Arkansas offensive tackle Myron Cunningham talked with the media after Tuesday’s practice looking back at win plus facing old coach.
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Reports of Razorbacks’ wallowing in cellar may prove to be completely wrong
Arkansas’ win Saturday got everybody’s attention, but many are blaming Mississippi State more than giving the Hogs credit on the national scale.
The best example is Auburn is now a 14.5-point favorite this week despite being almost even with the Hogs in stats against a common opponent and a similar opponent.
It’s dropped a couple of points since opening and will probably continue to fall.
But even Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara (who picked the Hogs to beat Mississippi State a couple of weeks ago) thinks his season prediction may have been a little off.
“They can play with some teams much better than people thought,” O’Gara told Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas on Monday afternoon. “Much better than at any point in the Chad Morris era.”
Sorry to bring up bad memories, but that was an 0-14 run that would have been 0-16 if Morris hadn’t been fired with two games left to play last season.
“I realize that’s not saying much,” O’Gara said.
As hard as that is to swallow for some fans, it’s accurate. Until this team backs up the win over the Bulldogs with a solid effort nobody’s going to give them much credit.
But some of the national media are starting to scratch their heads.
“It looks like a team that’s well-prepared and actually knows how to adjust to it’s competition,” O’Gara said. “There’s going to be teams that make offensive mistakes and Arkansas now looks like a team in position to take advantage of that.”
The win over Mississippi State was the only one he saw the Razorbacks getting this season and now, well, he’s re-thinking that.
“I’m starting to think 1-9 was under-estimating this team,” O’Gara said. “This is about as good a start as you could hope for if you’re an Arkansas fan.”
He made the point as good as the Hogs’ defense was against the Bulldogs, they probably can’t shut down the Tigers like Georgia did.
Yeah, the Hogs’ defense isn’t like the Bulldogs but they are comparable to Kentucky and the Wildcats might have won the season opener against the Tigers if not for some questionable officials’ calls.
At least that’s what they’re saying in Lexington these days.
But let’s not forget the biggest problem Auburn has and that’s Morris running the offense for Gus Malzahn.
Morris hasn’t done anything at the college level since he left Clemson. Considering the Tigers’ offense improved with the guys under Morris when he was there it’s really hard to give Chad much credit there.
When Malzahn has won down on The Plains it’s been with a defense that was equal to Georgia, but he hasn’t consistently recruited at that level and there is some rumbling that’s going to require some wins to calm it down.
Now the Hogs will be coming to face their former coach and Sam Pittman sorta shrugged all that off, but he knows it’s probably going to be some motivation for certain players.
Most of Arkansas’ roster only knows Malzahn by reputation.
They know Morris because he recruited most of the current roster.
And he was so popular nobody has complained when he was fired. Interestingly, no players have appeared particularly sorry to see him leave town.
But that won’t be the biggest factor.
Barry Odom’s defense will be interesting because it will probably be different from the approach against the Air Raid offense.
Morris’ offense at Auburn appears to be stalled down in the left lane.
Just like it was in Fayetteville for two seasons.
Olson on weekend where Iowa State, Hogs both win playing ranked opponents
Scoreboard Central co-host Nate Olson talked with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas about how it feels to see his Cyclones plus Arkansas gets huge wins on same day in football.
Pittman on Hogs’ win over Mississippi State, facing familiar Auburn this week
Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman’s complete press conference Monday after downing the Bulldogs on Saturday and he knows what the Tigers can do.
Foucha, Pool get co-defensive players after big nights in win over MSU
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Arkansas junior defensive back Joe Foucha and junior linebacker Bumper Pool have both garnered SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors after their performances in the 21-14 win at No. 16 Mississippi State.
Foucha intercepted a career-high two passes and totaled two tackles, including 0.5 tackles for loss, in his career performance against the Bulldogs.
He picked off his first pass of the night in the second quarter and made a crucial interception in the fourth quarter at the Razorback 21-yard line and tacked on a 26-yard return.
Foucha became the first Hog to pick off two passes in a game since Dre Greenlaw against Texas A&M in 2018. He’s also the first Razorback to record two interceptions with at least 0.5 tackles for loss since Michael Grant in 2006 against Louisiana-Monroe.
Foucha and the Hogs defense have already intercepted four passes this season, more than half of last season’s total (6).
Snagged it pic.twitter.com/NqVf9sO6Oc
— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) October 4, 2020
Pool’s 20 tackles at Mississippi State is the FBS’ single-game high this season and tied the program record for 10th most tackles in a game.
