Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos talked Monday about quarterback Austin Allen climbing out of the tank after loss to TCU.
Rhoads talks about A&M’s offense, Hogs’ bye week
Arkansas defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads met with the media Monday and talked about the Hogs’ preparations for Texas A&M.
Week 3: Top football players announced for league
OFFENSE
Nick Fitzgerald, QB, Mississippi State
• Fitzgerald accounted for four touchdowns in the most dominant victory over No. 11 LSU in the series’ 111-year history, which also was MSU’s largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent since 1942.
• He completed an efficient 15-of-23 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns. He added 88 yards rushing, averaging 6.3 yards per carry with two scores on the ground.
• He finished with 260 yards of total offense and moved into second place in MSU career touchdowns responsible with now 55, surpassing Don Smith.
DEFENSE
Derrick Baity Jr., CB, Kentucky
• Responsible for three defensive takeaways in the second half of Kentucky’s 23-13 win at South Carolina, including a pair of tackles on 4th-and-1 and a pass interception
• On the first possession of the third quarter, on 4th-and-1 from the UK 49-yard line, he crashed from the corner to tackle running back A.J. Turner, who was brought down for no gain; the change of possession set up a UK drive for a field goal
• In the fourth quarter, on 4th-and-goal at the UK 1-yard line, he again crashed from the corner to tackle running back Rico Dowdle, who was brought down for no gain to give the ball back to the Wildcats
• Grabbed a pass interception on South Carolina’s final possession
• Led UK with eight tackles
• UK limited South Carolina to 13 points; it is the first time in nine years that the Wildcats have held three consecutive opponents to 17 points or less
• UK limited South Carolina to 54 rushing yards; it is the first time in nine years that the Wildcats have held three consecutive opponents under 100 yards rushing
LaDarius Wiley, S, Vanderbilt
• Wiley registered a career-high 11 tackles, intercepted a pass and knocked down two other attempts, leading Vanderbilt’s defense in an impressive 14-7 victory over No. 18 Kansas State. The win allowed Vanderbilt to go 3-0 for the first time since 2011.
• Wiley’s effort helped spark a Commodore defense effort that limited a K-State offense averaging 55 points and 506 yards to a lone touchdown and 277 total yards.
• Wiley has been a key contributor on a Commodore defense that ranks No. 1 nationally in scoring defense (4.3 ppg) and total offense (198.3 ypg).
• It marked Vanderbilt’s first home win over a non-SEC foe ranked in the Top 25 since 1946 (7-0 victory over No. 20 N.C. State on Nov. 9, 1946.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Austin MacGinnis, PK, Kentucky
• Enjoyed a perfect night by making all three field goals and both PATs, totaling 11 points, in UK’s 23-13 win at South Carolina
• Scored all of UK’s points in the second half with his trio of field goals, keeping South Carolina at bay
• Field goals were 27, 44 and 21 yards
• His 21-yard field goal with 2:07 to play gave UK a two-possession lead, sealing the win for the Wildcats
• His six pin-point kickoffs kept the ball out of the hands of Gamecock return ace Deebo Samuel
• Has made 6-of-7 field goals this season, with the only miss coming from 48 yards
FRESHMAN
C.J. Henderson, DB, Florida
• Henderson recorded an interception in the fourth quarter, running it back for a 16-yard touchdown, the second of his career. He became the first Gator since 1980 to record a pick-six in back-to-back games.
• Since 1996, he is also the only true freshman in the nation to have returned interceptions for touchdowns in consecutive games. He is one of two true freshmen to have recorded at least one pick-six this season and is the only one to have two under his belt.
• Through his first two games as a Gator, Henderson is now tied for first in program history for most interceptions returned for touchdowns in a season, with the all-time record for a career being four.
• Henderson helped account for UF’s third consecutive multi-interception game and helped give the Gators their 31st multi-interception game against an FBS team since 2010, which is the most in the SEC during that span.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Darryl Williams, OL, Mississippi State
• Williams graded out the highest for MSU (99{e1768d0eec022f908d772ba0c0274d97d05d220b4341147789bdb671ddb19707}) in the most dominant win over No. 11 LSU in program history (37-7).
• He added three knockdowns in the start and paved the way for an MSU rushing attack that racked up 285 yards rushing, the most allowed by LSU since Nov. 14, 2015.
• Williams has helped anchor a Bulldog line that has issued just one sack all season, the fewest in the league this year. Williams provided protection for 465 yards of total offense.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Jeffery Simmons, DL, Mississippi State
• Simmons has proved to be one of the SEC’s top defensive lineman through three weeks and he did it again in the win over No. 11 LSU.
• He collected a career-best seven tackles, including a career-high 1.5 sacks for a loss of six yards.
• He also added two quarterback hurries and dominated the line of scrimmage. The Bulldogs held LSU to 133 yards rushing, its fewest since Nov. 5 last season.
New Mexico State game set for 11 a.m. kickoff Sept. 30
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ game against New Mexico State on Saturday, September 30, at Razorback Stadium will kick off at 11 a.m. on the SEC Network, the league office announced on Monday.
It will be the sixth meeting between the Razorbacks and Aggies with Arkansas holding a 5-0 edge in the all-time series.
The Razorbacks hosted New Mexico State in Fayetteville in 2003 and 2004, while the other three meetings (1977, 85, 86) were in Little Rock.
Arkansas (1-1) will open SEC play this Saturday against Texas A&M (2-1) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The game is scheduled for an 11 a.m. kick off on ESPN.
Hogs to display ‘special’ uniforms against Aggies
Arkansas will have a completely new look for the game against Texas A&M on Saturday morning.
