Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin responded at his Monday press conference to Alabama charging the Rebels were stealing defensive signals as somewhat ridiculous considering speed of offense.
MORNING RUSH: You just don’t expect a backwards spike, says Murphy
The officials’ call and decision at the end of the Auburn handed Arkansas a gut-wrenching loss, but not a sign of conspiracy, says Democrat-Gazette’s Tom Murphy with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) Monday morning on ESPN Arkansas.
Put call in rearview mirror because Hogs still have issues to resolve
Editor’s Note: The score in the Alabama-Ole Miss game was incorrect in a previous version of this story and social media mentions. The Crimson Tide won the game, 63-48. We apologize for the error.
Too many people are worrying about a controversial decision by officials that apparently involved the lack of a quorum chasing a backwards pass, but Arkansas has other issues.
What it comes down to is on the bouncing ball, the Razorbacks’ Joe Foucha seemed to be the only player with more than a passing interest in grabbing it and apparently it takes more than that to prevent a whistle that stops things.
Regardless, that is done and over with. The loss to Auburn will remain in that column. Coaches might want to spend a period in practice that when somebody yells BALL! everybody on the field starts chasing the thing but that’s down the road.
Worry about some other things with the Hogs because there’s a couple of nagging issues coaches CAN do something about. They better … and quick.
Ole Miss comes rolling into Fayetteville this weekend with an offense that rang up over 600 yards of offense and 45 points on Alabama … and still got beat by double digits.
Defense these days appears to be more of a chance for the offensive players to catch their breath, get a drink of water and have a chat on the sidelines.
It was the main topic of conversation when Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban talked after the Crimson Tide’s win Saturday night. Both were joking about it … yes, Saban joking about it, although the players probably won’t get that.
Forget that whole side of the ball this week. If Barry Odom can figure out a way to keep the Rebels under 45 points it will be a good day.
Special teams has to be fixed NOW. A blocked punt, a dropped extra point snap and a dropped two-point conversion pass are all bad enough. The penalties on alignment issues are probably what is driving everybody crazy looking at the film Sunday.
That should be fixable.
Just as it has been all season, the Hogs’ problem is an inconsistent offense that seems to need a quarter and a half to get things sorted out to start rolling.
Here’s a look at some of the problems:
Receivers can’t get open
Trey Knox appears to be playing in a fog at times. Through the first three games he has just four catches and not many targets.
With Treylon Burks out Saturday it was a time for him to step up and Knox’s only mention was dropping a two-point conversion pass in the back of the end zone. Yes, it would have been a tough catch but it’s the type play you expect him to make.
De’Vion Warren and Mike Woods are the only receivers who have stepped up. Warren is making big-time plays and Woods is making THE play when it counts.
The others just appear to be out there getting exercise.
Revolving door at tight end continues
Nobody has a clue why Hudson Henry didn’t see the field against Auburn despite being dressed and on the field.
Blake Kern stepped in and made a couple of big plays but depth at that position continues to be a question mark in addition to the lack of production.
Anybody have a clue what Briles doing on goal-line?
Yet again, the Hogs got down near the goal-line and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles pulled the most experienced quarterback (and maybe best player on the roster this year) to put in a freshman.
Everybody in the stadium knew that K.J. Jefferson was going to keep it last week and Malik Hornsby was going to run it against Auburn.
Briles gave away three or four points to prove Hornsby couldn’t out-run the Tigers’ defenders to get into the end zone.
When you lose by two points in a game it’s another missed opportunity along with the extra point issues that led to an officials’ call deciding the game.
Franks settling shaky quarterback position for Hogs
The rotating door at quarterback seems to be over … at least until they get near the goal-line and decide to throw away points to experiment.
Feleipe Franks has shown a maturity at the position along with a mostly accurate and strong arm that has made even remembering the other quarterbacks on the roster fairly difficult.
He has improved every week and against Auburn he finished with a quarterback rating of 206.4 after 22-of-30 and four touchdowns in addition to running for 29 yards.
Most importantly, the Hogs’ offense did not have a single turnover against the Tigers.
Hogs have another chance at SEC win this week
Ole Miss opened as a 4-point favorite at most sports books Sunday … with an over-under of 107, which means nobody is expecting either team to stop the other one.
However, ESPN’s matchup predictor, based on the power index, gives the Hogs a 57.2% chance of winning the game.
Don’t ask me when the last time that happened with the Hogs in an SEC game.
Ole Miss’ Kiffin told Saban after loss: ‘I thought they played defense in SEC’
Alabama beat the Rebels on Saturday night and Lane Kiffin was still in shock after joking at midfield with Nick Saban about the points, yards.
Fantasy Football Sunday — w/ Field Yates of ESPN
Tye Richardson & Evan Gentry talk with Field, look back on the Bucs’ collapse, preview Sunday and more!
