Keeping Bielema will just reward mediocrity
It will be interesting Monday to see if Bret Bielema comes up with some sort of new material at his weekly press briefing.
Most the fans — and pretty much all of the media — are starting to giggle when he says this team is getting close. Exactly what his teams are close to reaching has never been fully discovered in his five seasons.
Is he referring to an SEC title? Nah, not even Bielema can believe that.
Close to what?
It will be seven seasons now since the Razorbacks won nine games. That’s the longest stretch between nine-win seasons in 60 years.
Yes, that’s how bad things have gotten.
Arkansas’ football program is in the proverbial ditch. I don’t care what Bielema says about the team being this close or just making a tackle here, a tackle there.
With a 10-25 record in the SEC during his time, the Razorbacks are tied with Missouri and only one win ahead of Vanderbilt over that time.
In the SEC West, they are dead last and it’s not even close, even if you throw out the winless first season of 2013. Take away that 0-8 SEC mark and they are STILL last in their own division.
This is Bielema’s fifth season and it does not take three years to know what you have with a coach in the world of college football today. The Hogs peaked under Bielema in his third season of 2015 … with eight wins.
That’s not what the fans view as success.
When he was hired, he was the best name available and some thought that was enough. Those who thought that didn’t bother to drill down into the details (which is why paying attention to national analysts on things like that is an utter waste of time).
He came to Arkansas, told the fans he was here to win an SEC championship and has proceeded to fail to achieve even second-tier status in the league.
Yes, it’s that bad.
Bielema came in saying his Big 10 record was better than Nick Saban’s was when he was at Michigan State in the 1990’s, which is true. What he didn’t say was Saban himself said he changed when he went to LSU because, “I had to change because the SEC is different.”
As usual with Bielema, he only gives you one side of the facts … it’s always the side that paints him in the best light. Like most things, the truth is actually somewhere in the middle balanced against the argument on the other side.
Bielema probably isn’t a bad coach, although it’s a reasonable question now to ask how much of his success at Wisconsin was due to him or athletics director Barry Alvarez. The Badgers have improved since Bielema left through two coaches and Alvarez is the only constant.
Since coming in 2013, he has maintained the image that he wants a run-first culture where dominating offensive line play is the norm, not the exception.
While that may have worked in the watered-down version of Big 10 when he was coaching there, it won’t work in the SEC unless you can recruit at a higher level than Alabama.
The last coach as stubborn as Bielema was Les Miles at LSU. He was fired as much for his stubborn refusal to change and losing to Ole Miss and Arkansas more than losing to Alabama.
This hire in 2013 was simply a case where neither the coach or athletic director did a whole lot of in-depth research.
That has become painfully obvious.
About as obvious as if the Hogs win all six games left on their schedule, Bielema will be just three games above .500 since coming here.
Bielema won’t be fired in the middle of the season, athough with the new early signing period for recruiting the guess here is that’s going to become normal procedure sooner rather than later.
Sooner or later, we’re going to hear about 2015 and how that team pulled it together to finish 7-5. The guess is we’ll hear that this week.
But what they won’t mention is that team wasn’t still playing musical chairs with the offensive line. That team had proven playmakers at the skill positions.
Name me the players on this team that could have started for that team. Even second team?
No, Bielema will be given a shot to duplicate that success. That might be enough to keep his job.
Which means he gets rewarded for mediocrity.
Long not going anywhere; Nebraska hires WSU AD
Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long won’t be going to Nebraska.
Nebraska made the announcement Sunday afternoon they have hired Bill Moos, the current athletic director at Washington State.
Moos signed a five-year contract with Nebraska with a base salary of $1 million, plus incentives. Moos will officially begin his tenure with Nebraska on Oct. 23.
“Nebraska has secured a proven winner in Bill Moos to lead Husker Athletics into a new era of excellence,” Nebraska chancellor Ronnie Green said in a press release. “It was clear that Bill stood out in a very competitive, tremendously gifted pool of candidates, not only because of his proven ability to lead programs to greatness, but because of his reputation for integrity in building and leading those programs.”
Long, who has officially been Arkansas’ athletics director since 2008, was considered one of the people in the mix for the position, according to a story in the Omaha World on Sunday morning.
Now, considering the state of affairs with Cornhuskers football and how tenous coach Mike Riley is, does this open the door for mercurial coach Mike Leach to be hired at Nebraska?
If Long can get Nebraska job, should he go for it?
There are many Razorback fans that are not happy with the current state of affairs within the football program.
