Video courtesy of KNWA
Arkansas senior defensive end Randy Ramsey talked about the game against the Tigers and the 34-3 loss, despite the defense having to step up repeatedly.
Hogs lose to Auburn, but special teams made it worse
No one expected Arkansas to have much of a shot on the road against Auburn on Saturday night, but horrendous special teams play made the 34-3 final score worse than it should have been.
The Razorbacks weren’t nearly as bad against the Tigers as they were at home against North Texas last week, but the problems were glaring.
Especially in the special teams which consistently gift-wrapped field position for Auburn all night long.
Take a look at where the Tigers’ scoring drives started:
• Arkansas 27 after a punt return, resulting in a touchdown
• Arkansas 2 after a fumble recovery, resulting in a field goal
• Arkansas 9 after a punt return, resulting in a touchdown
• Kickoff return for a touchdown
• Auburn 28 after stopping the Hogs on downs, resulting in a touchdown
• Arkansas 15 after a punt return, resulting in a field goal
You’re reading that right. The Razorbacks gave up one sustained drive for a score and that came late when the defense was flat give-out.
The Hogs’ offense put up bigger numbers than the Tigers, but gave up 191 yards in punt and kickoff returns.
There will be some pointing out that’s what happens when you don’t have a special teams coach. Arkansas more or less does special teams by committee with several assistants handling different areas.
It all fell apart down on The Plains.
In addition to the returns, Arkansas punter Reid Bauer nearly had rushers beat the snap back to him and there really is no explanation how a guy can run past three blockers standing just in front of the punter.
When Bauer did get off a decent punt, nobody seemed to have a particular interest in tackling the guy who caught the ball.
The result was a track meet on special teams most of the night and Auburn won that with little competition.
There’s an old saying that statistics are for losers, but for the Hogs — a team looking for any kind of positives after six quarters of having an offense that resembled recess at kindergarten — winning the offensive game against the Tigers is a step in the right direction.
Yes, the offense did struggle. You will hear some talking heads mention that Ty Storey missed open receivers. In case you didn’t notice, his jersey turned from white to green sometime before halftime.
No quarterback has a great night completing passes from a horizontal position.
To be fair, Storey didn’t play that poorly. Yes, he threw an interception, but as you can see from the drive starts for the Tigers above, that wasn’t the issue in this game.
No, the offensive line was facing a defensive front as good as anything they’ve seen or likely will see.
The Tigers only had two sacks, but seven tackles for loss and nine quarterback hurries.
Don’t blame Storey for this one.
Or the defense for that matter.
The Hogs had four sacks, two quarterback hurries and nine tackles for loss. The only thing they didn’t do as well as they’ve done in the first two games was get a turnover. Credit that to a fourth-year junior quarterback in Jarrett Stidham with a full season under his belt in the SEC.
No, the defense played well enough to at least make this game competitive into the fourth quarter when the Tigers scaled their usual offense back, just trying to close out the game. Malzahn clearly had no interest in running up the score on his good friend, Chad Morris.
In the end, this was a building block for the Hogs.
Which is good because the road doesn’t get easier, going to Arlington, Texas, next week to face a Texas A&M team that was hammered by Alabama on Saturday, 45-23, in a game that wasn’t really that close.
Conversations with a sports writer: Arkansas-Auburn
Ever seen the unthinkable? You know, like the abominable snowman, Stephen A Smith with his mouth shut, or a football coach crashing his motorcycle along with all our hopes and dreams into a Crosses, Arkansas, ditch solely to impress a volleyball player?
“Why do you always bring up old stuff?”
Hey, speaking of old stuff, remember last week when I said we should not be nervous about the North Texas game? I do not know if you would forgive me of a lie and classify it as simply my being mistaken, however, I would certainly appreciate the thoughtful consideration.
“Do not forget, you also said something about the panic button not needing to be depressed.”
Again, I was wrong. For roughly three-and-a-half hours last Saturday I was fully aware of depression.
What’s worse is if you are a diehard Razorbacks fan like me, then this Saturday evening will also be tough. How tough you ask? Here’s a hint: call your doctor and have them fax in a last-minute prescription for the highest dose of Klonipin available.
If that’s not an option, then a solid 5 p.m. dose of ZzzQuil ought to slumber you throughout the game well into Sunday morning.
Oh, back to the unthinkable.
Arkansas’s offense will turn a page.
“Peter, you had a typo there, leaving out the word ‘not’.”
No, sir. I stand by my statement: Arkansas’s offense will turn a page. Ty Storey at the helm will have a breakout game establishing him as QB1 for the remainder of the season.