In honor of alum Jerry Jones’ induction into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Razorbacks will have a special “Dallas Cowboys” look for the game, as you can see from the photos.
“What do you give a man who’s had everything and now is going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?” athletics director Jeff Long was quoted as saying at ArkansasRazorbacks.com. “When I saw this idea, I thought there it is.”
This may be the best look the Hogs have ever sported, to be honest (well, with the exception of the black shoes, but we’ll get to that later).
For a team that, quite frankly, has been in need of a uniform upgrade look, this is about as close to getting it right as they could get.
Oh, there are some things that need tweaking as I’m sure Nike’s group of idiot designers (who may be the worst in the business) somehow put the Hog logo in white instead of red outlined in white, which would have shown up far better on television.
Of course, they don’t have white shoes, which is something the Cowboys have required (with the exception of some stars who had one-off shoes on occasion) since 1974, and that was a story in and of itself.
Tom Landry didn’t like the fact that players were wearing a mix-match of shoe colors on the field. For a coach with an engineering background who had a healthy dose of OCD, it just didn’t fit.
Tex Schramm had commissioned a study (and Tex was never shy about spending Clint Murchison’s money) where he had learned that white shoes and white socks had an almost subliminal positive effect on television viewers. He wasn’t shy about saying you designed a uniform by looking at it on television.
“They like looking at players in white shoes more than those clunky black things,” Schramm said, telling the story years later.
He was telling a young columnist in 1984 about his final uniform masterpiece for the Cowboys’ uniforms, which he had spent a decade or so honing. He burned, by his estimation, “at least $10,000” in expenses using the lights at Texas Stadium and network television cameras along with a hundred or so designs.
The result was a total re-do of the Cowboys uniform. In case you don’t know, the pants with white jerseys are actually a blue-green color in person that show up silver with the white jerseys while the ones with the blue jerseys are pure silver.
But in 1974 the shoes were the biggest issue.
“I kinda liked the black shoes with white laces,” Landry said years later. “Tex wanted white, so I talked him into putting it to a vote.”
How did that come out?
“I didn’t count the votes,” Landry said with a chuckle. “That was Tex’s area.”
That’s how Tom deflected anything he didn’t want to deal with.
So, Tex, how did the vote come out?
“Don’t remember exactly,” Schramm said, actually making you believe he was thinking about the answer. “But I remember one vote clearly. We had a simple piece of paper that asked the players what shoe color they preferred.
“Everybody wrote black or white except one. Larry Cole wrote ‘brown.’ We went with white, so that must have been how the votes went.”
Especially with the final one being Schramm’s and that counted as many as he needed.
Arkansas has been in black shoes since Bret Bielema took over in 2013 with the exception of three games in 2015 when he went with white shoes. After back-to-back losses to Toledo and Texas Tech, he went back to the clunky black things.
Which, upon reflection, has pretty much matched how they’ve played.
Things I think I know: Week three
That was crazy wasn’t it?
Week three did not have the sexy build up, but it delivered in the end with what will become some of the most memorable moments of the season when its all said and done. Here now, my thoughts following week three.
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- Arkansas did not lose.
- Tennessee did, and it was spectacular. Brad Nessler nailed it on CBS.
- Mississippi State has put the league on notice. Dan Mullen IS a very good head coach and the Bulldogs look to be tough to handle.
- LSU is an undisciplined mess but I don’t think that is news. We can’t be surprised that Coach O’s guys are playing this way. He has never won an SEC road game as a full time head coach. It will not work out for him at LSU.
- Bobby Petrino never wins the big game. Louisville’s secondary was torn to shreds by Clemson and Lamar Jackson looked human, for once, against the Clemson defense. Dare I say rematch part three in the National Championship game?
- There are a couple of hyped quarterbacks who are good but far from great. Sam Darnold at USC had a pair of interceptions in only two games all last season. So far in 2017, Darnold has thrown two picks in each of the Trojans’ first three games.
- In Wyoming, I don’t know who started the rumor that quarterback Josh Allen was good but they lied to you and me. He has not done squat this season and got smoked by Oregon on Saturday and we know Oregon is not known for having great defenses.
- South Carolina is in rough shape losing wide receiver Deeebo Samuel for the year with a broken leg. Could be closer to .500 now for Muschamp’s team this year.
- Ole Miss wore down and got shutout by Cal in the 2nd half out in Berkeley. Quarterback Shea Patterson had to be looking for his free speech safe space after that one.
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Tennessee head coach Butch Jones saw his team lose on a 63 yard TD pass to rival Florida as time expired on Saturday in Gainesville. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) Butch Jones should be fired. He is out coached time and time again each year. He coaches so conservatively it makes Sean Hannity crazy. Tennessee had a bust for the ages on defense on the last play which led to the Florida hail mary win.
- Missouri is a total mess. Purdue crushed the Tigers in front of a small, intimate gathering of friends and family in Columbia. Hog fans how have to be saying “Thank God for Missouri.”
- Baylor is 0-3. This makes me happy.
- Mason Rudolph is going to the Heisman ceremony and if the Cowboys knock of Oklahoma in bedlam, he might very well win the most coveted and overrated award in team sports.
- I think Vanderbilt is good. They won’t win the east, but they could really mess things up for someone. Alabama travels to Nashville next Saturday at 2:30 on CBS.
- It is a “loser leave town” match next Saturday at 11 am in Arlington. Sumlin will get canned after a loss to Arkansas and Bielema will eventually get run if the Hogs lose AGAIN to those crazy Aggies.