More, it seems, want athletics director Jeff Long gone, too … if not before.
Now there are reports out of Nebraska that Long may be one of the leading candidates for the Nebraska athletics director position.
In a column by Lee Barfknecht in the Omaha World on Sunday, Long was the first name mentioned in the story when he listed the four names coming up most often:
Jeff Long, Arkansas: Long has football chops and Big Ten ties. The 57-year-old is an Ohio native, played quarterback in college at Ohio Wesleyan and coached at Miami of Ohio, Duke and Michigan before entering athletics administration.
Michigan legend Bo Schembechler hired Long, who spent 10 years with the Wolverines as an assistant/associate A.D. He eventually had stops at Virginia Tech, Eastern Kentucky and Oklahoma before replacing Steve Pederson at Pittsburgh in 2003. Long then replaced Frank Broyles at Arkansas in 2008.
Why would Long fit? He knows the Big Ten, he’s a football guy — he was the first chairman of the College Football Playoff committee — and after nine years at Arkansas, he might be ready for one more move.
It appears Nebraska is moving towards a decision soon:
It’s not official, but three sources with ties to NU’s administration Saturday indicated interviews took place late last week and that a decision is either imminent or already made. Other sources told The World-Herald that Interim A.D. Dave Rimington mentioned to friends his time in North Stadium is down to a few days.
Based on reports, Nebraska is apparently willing to pay a new athletic director at — or very near — the top in college sports.
Nebraska fired Shawn Eichorst on Sept. 21. He was hired five years ago at $973,000 and was due to make $1.1 million for 2017-18.
Long presently makes just slightly north of $1 million a year, which is fifth in college sports.
Things I think I know: Week Seven
Arkansas’ Saturday night date in Tuscaloosa went as it was expected.
That doesn’t make it OK.
Alabama is the bench mark against which all programs are measured, fair or unfair. Arkansas was within one point of those guys back in 2014. The last two seasons, they have not been anywhere close.
How do you evaluate a game like that? Is it all just useless information and there is nothing good to come of it?
I did see a few things that were encouraging but I don’t know if I would say a ton of hope was handed out in the Alabama game. Cole Kelley played fine. He did not look like the moment was too big for him.
Austin Allen has a great poker face. He always has this look of disinterest, but I do believe that is misleading.
Alabama started on the Arkansas side of the 50 yard line three times and on two of those possessions, the Razorbacks held Bama to a field goal. Arkansas has more talent on the defensive side of the ball, but it is still not enough unfortunately. I think there are NFL guys at all three levels of the defense. When Robb Smith had that talent, the Razorback defense was outstanding in 2014.
Just saying.
Arkansas needs to run the two minute drill the entire game on offense. Will Bielema allow this or continue to pretend that this team can run the football? I do not know if Arkansas will have a thousand yard rusher this year, the ultimate bragging chip in the Bret Bielema recruiting pitch.
Elsewhere in college football…
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- Butch Jones is done.
- LSU has a real defense. When Auburn quarterback Jared Stidham faces a real defense, he struggles.
- There are two elite teams in the SEC (Alabama and Georgia) then you can put everyone else in a pile and figure it out.
- Baker Mayfield is the best quarterback in college football. Jalen Hurts is probably second.
- I want Miami to be a playoff contender so bad. Mark Richt is the man with the plan.
- If you stay up late, those middle of the night Pac 12 games do not disappoint.
Been this kind of night for Arizona State and Washington. This is 4th and 3, by the way pic.twitter.com/UjMkTYd8kR
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) October 15, 2017
- Wisconsin is better now then it was under Bielema.
- I do not know if NC State is good or not.
- Florida’s uniforms were hideous and camouflage. Wouldn’t it be something if the reason the Gators were bad on offense was because the quarterback couldn’t clearly see who he was throwing the ball to because the jerseys blended in with the field?
- Arkansas did not win the time of possession battle against Alabama. Another sign of failing times in Fayetteville. Win or lose, they always win that stat it seems like.
- The way Bielema was tripping all over his words to make it seem like everyone totally loves both Cole Kelley and Austin Allen leads to believe we have a quarterback controversy. Kelley is obviously the players choice and Bielema runs the risk of further alienating his team if he goes back to Austin Allen.
KNWA VIDEO: Bielema after loss to Crimson Tide
VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema met with the media following the Hogs’ 41-9 loss to top-ranked Alabama.
KNWA VIDEO: Frank Ragnow on Hogs’ loss to Bama
VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA
Arkansas offensive lineman Frank Ragnow talked about the move to guard this week and the game at Alabama.
