That is a headline over on the WHS site. Players stating their discontent with their performance last Saturday and stating it will happen no more. I have no doubt in their sincerity and I will always be a Hog fan no matter what. However I think the coaches led by Bielema should be the ones out front with these type reassurances. Stating they will not let that happen again and guaranteeing so by forfeiting ever getting any contract extensions on their huge salaries. I think that is what might get our team some coaching sorely lacking. I also think that would be a very fair stipulation in this 21st Century world. Where is anyone paid a huge salary over years while doing a rotten job?
Haven’t you read this board? It not the coaches fault. Its Petrino’s. It’s not Long’s fault. It the players. It’s not the media’s fault, it’s Arkansas’.
I think you have to first lay the blame at the coaches feet. The only thing the players should be concerned with is what Marcus Spears said, “Where was the fire in the belly at?” You and I talked about this earlier this year, Baked, about the 4th quarter in the aTm game. I saw several players with little to no effort after Auburn punched us in the mouth. I think this team is lacking in Senior Leadership. That is usually the cause of issues like that. But, the coaches, and I mean all of them, are front and center of that debacle Saturday.
Every facet of our game was lacking and poor. Except for Mcfain. Yay!!! Lol I must admit when he hit the fg a grin crept across my face even at 28-3.
I agree with everything you said, but I also like to see the players take some personal responsibility. Yes, we as a state were disheartened. Yes, the coaches bear the brunt of that discontentment. BUT, it’s the players on the field taking the beating. I watched the 30 for 30 on the Chicago Bears the other day, and one of their former players, Mongo, made a statement I felt was fitting for us. Talking about the attitude of their defense, he said, “it’s like a pack of wild dogs, if one dog is mean, every dog is going to be mean.” Maybe that should be a rallying cry for our boys, GO HOG WILD!!! Let it all hang out and go full throttle. Go Hugo Bezdek and play “like a wild band of Razorback hogs.”
A lot of Sun Belt teams would put up more fight and would have kept the score more respectable at Auburn than what we saw Saturday. The reason would be their coaching. This team playing like they did against Ole Miss and then that no show, that is 100% coaching.
I remember when I was a kid. I had three grandmas, one of course being a great. Two were sweethearts, but the third was just cantankerous. She slapped my very senile old German grandpa around for spilling his peas. She was happy to see a grandchild about two hours after arrival, then you better stay out of her way, she would make you think she was going to bite your head off. She had a little black dog. When she hollered at it, it pissed on the floor. Our Hogs had about as much fight last Saturday as that dog with my German grandma being Auburn hollering at them. Sad.
Anyone who has played football can tell you that tough talk is just talk. When you get on the field it comes down to if you’re a better player than the guy across from you. I just listened to CBB’s Wednesday presser and as much as I like him, it was total BS full of excuses. I still have a lot of questions that I can only hope the press can ask CBB and he will answer them without insulting our intelligence. He had the nerve to say that our RG has had a swollen ankle for 2 weeks and our Juco transfers are not good enough to put in and apparently worse than a converted DL! Come on man!
In objectively analyzing the very obvious consistent serious flaws in that O-Line. A person can only come up with two logically possible conclusions.
- Bad Coaching
- Bielema recruited offensive lineman over the last four years the worst in the SEC.
I tend to lean very heavily towards conclusion #1. I think it is by far the more realistic reason. I hope Bielema has a new O-Line coach on his radar screen for his own sake.
Moving lineman around from defense to offense is harder than the other way around. All the different blocking schemes for run & pass blocking to learn. Froholdt was a good D-Lineman but he is having serious problems adjusting to the more technical blocking responsibilities of an offensive lineman. That probably is lot due to coaching as there are obvious development problems all across that O-line. Froholdt was obviously very badly needed on defense this year. His move seems a damn waste.
I respectfully disagree that Froholdt was a good DL. When I watched him he always had his head down pushing. He might plug a hole but could not make a tackle because he never looked for the ball. I think he will make a good OL once he learns the position.
He would have been better served redshirting and let one of the Juco guys play. This is what really bothers me. Both Juco guys were highly rated but yet they could not beat out a converted DL or a Texas reject. We have a redshirted 4 star OG in Merrick who also can’t see the field! Either the coaches screwed up in their evaluations or all these kids just gave up. Something is wrong but I can’t put my finger on it.
I remember watching Hog Coaching Shows over the years. Holtz was spry & witty and even often comical with his life analogies relating to football. Hatfield had a thing about reading Bible verses as the lessons for a better life in football and all else. Petrino diagrammed exotic offensive pass plays out to the enth degree. Never defensive plays, always offensive pass plays. Nutt showed motivational talks he gave to his football squad at team meetings.
Nutt was a motivational coach, that was by far his greatest talent as a college football coach. I remember Nutt talked of aggression. Hitting people in the mouth, running down their throat. That is football! If you go at it any other way, it is losing football. If these coaches are not aggressive in that manner. Bielema needs to get coaches who are.
Part of it is Coaching I would guess, we can put 30 and 34 pts on the board against Bama and OM who’s defenses are better than Auburns. So another part of it is team Leadership I would guess also.
All of the previous AR Coaches mentioned above had their perks. Had some good assistants. Had their level of success here as well as their failures.
Question is, how would they fare against this SECW Guantlet year in and out with the players they recruited and the style of play each of the said Coaches put on the field?
That we will never know. So 2nd guessing the current regime is status quo.
I commend the players for stepping up in the face of embarrassment and making a vow such as they did.
WPS!!!
You say the SEC West is a guantlet and the Hogs have no team leaders. They sure have plenty of upper classmen. Who is responsible for organizing an atmosphere around this program where players within the program assume the responsibility of a team leader? Where are all those “uncommon people” that Bielema always recruits? Maybe they were ran off a few years back for missing a couple of classes.
This stating the SEC West is tougher now in this decade over past ones is very debatable. That certainly is no sufficient excuse for what happened on that field last Saturday. The only thing status quo is expecting this coach to field a better prepared team than that. This coach promised SEC championships when he was hired. He cannot even challenge for a conference divisional championship. I think you are right about an SEC guantlet though. Bielema is just in over his head.
Maybe you should apply for the HC position then. Since you have all the answers.
I’d take a stab at it for three million a year.