Maybe the new WHS format is what some needed as convenient excuse to hide from the latest failures associated with Coach Bielema and the football program. We were told how great Coach Bielema was and going to be. Coach Bielema would win Big Boy football like we have never seen. Coach Bielema would beat Alabama, bring an SEC Championship, and not a simple 22-5 record; but better. Coach Bielema would get character guys, no more players like Ryan Mallett (I guess)? We would get players that would not quit i.e Brandon Mitchell and others who left the program as result of the firing of their head coach and/or how they viewed they would or not be used under Coach Bielema.
The excessive beat-downs upon Coach Bobby Petrino for his affair and his subsequent attempt to cover up is minor comparison for current state of program that was Top 5 at the time (2011). Since the team went straight to the bottom after Petrino’s departure; 0-8 in SEC under Coach Bielema it was conveniently blamed as fault of Coach Petrino. In retrospect, it appears amazing that CBB has been able to get the team to slightly above .500 football. But why does it appear we are still going backwards at 7-6? Will anyone address? Whatever happened to standup men / women that are fans of the program? Maybe, just maybe it is tied to why some of the WHS Alumnus are no shows. We continue to hide waiting and hoping for something that is never going to happen. Six Years AP (After Petrino) and we look worse yesterday in the 2nd half than entire season under John L Smith.
Drew Morgan was ejected with 5:14 left in the Belk Bowl. “I was told he spit in a guy’s face, so I’m assuming he did,” Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. “Very embarrassing for me as a head coach to say that. When the official comes over and tells me that, I of course agree he needed to be removed from the game.” Bielema said he didn’t want Morgan to be remembered for the ejection. ”
Sprinkle attempted to steal $259.59 worth of merchandise – including shirts, underwear, socks and wallets – during an outing for the players at the store Tuesday night, according to a police report released to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Love and call Coach Brett Bielema what you want, but don’t find fault with others who are simply at wits end for why we are going backwards after 6 years. There is old saying, you cannot fix a problem until you first understand what the problem is. We may have allowed contractual vigilante justice driven by a moral energy to drive the program even further away from the ascension accomplished by predecessor. Time will tell if same moral energy does anything to resolve the embarrassment of yesterday.
Pretty tough day for the Hogs yesterday… Almost makes an old loyal fan like me give up. Like my teams/coaches do.
Hog football is on a downward spiral if you ask me. Beat Ole Miss and lay down against Auburn, beat Florida and lay down against LSU. Hard to understand now even harder to understand because now they do it in the same game. Play lights out first half and lay down the second half.
Hog basketball is the same ole crap that we’ve seen year after year. Schedule cup cakes to win an easy 10 games, win 25% of the tough games, win 50% of the rest of the games and then come March pray you have enough wins to qualify to get in… Depending mostly on the success of the SEC tourney. Which is usually a first round loss.
I see nothing changing. Moses is losing it quickly. Preseason SEC player of the year. Probably 25 players currently more effective in the SEC. That’s tough on me because I really like Moses. Why the H our basketball coach isn’t smart enough to find playing time for Jones is baffling as h to me. But not surprising.
Monk kills Ole Miss and Allen killing us last night. I’m proud of those guys and don’t blame them for wanting to play smart successful tournament basketball.
Nice post, brother. I honestly think the new format has more to do with thin skinned WHSportwriters than anything else. Many of us were often times critical of the author penning the story and the current format is a way to shutdown such a thing.
As to yesterday’s debacle, the announcers kept saying that they couldn’t understand why Arkansas was such a horrendously poor second half team this year. I kept thinking the reason why is really pretty clear; we’re getting out coached at half time.
dwp007,
Long time no hear. Don’t forget to check in on the other side, so we know you are alright.
