We got a lot of great pics from Arkansas’ loss to Alabama on Saturday, so be prepared to look at a few pictures.
Photos by Ted McClenning | HitThatLine.com
Saban’s ‘process’ on full display against Razorbacks
Nick Saban always talks about the “process” at Alabama.
It’s not really new. He’s been talking about it for awhile now and probably the first time I heard that was in 2008, which was the breakout year for the Crimson Tide.
Arkansas fans should take notice. It’s hard to remember now, but in 2007 the Razorbacks should have won down in Tuscaloosa, but some questionable officiating (really, is that a surprise?) let Bama squeak out a win.
That was also the last time a Hogs’ running back got over 100 yards against the Tide.
Until Saturday when Rakeem Boyd put up 102 on them. Hey, it’s triple digits, so don’t complain. Three weeks ago you would have been shocked if the Hogs could scrounge out 100 yards in total offense against Alabama, much less have a running back go over 100.
“I don’t think we really beat the other team when we give up 31 points,” Saban said later.
It was clear Arkansas getting over 400 yards of offense didn’t exactly put him in the best of moods.
“We made a lot of mistakes on defense today,” he said. “We didn’t play well as a unit. Lots of opportunities to get off the field on third downs and just didn’t do it, which allowed them to extend drives.”
And he noticed the improvement for the Hogs, too. No one does more advance scouting than Saban and his staff.
“They’re a much better team on offense,” he said. “You’ve got to give Arkansas a lot of credit. Their guys kept fighting throughout the game.”
That’s the key phrase that Saban mentioned that Hog fans should notice. This team had multiple chances to quit.
And didn’t.
That part of Chad Morris’ “process” seems to have taken hold. Even in a 34-point loss, the Hogs improved.
Now back to that first season under Saban in Tuscaloosa. It was a team that was up and down all season.
They won over Arkansas and Tennessee, but lost to Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State. They even had a four-game losing streak at the end of the season, but managed to slip into the Independence Bowl, which many Alabama fans consider far beneath them.
It took a year for everybody to buy into Saban’s “process.”
Granted, he had much better talent than what Morris inherited in Fayetteville. Alabama hadn’t had a class higher than No. 21 in the 247Sports.com composite rankings in the four years preceding Saban and was on a run of three straight Top 15 classes.
Before this game against the Tide, I said don’t pay any attention to the score because that was probably going to be lopsided.
And Arkansas’ offense continued to keep the improvement going.
Don’t believe it?
Without the turnovers, the Hogs could have made it a one-score game AFTER going down 21-0.
“We got some timely turnovers during the game,” was how Saban put it later.
Ty Storey, who didn’t always look pretty, kept making plays. His errors weren’t the goofy kind, but when he was trying to make a play and the Tide’s defense simply knocked the ball out … which is what they work on every single day.
“Their QB played with a lot of grit,” Saban said later. “He was able to scramble around and make plays, whether it was scrambling around and picking up the first down or scrambling and finding some one open.”
It was another step forward for the Hogs.
When you score more points on the No. 1 team in one game than they’ve allowed in their previous two league games combined, well, that’s progress.
Now the road ahead doesn’t have hills quite as steep.
And if you compare this first season for Morris to what is now the standard of excellence in college football it’s a similar track.
Where that track leads we won’t know for a couple of years.
Hogs show more progress despite loss to Alabama
The contrast between playing for championships and playing for respect couldn’t have been clearer Saturday afternoon.
Alabama, naturally, showed a fast-improving Arkansas team how far they have to go in a 65-31 game that really wasn’t ever close.
But we saw signs this Razorback team may be different over the last half of the season. That will be welcome news for fans who are becoming apathetic after a 1-5 start. Only 49,723 showed up with the defending national champions in town and sitting atop the college football world again this year.
“We executed our game plan very well,” Chad Morris said later. “I thought (offensive coordinator) coach Joe Craddock and our offensive staff did a great job putting a plan together.”
