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How good are Hogs’ backups? We’ll find out Saturday

One of the biggest questions all off-season has been depth and the new 3-4 defense against spread tempo offenses. TCU is the first real test.

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All offseason I’ve said we won’t have any answers about Arkansas until the TCU game.

Well, the time has arrived.

The biggest question in my mind has been depth. It’s been a huge reason the Razorbacks have struggled at times in the SEC for 25 years and it’s gotten worse with the advent of offenses playing Nolan Richardson-style basketball on the football field.

The Hogs’ starting 11 on defense can probably out-play the Horned Frogs. The problem with that is the way TCU plays offense you better have at least 25 players on defense where the level of play doesn’t drop off much.

Teams playing with a lot of tempo have given Arkansas fits over the last five years. Toledo, Texas Tech and Rutgers are teams that surprised the Hogs in the last few years. All were moving with a fast pace and trying to run as many offensive plays as possible.

The only team Arkansas has had any level of consistent success over the last five seasons against that plays an up-tempo offense is Ole Miss. The Hogs they caught them totally uninspired (2014), simply out-scored and out-lucked them with the Henry Heave (2015) and had to outscore a Rebels team going through the motions (2016).

Arkansas hasn’t beaten Texas A&M in five years, is 1-4 against Mississippi State and Auburn and 1-2 against Missouri.

They did beat TCU last year, mainly because Dan Skipper managed to add a six-inch vertical leap to his 6-10 frame and got about 11 feet in the air to block a field goal.

Leave that out and you wonder how the Hogs did it.

“We were dead tired last year,” defensive tackle Sosa Agim said after practice Tuesday. “They would snap the ball when we weren’t ready.”

The Hogs blew a 13-0 halftime lead as the Horned Frogs came roaring back into what ended up being a 41-38 double overtime win for the Hogs. That may have been an omen.

A tired and worn-out bunch of Hogs.

“At the end of the first half I saw it and told Robb as soon as we got into the locker room, ‘We’re tired,'” defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said Monday. “We did not play nearly as well the second half as we did the first half because we started to get gassed there at the end.”

That is where quality depth comes into play. Especially in the defensive line and linebacker spots.

Which is what the new-look 3-4 defense hopefully provides.

“That’s going to help us for TCU on Saturday to keep guys fresh,” defensive line coach John Scott, Jr., said Tuesday.

At least that’s the hope.

What nobody will say is fresh doesn’t always mean better. It depends on the talent drop-off between first and second team players.

That’s the biggest question we’ve had all summer long.

We may know the answer by nightfall Saturday.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
Sat, Oct 19vs LSUL, 34-10
Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
Sat, Nov 2vs Ole MissL, 63-31
Sat, Nov 16vs TexasL, 20-10
Sat, Nov 23vs Louisiana Tech3:00 PM
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Sat, Nov 30@ Missouri2:30 PM
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (25)10-02681
2.Greenwood (2)10-02343
30Conway9-12022
4.Little Rock Parkview9-11714
5.Bentonville7-31625
6.Benton9-11486
7.Fayetteville8-21117
8.Pulaski Academy8-2898
9.Rogers7-3439
10.Joe T. Robinson9-122
Others receiving votes: Valley View 8, Mountain Home 7, Cabot 6, Little Rock Catholic 6, Shiloh Christian 6, Elkins 1, Farmington 1.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (27)10-01351
2.Conway9-11022
3.Bentonville7-3813
4.Fayetteville8-2454
5.Pulaski Academy8-2395
Others receiving votes: Rogers 3.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (27)10-01351
2.Benton9-11082
3.Mountain Home8-2623
4.Shiloh Christian7-3494
5.Little Rock Catholic9-1345
Others receiving votes: Marion 6.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (27)9-11351
2.Joe T. Robinson9-11062
3.Valley View10-0793
4.Farmington9-1484
5.Hot Springs Lakeside8-2205
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 7, Harding Academy 7, Morrilton 3.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (20)10-01261
3.Arkadelphia (5)8-2913
2.Little Rock Mills (1)10-0682
4.Warren8-2554
5.Dardanell (1)9-123
Southside Batesville10-023
Others receiving votes: Malvern 12, Gravette 5, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
1.Bismarck (12)10-01051t
2.Fordyce (10)10-0961t
3.Prescott (1)9-1704
4.Osceola (2)8-1543
5.Booneville (1)9-1395
Others receiving votes: Mansfield (1) 23, Rivercrest 10, Rison 4, Salem 4.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (20)10-01271
2.Conway Christian (7)10-01152
3.Des Arc8-2595
4.East Poinsett Co.7-352
5.Bigelow6-4183
Murfreesboro7-3184
Others receiving votes: Mount Ida 6, Junction City 4, Cross County 3, Poyen 3.
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (27)5-0811
2.Midland9-0532
3.Cedar Ridge8-1253
Others receiving votes: Woodlawn 3.

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