He became one of just nine SEC players to reach the single-game 20 tackle mark in the last 10 years and the first Hog since Jerry Franklin (2010) against Mississippi State.
Pool also chipped in two pass breakups on Saturday to become the only Razorback to record 20 tackles and two passes broken up in the same game.
For the season, Pool leads the nation with 15.5 tackles per game and paces the SEC in total tackles (31).
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Our guys @Joe_Foucha and @bumperpool10 have been named SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week ?
?: https://t.co/UDgTRGtwRf pic.twitter.com/xZEcCm7iAM
— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) October 5, 2020
The tandem was part of a defense that limited Mississippi State to 87 rushing yards, the Bulldogs’ lowest output at home since 2015 against Alabama.
With the win over No. 16 Mississippi State, Arkansas won its first game against a ranked opponent since 2016 against then-No. 10 Florida.
Foucha and Pool are the first Razorbacks to receive SEC Defensive Player of the Week recognition since Martrell Spaight in 2014.
Murphy on Hogs’ big win, needing to get running game going against Tigers
Tom Murphy of the Democrat-Gazette talked with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft about Hogs beating MSU, early preview of game with Auburn.
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Hogs’ stats better than Auburn with two remarkably similar starting games
Arkansas fans are giddy after beating No. 16 Mississippi State on Saturday night … while Auburn was getting drilled by Georgia.
Which is why some of the folks on on The Plains are starting to get a little restless.
Don’t blame the Razorbacks. They didn’t send Gus Malzahn and Chad Morris to Auburn. They voluntarily paid Gus $7 million a year for awhile (with guarantees) to keep him from coming to Arkansas … which some think never was going to happen anyway.
Both teams come into Saturday afternoon’s game with identical 1-1 records, but completely different mindsets among the fans.
Welcome to the SEC where moods and expectations change weekly. It just means more.
But on paper, these two teams have lost to a common opponent (Georgia) and won a game over a similar opponent (Mississippi State and Kentucky) … and the Hogs have BETTER numbers.
The Tigers are struggling, especially on offense and that’s what has their fan base moaning and groaning.
They haven’t been able to run the ball which is what Malzahn and Morris desperately want to do. The Hogs are out-performing them through two games in that area, but it’s not exactly a strong point on either team.
Arkansas has 140 yards combined in the first two games while Auburn has 130 … yes that’s combining both games and just remember that’s what happens when both teams have played Georgia.
The Razorbacks also have more total offense (555-540). Let that sink in for a minute. The Hogs are out-performing Auburn and the offensive coordinator who will gladly take credit for Clemson winning a couple of national championships.
Oh, lest we forget, they also have Malzahn. Many folks in Arkansas still thinks he invented offense. While he’s shown he can win a single game at the big-time college level, Gus can’t seem to win THE game that matters most every year.
At Auburn, Malzahn has beaten Georgia exactly twice in nine tries and one of those was the miracle pass in 2013. He has beaten Alabama three times which means more to some people but is it really worth $7 million a year to more than a few boosters?
That’s their problem, along with their current offensive coordinator who has established an offense that looks remarkably similar to what he had at Arkansas in 2018-19 … and not making it two years.
Morris gets fired in Fayetteville and goes to Auburn. Now the Razorbacks are slightly ahead of the Tigers in offensive production two games into the season.
Still think coaching doesn’t matter?
Auburn may have now passed Texas A&M as the most over-rated team in the SEC. What many talking heads have said the first couple of weeks is the Tigers’ defense is why they are not over-rated.
The Hogs are doing better. While the Tigers’ allegedly top-tier defense has given up an average of 413 yards a game the Hogs have allowed 393.5 per game … and that includes Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense.
In both games, Auburn’s offense has looked more chaotic than Arkansas’ … which includes that opener against Georgia where it looked at times like they came to the line and played a game of musical chairs.
The oddsmakers apparently think the Hogs’ win over State last week was a fluke. They have Auburn as a 16-point favorite, so apparently they are looking at recruiting rankings and not the stats from this year.
Since back in the summer, I’ve said the talent on this Arkansas team wasn’t as bad as the record the last three years or so.
The defense played hard, but not well, in the opener against Georgia and got ripped apart in the third quarter.
Against Mississippi State, they stuck to a solid game plan and made the plays they needed to and the offense did enough to come away with a win nobody expected.
But the biggest thing I’ve been curious about for two years is what happens if this team gets that win that can kick-start a program.
By the numbers from this season, the Hogs and Tigers is a close matchup.
And now we’re all interested to see what Barry Odom cooks up for the Hogs’ defensive plan this week.