It’s hard to argue with that. The Hogs put up 405 yards of total offense against the Crimson Tide. Rakeem Boyd became the first Arkansas player since Darren McFadden in 2007 to rush for over 100 yards against Alabama.
And Ty Storey continued his progress, hitting 25-of-39 passes for 230 yards, two touchdowns and running for 42 yards. Losses knocked his net down to 36, but it was a couple of fumbles that will haunt him.
The first came on Arkansas’ opening possession. Then, with the Razorbacks having some momentum getting a fourth-and-1 stop near midfield, they appeared set to make it a one-score game when Storey dove for the end zone, was hit by Alabama’s Dylan Moses and Deionte Thompson recovered in the end zone.
A score there would have made it 21-14 with over 12 minutes left in the second quarter and might have at least made things interesting.
Instead the Tide drove 99 yards in just five plays with Tua Tagovailoa passing for 42 yards to Jerry Jeudy and it’s 28-7.
“Against a team like Alabama, they don’t need any help,” Morris said.
Still, the Hogs didn’t give up. Storey directed a drive to the Alabama 6 before Cole Kelley came on and faked a run passed to Cheyenne O’Grady for a score to cut the lead to 28-14.
And Alabama’s offense drove 74 yards in eight plays to pull away again before Tagovailoa found Jeudy again for a 60-yard score and it was 41-14 at halftime.
In case you’re wondering, the Tide’s offense is just as good as advertised.
“We gave up entirely too many big plays,” Morris said. “I thought you saw the ball in space and you really saw the true team speed that they have. They were able to make some major plays there.”
Tagovailoa will probably win the Heisman Trophy this year and the Arkansas game will be one that helped. He finished 10-of-13 passing for 334 yards and four touchdowns. He had a completely ridiculous quarterback rating of 394.3 for the game.
On the other side, Storey played better this week, except for the pair of fumbles that proved costly. He also had an interception later that bounced off a Razorback receiver’s hands to Shyheim Carter for a 44-yard score.
“Ty Storey keeps showing his grit and his fight,” Morris said. “[Storey] continues to get better. That’s what I shared with him on the sidelines, about how proud I am of him.”
For the third game in a row now, this team showed improvement. This game may have shown the most, despite the score that got completely out of hand due to a quick-strike Alabama offense.
“Again, just continue to get this offense better and that was impressive to see them take another step forward to allow us to continue to grow our package offensively,” Morris said.
Despite the whopping numbers Alabama managed to put up, there were signs of progress.
“Defensively I thought we fought hard,” Morris said. “There were two fourth-and-1’s and they really came up with nothing on those. I know one play was overruled.”
But it was big plays again that cost the Hogs.
“The story of the night was big plays,” Morris said “We gave up entirely too many big plays.”
They play another team that stacks up a lot of big plays in Ole Miss next week in Little Rock.
On the flip side, the Rebels give up about as many big plays as they get.
For a team looking for a win, they can at least see an opponent they could beat next week.
“Our message to this football team moving forward is we’re going to come in here tomorrow and we’re going to hit reset,” Morris said. “It’s a six-game season.
“We’re going to focus on us and we’re going to focus on what we’ve been focusing on the past three or four weeks. That’s us getting better and getting better every day.”
Which, really, is about the only way this team can approach things.
Morris on improvement in loss to Crimson Tide
Arkansas coach Chad Morris after the 65-31 loss to Alabama on Saturday.
Greenlaw, O’Grady after loss to Alabama on Saturday
Razorback players Dre Greenlaw and Cheyenne O’Grady after game Saturday.
Boyd, Storey, Harris recapping loss to Tide
Arkansas running back Rakeem Boyd, quarterback Ty Storey and linebacker De’Jon Harris on loss to Alabama.
Arrogance vs. optimism for Razorbacks against Bama
If you are headed up to The Hill for the game, be prepared. You will see them. They will be wearing red, toting white A’s upon their hats, and sporting extreme pride in their team.
No, it’s not a hoard of Razorbacks fans to which I refer. Here is a hint: they are coming, and their arrogance is coming with them.