The offensive line will step up one game which will reestablish some confidence and hope for the season amongst the fans. Granted, it may not last into the following week, but for one Saturday in September, everything will fall into place.
“Even if the offense plays one of its best games, the defense will struggle with Jarrett Stidham and the talented Auburn offense.”
I beg to differ. Dre Greenlaw (for real this time) and Kevin Richardson are back on defense.
Can two players make an impact? Absolutely. Will they change who has the ‘W’ at the end of the evening?
Probably not, but they can definitely reduce the differential.
Also, Chip Lindsey (the offensive coordinator at Auburn) really does not have the Tigers offense firing on all cylinders like they have done in the past.
They are not averaging as many yards per play this season, nor have they been successful with long plays — only one pass greater than or equal to 40 yards and all rushes have been less than or equal to 30-yards.
“Greater than, less than, equal to? What the heck, man? Does your editor even read your stuff?”
Sorry, bro. My little girl is studying equivalents, and I need as many readers as I can get. And if any of you have made it this far, I will now go on record by saying the Hogs can limit this ninth nationally ranked opponent from a high scoring game.
“Moving on before you compare parts of the team to the periodic table of elements.”
I wasn’t going to backtrack to the offense and mention it, however, since you brought it up, I fully believe our receivers could go the way of acetone peroxide and play with some explosion against Auburn.
It’s time for this unit to meld into a cohesive, functional unit.
“Special teams this week — will they create an impact?”
Let’s just state if Auburn even considers a fake fair catch, then the impact Grant Morgan will have on the receiver will rival that of the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora.
Oh, and our punting unit had better figure something out so we can better control field position.
“That’s great, but what’s with the science references?”
Progress reports came out this week. I am just trying to multitask.
“Let’s wrap this up.”
For two weeks now, NCAA Football guru Andy Hodges and I have tied on our weekly picks. This weekend will be mine, and my current 30–6 season mark will find a way to surpass his very respectful 31 – 5.
Word on the streets is Andy decided to go against the HOGS this week. Therefore, I’ll go opposite just to avoid yet another draw by picking our beloved Razorbacks, 34 – 17.
“What are you nuts?”
No, just a little overly optimistic. And, unfortunately, after listening to a few seconds of my instinct’s rebuttal, I will have to go with my true thoughts.
Simply enough, Arkansas is down this season. Way down. And the coach from Shiloh wants nothing more than to run up the score on us.
And even though the Razorbacks have a solid all-time record (11–15) against Auburn, mixed in with a frequency to upset the Plainsmen when they are highly ranked, the Tigers’ loss to LSU last week has only made them hungrier.
Auburn 38–20
“Are you going to pick the rest of the SEC?”
Uh, yeah, that’s what we do.
• (2) Georgia @ Missouri – The Tigers’ winning streak ends. Bulldogs by 24.
• Kent State @ Ole Miss – Rebs by 20.
• (22) Texas A&M at (1) Alabama – Tide by 22.
• South Carolina @ Vanderbilt – Toss-up? Gamecocks by 12.
• Louisiana Tech at LSU – Tigers in a cakewalk by 38.
• (14) Mississippi State @ Kentucky – Bulldogs by 18.
• Florida @ Tennessee – This old rivalry has fizzled… So will the Vols. Gators by 14.
There’s something odd about this season as the opportunities to pick an (on paper) upset within the SEC have been extremely slim.
Therefore, just to hear the Big Ten faithful grumble, Iowa will put an early season damper on Wisconsin. You heard it hear: the Badgers are on a full-blown UPSET ALERT.
Oh, and, uh, Go HOGS!!!
Follow me on ‘Twitter’: @PeterMorganWPS
Halftime on location Ferris Wheelers BBQ in Dallas TX next Friday
PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCEMENT:
Next Friday, Halftime with @PhilElsonPxP & @TyeSportsRadio is hitting the road. They'll be LIVE from Ferris Wheelers BBQ
1950 MARKET CENTER BLVD,
DALLAS, TX 75207Come out for some great food, solid sports talk, and a good ole southern time! pic.twitter.com/BAvxP4P5L1
— Hit That Line (@HitThatLineAR) September 21, 2018
Auburn game won’t be pretty, but progress may be made
Arkansas should have blown out Colorado State and North Texas.
They didn’t, however, exposing a lot of problems none of us knew existed and it’s not something Chad Morris will be able to fix in one week, so let’s not get giddy about anything with Auburn this week.
The Razorbacks have 16 four-star recruits, a five-star and a whole bunch of high three-stars, so don’t tell me the other teams had better talent.
