This has been a strange and interesting couple of weeks.
First, we have Bret Bielema and his coordinators telling us how close this team is to “being something to be proud of.”
Now that is a statement that over the last 40-plus years I’ve only heard from coaches talking about getting a team to .500. Every single time that phrase was uttered, that was what he was talking about.
None of them made it, in case you’re wondering.
What you expect to hear from coaches in their fifth season at a school is how close they are to competing for a championship, not something the fans can be proud of.
And, quite frankly, it may be another sign Bielema has no clue what the Arkansas fan base wants or expects. It’s been clear for awhile Jeff Long doesn’t have a clue, but there was some hope Bielema was kinda getting it.
But apparently not.
Is this a team that is teetering on the edge of implosion?
That leads us to the second, a “minor incident,” as Bielema termed it Thursday. It may have been just that.
Even if it was it may be a warning sign.
This team hasn’t played like a real cohesive unit at any point this season. Don’t throw the Florida A&M game out there, either. The Hogs saw better players every day in practice.
But is it a clue to the second-half collapses that have become a habit?
We were told by the national media’s talking wags that Bielema teams are physical and they grind you down as the game goes on.
Over the last four seasons plus two games that has rarely happened and in most cases the Hogs were the ones being ground down. That gives you a 26-27 overall record and an average of 2.5 wins in the SEC per season.
No one at this point is expecting a repeat of that first Bielema season. Not even me.
For starters, the SEC is not as strong as it was then. Alabama is still, well, Alabama, but everybody else is a week-to-week proposition.
The Razorbacks haven’t improved as much as the rest of the league has backed up to let Bielema and the Hogs get on the bus.
You have one team in the league everybody else really respects and a bunch of others that folks are giggling at right now. Don’t throw bowl games up as being representative of anything anymore. Too many players opting out of playing that extra game before going to the NFL Draft.
No, the SEC is not what it once was top to bottom, mainly because the better coaches now are in the ACC and Big 10. Interesting that Bielema was in the Big 10 when it was as weak as it has been in awhile, comes to the SEC and sees it fall into the tank.
While there isn’t a program out there that takes three years to completely rebuild, Bielema has gotten the benefit of the doubt from a forgiving fan base.
But you get the idea from talk shows and our own Facebook posts that the time for forgiveness has passed.
The fans want — and expect — wins now.
Losing to TCU is one thing. The way the Hogs lost that one is what has everyone chafing.
Now we hear they were close, which is Bielema’s go-to phrase that we’ve heard since 2013. We were told it was going to be special and how close the Hogs were for four years.
If Bielema thought 2015 was a success, he didn’t understand the situation. It was successful only if things improved in 2016 and 2017.
Now we have at least one incident of players fighting in the lockerroom and it being dismissed as, ho-hum, it happens every day.
There may be some extra conditioning, but coaches can’t even do that much anymore because the players will quit and transfer somewhere else. They are doing it in record numbers these days.
No, this is a team we suspected back in fall camp wasn’t exactly brimming with talent in the lines or with proven playmakers at the skill positions.
Nothing we’ve seen in the first two games has changed that.
And now there is an incident with the No. 1 running back and a wide receiver that hasn’t been in a game this season.
You hope it’s not a warning sign. But the question is out there now, in the back of fans’ minds if nothing else.
And it will linger for awhile.
Until there are some wins.