The Alabama Crimson Tide are in Fayetteville, and this team has never looked better. If you listen to “The Morning Rush,” you probably heard John Nabors and Tommy Craft discussing how this may very well be the most complete Tide team ever under Nick Saban.
Perhaps under any coach at any program.
On an unrelated note: Happy birthday week, John.
Saban has called this a trap game. And while the sports journalists and radio personalities must do the politically correct thing of publicly analyzing his statement, permit me to say what we are all really saying: by definition, this is a trap game. By reality, nice try, Nick.
Yes, the Arkansas faithful is feeling a bit better about the future after the close game against Texas A&M. How far can that get us? Let’s take a look.
The Razorbacks offense is definitely progressing under Ty Storey, however, they are in trouble. Big trouble. If they find a weakness in the Alabama defense, they had better exploit it over and over.
And at halftime, Arkansas’s leadership had better start looking for a second flaw in the Crimson defenders.
If anyone believes the Tide’s coaching staff is incapable of making the proper adjustments, then I have a Houston Nutt “I Called That Play, Chuck!” t-shirt ready to ship directly to you.
Let us fill our Hog heads with hope Coach Morris can dial up some good statistics which defensive coordinator John Chavis can utilize against Tide quarterback Tua Tagov … Tagovel … Tagava … uh, Tua, who has taken Alabama offense to possibly the highest level ever achieved on an NCAA field.
Can Arkansas even limit what may wind up being the most vaunted offensive assembly in our lifetime? Do not count on it. [Pun intended … Think about it.]
Which brings us back around once more to the special teams. Focus is key to success. So, Coach Morris, let’s center our strategy by going for it on fourth down, kicking it out of bounds, and crossing our fingers on every field goal attempt.
On a positive note, kicking seems to be the only possible weakness in Alabama’s arsenal.
However, for Arkansas to wish this imperfection will change the projected outcome of the game, then the Tide’s fancy footers had better be horrible. How horrible you ask? Like Leigh Tiffin in 2006 horrible. Like Halle Berry in 2004’s “Catwoman” horrible, but that is a whole other story, man.
Yes, despite Saban’s best efforts, this Alabama team and its band of energetic supporters possess enough ego alone to fill the entirety of all SEC stadiums.
Can this lead to complacency? If you’re an optimistic Hogs fan hoping for any chance of a scoreboard win, then you’d better hope so. Stay positive fans, and remember, like Andy Hodges stated, Arkansas’s victory will not be on the scoreboard.
Arrogance 31, Optimism 17
Speaking of, many of you have stated to me that Mr. Hodges is on a roll [pun not intended] with his picks as of late. In fact, the word “perfect” has been a word floated around the past couple of weeks.
Do not let my not posting my record each week fool you – I am right on his heels, and that end of the season championship barbecue dinner will be mine. Yes, I just raised the “steaks.”
- Missouri at South Carolina – Too close to call, yet I will say the Gamecocks at home by 6.
- (5) LSU at (22) Florida – The Tigers knock the Gators back out of the Top 25. LSU by10
- University of Louisiana – Monroe at Ole Miss – Rebels by 15
- (13) Kentucky at Texas A&M – [UPSET ALERT] Aggies by 10, but can you really call this an upset?
- Vanderbilt at (2) Georgia – Bulldogs by 22
- (8) Auburn at Mississippi State – Tigers by a close 14
Go HOGS!!!
Follow me on ‘Twitter’: @PeterMorganWPS
Hogs open fall exhibition with win over Wichita State
FAYETTEVILLE — An announced crowd of 5,142 were in attendance Friday night at Baum Stadium as Arkansas beat Wichita State, 10-1, over 14 innings as fans got a first-hand look at many veterans and newcomers alike.
2018 Fall Exhibition Schedule
Oct. 5 – vs. Wichita State – W, 10-1 (14 innings)
Oct. 12 – at Little Rock (4:30 p.m.)
Sophomore Heston Kjerstad, who is coming off an All-American and SEC Freshman of the Year campaign, went 1-for-5 in the opening nine innings. His lone hit was a two-run opposite-field home run in the first inning that got Arkansas’ offense going.
