Cannot believe how outmatched we looked at seemingly every position. Clearly LSU has a very good team, but how can any well-coached defense give up as many yards as we have managed to do all year? Also, how can an offensive scheme be so porous that the quarterback is constantly running for his life? The one bright spot was when I was on the field before the game and the beautiful and very friendly Arkansas cheerleaders (talking about the female contingent here) crowded around me for a picture. What great representatives of the University. Still cannot figure out what’s going on with our football team. Would some of you experts try to explain how on offense our linemen cannot hold the defenders out for at least a count or two, and how on defense continuous lanes open up allowing a running back to run for many yards unchallenged?
You just described a 2-10 team.
Qutoe from Larry Johnson when he told Nolan Coach “get you some men” sums it up best IMO.We get no push b/c there’s not enough lead in their pencil! whoever we bring in better bring a totally different approach to training than what we have seen the last 2 yrs.
I agree training program needs to reflect those at top schools we face every week.
You could give me the best training program in the world, but I can’t play SEC football. Not big enough, fast enough, etc. That’s basically what we saw last night. You gotta recruit people better than what we have now then train and coach the heck out of them.
Totally agree as most recruits are similar coming out of high school so we need to prepare them like the best teams we face. But you cannot make chicken salad without the chicken so we need to improve the base product we start with. Coaching is a big factor. I just do not believe this staff did enough of that.
Tenth game of the season our safety jumps offsides on a blitz two times in a row, QB and receiver both running out of bounds before getting a third down after this being preached since the end of last year about converting third downs. There is just so much that the new staff will have to establish the expected standards. Gotta get kids that have pride to compete and get better. We are seeing the effects with new basketball coach getting prior players to buy in. It can be done in football too.
I agree with you 100%.
Man, all we heard was how good Morris recruited and that Bielema was the best recruiter since Broyles.
We fans (or maybe it’s just me) have to quit falling for these recruiting stories about all these guys and who we are beating out for them. They might have a Bama or LSU “offer” but it ain’t “committable.”
Bookmark this post. In January we will get a story by some insider over the various sites, likely all of them, telling us how well the new coach is recruiting and what an upgrade he and his staff are over the previous regime.
Good grief - did someone really say Bielema was our best recruiter?!?
Goodness… was this before or after he botched the recruitment of Solomon Thomas with his drunken escapades at dinner!
Lot easier to coach up top 4-5 star recruits, sprinkled in with a few very good 3 star ones. Just look accross the rosters of the top programs Bama, LSU, Clemson, etc.
I’m sure some fringe benefits are applied as well.
Always appreciate your knowing input, and I have no doubt that what you espouse is valid. However, I am left with seeing teams with less hallowed talent on offense still able to effect some sorts of blocks on offense (e.g. Hatfield’s teams before he came to Arkansas where you just “ride” with the defender whichever way he wants to go and the scheme is designed to make it wrong) and someone on defense at least touching a running back before he breaks free. Is it okay if I give at least some of the blame, particularly on the latter (defensive) side of the ball as being in the scheme itself?
I have been vocal aboutt our offensive scheme for a good while now and in my opinion it’s not very good at all. This offensive line is under sized because they were told to slim up in hopes to build them up. They are not very good but they have gotten better they have gotten in the way enough for Boyd to rush for over a 1000 yds. They will be better next year with a new coach and and hopefully a strength coach that emphasizes power over speed.
John Chavis was not a person I was really happy to see get this job,because I knew he was a high pressure DC which is fine if you have great talent up front and a experienced Secondary and we have neither so it was a recipe for disaster.
The RPO offenses of today make it very hard to play good defense to be totally honest. What we need is to find a coach who can bring in great talent up front and mix and some talent in the secondary and then play a scheme that is very unpredictable that will make the offense not really know what to expect. The whole SEC knows what chavis is going to run so they know how to attack it,I would like to see us bring somebody in who they know nothing about. It’s going to be a tough job no matter who gets it because we are so undermanned on the line of scrimmage that it’s going to take two years of great recruiting to get us back where we can compete in my opinion
You saw the absolute highlight of the football program… the cheerleaders.
That was a very good observation Youda
Seeing (and “cuddling up to”) the cheerleaders was certainly a highlight for me!
Very well-stated and valid points. May I take the liberty of extending your points by stating that I firmly believe that we do not have player talent (and abilities) that are not as capable or superior to some of the teams that have beaten us in the past two years.
We were there also. Worst travel venue I’ve been to yet. Their fans are not very bright and very rude. We were the ones in the stands with the crying baby faces…you may have seen us on TV. We did it as a joke and to come in showing that we know how bad we are. Yet, so many of their idiot fans had to ask us what it meant. Seriously?? We are 2-9 without a coach. What is there not to get about this??
Some of the fans were nice but for the most part…complete jerks. I had heard this about them, but kind of expected to go in there at 2-8 and them at least feel sorry for us. I think they are too stupid to even get it. Some really really obnoxious people.
I agree with your assessment of the LSU fans. There are some good people mixed in, but few and far between. Only place where I’ve had stuff thrown on me from the deck above. The lower levels of the stadium are a complete dump that make WMS look clean and modern.
I have to agree with them on the crying baby faces, though. Thought that was kind of dumb, not a good look. If it was supposed to be a joke, it wasn’t a very good one.
you are correct,we don’t have anywhere near the talent right now to compete especially where it matters the most,on the LOS.We have to get deep OL and DL to win in this division so it has to start there and why we must find a coach that can bring in elite talent on the LOS and why I wouldn’t mind Sam Pittman getting the job but won’t happen b/c no HC expereince but exactly the kind of guy we have to Hire.