A few notes to end the day and wrap up Week One of the college football season…
The imminently readable Chris Low, the lead SEC blogger at ESPN.com, looks back on the first weekend of SEC football. While he doesn’t have anything to say about the Razorbacks romp over Jacksonville State, he does state the obvious: Alabama is still Alabama.
Nick Saban won’t be thrilled with the second half and how the Crimson Tide eased their foot off the gas. Even so, an impressive performance by the defending national champions in their 41-14 pummeling of No. 8 Michigan. They absolutely took apart the Wolverines and looked every bit as suffocating on defense as they did a year ago. Dont’a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw, Mark Barron and Dre Kirkpatrick might be in the NFL now, but how would you ever know given the way the Tide played defense at Jerry World? And on offense, while there might not be a Trent Richardson on this team, Alabama has its pick of weapons and appears to be just as balanced as it was last season. It’s just one game, but it’s a game that sent tremors across the college football landscape.
Low also asks the burning question: Who’s #3 in the SEC? Okay, that’s not exactly a burning question, but I do think it’s a relevant one to ask. Low turned to ESPN’s loath-able SportsNation to get some insight. Surprisingly the Razorbacks topped the charts with relative ease.
With 7,927 votes the results look like this:
- Arkansas – 40%
- Georgia – 24%
- Tennessee – 20%
- South Carolina – 14%
- Florida –3%
I caution anyone to take this too seriously, though, since the ESPN math reaches 101%. Nonetheless, it’s nice to see the Hogs get a little respect. Apparently this poll was not linked to any Arkansas message boards.
Arkansas junior defensive end Chris Smith earned SEC Player of the Week honors, cited as the Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week. As Adam said, I think it’s pretty awesome he got that award given that the prevailing opinion of the message board set is that the Hog lines got blown off the line on both sides off the ball.
Back over at ESPN’s SEC blog, Edward Aschoff named Razorbacks quarterback Tyler Wilson the SEC’s Player of the Week. Wilson looked very, very sharp in the Hogs win over Jacksonville State. While JSU won’t be confused with an elite defense, Wilson picked them apart to the tune of 367 yards and 3 touchdowns. Per Aschoff:
Wilson might have been down his three NFL receivers from a year ago, but he did an excellent job of spreading the ball around Saturday. Two of his receiving targets — wide receiver Brandon Mitchell and tight end Chris Gragg – both eclipsed the 100-yard receiving mark. Gragg caught a game-high seven catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns and Mitchell, who moved from quarterback, caught four passes for a game-high 122 yards.
Wilson has what it takes to be a real Heisman candidate this season and he’s off to a great start.
And finally…Edward Aschoff gives us the Week 2 SEC Power Rankings. Yes, this is an utterly useless tool for the most part. But it’s a fun read, and Aschoff – like his blogging cohort Low – appears to like Tyler Wilson in a borderline inappropriate way.
3. Arkansas (1-0): We know Arkansas can score and churn out yards. The Hogs made both of those things look very easy against Jacksonville State, especially quarterback Tyler Wilson, who threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns Saturday. But the defense still has some questions surrounding it, as the Hogs gave up 24 points. The defense settled down the second half and gave up 322 total yards, which was one yard less than the average given up by top 15 teams this weekend.
BlogHawgs Razorback Rewind–11/5/12
Posted by Adam Butler on November 5, 2012
They are all precious and head coach John L. Smith has the potential to give them away (sometimes with major help from the Coordinators Paul).
For that reason we can’t look down our nose at the Razorbacks’ pedestrian 19-15 Homecoming win over the Tulsa Hurricane at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
What We Saw
–Some of the decisions made by both head coaches (eschewing much-needed field goals, calling plays as if there was no game clock, going for a 2-pt conversion that wasn’t needed) made us feel like we were attending a Bad Coach-Off. The odd final score seemed fitting.
–Arkansas Wide Receiver Cobi Hamilton continued to be a Beacon of Hope in the Ways Dreary Lighted in 2012.