On the mound, Arkansas’ pitching staff excelled, allowing only one run on five hits throughout the entire night. Redshirt junior right-hander Isaiah Campbell got the start and battled through a shaky first inning to strike out eight over four innings. He only walked one batter and threw 63 pitches, retiring four of the last five he faced.
For the next five innings, the Arkansas coaching staff worked its pitchers as if it were a real game. With a 2-0 lead after the first, junior Jacob Kostyshock threw two perfect innings, striking out three.
Then, redshirt junior Cody Scroggins threw a perfect seventh inning, followed by a perfect eighth by sophomore Kole Ramage.
With the score 3-1 going into the ninth, junior lefty Matt Cronin got his number called to close out the game. Cronin, who set the Arkansas single-season record for saves (14) last year, did what he does best, striking out the side in the ninth on 12 pitches.
Arkansas added five more runs in the 10th as its starting lineup got one more turn at the plate before giving way to the bench. Sophomore JUCO transfer Matt Goodheart turned in a good day at the plate, going 2-for-5 including a long home run over the right field bullpen. He finished with four RBIs in the game.
The Razorbacks will continue with fall practice next week before playing its final fall exhibition on Friday, Oct. 12 against the Little Rock Trojans. The team will travel to the capital city and play at Gary Hogan Field. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
For more information on Razorback Baseball, follow @RazorbackBSB on Twitter.
From Dave Van Horn
“There were some good things, but there were obviously some things we need to work on. Try to get everybody in in the second half, but obviously our pitching was outstanding and if you look how (Isaiah) Campbell started it out, his first five outs were from strikeouts before they got a hit. He didn’t have his breaking stuff until his last inning and he did a nice job with it. Then it was one right after another came in and really threw the ball well, held them down. They only had four or five hits throughout the night. Offensively, the positive would be that we took advantage of things. We scored when they walked us or they made an error here or there. We punched in some runs and we got a big three-run homer after the walk, but there were too many strikeouts. We have to cut those in half and we have to give credit to their first pitcher (McGinness). He threw a lot of breaking balls, change-ups, and kept us off balance. They brought in another lefty, another guy throwing a lot of breaking balls and we didn’t do a good job with it. It’s early and it was a good learning experience for us.” — On how the team managed their first fall exhibition
“On Kjerstad’s, I think it was a change-up and he just stayed on it. We knew from the dugout as soon as it left the bat it was out of here. I think (Matt) Goodheart took some good swings early in the game and fouled some balls back, but then he got all of that one and drove it through the wind over the back wall. He’s been swinging the bat good in practice that’s why I DH’ed him, I also put him at first tonight and left field. Obviously, in a normal game you wouldn’t be able to move him around and take him out like that. We discussed that before the game, if we had a DH, we wanted to move him around and that’s what I did with him because I think that is what he’ll do for us. I think he’ll play a little outfield and some first base; a good DH and I want him to hit.” — On the two home runs by Heston Kjerstad and Matt Goodheart
???? Friday Halftime Pod — Featuring Aaron Torres
Phil Elson and Tye Richardson talk about what fans would do if Arkansas beat Alabama, interviewed Aaron Torres, and FOMO Friday.
Win for Hogs won’t be on scoreboard against Tide
Coaches refuse publicly to acknowledge anything remotely resembling a moral victory.
Let’s face it, Chad Morris publicly is doing nothing to discourage the notion that Arkansas is preparing for a win against No. 1 Alabama on Saturday.
Which is what probably should be expected.
On the flip side, though, his mantra has been the Razorbacks getting better every day, with every meeting, every practice.
Beating the Crimson Tide would be more than just getting better. It would be like something out of the Twilight Zone and I’m not completely sure there would be a bigger upset in program history.
Maybe the closest would be the Hogs’ 25-24 win over Tennessee back in 1992. That was a team that had lost to The Citadel, getting then-coach Jack Crowe fired. But they had rebounded with a 45-7 win over South Carolina the next week.
