Razorbacks defensive coordinator John Chavis talked Monday about the problems in the 24-20 loss to the Wildcats and is impressed with players Tigers have this week.
Craddock on trying to get ball in Burks’ hands more often
Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock talked Monday about figuring out more ways to get the ball in Treylon Burks’ hands heading into game with Auburn.
Will Morris decide future is now at QB or ride past into ground?
Whether the media yakkers or the Great Unwashed on message boards and social media agree or not, Chad Morris is probably going to get another year as Arkansas’ football coach.
First, it’s highly doubtful anyone that has the money is going to write a check to fire another coach two years after they just let one go and, maybe more importantly, the odds of getting a proven coach are slim and none (and slim is probably already out of the conversation).
It’s why you have to wonder if Morris is ready to start going with the future or continue down a path of futility at the most important position on the field — quarterback.
The world of college football has changed and you’re not going to win a lot without someone behind center that’s pretty good.
And freshmen seem to be quite capable of stepping in.
The Razorbacks will be playing against a freshman this week when Auburn comes to town with Bo Nix behind center. He has them at No. 11 in the country.
For what it’s worth, Morris really has nothing to lose. Four of the last six opponents are presently ranked in the Top 25, including No. 1 Alabama next week and second-ranked LSU. Both of those will be on the road, too.
Yeah, optimism sailed out the window following the loss to San Jose State and, quite frankly, you have to wonder if Morris has figured out anything on the offensive side of the ball.
Neither Nick Starkel or Ben Hicks seem to have the ability to consistently get the Hogs into the end zone. They weren’t even the best quarterback in August camp doing that, according to both Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock.
That was John Stephen Jones and he hasn’t come close to getting on the field in a game. Neither has K.J. Jefferson, who is spending most of the first half of the season simulating the other team’s quarterback.
The question is legitimate. What has Morris got to lose?
While Starkel’s arm strength is impressive, Jefferson’s isn’t bad. Show up Saturday and watch him in warmups because the ball jumps out of his hand. He can’t be more erratic than Starkel was Saturday night in the loss at Kentucky.
Jones just knows how to play football and there’s a lot of that required in winning games.
The Hogs have had chances to win in the fourth quarter of three of their four losses. It’s pretty clear by now Starkel and Hicks gagged on the opportunities they had.
We have no idea about Jones and Jefferson.
There are playmakers out there on the field. Trey Knox, Treylon Burks, Mike Woods, C.J. O’Grady have all shown they can do that. Even Tyson Morris has made a couple of plays. We hear T.Q. Jackson and Shamar Nash are playmakers.
Yet, the quarterbacks seem to struggle to get the ball in their hands. Neither are particularly adept at pulling the ball down and just taking off … or else not capable of reading a defense well enough to know they are probably going to have to do that.
They need a football player there.
We’ll see if Morris has the guts or knowledge to put one there.
No. 13 Razorbacks down Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon, 6-1
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas soccer (11-2-1, 5-1-0) downed Mississippi State (7-6-1, 2-3-1) in SEC play on Sunday afternoon, 6-1.
The six goals are the most against any conference foe since 2008 and they’re the most goals the Bulldogs have allowed since 2013.
How it happened
• Parker Goins faked a righty shot and then won a tackle against a Bulldog defender as she put it over the outstretched arms of the Mississippi State ‘keeper in the 17th-minute.
• Anna Podojil went one-on-one with the MSU goalie and put a strike to the far post in in the 25th-minute for her team-leading eighth goal of the season.
• The Bulldogs scored just the third goal in regulation against Arkansas all season off a PK in the 41st-minute.
• Taylor Malham responded with her own PK in the 43rd-minute as she slotted it to the lower left corner.
• Stefani Doyle side stepped the Bulldog ‘keeper as she put a strike to the right post on the open goal to open the half.
• Podojil would get her second of the day in the 52nd-minute. Taylor Malham redirected a Marissa Kinsey corner across goal for the freshman to put away.
• Podojil netted a hat trick in the 61st-minute on a shot that hit the cross bar and crossed the goal line for her 10th goal of the year.
From Colby Hale
“Today we found a good balance. Our goal is to put together full matches and we are getting closer. At 3-1 at the half we knew the next goal was important. We will enjoy this tonight and work towards our next match tomorrow.”
Next up
The Razorbacks will head to College Station, Texas, to face No. 17 Texas A&M on Friday, Oct. 18. First kick is set for 7:30 p.m.
Until Hogs’ playmakers get ball more, this offense will continue to be bad
While The Great Playcaller himself, Bobby Petrino, certainly had his downsides, getting the football in the hand of his best playmakers on offense almost assuredly wasn’t one of them.
It’s a question Chad Morris probably should be asking his offensive staff and, ultimately, himself after once again coaching a possible SEC win into a loss.
The best example of this came in the fourth quarter when Treylon Burks did what people in Warren saw him do for years … he took over the game almost single-handedly. For one series.
Don’t put it on Burks. He had a 26-yard punt return that he did a lot of the work on himself, making the first Kentucky defender miss. He followed that by taking a backwards pass he was wanting to throw to C.J. O’Grady, but saw he was covered and took off down the sideline for 11 yards.
On the next play, Ben Hicks threw to Burks for 15 yards to the Wildcats’ 3-yard line.
Burks had one other catch the entire game. Trey Knox, another freshman big-time playmaker, had two catches for 24 yards.
Part of the problem was Nick Starkel looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck half the time. It often appeared he was just chunking it in the general direction of somebody, usually C.J. O’Grady.
Hicks only threw eight passes. Part of that was the running game was effective, but when he did try to pass, the offensive line didn’t appear to put up more more than token resistance to the Kentucky defensive linemen.
