…is about the best case scenario for this team. To me, TCU and South Carolina will be the games that determine the exact outcome of the regular season. I think we finally beat A&M, win all of the rent-a-wins, and we should beat Ole Miss and Mizzou. I think we lose to Bama, Auburn, and LSU. We will lose a game we shouldn’t, again, and that is probably MissState. So, we win both TCU and South Carolina and we go 8-4. We split and go 7-5. We lose both, we are 6-6 and CBB’s butt is officially hot.
A great season, which requres we keep our QB’s & RB’s healthy and the defense has a huge turn around, would produce a big win, upset of one of Bama, Auburn, or LSU. I am guessing that would be Auburn since we play them at home. That could lead to a 9-3 season but that is a huge long shot. Getting our defense up to mediocre will be a big leap. Becoming competitive on defense may be too much to hope for. If we get more injuries at running back or Allen gets hurt, again, it will be a struggle. Go Hogs.
I don’t expect the defense to be worse than last year, that’s almost impossible. I expect it will be mediocre at best. I think it’s impossible to have a good defense in the SEC until you have SEC caliber safeties. Which we potentially have in the youngsters but they probably won’t be on the field yet.
I’ll hope for the best, but I’ve learned not to expect too much. I got ahead of myself last year.
The big change in the defense could be a better pass rush, but there might be an improved look at safety with better play from Santos Ramirez and also better play at nickel with Kevin Richardson back after missing last year with an injury. Those two players can improve the run defense in a big way. Ramirez was a better tackler in the spring. And, the difference between Richardson and Henre’ Toliver as a good tackler in the heart of the field at nickel is a huge change.
How does 7-5 or 6-6 season set with the fan base at end of year five?
Next year new qb to break in and revenue for north end zone upgrade come due.
8-9 wins are fair expectation at this point in time, but I do not see special teams or defensive being good enough for this level. Offense will struggle more than we suppose at front end of schedule. Qb will have to carry team in the early games and too easy to restrict one player from having that impact.
I agree completely. I think 8-4 is the best realistic scenario, but 7-5 is just as likely. Either way, we’d need to win the bowl game to have a somewhat content fanbase going into the off-season. If we catch lightning, we might win 9 games, but I don’t think that’s too likely. Ole Miss will be in Oxford and unless they have some transfers out following the NCAA matters, they’re probably going to be better this year.
I don’t see us winning any of the LSU, Alabama, Auburn games. The toss-ups are A&M, TCU, OM & MSU. I could see us winning or losing any of them. The only team I’m confident we’ll beat is MU (I was confident of that last year, too, though.)
I think we’ll be competitive in every game. Don’t see us getting really blown out because I think we’ll be better on D. I also think Austin will be more seasoned & overall a better QB. Of course, we can’t afford any injuries, especially at RB. We’re awfully thin there right now. I hope the kid from SC transfers in. Don’t know how good he is, but he’s certainly good enough to help.
Is a third straight 7-5 regular season enough to make the fan base happy? Assuming one of those wins is TCU that would mean Bielema’s teams would have had four losing records in conference play.
I think 8-4, 4-4 should be the minimum expectation and anything less a real disappointment.
Scheme. Rob smith was stubborn. Qb runs destroyed us. Gotta bring a safety down to stop that and he must be a sure tackler. He’s gone. As far as record this year I can see a max of nine wins if things fall right and we get some breaks. Tcu, a and m, miss st are toss up games we should win. Lsu will be closer if they look like they did in their abbreviated spring game. Bama we can’t beat. Auburn will depend on their defense. Offense will be good so it could be high scoring. Missouri is a game everyone counts as a win but they are pesky and tough and beat us what, 2 of last three years. South Carolina we should win. And if we can’t beat ole miss we don’t deserve anything. We’ll see if this staff can make half time adjustments instead of coming out flat. Time for this staff to let it all hang out. We aren’t going to out talent many sec teams.
“We’ll see if this staff can make half time adjustments instead of coming out flat. Time for this staff to let it all hang out. We aren’t going to out talent many sec teams.”
This sums up the football program after four years. I struggle to have a head coach with his defensive background to have the kinds of defenses he has put on the fields. He is the main one in personnel decisions and has based much of his program on player development but the on field product raises questions on both who is playing and what we are doing. If Dan Enos was not as strong an offensive coordinator , how would you view the overall team? We talk about failure to compete in second half of the last two games but the Auburn game is the one which exposed both sides of the ball.
No doubt, the buck stops with CBB. He has something to prove this year. The lack of second-half fire from last year is unacceptable. Embarrassing losses like Auburn have to be stopped. All of those things need fixing, but I’m sure he knows that. However, if we are to blame him for that, we also have to praise him for hiring Dan Enos. I feel better with Enos on our staff, but he would have never been on our staff without the foresight of CBB. So, let’s hope that together they as well as Paul Rhoads and the rest of the staff fix the problems, and we can have a WPS kind of year.
I am expecting 7-5. The Oline is the main caveat with WR’s being secondary on Offense. The Defense is a caveat but expect them to be better than last year. Injuries to us and our competition are a caveat.
I think there are two asterisks needed when talking about Bielema’s “defensive background.” First, he was a defensive coordinator before the game became predominantly spread. There are a lot of DCs from that era who have been kicked to the curb because they could not evolve their schemes. Second, much of his career was spent in the Big Ten against offenses nowhere near the level of what Arkansas sees now in the SEC.
It has been a new game since he arrived at Arkansas.
Whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Wisconsin is a program set on cruise control to get 10 wins a year, regardless of who is coaching. Not much more, not much less, but consistently around that 10 win mark.
That to me puts a dent in CBBs resume.
I like him and think he’s a good guy, still waiting for him to show me he can handle the SEC.
It’s been a new game for the WHOLE SEC since Saban took Bama to insane levels. Some SEC coaches have been churned because they couldn’t beat Saban. Schools like LSU, AU, UF, UGA have been playing second fiddle for 7-8 years.
We are dangerous if we can block good enough to have a consistently good running game. We need these players to improve to be good AND CONSISTENT lineman:
Wallace - JR 4 star that has underachieved until mid season last year. He still needs to improve a lot. He has the body but not the fire at times
Gibson - JR walk on that earned a schollie and has impressive flashes.
Froholdt- JR stud DT signee with an NFL frame, but no experience on the Oline last year. There is no reason he should not be markedly improved this year which will reduce the amount of free blitzes.
Jackson - SO 4 Star that was better than expected as a Freshman last year. He started a game or 2 yet the stage was just too big. He looks ready to make a difference now.
Malone- JR a JC guy that could provide good depth and rotate
Ramirez - SR JC guy that could provide good depth and rotate
Merrick - SO 4 star that has to show something this year
If this crew of upstarts comes through with improvement then we could have a solid Offense. Give Austin time or open holes for RB’s and this offense is killer.