Put me down as still in CBB camp, but disappointed.......

Football Insider Board
#1

…if anyone cares what I think.

I believe, based on how Petrino left the program, that Bielema gets six years to fix things at Arkansas. I like the program he has built so far, am proud of the uncommon men he recruits, and have been OK with the steady progress each year. We play in the toughest division in college football, our overall schedule is rated as one of the most difficult in the nation, we replaced almost our entire offense (returning two linemen and the receivers only), so 7-5 is not bad. It is certainly not good either, but it is not “time to fire the coach” bad by a very long shot.

My concerns are we lost Pittman, had some misses in O-line recruiting, and ended up very shaky in the offensive line, a critical part of a CBB offense. They show signs of getting that fixed but CBB teams are known for well developed, well stocked, strong offensive lines. That was a very unexpected problem for a CBB team. When your best guard is physically gifted but obviously does not have the knowledge or experience to adjust to blitzes and stunts you are very weak at guard. The same kind of weakness showed at right tackle as well.

CBB found very little SEC talent on defense when he took over and, so far, his staff has not made significant improvements on that problem. They were weak in the secondary, went after some very good secondary recruits last year right down to signing day, and they ended up with no help in last year’s class at all. That means they are now even weaker in the secondary. That is not progress that is going in the other direction.

Our opponents in almost every game were stronger than us in the second half. We dominated the first half or were at least competitive most of the time, but the other guys adjusted better at half time, were in better condition, were stronger, etc. in the second half.

We started the season with great expectations and ended on a sour note Saturday. I expect more next year. So, you fire CBB ranters can just vent away for at least one or two more years and, I hope, much much longer than that. JMVVVVHO.

#2

You say that Bielema found very little defensive talent when he took over and little has changed. I know that’s the popular talking point but it doesn’t square with reality:

Philon
Flowers
Mitchell

All NFL players recruited by Petrino and to date nobody has matched their level of production

Also Gaines and Turner were not great, but their level of play at safety far surpasses what we’ve seen since their departure.

#3

Arkansas did something against Missouri that it had not done, and that was lose to a bad opponent.

Here’s what Missouri did this season. Margins of victory/defeat:

+79 Delaware State
+40 Eastern Michigan
+9 Vanderbilt
+4 Arkansas
-1 Georgia
-6 Middle Tennessee State
-10 at South Carolina
-14 Kentucky
-15 at West Virginia
-26 at Florida
-26 at Tennessee
-35 at LSU

The Arkansas result was wholly inconsistent with Missouri’s whole season. The Tigers did not win with outstanding offense. Their 28 points should not have been enough. They just shut out the Hogs in the whole second half. Want to know how many times they had done that? One other - against Delaware State.

For comparison, Arkansas’s margins of victory/defeat:

+42 Alcorn State
+39 Texas State
+21 Florida
+16 at Mississippi State
+4 Ole Miss
+3 at TCU
+1 Louisiana Tech
-4 at Missouri
-19 Alabama
-21 Texas A&M (at Arlington)
-28 LSU
-53 at Auburn

Many of the teams that Arkansas defeated this season would have beaten Missouri last Friday, and that’s the most disturbing thing.

Arkansas blew a game at Mizzou two years ago that was hard to stomach, but at least that was a good opponent. The Tigers in 2016 won two SEC games, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. They had lost to the mediocrity of the SEC East, time and again. They had given up 31 points to South Carolina, for crying out loud, and 35 to Kentucky. They had lost at home to Middle Tennessee State. Their previous game was a 26-point loss to the dumpster fire that is Tennessee. Their “home” game consisted of a crowd that numbered little over 20,000.

This had all the look of a team that celebrated victory at halftime and didn’t prepare for the second half. It seems that the Razorbacks rise and fall on the emotions of Bret Bielema, which is the weakness that was the downfall of Houston Nutt.

