Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors talked after the 101-46 win over East Central in the final warmup game before the regular season starts next Friday against Northwestern State.
Williams, Monk talk about win over East Central
Arkansas players Kiara Williams and Malica Monk met with the media after the 101-46 exhibition over East Central on Thursday night, the Hogs’ final tuneup before the regular season opens.
Vanderbilt home loss takes Hogs’ season to a new low
My wife, Sheena, awoke early Sunday morning perplexed.
“How can our Razorbacks be this bad?” she asked. “I just can’t believe they are that horrible. I don’t understand.”
Those weren’t the sweet nothings I expected when she rolled over. As a lifelong resident of this state, I shouldn’t have been too surprised that this was on her mind. I know the shock along with frustration are common among the Hogs faithful.
After 17 years of marriage, she should have been ready for what came out of my mouth. It was a breakdown of the failures of the Bret Bielema experiment including an analysis of failed recruiting classes as well as the disappointing losses and blown second-half leads.
A few minutes into it, Sheena rolled back over. I guess that was just a rhetorical question.
But her reaction after the Vanderbilt home loss last Saturday was a reminder about epically bad this season has been and how rare that is.
It’s true the Hogs have won four or less games three times since 2012. The worst season I had seen in my time in Arkansas occurred in 2012 when John L. Smith subbed in for the fired Bobby Petrino
That team had big expectations, but an early season loss to Louisiana-Monroe in Little Rock proved to be the harbinger of the bad things to come.
Bielema’s first team finished 3-9 with a nice start in the non-conference slate, but then went winless in the SEC, which it looks likely the 2018 team will do (more on that in a moment).
Bielema’s final team finished 4-8. So, losing records aren’t completely foreign on The Hill.
However, you have to go back to 1952 to find a Hogs team that finished with two wins. The Hogs only have three three-win seasons since then — 1953, 1992 (Who can forget the Citadel loss?) and the aforementioned Bielema debut in 2013.
As a whole, Arkansas fans have too high of expectations. Its historical lot in the SEC is middle of the pack at best and that reality escapes some of the Razorback faithful.
However, Arkansas isn’t a perennial basement dweller, either.
Sheena didn’t sit through winless seasons and rush the field after beating a miserable Baylor team like I did growing up as an Iowa State fan. That kind of futility that I got used to is either depressing or angering depending on the disposition when it’s rare.
All Arkansas fans can agree. it’s unacceptable to lose to two non-conference opponents and perennial SEC doormat Vanderbilt in the same season. The Vandy game was the icing on the cake as Sheena’s reaction indicated.
This isn’t one of those resurgent Commodore teams. This team was winless in the SEC and won’t have a winning record. Derek Mason’s squad waltzed into Fayetteville and dominated them at times.
The alarming part for Hogs fans was the talent differential was obvious. Vandy had more speed and athleticism and it showed, especially in the second half. That’s a tough pill to swallow and finally triggered an emotional eruption from first-year coach Chad Morris, who has been unbelievably positive.
“We know that our goals of getting to a bowl game are not attainable,” Morris told the media following the loss. “As I shared with our players, our culture is not going to change. I’m not changing, our coaching staff is not going to change. We’re going to show up every day and coach hard. We’re going to find out who’s on board.”
I don’t know if many fans expected a bowl win, but most would not have predicted losses to Colorado State, North Texas or Vanderbilt. The common sentiment was four wins may be the low mark with six being very optimistic.
Now, with an open week Saturday that leaves a home game with No. 4 LSU and road tilts with Mississippi State and Missouri remaining. Arkansas won’t be favored in any of the three and will be heavy underdogs against the mighty Tigers.
Arkansas is staring one of its worst football seasons squarely in the face, and it isn’t a good feeling for anyone involved.
The encouraging news is as bad as Arkansas has been on the field, the coaching staff has dominated the recruiting game with the Hogs on track to sign a Top 10 recruiting class.
That may not lead to big gains next year, but in 2020 it could lead for Sheena to roll over and say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe how good the Hogs are. This has been a great season.”
Anderson previews final exhibition matchup Friday night
Arkansas men’s coach Mike Anderson met with the media Thursday and talked about the final exhibition game against Southwest Baptist before opening the regular season against Texas on Nov. 9.
Limpert’s banner year moves him to semifinals for Lou Groza Award
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ Connor Limpert has been named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top place-kicker.
Limpert, a junior from Allen, Texas, is one of 20 semifinalists for the honor, which will be voted on by a panel of more than 100 FBS head coaches, SIDs, media members, former Groza finalists and current NFL kickers to select the three finalists.
He was also named a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy in October, given to the most outstanding player who began his career as a walk-on.
This season, Limpert is 16-of-20 in field goal attempts, splitting the uprights at least once in every game in 2018 and each of the last 10 contests.
He owns the longest field goal made among the 20 up for the award with a 55-yard FG coming against Vanderbilt on Oct. 27.
His 55-yarder is the second-longest in the country this season, while his 54-yard conversion vs. North Texas on Sept. 15 is good for No. 5 among longest field goals made in 2018.
Coming into the matchup with the Commodores, Limpert, one of the most accurate kickers in school history, had connected on 10 consecutive field goals over the previous five weeks of competition.
