Perfect Game dropped us from 7th to 10th, while Georgia skyrocketed all the way from 20th to 8th. Baseball America dropped us from 5th to 9th, while Georgia went from 12th to 8th. All of this over a road series (for us) where we won the first game by 2 and then lost two 1 run games. Usually, at this time of year, a close road series loss to a quality team (and Georgia would qualify as that) won’t hurt you too much. For example, Florida got SWEPT at MSU, and they retained their #1 position.
D1Baseball.com moved us from 5th to 8th, while Georgia zoomed from 16th to 7th.
I don’t know what all of this means, if anything. Our RPI is still solid (4th), but if any of this is indicative of the selections committee’s thinking, we may need to win a couple in Hoover to hold on to the top 8 seed.
It’s true that we’ve had our difficulties on the road. But with the exception of ONE game - when Florida blew us out in the second game there - ALL of our road losses in the SEC have been very close games; many of them by a single run and almost all the rest by 2 runs. So it’s not like we’re getting clobbered when we’re away from home. Also, of the 4 top SEC teams, we are the only one to play all of the other three on the road - PLUS always dangerous LSU, AND apparently very tough MSU (who went 8-1 against the top SEC teams…Us, Florida, Ole Miss…they played; they did not have Georgia on the schedule).
Just gotta get in that top 8…I don’t see ANY team coming into Fayetteville and taking 2 of 3. Once you’re in Omaha, it’s wide open and anything could happen. I feel pretty good about where we’re at but 1 more win in Hoover would make me feel really good.
well if we don’t get a NS we have nobody to blame but ourselves.I mean to go 14-1 at home and 4-11 on the road is very strange and hard to understand.We are always a play or 2 away and can’t execute the fundamentals on the road.I don’t know what to expect from this team becasue nobody knows which team is going to show up.I hope we can win a game or 2 to cement our NS but if we go 2 and que I’m not sure what the committee will think…
I think it’s a product of the pollsters just looking at the end of the year SEC standings and then voting. No other good answer for that one, since losing one of two on the road in conference is typically a wash.
I agree to the extent that Georgia has been under-ranked - IMO - for the last few weeks. Their record and RPI were up there with Ole Miss’ and ours, yet they strangely lagged behind in the rankings. Still, that’s a huge 1 week jump for a team this late in the season, especially when they simply won a home series (didn’t sweep). And for them to leap-frog us has me worried that we’re on the outside looking in (top 8 seed) if we don’t win some games in Hoover.
All of those squandered opportunities on the road . . . when victory was right in our hands . . . may cost us in the post-season.
Arkansas is down one spot to No. 7 in the coaches’ poll, which is our poll of record. Georgia is No. 8. Florida fell to No. 3.
Part of the problem we have is the obvious beating we take from the SEC Network.
They all talk negative about our road woes.
I guess anything they can figure out to put the screws to the hogs they find it amusing. The best thing the hogs can do is put a whipping on the first 3 teams we play in Hoover! The other thing that needs to be done by our AD in a meeting with the SEC office is get other baseball fields to have replay capability that shows those areas of the field clearly to where no one else gets beat on a foul ball!
The one run losses are haunting the hogs now. It’s over the team needs to move forward and take care of business.
The other thing that is absurd in this conference is how sorry home plate umpires are! I watched the Ole Miss @ Bama game and it was brutal. Inside pitches aginst Bama were called strikes that were no where near being a strike. It cost Bama a run and an out in a 4 run inning. With Ole Miss at the plate it was called a ball inside! Sorry one sided.
I do not think what they say on SEC Network matters. I doubt national voters spend any time watching it. Fans might. I rarely turn it on except to watch a game.
Right on, Clay!
I like the SECNetwork for one reason, like you, it is only to watch a game. Other than that, it just filler that keeps playing over and over and over again!
When the guy discussing Arkansas baseball on the SEC network played at Ole Miss… it’s what you get. Very little positive and expanding all things negative to the max. Now, we did give him plenty of material the way we finished road games and we have no one to blame for that.
You have to understand that most of these polls have very few voters. Take the Perfect Game poll, for instance. There are three voters, so one knee-jerk reaction one way or the other can swing a team drastically from week to week.
I have always advocated for the coaches’ poll because there are 31 voters - one from each conference. Sure, some of the coaches might pass along the responsibility to their SID, but at least there is a variety of opinions and little room for regional or conference bias.
Here’s another one . . . the NCBWA Poll. Again, we drop 3 spots while Georgia shoots up 6. At least we stayed in the top 8. And, at least in this poll, Florida dropped a couple of spots for getting swept.
http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/poll/