Hogs fall to Bama, but it could have been worse

Arkansas nearly won the second half against Alabama on Saturday night.

They held the Crimson Tide to just 13 points over the final two quarters while getting nine, but they were outscored 28-0 over the first two quarters.

The result was a 41-9 win by the No. 1 Tide and it really wasn’t that close.

Backup quarterback Cole Kelley got the start and Bret Bielema said later in the radio postgame the Hogs knew all last week he would be the starter.

Kelley didn’t do badly against one of the best defenses in the country, hitting 23-of-42 passes with only one interception.

“We got better and there’s nothing we can’t correct,” Bielema said.

Which is exactly what he’s said for going on five years now in what is getting to be a tired refrain for a lot of Hog fans.

If it can be corrected, why is it not being corrected?

He said last week this team “is not a million miles away from being where they want to be.”

If he actually believes that he’s lying to himself.

In a week where they played musical chairs with the offensive line and All-SEC center Frank Ragnow started at guard, it didn’t help much.

The Hogs rushed for 37 yards, but Kelley’s sacks lost 10 so they finished with 27 yards on the ground. Alabama ran for 308 yards, passed for another 188 for 496 yards of offense.

Ouch.

This is how lopsided the game really was: At halftime, Alabama was leading in total offense 275-111. On the ground, the Hogs had 8 yards.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Tide had 394 yards offense compared to Arkansas’ 180.

The best way to put it was Alabama was methodical in simply dominating the game.

THE POSITIVES

• Jordan Jones continues to show he is the best player to come out of Smackover to the Hogs since the Burnett brothers (Bobby and Tommy) in the early 1960’s. The youngest brother, Bill, graduated from Bentonville where the family had moved.

• Cole Kelley has a ton of rough edges, but is a better passer than Austin Allen and can handle the pressure much, much better.

• Either the juggling in the offensive line worked better (at least for pass protection) or Kelley made it appear better because the passing game was the only way the Hogs could muster any offense at all.

THE NEGATIVES

• The offensive line still can’t run block. Yes, I know it was Alabama, but still, an SEC team that is supposed to be built around being able to run the ball and “impose our will” should be able to generate more than 27 yards on the ground.

• Overall team speed is sorely lacking. There were times the Hogs simply couldn’t catch the Tide’s backs and the receivers beat the secondary too many times for it to be progress.

• The defense against the run is not good. The Hogs gave up 308 yards rushing.

• Overall, the defense isn’t helping an offense that could win some games down the stretch. Alabama doubled them in average passing yardage per attempt and completion and average yardage per play while running eight less plays than the Hogs.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Bielema should be good enough to realize what he can do with this team in the SEC and stop all this stubborn “we want to run” and all that.

He’s got some young, but very talented, skill position players. He’s got a quarterback that can throw the ball fairly adequately.

When Arkansas went to an up-tempo offense and stopped huddling, they moved down the field against Alabama (even before the Tide’s reserves came in).

As Nick Saban said back in the summer on ESPN when asked why the Tide went to a more up-tempo offense and stopped huddling, “it’s what the kids want to play and it’s also harder to stop.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Auburn is next Saturday night in Fayetteville and, once again, the Hogs get an SEC opponent that should be focused this week.

After the Tigers blew a 20-point lead down in Baton Rouge, Gus Malzahn won’t have to work much at motivation.

And Auburn is a very, very physical and good defense. Even worse, Kerryon Johnson had 125 yards rushing at halftime against LSU until Auburn fell apart offensively in the second half.

After that, the Hogs have to go on the road again to play Ole Miss, who hung 57 points on Vanderbilt.

The road doesn’t get any easier for Arkansas.

At 0-3 in SEC play this, Bielema is now 10-25 in his five years at Arkansas and 27-30 overall. To get to .500 overall in his fifth season (and get to a bowl for the fourth straight year), the Hogs will have to win at least four of their last six games.