In regard to new format; the mere fact of persistence suggest that you are probably right or not too far off. The irony is that by definition Freedom of the Press is "The right to circulate opinions in print without censorship by the {government}; in this case WHS; but they choose to limit the publication of those opinions as it relate to current events. That is akin to a State run Press by a local Goverment which for WHS reeks of Press run by the Long UA Athletic Department. It is unfortunate the reality of their messages; both real and subliminal have simply not materialize and after 6 years reads as fantasy. I could make the argument that in his day, the legendary Frank Broyles would pull the plug on Bielema era after the back to back Missouri and Virginia Tech losses.
Jordan,
Where have you been? I wasn’t sure it was really you until I see your statement “Hog basketball is the same ole crap that we’ve seen year after year.” Only one man on the planet would say some chit like that LOL. I have sent you a PM, holla back. During the meantime, it hurt to think about the what ifs if we had Monk or Allen or even both. But next year, we have those Top 3 recruits. Somehow I think if Hogs beat Tennessee, the real Jordan will be all SMILES!!!
Has anyone given any thought that maybe some players or coaches or both are on the take. Point shaving. Throwing games. Maybe just a conspiracy theory. But there is definitely more to this than Dr.Jekyl and Mr. Hyde halves of football.
It actually did occur to me last night. But then you have to ask, “If Austin is good enough to put that touchdown pass on the pylon, why not put it two feet out instead and avoid having to hit your TE on his back shoulder-pad at the five to throw something?” That is to say, what is the point of getting 24 ahead in the first place if you plan to shave points or throw the game in the end? If the idea was to prove you “could” win before actually losing 1) that just risks exposing the conspiracy and 2) certainly did not prove to anyone that we could win, just that we could lose spectacularly. And why get the Hogs to be on the take? Lots of other teams would draw more money. Plus, we were expected to lose (before we played the first quarter), so you would have gone after VT to throw the game for betting purposes, not us (have not looked to see how we did against the spread).
I would almost like it if our players were that good to shave points but the problem is coaching. Rumors all year that the defensive staff has not seen eye to eye but it seem Smith has overruled them all and we know the results.
Smith should be fired but not so sure about the rest of the defensive staff. I would also like to see Anderson fired. I think he is over his head and is NOT a good recruiter. Those are the two changes at the minimum I’d like to see.
I don’t think players gave up but I do think they get frustrated when the coaches don’t make adjustments for them to succeed. If they are in the wrong scheme it appears from the stands they have given up. Bielema also needs to look in the mirror and see if he is sending the wrong message to his staff, players and fans. When you don’t look like a Div 1 coach then maybe others won’t see what you want them to see. Shave, lose the flip flops, lose some weight and maybe your clothes will fit from 4 years ago. Plus you’re fixing to have a baby so get healthy so you can see him/her grow up.
How can you get out-coached at halftime when you are up by 24? What changes do you need to make when you are winning by 24 points? If the opposing team hasn’t changed it’s play in the 1st or 2nd quarter, then what do you do to make the 3rd and 4th quarter results to equal the same? Nothing. There is nothing you can do, because you haven’t seen any adjustments made. Therefore, the gameplan works.
These past two losses are on the players - period. Let’s throw interception, after interception, and then let’s throw another. While we are at it, lets fumble the ball. Seriously - there is nothing you can say or do to stop that spiral. That is purely on the players. Coaches can only receive some criticism, but blasting on the head coach over and over is ridiculous. Players play the game. Its obvious that the game plan works or the Hogs wouldn’t have such leads, but for some reason a mental collapse occurs. Start blaming players as well, because they are the biggest portion of team production, or lack thereof.
The score is 24-0 at half. 20 minutes later you start getting your butt handed to you. You have a total of 36 rushing yards for the game. You are all about smash mouth football. Running the ball featuring two backs. Time of position. Long drives. Keep the other offense on the sideline. 35 points later, game over. 24-35. There is no logical explanation. Therefore, one must starting looking at the illogical.