Pittman’s main point: ‘Embarrassing ourselves and our fans are over’ for Hogs
While Arkansas fans have another bad officials’ call they’ll wallow around worrying about, many will miss what really was the biggest message.
“The times of us going somewhere and embarrassing ourselves and our fans are over,” Sam Pittman said following the 30-28 loss to Auburn on Saturday night.
Pittman knew the details of the job he talked himself into last December … on the team and with fans.
There are enough things to discuss from Saturday’s loss to give everyone in the state paralysis by analysis which is going to obscure the biggest takeaway which is the Razorbacks can play with just about anybody.
Yes, the Hogs could have won over the Tigers. Probably should have won.
But they didn’t and this game will not fall into the rather large file of close misses that too many fans tend to wallow around looking at in the rearview mirror instead of looking ahead.
The latest entry in the file has a lot of excuses.
Yes, the officials blew the “backwards pass” call
The SEC wasted little time getting an explanation for the call at the end of the game which was — whether you like it or not — is the final decision:
“During the 3rd down play at 0:30 in the 4th quarter, the officials on the field sounded their whistles and blew the play dead as they deemed the passer illegally grounded the ball to conserve time as governed by Rule 7-3-2-f.
“During the subsequent replay review, there is conclusive video evidence that the pass was backwards. However, because recovery of the football was not clearly made in the immediate continuing football action, the ruling on the field was determined to stand under Rule 12-3-2-e-1.”
“I saw the same thing you did,” Pittman said later. “It was a fumble (from the center), then a pass that went 6 yards backwards.”
Arkansas’ Joe Foucha recovered it after a teammate had knocked it backwards again and it bounced off an official’s leg as he was blowing a whistle and waving his arms, which is when everything after that doesn’t really matter.
The guess here there isn’t a single official that’s ever seen that happen in a game before. I’ve never heard of a quarterback throwing a “clock pass” backwards before, much less ever seen it actually happen.
It’s one of those things I would not be surprised to hear has never even been discussed at officials’ meetings before.
Having said all that, it still shouldn’t have happened at the SEC level but it is what it is and was just one of several things that led to the Hogs’ losing that game.
Hogs’ special teams collapsing more critical to loss
The Razorbacks gave up nine points on special teams in the first half that put them off-pace on the scoreboard the rest of the way.
Having a punt blocked for the second time in three games and losing an average greater than a first down on starting position is probably going to get more than a little conversation in the coaches’ meetings.
There really is no excuse.
Most fans won’t agree because they like to be victims of SEC biased officiating but that’s a bigger deal here than a blown officials’ call at the end.
“There were a lot of opportunities where we could have won the football game,” Pittman said. “At the end they had one more play better than ours.”
Hogs’ offense struggling at start … again
Pittman is ready to change just about anything to get the offense to start the game when everybody else does.
“We may have to change the way we warm up or something,” Pittman said. “We’ve got to get a handle on that.”
Arkansas didn’t get points until 6:24 to go in the second quarter.
By then Auburn was up 17-0.
Defense can’t remember how to tackle in first half
The Hogs were arriving, but simply not finishing tackles and the Tigers simply ran the ball in huge chunks, finishing with 187 on the ground.
Of course looking around the world of college football I’m not sure anybody has figured out how to tackle in this season unlike any other.
Ole Miss had over 600 yards and scored 45 points on Alabama on Saturday night … and gave up over 700 yards and lost by double digits.
The tackling across the landscape of college football hasn’t caught up with the games being played. The Hogs really aren’t that much worse than anybody else.
Fans shouldn’t lose sight of Pittman’s bottom line
Arkansas has now shown they are capable of playing with ranked teams.
When you beat No. 16 one week, then manage to have a loss to No. 13 that came down to a blown officials’ call, the Hogs are way ahead of the group that lost 20 straight league games.
Both of those games were on the road, by the way.
The Hogs were a double-digit underdog, didn’t start playing offense for the first quarter and a half and still lost at the end on a bad call.
That’s why Pittman basically told the fans (and reportedly his team) they aren’t going to get pushed around by anybody.
Fans will probably wallow around complaining about what happened against the Tigers that the team had no control over.
It will be more interesting to see how the coaches and players adjust what they can control.
Pittman told final pass wasn’t backwards, had strong message after game
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said officials told him the backwards pass really wasn’t backwards also told his team “the times of us going somewhere and embarrassing ourselves and our fans are over.”
Razorbacks’ Catalon recapping narrow loss to Auburn, what he saw on last play
Arkansas safety Jalen Catalon said they thought the spike at the end of the loss to Auburn was actually a backwards pass they recovered.
Hogs’ Smith: ‘We feel like we let one get away’ in late loss to Auburn on Saturday
Arkansas running back Trelon Smith (81 yards on 21 carries, 6 catches for 78 yards) disappointed about letting game “get away” in loss.
