I have vowed again to NOT read and believe ALL the hype.
BUT once again I’m off to the races with Clay, DD and the staff.
I think the Chief will step us up and notch, and the running backs will get some yards.
QB and getting some STOPS !! Are my keys to the season. KEY TO THE SEASON
[size=150]u and the kicking game. Do we have a Steve Little on the TEAM?? [/u][/size]
WHAT are your 2 or 3 keys to the car and the pedal to the metal??
I’m going with 6.5 and 5.5. In other words Bowl$$$$$
My keys are Oline play (which is a problem now and has been for a few years) and QB play. When you have 2 QBs, coaches say you have none. One of them must step up and do it now.
I think the defense will improve. How could it be any worse? With a poor Oline and a shakey or at least new QB (s), the defense must be sound and the last defense we had finished in the Texas Bowl.
Last year I went into the “show me” stage and I am staying there untill they show me. boy did they ever show me last year.
A Steve Little? Absolutely not. Not many college teams have a kicker like that. Do they have an adequate one - or two - that can make key field goals? I would say likely yes to that one after hearing of the 50-yard field goals against the rush in yesterday’s scrimmage.
QB and offensive line on offense are biggest offensive concerns.
I don’t really have specific defensive concerns as I think all areas are improved. But if forced to name something, I would say experienced depth.
I’m at 5-7 or 6-6 with the Colorado State being the swing game. I still have to study CS before making a pick on that.
None of us are telling you that you should dive in with optimism.
But I do think you should be cautiously optimistic about the foundation of the program and certainly recruiting.
I’m with you Colorado… show me… with an injury decimated Oline and unproven QBs, it could another long season. However, I’m optimistic and believed we’ll go bowling.
From what I’ve seen in recruiting last year, and so far this year, that’s exactly what I’m seeing, he’s starting with the foundation. I think Morris will over achieve if we win 6. I’m thinking 4 wins. Anything else and I will be giddy with excitement
I’d rather have Ish Ordonez or Bruce Lahay at the PK position over Little. Little had a big leg but was barely over 50% for his career. I’ll take his 44.4 yard punting average all day long…I spent a lot of time shagging his kicks in the south end zone stands at WMS on game days, I was a big fan of his, but his career results don’t look all that impressive looking back.
Ordonez was 44-of-62 on field goals in his career. Ordonez ranks 10th in points scored with 220, including 44 field goals and 88 PATs. His 71 percent conversion rate on field goals still ranks as the fourth-best in school history.
Lahay punted the ball 129 times for 5,011 yards, for a career average of 38.8 yards. He also connected on 19-of-24 field goal attempts for a .792 percentage. The 19 field goals are tied for third all-time on the Razorback season list
Nobody has a Steve Little any more. Or a Russell Erxleben. Rules don’t permit it. In 1977 they used a tee and balls that were so beaten up they looked like rugby balls for field goal attempts. Lately 60 is about as far as anyone can kick one unless there’s a hurricane blowing behind him. Or maybe at Wyoming (7,215 feet above sea level).
I’m hoping that we keep making first downs/touchdowns such that a field goal attempt is rarely needed. (Well, there is an old saying that “Old men dream dreams.”)
For several years I read all the hype about our upcoming football season and I declared that everyone was expecting more than would be delivered. After one such posting, I had my head handed to me. This year I am on the other side of the coin. I am very excited. I am trying to dampen my enthusiasm. Since when have we ever had a top 16 recruiting class in football? As for the season, I think we will make it to 6 - 6. I look at all the games where we came apart in the fourth quarter. I look at the poor play of the offensive line. I look at how inept our secondary was. I wonder how we ever won 4 games. I believe the conditioning of the players and style of play will automatically improve some things. I think the offensive line will be better (don’t know for sure). I think the key will be quarterback play.
there also was a time in which the ball was spotted on the 20 on a failed kick so a missed 50 yarder did little harm, but spotted on the 40 or further is totally different. I always wondered why a team did not try a 90 yard FG instead of punting from their own 10.
For me, it’s just not a year to live and die with the W/L’s. Part of that is the pathetic poundings we all have endured over the last six years with intermittent moments of hope from team to team only to be reminded that leading big at half only begets pain. The Hog callouses have been rubbed into place. What’s exciting is watching the process under this staff and with every turn they seem confident and professional with results (so far) in recruiting, organizational ability, and system installations. So this year is about team/player progress and being in the games when we should be and not quitting when we’re not. If this happens (???), next year and the future will be all about the W/L’s.
That too, and it applied when Little was kicking here. Well, Steve Little had a strong leg, but not that strong to kick a 90 yarder. And as we saw in the Iron Bowl a few years back, missed field goals that fall short CAN be returned, and the field goal protection team is not made up of good tacklers. A couple of “kick sixes” and that would stop 90-yard field goal attempts.