Kudos to Mizzou for going into the locker room down 24-7 but still believing (rightly) that they were better than the Razorbacks. They were better. Missouri outscored Arkansas 21-0 in an entire half and deserved to win. They proved they were the better team, the 4-8 Tigers.

Arkansas has a hard enough time in the SEC West. It cannot afford to throw away winnable games against East punching bags. The 7-5 record was no trophy, and the path to 7-5 was indigestible.

#4

Agree. I’m still on board but he’s got to do something about the defense and I need to see the physicality on offense and defense he says is his brand. I saw a lot of games where it seemed to be lacking on both sides of the ball.

#5

When considering a full roster, it squares perfectly. Those 3 equal 3.5% of the roster.

Agree with Gaines and Turner.

Also agree CBB’s recruiting has not been up to par, regardless of what he inherited.
In my mind, this upcoming year is the make or break. I’ve always believed that a coach should get 4-5 years, especially if his success is predicated on developing talent (Arkansas method) as opposed to picking talent (Bama method).

If next year is a repeat of this year, then I would say the ship has sailed.

#6

We didn’t even play a 100% Missouri team. They were without their far-and-away best running back, who would have been carrying a chip on his shoulder as big as a boulder.

We couldn’t beat a gimped Mizzou. No way to smooth over that failure. This Arkansas team reminds me of the 1999 Hogs, who blew their shot at an SEC title right out of the gate, then never showed up again for a road game.

Only this team did play one-half of a good game.

#7

I don’t think much will change with (on field performance/team physicality/coaching performance) with the W/L during BB tenure. Primarily because recruiting classes have not proven to be talented enough to improve on previous years.

The physicality was there last year and he blew game after game early. Wasn’t there until late this season and he lost games late that most on this board thought he should have won (Auburn and Missouri).

Kinda like HDN in that respect. Win one or two that he shouldn’t and just about always lose some that he should have won.

But you can rest assured that he will be on The Hill for many more seasons if Jeff stays.

#8

I’m in his camp only if he makes some changes on the defensive staff.
This was the worst defense in the 52 years I’ve been a HOG fan

#9

Respectfully, I disagree. The physicality wasn’t really there at the end of this year either. This team was like a Gemini - two personalities. (Don’t mean to offend any Geminis around here, lol.)

#10

Our record since 1992, the year we entered the SEC:

Arkansas: 166-137-2. 6 seasons at 9 or better
Ole Miss: 160-140-0. 6 seasons at 9 or better
Miss State: 147-151-2. 4 seasons at 9 or better
Auburn: 207-100-2. 11 seasons at 9 or better

Data from http://www.sports-reference.com/

Thanks to GentryRazorback for the Data!!!

#11

The fact a Bielema team in year four of a rebuild is lacking physicality is perplexing, disturbing, and very disappointing.

Physicality is what he hangs his hat on - something is wrong at the core of this program and how anyone can truly be confident about the future surprises me. Given the facts as they are today I can understand wanting and hoping Bielema gets it done, but just don’t see how someone can believe wholeheartedly that it will happen.

#12

It’s really surprising to see him not understand the play in this league in year 4

And to watch this jekyl Hyde team beat themselves over & over with self imposed penalities goes to the discipline of his ball club

4th down grab the ball is a head scratcher and the fake punt when one guy has a shot and doesn’t even fight off the block to make the play reflects it

#13

I agree those characteristics were not there in year 4.

But seeing as how they were for the first 3 years, I think that leads one to believe it can be recaptured.

#14

It took several bad brain farts on our part to give that game
to Mizzou, and we produced them.
We ‘handed’ them the game.

#15

I wish we had a linebacker talk some smack and rally a team around him. Someone on both sides of the ball that refuses to be PC and ready to back the talk up. This team didn’t seem to have any fire breathers that demanded real physical play. Not saying we didn’t have individual talent and intensity but not anyone to fire the team up for the aggravated assault needed in the SEC West.

#16