line play, combined with the Hogs’ improved pass rush (six sacks at Florida), might make for a fun day in Oxford.

Most of Florida’s sloppiness couldn’t really be credited to the Arkansas defense.  Except that, when you are overconfident going in and suddenly find yourself in a real game, mistakes happen.

For sure the Razorback defense showed that they belonged on the field with a supposedly ‘upper-tier’ SEC team.  They had an outstanding and amazing performance.

Those mistakes gave the Razorbacks the chance to beat the #1-ranked team in the nation.  A chance blown mostly due to the fact that two open receivers — one of which that was wide, wide open — were missed in the end zone.  Missing two field goals (and having the first miss followed up by a huge defensive gaffe) also contributed greatly to the loss.

Even when the opponent is giving you the game, you usually still have to go and win it yourself.  The Hogs are not yet mature enough to do that.

I’ve watched several Florida games this year.  Truthfully, they are nothing special considering how much talent they probably have.  They seem very limited to me.  Excepting for one play featuring a jersey grab to get behind a defender, LSU had them beat. Tebow carries them on his back…which actually seems to limit their completeness as a team.  Watch for a huge letdown after he graduates.

Yes…most of the known football world is talking about the 4th quarter calls that seemed to protect and assist Florida in their final two drives.  Yes…Florida seems to be allowed to hold on almost every play.  Yes…the SEC brass thinks the conference finances will be best served by an undefeated Florida in the SEC Championship game.  ‘BCS Penalties’ practically have their own web site.

Hit one of those touchdown passes or those field goals and the referees wouldn’t have mattered.

This is still a young and developing team.  Saturday was a huge step forward.  The Razorbacks are on the right track.

The Good

• Like defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said, “We didn’t go in there for a moral victory.”  But man…we should be really proud about how our Razorbacks played the #1 team in the country.  Six sacks, and four turnovers…now that’s what a ‘Fighting Razorback’ defense is supposed to look like.
• After the Alabama game, Coach Petrino said the he didn’t think the Razorbacks really felt like they could win against a high caliber of opponent like the Crimson Tide.  Don’t think we have to worry about that anymore.
• D.D. Jones and Jake Bequette were in the backfield the whole afternoon…both finished with two sacks each.  Several of the six total sacks were of the ‘coverage sack’ variety, as Tebow found no open receivers to throw to.
• For the second consecutive week, defensive tackle Zach Stadther recovered a fumble.  Stadther had one his better games, finishing with four tackles, as the Hogs shut down the Gators inside running game all day.
• Before Saturday, the Gator ‘D’ had not given up any plays greater than 30 yards all season.  The Hogs had three 30+ plays — Dennis Johnson’s 42-yard run, and Greg Childs two long catches of 46 and 75 yards.
• Vanderbilt replaces Florida on the Hogs schedule next year.  The Gators won’t see Arkansas in the regular season again until 2013.

The Bad

• Generally, we loathe listening to whining, opposing fans when they complain about officiating…so we’ll just grin and bear it.  Let’s just say the officials ‘got the word.’  Penalties: Arkansas 10 for 93 yards, Florida 3 for 16 yards.
• Alex Tejada’s two misses were his first two missed field goals of the 2009 season.  In three years as the Arkansas kicker, Tejada has failed to really make a clutch ‘game-tying or game-winning kick.  He’s (over) due for one.
• The Hogs were 0 for their first 10 on third-down coversions Saturday.  Ouch.  Finishing 2-for-13 on the day makes the Hogs 20-for-76 (26.3%) on the season — still an alarming trend.

The Ugly

• After Tejada’s first miss, a 40-yard attempt in the third quarter, the Gators immediately capitalized.  Tebow’s 77-yard touchdown to Deonte Thompson looked pretty easy after Ramon Broadway jumped the short route, allowing Thompson to get behind him.  Really the only big mistake the Hogs ‘D’ made all day.

ArkansasRazorbacks.com: No. 1 Gators escape Razorbacks

Caleb Sturgis’ 27-yard field goal proved the game winner as Florida escaped with a 23-20 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks in Southeastern Conference football.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Game Stats (PDF), Post-game Notes, Post-game Quotes
• ESPN.com: No. 1 Florida’s FG sinks upset-minded Arkansas, Schlabach: Florida wins, but fails to impress

Video and Photos

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Hogs take #1 Gators to the brink, Bobby Petrino Post-game Comments, Ryan Mallett Post-game Comments
• ESPN.com: No. 1 Florida Survives Arkansas, 23-20
• CBSSports.com: Arkansas vs. Florida Highlights, Arkansas vs. Florida Recap
• AP Photos / Getty Images: Arkansas vs. Florida Photos

Articles

• Chris Bahn: Confidence There For Razorbacks, Victory Not, Two-Minute Drill
• Alex Abrams: Razorbacks Just Miss On Upset
• Robbie Neiswanger: Defense Impresses, But Falters Late
• Kurt Voigt: Johnson Fills In For Smith
• Harry King: Gators prevail, barely