I know y’all are busy with many things…but I would love to hear your thoughts. Particularly on the offensive line, and when we might . be healthy there. Any thoughts on what can improve the running game…which MUST improve. Like, today.
I’m not against the Wild Hog, but I thought they had Boyd lining up too far back and were trying it against a defense that had tons of people in the box.
I like some of the creativity, but didn’t like getting cute when they were already moving the football.
Boyd needs to touch the ball a lot as does the three young wide WRs. I think all will benefit from Starkel being in the game.
Unlike some others on the radio today, I don’t think it was this bad, bad decision to start Hicks in game 1 and game 2. But if Coach Morris had not started Starkel in the second half and in this third game, I would have been all hammer down - pun intended - on that decision.
Arkansas has more talent this year, but it is young. Ole Miss has a lot of you talent.
That’s not an excuse. it’s fact.
I believe there are still not near as many SEC-level players on this team as there need to be, but there are more.
I believe some coaching decisions have been made that shouldn’t have been made because of that.
Coach Morris - or any other coach that would be coaching here - has to recruit his way out of the dumpster that the last three years of recruiting by the previous staff put them in.
I am neither sold or off the board on this coaching staff.
I think if they fired him after two years that - despite some saying this is a top flight job - the program would be set back even more.
That’s not to say there should be free passes given, but a man should be given a chance to dig out of the dumpster that so many of you talk about it being.
I think the OL is - obviously - still a work in progress, but there is some talent there and I expect them to mesh together.
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Good evaluation Dudley! I agree with about everything you said. We have to give this coach a legitimate chance to recruit his players and bring this team back to being a competitive SEC team.
Dudley, I think that pretty well sums it up
If you’re undermanned (see Air Force, Army and Navy) you play differently. That is, you make a difference. I don’t see this coaching staff adjusting their offensive philosophy to align with their talent.
Said another way, if the OL can’t block at the second level, plan for that. If the team is having a hard time executing, don’t get cute with strange offensive plays.
The team needs to find its identity for this season; that’s on Morris.
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How come the freshman quarterback at Ole Miss can run the offense with so much confidence while Morris says he has yet to put all of the offense in here in his second year? Here we go again, another year of changing quarterbacks. It seems obvious now that the incorrect quarterback was selected as the starter. But you can bet that when Starkel has a bad game, Hicks will be back in.
Oh, I believe if Arkansas had a 5-star QB that came in Jan., or if Starkel had, one of them would have got the nod.
Matt Corral has all the tools, but also appears to be one.
Oh, and I disagree with your theory.
I think, unless he just stinks it up, that Starkel will be the QB for this season and next.
I hardly think one guy starting three halves counts as another year of changing QBs.
This almost sounds as if you don’t concur that he inherited a dumpster fire, but rather it’s a subset of the fanbase that beats that drum.
Am I reading you correctly here?
PS I don’t think any UA coach in modern times inherited a worse situation.
I would not want to call plays with this offensive line. I’ve read everything about wanting to adjust to something else or not being cute to wanting more offense.
I suspect the offensive line will develop some this year and even more next.
No matter what level you talk about, it’s generally about what the offensive line can do. It’s the one area that age, maturity and experience is super important.
Building a running game without impressive lineman does not happen much.
The best way to do that is with a running quarterback. I don’t see that too much with Starkel or Hicks. I do with Jones and really do with Jefferson. Jefferson could help if his passing showed more precision.
I saw flashes of good play in the offensive line in the first two weeks but not consistent solid play from five. I’m encouraged by Stromberg and Cunningham. Wish the team would have gotten through camp with Capps and Gatlin.
Everyone loses players, but this team needs to catch a break and keep this O line together the rest of the year.
Starkel will keep getting better. I could not tell you how far he was behind Hicks going into the first game. Can’t speak on that decision. I will say Hicks did not get a lot of help from his receivers. But, he had his chance. Time to move on.
This team still is thin at so many spots. Injuries are tough to overcome almost anywhere. I do believe that will settle out in another year and some of the depth issues will not be so critical.
The grad transfer quarterback dynamics are new and not so easy to figure out with only about three weeks of practice and no two a days. It appeared the staff tried to interject many more reps for both by splitting practice into two fields. I have not heard of that before.