They did have talent that outplayed all of that higher-rated talent the Hogs have who basically wallowed around for the last six quarters they’ve played.
Publicly, Morris isn’t going to come out and throw everyone under the bus. Coaches can’t do that anymore.
But this is the result of a steady slide in a program that hasn’t had much accountability, discipline or direction for several years.
Morris is doing the only thing he can, which is take things back to the basics and literally start rebuilding from the ground up. I didn’t see it until the last two weeks, but I wasn’t the only one that missed it.
In looking back, Arkansas’ last 10 years in the SEC are the worst since joining the league in 1992, winning just 40 percent of the games.
From 1992-2007, the Razorbacks won 47 percent of their games. The best 10-year period was during the Houston Nutt decade, winning 51 percent of the games at a time when the power of the league was in the East.
Nutt won 60 percent of his games against West opponents. Since then, Arkansas has won just 37 percent of the games against the West, although Alabama’s rise to maybe as big of a dynasty as we’ve seen is a big part of that.
Part of it has been other programs blowing past the Hogs. Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Mississippi State have blown by in recent years, 13-16 in the last decade (the Aggies throw the numbers off because they didn’t pop on the schedule until 2009).
In the previous decade, Arkansas was 16-4 against Ole Miss and State.
What changed? Just about everything. A new athletic director starting with the 2008 season and three coaches if you want to count the John L. Smith caretaker season.
Now the Hogs face one of the teams they have been 5-5 against over the past 10 seasons, but they don’t have a 50-50 shot of winning down on The Plains on Saturday.
The only question is how ugly will it be? Auburn will likely call off the dogs and let the Hogs get a score or two late.
Auburn 56, Arkansas 14
Last week we were dead wrong on the Hogs’ game with North Texas and Auburn losing to LSU for a 9-2 week, dropping the overall season to 31-5.
This week things get a little more interesting as we get into SEC play and the only gimmes are Ole Miss over Kent State and LSU over Louisiana Tech.
Texas A&M at -26 Alabama
Some are seriously giving the Aggies a chance in this game. Granted, most of those people are the Aggies themselves who have never gone into a game thinking they weren’t going to win by at least two touchdowns.
This Crimson Tide team may be the best in school history and that’s a big milestone to reach.
I’m not sure there’s anybody in college football that can even stay close to Alabama for a half, much less an entire game and it would be more interesting if they would just give the Tide the trophy, create one for second place and everybody play for that.
This one won’t be close and Jimbo Fisher will have some motivation for A&M against the Hogs the next week in Arlington.
Alabama 49, Texas A&M 14
-14 Georgia at Missouri
Okay, the Tigers have started off 3-0 and the best team they’ve played was Purdue and they won that game by a point.
The Bulldogs are rolling along and in most years would be considered the top team in the country, but there is that Alabama thing we’ve talked about.
Georgia rolls to keep pace setting up what everyone anticipates will be a huge showdown in Atlanta that may be Championship Game 1 with the Crimson Tide.
Georgia 42, Missouri 21
-2.5 South Carolina at Vanderbilt
Are the Commodores for real? Is Derek Mason the best coach in college football? The answers, in order, are not really and close, but not quite.
Vandy will make a game of this, but the Gamecocks are angling for a runner-up finish in the SEC East, which really isn’t a bad spot to be in.
South Carolina 28, Vanderbilt 24
-9.5 Mississippi State at Kentucky
We’ll find out about both teams from this game as both teams have climbed into respectability (Kentucky) and outright respect (Mississippi State).
But it’s a road game for the Bulldogs, who beat Kansas State on the road, and the Wildcats are riding high after beating Florida a couple of weeks ago for the first time in 31 years.
When I saw the schedule earlier in the year this looked like a trap game for the Bulldogs, who play Florida and former coach Dan Mullen next week.
Which is why I’m taking the Wildcats in an upset.
Kentucky 24, Mississippi State 21
-4 Florida at Tennessee
This one used to be a huge game with national implications. This year I don’t even know if there’s division importance for this game.
The Vols appear to have bought in more to new coach Jeremy Pruitt than some other first-year coaches while the Gators are improved offensively, but the misfires are spectacular at time.
Still, though, I think Florida finds a way to win this one, although it’s not the most confident pick to make.
Florida 21, Tennessee 20
???? Friday Halftime Pod — Featuring Aaron Torres
Phil Elson and Tye Richardson talk QB production, interview Aaron Torres, FOMO Friday and more!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Friday
John and Tommy discuss Arkansas-Auburn, interview Raymond House, and Fenceman Friday!