With 11 catches, Hamilton set the Arkansas single season record for receptions (69) passing former teammate and current Minnesota Viking Jarius Wright, who had 66 last season as a senior at Arkansas. The Blog Hawgs Stat Geek will be along in a day or two with a breakdown of where Hamilton could end up across the board in the Arkansas record books.
I won’t steal SG’s Thunder, but let’s just say that if Arkansas somehow wins 2 of its last 3, Hamilton has a chance to leave quite a lasting legacy on The Hill. As for Saturday, I think I was most impressed with Cobi’s workmanlike reaction after making one of the biggest plays of the game–a 41-yard reception to set up a go-ahead, 4th-quarter touchdown.
Hamilton made the grab despite unpenalized interference, got up without any histrionics and went back to the huddle and helped the Hogs finish off the drive.
–It may be a subpar season for the Hogs, but Arkansas PA Announcer John George (of Julie-O Jones fame) was in peak form, Saturday. George and his spotter tabbed Arkansas cornerback Darius Winston as a tackler early in Saturday’s game when it was actually linebacker A.J. Turner.
Winston has been buried on the bench since Texas A&M’s beatdown of the Hogs 5 weeks ago and has one tackle in the last two months, and it didn’t come Saturday. Winston was a Coach’s Decision “Did Not Play”.
–Turner–an undersized but athletic and intuitive linebacker–continued to make strides. He was Arkansas’ 2nd-leading tackler with 7, and delivered a highlight-reel hit in a hole that provided a glimpse at his immense potential.
–It wasn’t pretty, but the Hogs’ defense continued to improve, holding Tulsa to just 328 yards of offense and three second-half points.
Coming into the tilt with the Hogs, Tulsa ranked ninth in the country in rushing offense (248.8 ypg) and had gained at least 200 yards rushing in six of the previous eight games. Arkansas held Tulsa to 106 yards rushing on 36 attempts for a paltry 2.9 yard per carry average.
–Arkansas defensive end Chris Smith had a big game with a 8 tackles, a game-clinching sack, 2 big pass breakups and his 1st career forced fumble. The performance earned Smith Co-SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors.
What We Didn’t See
A 10-0 lead was not friendly to the Hogs, but that’s nothing new.
Arkansas led Rutgers and Mississippi 10-0 at home before losing 35-26 to the Scarlet Knights and 30-27 to the Rebel Black Bears. Saturday, Arkansas jumped out to a 10-0 lead before falling behind Tulsa 15-13. Arkansas led Auburn 10-0 in the 2nd quarter on The Plains and stalled before scoring two 4th-quarter TDs to pull away from the War Damn Eagle Tigers.
What You May Not Have Seen
–UA senior quarterback Tyler Wilson had a different, but no-less impressive reaction on the 41-yard, 4th-quarter pass to Hamilton. Wilson hung in the pocket despite pressure, and was drilled on a head-hunting hit from a Tulsa defender. As Cobi made the grab and the players for both teams made their way down the field, Wilson let the the defender know who won that battle.
What We Hope To See Next Week
Arkansas is a big underdog as it prepares for South Carolina next week. But, don’t sleep on the Hogs if they can contain Gamecock defensive end Jadeveon Clowney and Arkansas runningback Dennis Johnson continues his recent surge.
DJ has an outside shot at a 1,000-yard season despite only having 105 carries thus far. If he and the Arkansas offensive line can set the tone and slow USCE’s salty pass rush, Arkansas could nab a road win over a Top 10 team.
The Gamecocks will be without injured, All-Everything running back Marcus Lattimore and at 7-2 and 3rd in the SEC East, have little chance of reaching their lofty preseason goals.
Also, it’s worth noting that Arkansas is 3-0 against USCE the last 3 seasons and has outscored the Gamecocks 33-16 (2009), 41-20 (2010) and 44-28 (2011) in that span. The 41-20 UA win in Columbia in 2010 wasn’t as close as that score. USCe picked up a cheap, late TD on a 1-yard fumble return with 3:52 left in the game.
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Posted in Commentary, Sports | Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, Chris Smith, Cobi Hamilton, Dennis Johnson, Tyler Wilson | Leave a Comment »