The Blog Hawgs

Ugh. We waited a year for this? Does anyone else have a case of the Mondays? Let’s go ahead and get this behind us. I know I will feel better.

What We Saw:

We saw a Razorback squad that was beaten soundly in all 4 (if you include coaching) phases of the game as the Alabama Crimson Tide rolled the University of Arkansas 38-14 in Tuscaloosa Saturday.

The matchup between the league’s country’s best defense and the league’s best offense never really materialized. A punchy 12-play, 63-yard, Fool’s Gold touchdown drive by Arkansas tied the score at 7-7 and saw Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson go 11-12 for 73 yards and a touchdown to that point (the 1:18 mark of the first quarter) in the game.

But, after Wilson’s 10-yard strike to senior running back Dennis Johnson knotted the score, Alabama’s defense made adjustments and Arkansas’ high-powered offense had no answers. Although he showed his toughness, Wilson was a miserable 11-23 for 112 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception following the Razorbacks’ initial touchdown drive.

On the Hogs’ next 6 possessions, Arkansas punted 5 times and threw a “pick 6” interception. Of the 5 drives that ended in punts, three were “3 and out”,  another lasted 4 plays and went 17 yards and the longest covered 5 plays and 22 yards. Game. Set. Match.

The Arkansas special teams were every bit as bad as the offense. Alabama’s Marquis Maze signaled the rout was on when he winded 83 yards for a punt return touchdown that gave Alabama a 24-7 lead with 11:29 left in the 3^rd quarter.

If that play was potentially avoidable—one could argue it could have been with a punt that was 5 yards higher and longer (it traveled only 42 yards and was not a rainmaker by any stretch of the imagination)—a similar gut punch for Arkansas was Alabama’s fake field goal touchdown pass on the first series of the game that gave Alabama a 7-0 lead. It was definitely avoidable.

Coming out of a timeout, Arkansas should have been prepared for the situation. With Bama looking at 4^th and 4 from its own 37-yard line, the specter of chicanery should have been at the forefront of the Hogs’ minds.

At the very least, Arkansas should have been in a base defense guarding against anything other than a field goal attempt. But, in any event, once he saw Bama quarterback A.J. McCarron stand up out of his position as the holder for a field goal, Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino should have called a timeout. (To his credit, Petrino admitted the mistake following the game.)

Petrino let the play go on, and the result was a gift touchdown that set the tone for the rest of the day.

Arkansas’ defense line availed itself as well as any of the other Razorback units, and that says a lot about the game considering Alabama rushed for 197 yards on 39 attempts (5.1 yards per carry). Arkansas defensive tackles Robert Thomas and Byran Jones had 6 tackles each (a good number for an interior lineman) and the Hogs stoned Alabama after it had 1^st Down and Goal from inside the 1-yard line with just under 6 minutes left in the first half. The Razorbacks also had 2 sacks while Alabama had one, but hit Wilson on numerous occasions.

Considering it played almost the entire game without its 2 preseason All SEC defensive ends, Jake Bequette and Tenarius Wright, (Wright was hurt very early in the game and Bequette did not dress out due to a hamstring injury) the production from the defensive line could have been worse.

However, 2 plays that the Arkansas defense line could have made to pick up its struggling offense, but did not, kept the Hogs from being able to climb back into the game.

Arkansas Freshman defensive end Trey Flowers recognized a screen pass only to see it go through his hands to Alabama running back Trent Richardson. Richardson then took it 61 yards for a touchdown to give Alabama a 31-7 lead early in the 3^rd quarter. That may well have been a 14-point swing.

Then, later, Arkansas’ defensive tackle/end Dede Jones had his paws on another potential “pick 6” interception in the 3^rd quarter that could have again given Arkansas the momentum and stemmed the Tide after the Hogs had pulled the score to 31-14. Instead of making the score 31-21 with over 5 minutes left in the 3^rd quarter, though, Jones’ play merely forced a punt.

What We Didn’t See:

Cobi Hamilton’s brilliant, leaping, back of the end zone touchdown reception notwithstanding, Arkansas did not make the number of plays that it was capable of, even against a team as talented as Alabama.

The Crimson Tide back 7 on defense is as salty as you will ever find in college football.  Nonetheless, Arkansas’ wide receivers had opportunities to make plays in space and didn’t. Greg Childs continued to be a shell of his former self. I hate to continue harping on it, because I was the President of his fan club before a knee injury ended his 2010 season, but Childs is a liability right now.

He is not getting any separation and he is also playing tentatively. If the light does not come on for him, soon, Marquel Wade—a major playmaker in the Joe Adams mold—could start to get more reps.

The Arkansas running game should have expected to have to earn every yard it got, but it had to find a way to be more productive than a paltry 19 yards on 17 carries.

Weekly whipping boy—Razorback running back Ronnie Wingo Jr.–will receive much of the blame but Jim Brown wouldn’t have been productive on Saturday given the number of Arkansas rushing plays that Alabama blew up in the backfield.

On the other side of the ball, Razorback middle linebacker Jerry Franklin looked overwhelmed.  Amazingly, Franklin, who is in position to become the first player in Razorback history to lead the team in tackles 4 consecutive years, played the majority of the game and logged 2 tackles.

That is simply a ridiculously low number given the fact that this was Franklin’s fourth look at an Alabama team that lines up and comes right at you. Arkansas’ defensive line was occupying Alabama’s offensive linemen on plenty of occasions, leaving Franklin free to fill the hole and make plays. He was a no-show.

What You May Not Have Seen:

Although the CBS crew of Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson lauded Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw in the 3^rd quarter for nailing Wilson and then picking him up after the play, they failed point out that in the second quarter he tried to low bridge Wilson well after a play in the same manner that Kansas City’s Bernard Pollard ended Tom Brady’s 2008 season.

Call it sour grapes if you must, but if you check the film, you will see it was just one of several late and/or helmet hits on Wilson. If it had been an NFL game, numerous fines would have been levied upon review of the tape.

On the bright side, something else you may not have noticed is that Arkansas linebacker Alonzo Highsmith continued to show he is a playmaker that is the closest thing the Hogs have to Bama’s headhunting linebacker corps.

What We Hope to See in Week 5:

Arkansas and its fans need to keep things in perspective. A year ago at this time, I used this space to tell you that all was not lost after a deflating 24-20 Arkansas loss to Alabama in which the Crimson Tide rallied from a 13-point deficit to stun the Hogs.

Alabama returned 8 players from that defense, and from my seat, looks to be the best team in America. Arkansas clearly has some work to do and probably, more than anything, needs to get healthy.

However,  if 18^th-ranked Arkansas can rally quickly and beat an equally (if not more so) deflated 14^th-ranked Texas A&M team in Dallas, Arkansas will be fine—and could actually be favored in all of its remaining games prior to a November 25^th showdown with LSU.

USCE fans that want to squabble with that contention feel free to do so, but don’t forget last year’s 41-20 Arkansas beatdown of the Gamecocks in Columbia that was worse than the final score, or the fact that South Carolina has lost its last six games in Arkansas and last won in The Natural State during the Danny Ford and Brad Scott eras.

That forecast may sound crazy at this point. I admit that.

But, chances are, this will either be an exciting, tantalizing and somewhat frustrating 9-3 team, or it will prove to be a resilient, program-changing 10+ win squad.

If the last paragraph sounds familiar, it should. I wrote it a year ago, today, and Arkansas went on to win 7 of its last 8 regular season games, earning the school’s first BCS bowl invitation.