KNWA VIDEO: Hogs defensive lineman Bijhon Jackson
VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA
Arkansas defensive lineman Bijhon Jackson met with the media following the Razorbacks’ 41-9 loss to Alabama.
KNWA VIDEO: QB Cole Kelley after loss to Tide
VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA
Arkansas quarterback Cole Kelley talked about getting his first start against No. 1 Alabama on Saturday night.
KNWA VIDEO: LB Scoota Harris after loss to Bama
VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA
Arkansas linebacker Scoota Harris led the Hogs with 12 tackles in the 41-9 loss at Alabama.
Hogs fall to Bama, but it could have been worse
Arkansas nearly won the second half against Alabama on Saturday night.
They held the Crimson Tide to just 13 points over the final two quarters while getting nine, but they were outscored 28-0 over the first two quarters.
The result was a 41-9 win by the No. 1 Tide and it really wasn’t that close.
Backup quarterback Cole Kelley got the start and Bret Bielema said later in the radio postgame the Hogs knew all last week he would be the starter.
Kelley didn’t do badly against one of the best defenses in the country, hitting 23-of-42 passes with only one interception.
“We got better and there’s nothing we can’t correct,” Bielema said.
Which is exactly what he’s said for going on five years now in what is getting to be a tired refrain for a lot of Hog fans.
If it can be corrected, why is it not being corrected?
He said last week this team “is not a million miles away from being where they want to be.”
If he actually believes that he’s lying to himself.
In a week where they played musical chairs with the offensive line and All-SEC center Frank Ragnow started at guard, it didn’t help much.
The Hogs rushed for 37 yards, but Kelley’s sacks lost 10 so they finished with 27 yards on the ground. Alabama ran for 308 yards, passed for another 188 for 496 yards of offense.
Ouch.
This is how lopsided the game really was: At halftime, Alabama was leading in total offense 275-111. On the ground, the Hogs had 8 yards.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Tide had 394 yards offense compared to Arkansas’ 180.
The best way to put it was Alabama was methodical in simply dominating the game.
THE POSITIVES
• Jordan Jones continues to show he is the best player to come out of Smackover to the Hogs since the Burnett brothers (Bobby and Tommy) in the early 1960’s. The youngest brother, Bill, graduated from Bentonville where the family had moved.
• Cole Kelley has a ton of rough edges, but is a better passer than Austin Allen and can handle the pressure much, much better.
• Either the juggling in the offensive line worked better (at least for pass protection) or Kelley made it appear better because the passing game was the only way the Hogs could muster any offense at all.
THE NEGATIVES
• The offensive line still can’t run block. Yes, I know it was Alabama, but still, an SEC team that is supposed to be built around being able to run the ball and “impose our will” should be able to generate more than 27 yards on the ground.
• Overall team speed is sorely lacking. There were times the Hogs simply couldn’t catch the Tide’s backs and the receivers beat the secondary too many times for it to be progress.
• The defense against the run is not good. The Hogs gave up 308 yards rushing.
• Overall, the defense isn’t helping an offense that could win some games down the stretch. Alabama doubled them in average passing yardage per attempt and completion and average yardage per play while running eight less plays than the Hogs.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Bielema should be good enough to realize what he can do with this team in the SEC and stop all this stubborn “we want to run” and all that.
He’s got some young, but very talented, skill position players. He’s got a quarterback that can throw the ball fairly adequately.
When Arkansas went to an up-tempo offense and stopped huddling, they moved down the field against Alabama (even before the Tide’s reserves came in).
As Nick Saban said back in the summer on ESPN when asked why the Tide went to a more up-tempo offense and stopped huddling, “it’s what the kids want to play and it’s also harder to stop.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Auburn is next Saturday night in Fayetteville and, once again, the Hogs get an SEC opponent that should be focused this week.
After the Tigers blew a 20-point lead down in Baton Rouge, Gus Malzahn won’t have to work much at motivation.
And Auburn is a very, very physical and good defense. Even worse, Kerryon Johnson had 125 yards rushing at halftime against LSU until Auburn fell apart offensively in the second half.
After that, the Hogs have to go on the road again to play Ole Miss, who hung 57 points on Vanderbilt.
The road doesn’t get any easier for Arkansas.
At 0-3 in SEC play this, Bielema is now 10-25 in his five years at Arkansas and 27-30 overall. To get to .500 overall in his fifth season (and get to a bowl for the fourth straight year), the Hogs will have to win at least four of their last six games.