This Razorback team has no such win. Sorry, but beating Eastern Illinois in the opener isn’t the same thing.
For starters, this Alabama team is better. It is deservedly in the conversation as maybe the best college football team of all time. That may happen at the end of the year, but right now it’s not even the best team in Tide football history.
For Arkansas to even keep this game close, however, they will have to have some help from Alabama. Turnovers, missed assignments or maybe even equipment malfunctions will have to come together in spectacular fashion.
Having a few tricks in the offensive plan for the Hogs might help, too. Of course, the execution on those tricks has to be flawless, too. Over 40 years of covering big-time football, I’ve seen about as many tricks blow up as I’ve seen work.
On Wednesday, I started getting the idea something was in the plan for the Hogs when the media was cut back by a period in what we could see at practice. If something’s not up, why kick us out a period early when we get so little availability as it is?
All of this little intrigue college coaches seem so fond of doing is what created my favorite question — we don’t know what we don’t know. If you think about it for a second you’ll get it (I threw that out there in case any Alabama fans are reading this in the trailer park).
All of that is why this week’s prediction doesn’t begin to guess at what we don’t know. We’ll just have to figure it out as the game develops.
Alabama 59, Arkansas 24
Okay, into the rest of the league and we’re riding a two-game winning streak where we’ve hit on every single pick. Yes, we’ve hit every one of them, including upsets involving my cousin’s Mississippi State team.
He’s since requested I not make a pick in any of their games going forward.
The record is now 47-5 this season in games. The easy picks this week are Ole Miss over Louisiana-Monroe and Georgia over Vanderbilt (let’s face it, if the Commodores win this one it might be bigger than the Hogs beating Alabama).
Missouri at -2.5 South Carolina
This is a game that on the surface could go either way. It’s well known you get three points for being the home team, so this one’s a virtual toss-up.
I’m still not buying into the Tigers as they haven’t particularly impressed me in their games against other SEC teams.
The Gamecocks are at the top of the group in the middle in the East and I don’t think Missouri is quite ready to get there yet. Something says Deebo Samuel is due for a breakout SEC game.
South Carolina 35, Missouri 24
-3 LSU at Florida
Nick Saban said Arkansas is a trap game for the Crimson Tide. Nobody’s really buying into that, though.
This is the trap game for LSU.
The Tigers have really only had one close game, a 22-21 win on the road at Auburn. Quite frankly, Ed Orgeron has the Tigers playing better than I guessed before the season.
I thought they would be 2-3 or, at best, 3-2 right now. Yep, I missed that one, which is why I hate making any predictions before October, which is where we are now.
This LSU team will be near the top of the West at the end of the season, but this is more about having confidence in what Dan Mullen is doing down at Florida.
He inherited a lot of talent there, especially on defense.
This is a game that might end up being ugly, unless you’re into defensive stalemates in which case you’ll love this game.
Florida 17, LSU 16
Kentucky at -6 Texas A&M
You would think somebody would start to recognize the Wildcats really seem to embrace being the under dog this year.
They have won every time, Florida on the road and Mississippi State at home.
The Aggies, on the other hand, are carrying a close loss to Clemson as their biggest accomplishment so far this year.
In this one, the Wildcats have an offense to go with a strong defense.
The Aggies had to claw their way to a win over Arkansas last week that didn’t exactly impress anyone.
Benny Snell makes the difference in this one and it may take until the second half for him to start piling up the yardage.
Kentucky 28, Texas A&M 24
-4 Auburn at Mississippi State
Exactly why the Tigers are still ranked in the Top 10 is likely due more to preseason expectations than what we’ve seen on the field in the first half of the season.
This Auburn team is not as good as last year and this game is completely out of whack, in my opinion.
That’s assuming, of course, that the Bulldogs are a good team that just ran into a couple of other pretty good teams in Kentucky and Florida, which is what I believe to be the case.
And State usually plays the Tigers very well in Starkville.
Just like they will Saturday
Mississippi State 24, Auburn 20
