I think Sam said this was opportunity to see where we are. I suspect Sam knows where we are and I think it is farther away than he hoped prior to this game. We probably won’t hear the harsh truth, but something more uplifting than what we might otherwise hear. Then again, maybe he was alerted by the way that Mizzou physically whipped us that today was most likely not going to be pretty.
We have a some holes, which one would expect with graduation and turnover, but unfortunately it appears we need to approach the coming season as if very few jobs are settled. This does not mean existing kids cannot take big steps forward, but to get more competitive, I cannot see that we can expect that our level of play this year will get it done.
I think Arkansas is a couple of years away from competing with the best programs in the SEC. We saw that against Alabama and Florida, and for the most part against Georgia. Texas A&M was a great team this year, but it remains to be seen if the Aggies can sustain that. They haven’t yet in this conference.
Outside of those teams, I don’t see a lot of distance between the Razorbacks and the rest of the league. There are areas that need to get better and can be exploited by the opponent, but that’s the case with most teams. I think the team will be more physical — maybe by a lot — in the second year under Pittman.
Winning three games this year — and losing three more by a combined seven points — is a good sign of things to come, in my opinion. There were a lot of people on this board wondering if they would win any game against an all-SEC schedule. And it all happened in a very strange year. It’s easy to forget there was not a normal offseason of conditioning, spring football or preseason.
Very true Matt. Plus we would have had three wins in the non-conference schedule plus no need to rehash Auburn again. 7 - 5 would have felt pretty good this year.
Will be a long time before AR consistently competes with Bama. Just look at LSU now after their NC season and they recruit very well every year. (Turnover of players & some staff)
Bama does that every other year without much if any drop off.
I think CSP and staff did a lot with very little. 1st year, lacking some talent & depth, new schemes, no spring ball, COVID-19, limited recruiting, etc. They made as many moves as possible to get other men in here. But it’s gonna be one step at a time as some of the other mediocre SEC teams will improve also while some may not.
I know that I came off very negative, for that I am not proud. Guess it is impatience, with more football seasons behind me than in front of me, I would be very excited to have some relevance again. Also part of my disappointment is kind of the early to mid-season surge and optimism that seems gone now. I feel we are limping across the finish line. Nothing against this staff, because when you look at Covid-19, injuries and the roster they inherited, it has been a daunting task.
Part of that also has to do with the schedule. Most predicted the season would get considerably tougher after the scheduled bye week. That was the case — three of the last six were against potential playoff teams — and the team couldn’t finish two of three close games.
We should have finished this season with 2 or 3 more wins. Concern is how poorly we played against Missouri followed by a worse performance against AL today. We should have been better than Missouri last week & won that game. Today’s game reminded me of a CCM coached team where offense, defense, & special teams were unprepared & just gave up - even against much superior talent. Hopeful these last few games of the season do not hurt our recruiting.
Agree with Matt. I watch a lot of Iowa State football and it would easier for us to move to the top four in the Big12 in a 3 year time span. You do not want to fall behind in talent level in the SEC.
The talent base needs to improve, but I don’t think it’s as big of an issue as we thought it was coming into the season. It took a good coaching staff to come in and show that the players on the roster were capable, and proved just how bad the coaching was the previous two seasons.
Injuries and COVID hurt us against LSU and Missouri. At least we competed. Even against Bama, the team didn’t quit. Just need to improve and keep positive.
With how the first half went, giving up probably would have resulted in a 60- or 70-something-point loss today. That wasn’t the case. It was a seven-point differential in the second half until Alabama got a garbage-time score.
Bama played back-ups & freshman much of the 2nd half & still outplayed us. No question that they could have scored at will & 70 or more points if they had kept most of their starters throughout the game.
anyone else notice Mizzou was ranked #25 headed into the GA game, Im not sure we can beat Bama second teamers but maybe if the ball bounces funny to quote Hootie Nutt. Burks and Catalon have the mindset and determination to win it when it is not likely. That was the beauty of Sidney Moncrief, in his mind we were always going to overcome and win no matter how dire. I don’t see it in this team especially at critical game deciding positiions.
In defense of the AL outcome, our players were tired, we have minimal depth, & our QBs were injured. Hard to play against AL freshmen backup talent that are 5* especially when they are playing rested & hungry to be starters for Saban.
More concerned about the Missouri game which is not SEC elite. Our game plan & execution lacked in both AL or MO games, including pass defense, special teams, & offense play calling.
When you are as thin as Arkansas is, game plan and execution is not going to be productive without the players to carry out the plan. It’s just not going to happen.
I agree that they can score at will, but on every team in the country, not just us. They didn’t do anything to us that they haven’t done to every team they’ve played this year. I honestly don’t know how you gather any information about our team by the score against Bama.