Hogs knock off second-ranked Texas A&M, 3-2
FAYETTEVILLE — With the help of a brace from junior Tori Cannata and a first career goal from freshman Bryana Hunter, Arkansas withstood an aggressive match from start to finish to knock off second-ranked Texas A&M, 3-2, Thursday night at Razorback Field.
It’s the first win for Arkansas over Texas A&M since 1993 and snaps the Aggies 25-match overall win streak that dated back to Sept. 17, 2017.
Both of Cannata’s goals were of the go-ahead variety as she gave Arkansas the early lead in the 14th minute before Texas A&M was able to equalize in the 16th minute off a set piece.
The brace was Cannata’s first of her career and her first four-point match in her three years as a Razorback.
Bryana Hunter, who had not appeared in a match yet this year due to an injury, was logging her first career minutes off the bench and came through with a clutch goal in the 75th minute, one of two shots she had in just 23 minutes of action.
Hunter is the ninth different Razorback with at least one goal this year.
The Razorbacks remain undefeated at home at 5-0-1 and tonight’s win was their second over a top-10 team this year and first over a team ranked in the top-two since beating No. 2 Duke, 2-1, on Aug. 26, 2016.
Since 2016, Arkansas has defeated or tied five top-10 teams, which is the most of any team in the SEC.
Sound Bytes
Head coach Colby Hale
“It’s a big win, I told the team at halftime ‘that’s the number-two team in the polls’ we thought that we were every bit as good as them. It’s an upset on the books based on rankings. We thought it was toe to toe, shots were 14 to 12. We thought it was a deserving win. We still have to sort out a few things, but it was good.” — on the win over Texas A&M
“They were really good. Both goals were on set pieces and direct free kicks. In the run of play we were incredibly good defending in every aspect. We’ll clean up a few things and we’ll be good.” — on the defensive play
“I actually said that she was going to score the game-winner at halftime. I said guys, ‘Bryana Hunter is playing up front and she’s going to score the game-winner.” — on Bryana Hunter scoring the game-winner for her first career goal
Tori Cannata – Jr. Forward
“After losing to Texas A&M last year in the SEC Tournament final, we really wanted this win and we got it. I didn’t do all the work tonight. My teammates just passed me the ball and put me in good spots. You just have to keep making runs and you’ll get rewarded.” — on the win over Texas A&M and her two-goal performance
“I thought we were totally engaged the entire game. We were focused and there wasn’t one moment where someone wasn’t paying attention to what was going on. I think that definitely played a role in our win tonight.” — on the focus showed by the entire team throughout the match
Reece Christopherson – Sr. Defender
“Coach (Colby Hale) always talks to us about fearless and tonight we were definitely fearless. Every one of us. Every single substitution. Everyone contributed tonight and was loud. Our fans were incredible. It was a whole Arkansas win.” — on what was the contributing factor to the victory
“That was so awesome. Coach said it at halftime, he said, ‘Bryana, you are going to have the game-winning goal,’ and she did!” — on freshman Bryana Hunter scoring her first goal of her career
How It Went Down
14th minute – It didn’t take long for Arkansas to light up the scoreboard early in the match as Cannata received a great pass from junior Stefani Doyle on the right side of the field, where she one-timed it past the keeper to make it 1-0 Arkansas. Doyle earned two assists on the night, giving her three assists and seven points for the year.
16th minute – Texas A&M quickly answered with of a goal of their own. Kendall Ritchie was able to squeeze the ball past Rachel Harris’ hands in the top shelf off a free kick from 25 yards out.
58th minute – After halftime the Razorbacks earned the lead right back. This time, Cannata found herself, again, in the right place, right-footing a ball past Cosette Morche from roughly 10 yards out off a flip throw from the right side of the field. It was the final lead change of the night.
74th minute – Arkansas doubled its lead 16 minutes later as Doyle was the playmaker again. Racing down the right side of the field on a counterattack, the junior saw an opportunity for a cross off the end line and Hunter stayed onside with a great timed run to chip the ball over Morche’s head. Hunter’s goal made it 3-1 Arkansas, eclipsing the entire total of goals allowed by Texas A&M this season (2).
84th minute – Texas A&M pulled within a single goal with six minutes to play. Asdis Halldorsdottir scored from 35 yards out, hitting a line drive to the left side of the net to give the Aggies their second goal of the night off a free kick.
Up Next
The Razorbacks go back on the road for their next match as they travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to take on the Crimson Tide on Sunday. First kick is at 6 p.m. and can be seen on SEC Network+.