He saw his streak, the third-longest in school history, come to an end on a 60-yard attempt at the end of the first half that fell just a few feet short of what would have been the third-longest FG in school history.
Limpert padded the end of that streak with back-to-back games with four and three field goals made coming on a rainy night in Little Rock against Ole Miss and at home against Tulsa, respectively.
His 4-for-4 night marked the first time a Razorback had accomplished the feat since Alex Tejada against Troy on Sept. 1, 2007.
Saturday’s field goal against Vanderbilt also pushed Limpert into 10th among single season field goals made by an Arkansas kicker, putting him closer to the school record of 24 set by Kendall Trainor in 1988.
The finalists for the Lou Groza Award will be announced on Nov. 20 and honored at the 27th annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Awards Banquet on Dec. 3 in Palm Beach County.
The same panel then selects the winner, who will be announced live on ESPN at the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on Thursday, Dec. 6.
Razorbacks schedule home-and-home series with BYU for ‘22-‘23
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas and Brigham Young University will meet for the first time on the football field in 2022 as part of a home-and-home, two-game series.
The Razorbacks will travel to Provo, Utah in 2022 to take on the Cougars with BYU making the return trip to Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in 2023.
The first game of the series is set for October 15, 2022 at Lavell Edwards Stadium, in what will be the first-ever game between the two schools. The Cougars will make the return trip to Fayetteville on October 23, 2023.
The two-game series with BYU is the latest football series announced by Arkansas.
Earlier this fall the Razorbacks announced a two-game set with Oklahoma State with the Hogs travelling to Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2024 and hosting the Cowboys in 2027.
???? Thursday Halftime Pod — (11-1-2018)
Phil & Tye discuss their Halloween, trusting the process, and more!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Thursday
Tyler Wilson joins Tommy & John to talk Halloween experiences, interview Tom Murphy and more!
Storey just might end up being the answer at QB for Hogs
Some will differ, but the opinion here is there is not a guaranteed solution to fix Arkansas’ problem at maybe the most important position on the field — quarterback.
Unless it’s Ty Storey.
Some think freshman KJ Jefferson is the answer, but that’s not likely for next year as it appears from reports he won’t be on campus until next summer. That will likely put him as a redshirt freshman for 2020 and some tell me he will need a couple of years of development to find out if he’s an SEC-caliber quarterback or not.
The answer to that is nobody knows what they’ve got with a player who has put up some gaudy numbers in a smaller division of Mississippi high school athletics against competition that’s not exactly stocked with a lot of SEC recruits.
Others feel Kelly Bryant will be the answer if the former Clemson quarterback chooses to come to the Razorbacks. There are some who feel that is going to happen.
In Bryant’s biggest game in 2017, he was 18-of-26 for 124 yards with two interceptions against Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
He had a little more success earlier in the year against Auburn, but his best game against an SEC team was against South Carolina later in the year.
For the season, he rushed for a lower average than what Storey has done this season for the Hogs.
Former Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner has been on radio shows this week talking about how his respect for what Storey has done. If anyone would have a pretty good take on that situation, it would be Stoerner.
Stoerner took a pounding through a pair of 4-7 seasons before things improved with a 17-7 mark his final two years.
He correctly pointed out that Storey has improved this year to the point he’s the best option Arkansas has now and you get the impression he feels it should be his job to lose going into next season as well.
The more you think about it, he’s probably correct.
The bottom line is Kelly Bryant’s not going to come here and launch the Hogs into the College Football Playoff. What he did at Clemson was done with numerous NFL-caliber players.
How many does Arkansas have?
Bryant might — and I’m pretty emphatic about the might — make a two-game difference. Remember, he’s available because he was beaten out by a quarterback who was playing in high school this time last year.
Storey will likely be the quarterback next year and that might not be completely horrible. Yes, he’s turned the ball over, but they’ve happened while trying to force a play in situations where he felt that was needed.
You give Storey the Clemson roster and the results would be similar as Bryant. Shoot, when both of them signed in 2015, Storey was the higher-rated quarterback, according to the 247Sports.com composite.
If you want to stretch it a little farther, Storey was rated higher than Connor Noland or anybody else that will be on the roster next season, barring Morris and his staff landing someone not on the radar right now.
What does that mean? Nothing, really, except the previous coaching staff didn’t do a particularly good job of developing talent.
Yes, it’s not a perfect situation.
But Ty has improved every game. Don’t put the Vanderbilt loss on him. Maybe making a bad decision in the Ole Miss game to not step out of bounds, but he’s admitted he should have tried for the first down a different way.
At least he was trying to make a play.
For a team that has struggled to find playmakers, that is something. Considering the lack of playmakers at the wide receiver spots (let’s face it, Cheyenne O’Grady is the only one who has shown an ability to be called a playmaker), the options for any quarterback have been limited.
It wouldn’t be that surprising to see the Hogs playing five freshmen in receiver spots next year that are better than nearly everybody on the roster now.
Which might make Ty a better quarterback.
If the offensive line can get a little better, but that’s another conversation completely.
???? Wednesday Halftime Pod- Featuring Brett Goode
Phil & Tye talk about Halloween, interview with former hog Brett Goode, and the Change My Mind segment!