Carlson kicks field goal with 7 seconds left to give Tigers undeserved win
4Q :07: Auburn’s Anders Carlson kicks a 39-yard field goal that barely sneaks in after officials blow a backwards clock play that should have been a fumble recovered by the Hogs. Auburn 30, Arkansas 28
4Q 5:29: Arkansas has battled all the way back and is now in front of Auburn after a 30-yard pass from Feleipe Franks to a De’Vion Warren, who had gotten behind the Tigers’ defense. A.J. Reed added the extra point and the Hogs have their first lead of the day. Arkansas 28, Auburn 27
4Q 11:37: Arkansas squanders a Red Zone opportunity and has to settle for a 23-yard field goal by A.J. Reed after pulling Feleipe Franks for freshman Malik Hornsby and the Tigers stuffed him on two straight runs. Auburn 27, Arkansas 21
4Q 14:51: Auburn quarterback Bo Nix finds an answer in speedy wide receiver Anthony Schwartz for a 17-yard score with 14:51 to play and the Tigers open a nine-point advantage. Auburn 27, Arkansas 18
3Q 4:14: Running back Trelon Smith converted key third downs for Arkansas and made the plays necessary to spark a 13-play, 85-yard drive but can’t convert yet another 2-point conversion and Auburn clings to a slim lead. Smith, filling in for Rakeem Boyd who was injured last week, has 69 yards rushing and has added another 64 on pass receptions (mostly runs after the catch). Auburn 20, Arkansas 18
Unless something dramatic changes in the second half, for Arkansas to get a second straight win, the offense is going to have to get some momentum.
Auburn leads at halftime, 20-12, as Feleipe Franks struggled early to get any consistency before finally seeming to get it together late in the second quarter.
The Razorbacks’ defense has been assaulted by the Tigers’ running game for 215 yards in the first half while the offense struggled as Trelon Smith started for the injured Rakeem Boyd (who did not make the trip to Auburn).
Arkansas had just 55 on the ground, but finally managed to start moving the ball through the air as Franks was 12-of-17 for 148 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
The special teams continued to only be special at consistently making mistakes. The second blocked punt in three games led to Auburn’s first score and a dropped snap on an extra point now means the Hogs will have to juggle the scoreboard in the second half
2Q :38: After the Hogs get a score, Auburn answers with a six-play, 57-yard drive using big passing plays to eat up chunks of yardage before the defense stiffense and Anders Carlson kicks a 25-yard field goal. Auburn 20, Arkansas 12
2Q 2:15: The Hogs’ offense makes you wonder where it’s been all day as the defense gets another midfield stop, then Feleipe Franks finishes off a 75-yard drive in six plays that used just two minutes. Trey Knox couldn’t haul in a 2-point pass on the back line of the end zone. Auburn 17, Arkansas 12
2Q 6:24: Arkansas finally gets some offense going, moving 65 yards in eight plays, ending with Feleipe Franks throwing an 8-yard scoring pass to Mike Woods in the back of the end zone. The special teams managed to blow an extra point, dropping the snap from center. Auburn 17, Arkansas 6
2Q 9:26: Bo Nix scores on a 15-yard designed keeper and Auburn has it’s best offensive drive. Auburn 17, Arkansas 0
1Q :36: D.J. Williams scampered 41 yards down the left sideline as the defense can’t tackle him but then Auburn’s offense bogs down before Anderson Carlson kicks a 47-yard field goal and the Hogs finally conclude a first quarter of struggling. Auburn 10, Arkansas 0
1Q 4:32: Hogs’ special teams gives up the second blocked punt in three games as George Caratan has one blocked by Jordyn Peters and recovered by Barton Lester in the end zone for the first score. Auburn 7, Arkansas 0
Arkansas and Auburn off to an ugly start in the rain as the two teams are about as evenly-matched early in the first quarter as the stats indicated.
The problem with the Razorbacks is getting backed into starting every drive near their own goal, which is not good with the weather conditions.
The passing game is being used much more than most people expected as Trelon Smith for the Hogs and Tank Bigsby for the Tigers have ripped off some runs, but not consistently.
Franks twice has been sacked when he should have taken off with the ball as the Hogs’ offense is mis-firing (going 3-and-out twice).
Oh, the crew on SEC Nation on Saturday morning before the games is complimentary of what Arkansas did, but they aren’t believing.
“You don’t go from losing 20 straight in the SEC to winning two in a row,” analyst Roman Harper said in picking the Tigers to get a win.
None had anything negative to say … they just aren’t buying into what the Hogs did and obviously are still buying into the Gus Malzahn-Chad Morris hype.
Tim Tebow and Jordan Rodgers also picked Auburn to win today.
You can listen to all of the pregame and the game online at HitThatLine.
The broadcast is available on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain.
Don’t forget Razorback Reaction after the game … win or lose.