The Hogs had an opportunity to respond with a TD for a 31-7 lead had Morgan made it to the end zone. He could not get it there w/o necessary breakaway speed but his intangibles saved the Hogs in many games throughout his career. The game was won or lost at that fortunate point for Va Tech as they also somehow got smart and brought bit more outside pressure and implementing nickel coverage (becoming more successful starting after the momentum changing D Morgan fumble). Just so glad Austin Allen had all day in the 1st half–hardly no pressure nor blitzes. We just have to keep adding some pieces to build around Austin Allen with some speedy sure handed receivers. Improvements should come from the OL next season. Offense could be more explosive if all things hold and also implementing faster players into schemes. Va Tech’s adjustments on defense was just in the nick of time.
I am STILL trying to figure out what people complaining about. What is it about the format of this board that in any way limits the voicing of opinions?? I see a post like this on somewhat of a regular basis, so, there is something I am missing. I have been on message boards for close to 20 years. Some have moderators that are more strict than others. But I see nothing on the FORMAT of a message board that in some way cuts down on voicing opinions. Can you tell me what about the format of this board stops you from voicing your opinion???
The format here is very similar to the format of every other message board I have ever visited.
First, I don’t know that the above comment and my response to it was a complaint. Maybe you have read or heard of complaints so your question is a good one and very fair?
I think the above was intended as an opinion as to why there is a new format?
Seems like if you were a regular on WHS before the change using the old format, the view stated would be easier to follow. Regardless, your question is leading to a presumption to which was NOT stated? In this thread no one said the format of the board stops you from voicing an opinion. What was said is that the new format is believed to be related to thin skinned WHSportwriters than anything else. What you may be missing is many were often critical of the author of the story; the current format is a way to shutdown such views because the opinions that are published are separate (in a different area) from the story itself.
Again, the above was only opinions. We don’t claim to know why WHS made the format change, but the prevailing perception is that it effectively limits the ability to directly respond in kind to specific stories that have been written.
Good grief the Lounge is warped today!
We sucked, got out coached, players layed down, etc. I buy that.
Now the scam is on and the team/coaches or whoever are on the take.
Happy New Year LOL,
I don’t think anyone has touched on the fact that the game started to change just before the half after the muffed punt debacle. The Hogs got the ball back and had the chance to really put an explanation mark on the first half, but they went conservative and had to punt the ball. The defense changed to a prevent defense and almost gave up a field goal in the closing seconds of the half. I think if you look at the tape of the game, you will see the Hogs played defense differently in the second half. In the first half they applied pressure on VT and not in the second half. Once Evans got going it was all over. I think the Hogs changed their game plan at halftime but it was the wrong way. They should have stayed the course. I saw the same thing in the Mizz game. They go from trying to win to playing not to lose. I know the players have a part in the loses but it all starts with the coaching.
It was noted during the game when VT was making their run that CBB was not talking to anyone. He was standing off to one side by himself. What does that convey to the players and other coaches.
I do agree that at the very least we need a change in DC, OL coach and special teams coach.
I don’t know a single Hog fan who thinks Smith should stay on as DC; however, I’d like to throw a little mitigated hate toward our beloved Enos for just a moment.
I don’t want him fired; he’s very good at his job, for the most part. But, we were throwing the ball around like we were the ones who were down 24-0 at the half. We certainly had worse days with the run than on that day. Why the hell did we abandon it? The formula became too clear: run on first down (gain minimal yardage, maybe 2-3); pass on second (incomplete); forced to pass on third down (incomplete, interception). If you stuff Arkansas on a first down run, they are going to pass on second and third.
The only thing I can think of is that Enos felt that there was a big possibility for the defense to collapse, so he wanted to try and really build up the lead quickly. The problem is that it had the opposite effect. I think it probably spooked the kids more than anything. We should be able to look at that O-line and say, “Guys, it’s your game from this point forward. Run it down their throats; let’s start stretching this game out.” Instead, we gave up, what was it, 5 or 6 sacks in the second half? Are you serious? Allan was running for his life like it was the 85’ Bears out there. RUN THE DAMN BALL!