I expected to see better play to start the season but I also knew there was not much time for experimenting at QB before Ole Miss. Basically, they had about 2.5 weeks to decide if Starkel knew enough to mesh with the offense they ran in the spring without him.
Dudley, I’m gonna disagree with the “young talent” at Ole Miss.
They have three starters who are SO (Corral is listed as a RS FR, but he is a SO). AR has 8 starters who are SO or below.
Now on 2nd team they do have 11 True SO or below, as do we. But we have a lot more youth starting. Ole Miss has quite a bit of upperclassmen starting.
I agree on Corral having all the tools.
Hey Dudley, agree with everything you said.
Can you elaborate on the talent you see in the OLine and your expectations of meshing together, and if so what does that mean for effectiveness?
My personal opinion is that I don’t remember a great running team without great lineman, or a good running QB…and this is a balanced but run based offense.
I also concur with your opinion on getting cute when they are moving the football. I’ll even go a step further and question the need to go for “chunk” plays…whatever they use to get there…when they are effectively moving the football with runs and quick throws. It seems like most of the time that we go for creative or big plays after we are moving the ball, we just shoot ourselves in the foot due to poor execution with a bunch of younger players. ***Caveat…this is probably where I don’t know what I’m talking about like most of us on this board. Maybe statistically it shows you have to take “shots” and get chunk plays or the offense doesn’t really work. But it certainly seems like Craddock or Morris get greedy after we start moving the ball and just have to go for it.
By the way I’m sick of the “some on the radio” bunch who are experts on QB selection decision making. That stuff gets old. Watching Starkel hose up their best trick play is a great example of why they struggled to determine which way to go for the starter decision. Mistakes matter…he may be able to move the ball, but a likely TD was averted due to a mistake. Having said that, Starkel is clearly the guy and he will just need to work through the mistakes.
Great post!!! Where do you live in NC?
No, you are not reading me right…
It was a dumpster fire - at the end - as I have said many times on here.
But some posters have come on here, talked about it being a dumpster fire and are now ready to move on to the next guy. I don’t think that is fair or wise.
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I agree with you !
Of course, our running game would improve dramatically with a solid offensive line. It would also improve dramatically if we had running backs with the talent of DMac, Felix Jones, Peyton Hillis, Knile Davis, Jonathan Williams, and Alex Collins. Boyd is a nice SEC caliber RB, but not in the class of any of the previous names.
CCM and his offensive system may not be able to attract RBs with that talent level. That makes it even more necessary to have an SEC level cohesive OL in order to have an average SEC running game.
It seems well past the time to talk about the past. This is Morris’ team. It is early in his tenure. Sometimes, things have to get worse for them to get better. Said differently, turning a ship against a strong wind and a heavy sea is both dangerous and time-consuming. The turnaround may be complete but that does not mean that we are sailing full speed ahead.
Dumpster fire? Not sure that is a useful metaphor, although I will admit I toss a couple off in the previous paragraph that may not seem useful.
What most fanbases, and UA’s in particular, struggle with is patience. We have played the “what if?” game for 50+ years. 1965. 1969. 1977. 1979. 1988. 1998. 2003. 2006. What if Julian Horton scoops and scores? What if UA lands this recruit or that recruit who mysteriously go elsewhere? What if we hired Jimmy Johnson? Tommy Tuberville? Skip Holtz? Les Miles? Mike Gundy? Mike Norvell? All of that is fun, and fills the time online, but the “what if?” exercise only corrodes fandom.
I see people continuing to post about “dumpster fires” and I get cynical. That makes me part of the problem. This is a 100% reboot for UA football. We are 14 games in - I am excited to see where we are ten games from.
To me the play calling in the first half was painful to watch. Time to let Starkel sparkle.
Oklahawg and I generally see things the same way. Maybe we are just both old.
To quote Starkel’s tweet (and an Adam Sandler movie), “Yeah, it’s Brucie’s time to shine, baby.”
I am not sure I agree with the assessment on Boyd. I think he’s a fantastic talent. Not a Darren level talent. But, much like Alex and jWill in games when the o-line got overwhelmed, he has little room to operate when the o-line fails to create creases.