Hogs offensive coordinator Joe Craddock talked Monday about the continued improvement in the offense, putting up 31 points and over 400 yards against Alabama last week.
ProHogs: Ragnow spikes ball after Lions touchdown
If you missed this from yesterday, here’s Frank Ragnow getting to spike the football after a Lions’ TD. #ProHogs pic.twitter.com/eJYgjtjaUz
— Tye Richardson ? (@TyeSportsRadio) October 8, 2018
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday
John and Tommy are joined by former Hog QB Tyler Wilson to discuss the Alabama loss, mid-season grades, plus Tom Murphy!
WATCH: Highlights from Arkansas’ 65-31 loss to Alabama
via Victors Valiant
Razorbacks drop Sunday match on road at Ole Miss
OXFORD, Miss. — Limited chances and two second-half goals by Ole Miss snapped Arkansas’ five-match unbeaten streak Sunday afternoon in Oxford, as the Rebels topped the Razorbacks, 3-1, at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium.
Junior Kayla McKeon scored her sixth goal of the season in the 82nd minute, cutting Ole Miss’ lead to one, but the Rebels regained the two-goal advantage two minutes later for the final tally.
With the loss, Arkansas (9-3-2, 4-2-0 SEC) drops its first match since falling 3-1 at Georgia in its SEC opener.
During the unbeaten streak, the Razorbacks scored eight times, four coming from junior Tori Cannata and one each from Stefani Doyle, Kayla McKeon, Bryana Hunter and Taylor Malham. Cannata had two multi-goal performances over the last four weeks (vs. No. 2 Texas A&M; vs. LSU), the first braces of her career.
McKeon, with her score Sunday, is now tied for the team lead in goals (6) with Cannata and she also takes over sole possession of the team lead in points (14). It’s McKeon’s first goal since scoring the game-winner at Alabama (Sept. 23) and her second-straight match with at least one point.
Against the Rebels (9-5-1, 3-2-1 SEC), Arkansas’ chances were limited at the net as six of its nine shots came in the first half. Redshirt sophomore Taylor Beitz was challenged multiple times early on and was able to make five saves, unfortunately, the Rebels stayed offensive in the second half with three of their five shots going on target.
From Head Coach Colby Hale
“We’ll move on from this one. There were challenges that seemed to get the best of us on the day, but we are a resilient team. We’ll let this one sting for tonight and then prepare for Kentucky starting tomorrow.”
How It Went Down
32nd minute – As many of Arkansas’ chances came in the first half, none were able to cross the goal line, even after Ole Miss’ starting keeper, Marnie Merritt, went down with an injury, forcing her to miss the final 83 minutes of the match. The Rebels were able to take advantage of the Razorbacks’ missed opportunities and scored the first goal of the day off the foot of freshman Lonnie Mulligan. Mulligan found a through ball into space and hit the crossbar from 22 yards away, but got it bounce over the line and into the net, making it 1-0 Ole Miss.
50th minute – Five minutes into the second half, Ole Miss doubled its lead when Channing Foster scored her fourth goal of the year with the help of CeCe Kizer. The duo matched up on a counterattack and Foster was able to score with the left foot into the right-hand post.
82nd minute – The Razorbacks had some life in the final 10 minutes when McKeon scored on a beautiful strike from 15 yards in the box. A loose ball after a free kick volley found the foot of McKeon where she one-timed it into the right side netting. It was her sixth goal of the year.
84th minute – The final push by Arkansas wasn’t enough as the Rebels regained the two-goal lead just two minutes later on a score by CeCe Kizer. Kizer, who had the assist on the previous goal, got herself two points when she fired a shot past Beitz from the left side of the box. Beitz had a good read on it, but it was just out of her reach.
Up Next
Arkansas is back home for its next match when it takes on Kentucky inside the confines of Razorback Field. First kick is slated for 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on SEC Network+.
Hogs’ offensive improvement coincides with O’Grady’s
Everyone spent the first few weeks of this football season asking first about Arkansas’ offense followed closely by the status of tight end Cheyenne O’Grady.
He spent the first two weeks of the regular season at home for violating team rules where he basically was pouting after reportedly blowing off some classes and tardiness to workouts.
His friend and high school teammate Dre Greenlaw sent out a tweet that got O’Grady’s attention along with something clicking watching the Razorbacks’ loss to Colorado State.
“Sometimes you just need your friend to come in and tell you, ‘Hey, you’ve got to pick it up,'” Greenlaw said after Saturday’s loss to Alabama. “We all need that person.”
O’Grady also needed to realize what he was missing, which happened watching that game against Colorado State on television.
“That’s not what I came here to do,” the Fayetteville native said in the post-mortem after the game against the Crimson Tide. “Something just clicked and it didn’t feel right.”
If the light came on a couple of weeks ago it started shining a little brighter Saturday.
O’Grady had seven catches for 48 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
It’s probably not a coincidence the Hogs’ offense has started to solidify about the same time as O’Grady getting his act together.
“He’s really come along and you can see the raw talent the guy has,” quarterback Ty Storey said after the Alabama game. “I think it’s important for us to keep improving on that. He’s going to be a huge factor for us going forward.”
It’s become apparent a lot of what Chad Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock have wanted to do with this offensive involves a tight end, preferably an athletic one that can be used as a weapon.
They added some things for the tight ends in practice last week that they got from the Kansas City Chiefs, who are the talk of the NFL right now with quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“I probably shouldn’t say that,” Storey said Saturday after he’d already thrown it out there. “But that’s where we got it.”
It was the wrinkle Morris and Craddock put in last week to figure out a way to move the ball against the Crimson Tide’s linebackers.
“We kept trying to come back to it and disguise it different ways, but it worked pretty good for us,” Storey said.
The Hogs got 10 catches from tight ends with Austin Cantrell and Grayson Gunter contributing. Eight of those 10 catches resulted in touchdowns or first downs.
That was something the Hogs’ offense had been missing.
“They were very aggressive in the D-line in how they rushed, the stunts they would do,” Morris said Saturday. “I thought maybe we could slow some things down by hitting our tight ends on some delays in the middle.”
The result also set up the wheel route for running back Rakeem Boyd in addition to opening up some running lanes that let him run for 102 net yards, becoming the first Razorback to hit triple digits against Alabama since Darren McFadden did it in 2007.
Jeremy Patton’s out for a few more weeks after ankle surgery, so O’Grady’s return came at a perfect time.
There’s players four deep at the tight end position for the Hogs, but O’Grady is a playmaker and might be the most talented there.
“He might not realize it, but he’s just got so much potential,” Greenlaw said. “I know the amount he can contribute and help this team and really make us a lot better.”
Morris knows what O’Grady brings to the offense, too.
“Just watching production level, his playmaking ability continues to improve,” Morris said. “I’m very impressed with C.J. and I look forward to watching him grow.”
Which could also make the offense grow in the second half of the season.
PHOTOS: Our big photo gallery from Hogs-Tide Saturday
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.