Apparently some people tried to make a point of SEC Network commentator Jordan Rodgers pointing out the technical flaws in Starkel’s delivery and the coaches not correcting it.
While there’s plenty to blame on the coaches, that’s one issue offensive coordinator Joe Craddock has pointed out in no uncertain terms to Starkel on numerous occasions. We’ve seen it in individual workouts in the limited media access early in practices.
Starkel’s been coached on the proper technique. The fact he can’t do it consistently in games may be why he’s in Fayetteville and not still in College Station, Texas.
It’s just more of the head-scratching confusion about this team’s offense. As I said in the immediate reaction, this is resembling more and more the revolving door at quarterback last season.
The quarterback situation is something Morris is going to have to address … and resolve.
“All options are open,” he said Saturday night after the loss in Lexington.
In fall practice, Morris and Craddock both said redshirt freshman John Stephen Jones put the team in the end zone the most in scrimmages. Jones hasn’t seen the field except from the bench this year.
Freshman K.J. Jefferson, maybe the most intriguing of all the quarterbacks, hasn’t gotten close to being in a game. He was the highest-rated quarterback in the state of Mississippi last year and the guy behind him is starting at Ole Miss.
“We’ve got to get something that’s going to provide consistency and provide a spark for us,” Morris said. “We’ll re-evaluate that as we get back in.”
That’s basically a non-answer cliché. You hear those a lot with Morris, who at times appears to teeter on the edge of paranoia wrapped in secrecy. That’s why you don’t see special teams photos or videos from practice … we aren’t allowed to shoot it.
Exactly what is being protected there remains to be seen, but it borders on ridiculous.
It makes you think of the time Bill Parcells joined the Dallas Cowboys and cut off the media shooting practice photos and video. He said it was because before playing the Bills in the Super Bowl he saw a Bills’ play with Thurman Thomas on television the week before the game.
He didn’t elaborate. Research discovered the play. In the Super Bowl, the Bills ran the play seven times and got 97 yards. Buffalo coach Marv Levy wasn’t shy about giving the exact numbers.
“What would he have gotten if you HADN’T known about it?” Parcells was asked.
The restrictions on shooting were gone the next day.
Exactly what Morris is concerned about someone seeing is not known. The same goes for team drills … exactly what he’s afraid of anyone seeing is starting to slip past the borderline on ridiculous.
It’s hard to imagine any team seeing anything that could do anything but make them more confident. Let’s face it, nothing about these Hogs scare any opponent.
And it won’t be until Morris figures out a way to get the ball in the hands of playmakers on offense.
Hogs collapse like cheap lawn chair in fourth quarter against ’Cats
Chad Morris was supposed to be an offensive-minded coach that would smooth out the rough edges on an Arkansas attack that had been hit-and-miss the last few years.
It could be argued he’s only removed the hit part of that statement.
The Razorbacks lost the Starkel Sparkel in the first half on a cool Saturday night in Kentucky and when they regained a little momentum, the offense collapsed like a cheap lawn chair in the red zone again in a 24-20 loss that probably should have been a fairly easy win.
Put this one on everybody.
There’s not much excuse for an offense to be this ineffective coming off a bye week. The defense hung in there, but the Wildcats’ running game finally wore them out.
The Hogs didn’t quit defensively as much as they just gave out.
Now Morris has got some big decisions to make on offense, especially at quarterback as Nick Starkel wouldn’t have hit water if he fell out of a boat.
By the time he switched to Ben Hicks in the second half, the Wildcats had figured out the Hogs couldn’t stop the running game and had apparently failed to figure out how to stop a mobile quarterback.
Kentucky’s Lynn Bowden, previously a wide receiver and punt returned, gashed Arkansas for 196 yards on the ground, then added a perfectly-thrown touchdown pass in the second half that finally got them the lead.
It makes you wonder if Morris is developing freshman K.J. Jefferson for the next coach.
The question is reasonable. If the Hogs don’t figure out how to get a win, everyone will be wondering why the program is continuing down yet another dead-end rabbit hole.
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that’s starting to notice this looks a whole lot like last season with different names at quarterback. It is a legitimate question to ask exactly where is the development?
The only positive sign from the offense was freshman wide receiver and punt returner Treylon Burks. His 26-yard punt return in the fourth quarter ignited a burst that saw him follow that with a veteran decision on a wide receiver pass to tuck it and run it.
He than had a catch that got the ball to the 2, setting up Rakeem Boyd’s short touchdown that gave the Hogs a brief lead in the fourth quarter.
Kentucky needed just eight plays and 3:42 of clock to re-take the lead with the damage coming on the ground in huge chunks and Bowden sprinted the final 24 yards basically untouched for the clinching touchdown.
The Hogs still had a shot … before the offensive line collapsed. Senior Austin Capps gave up a huge sack on third-and-8 at the Kentucky 15. On another fourth–and-forever play, Hicks was pressured and had his pass knocked down.
This game never should have come to that.
When Boyd scampered free for a 74-yard scoring run on the second play of the game, Hog fans were cautiously optimistic. They came back to earth when the best they could manage until the fourth quarter were a couple of Connor Limpert field goals.
Starkel was completely ineffective.
Hicks was a little better, but not enough. It’s clear this offense needs a spark and there’s no miracle scheme that’s going to do it.
Expecting players to make giant leaps in ability in the middle of the year is like basing a plan on hope.
Don’t ask me for the solution. Morris isn’t going to be asking my advice.
But he better figure it out … very quickly.
Time is running short.
And that chance he asked for from fans in December 2017 is probably gone.
KNWA VIDEO: Boyd following loss Kentucky on Saturday night
VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA
KNWA VIDEO: Pool talking about Hogs’ loss to Kentucky
VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA
