Razorbacks Daryl Macon, C.J. Jones talk with media after Red-White game on Friday night.
Can Hogs pull off miracle win against Auburn?
With more tickets available than willing buyers, you have to wonder exactly how many people will show up Saturday night at Razorback Stadium.
Oh, it will probably be announced at 72,000 or more because it will likely be counted as a sellout. That’s just the way things seem to work in Fayetteville these days.
After all, it is more about wins and losses and the UA is “not a win-at-all-cost” program. We know this because Boss Hog Jeff Long told us so. Good fans should understand this and truly accept that pronouncement from on high.
The number of no-shows right now should be of more interest to Long than how many tickets he sold, including the discounted prices or give-aways.
This season may not be in the ditch yet, but it is careening out of control.
Whether it lands there or not might just depend on what happens against Auburn, who is probably more than happy to be playing this game on the road after the faceplant they performed in Baton Rouge last week.
What else can you call blowing a 20-0 lead to a team that lost to Troy?
For his part, Bret Bielema is still pointing out positives, although that was, admittedly, a very small part of his press conference this week.
Let’s face it, the 41-9 loss to Alabama wasn’t that close. It could have been worse, much, much worse.
When you look at the metrics, Auburn’s offense has been like an experimental car engine. When it works right, it can really roll. When it doesn’t, well, it’s not very pretty to watch.
Longtimer Arkansas observers of Gus Malzahn are probably shaking their heads at the offensive inconsistency. For the last decade or so, he may be the most polarizing name in football in this state.
And there’s little middle ground. Folks either love Gus … or hate him. Nobody can understand why he’s got a team that’s struggling offensively.
As usual, it comes down to the players. When he had Nick Marshall at quarterback, Gus had an offense that scored points and kept them in games. Then he went with Jeremy Johnson who, quite frankly, may have struggled to spell ESPN.
In Bielema’s best season, 2015, the Hogs pulled off a four-overtime win over Auburn’s worst team in the last five years. The average margin as been 21 points in the Tigers’ favor.
Since everyone in Fayetteville looks at things like Olympic scoring (throw out the worst information), it’s still 42-23 in Auburn’s favor.
Malzahn has been one of the many thorns in the side for Bielema (along with, naturally, Alabama, but also Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Missouri). The Hogs are 1-3 against the Tigers over the last four years.
Now we come to a game where neither fan base is happy, although the Auburn side might be a tad more ticked off than the Arkansas group. There’s talk Gus may have to stay in Arkansas if he loses this game, which is probably an exaggeration, but you get the idea.
Bielema sounds like a guy who is still trying to convince himself (or his team?) they are close to something that hasn’t been exactly made clear. That argument had some support in 2014, but not now.
All that could change Saturday night.
All Bielema needs is a win over the Tigers. I’m not certain just playing it close gets it done. The fans aren’t interested in any more discussion of being close.
They want wins. Now.
Instead, Bielema this week has started sounding like a coach in the first year of a rebuilding plan. No, seriously, he’s talked about not having the numbers in certain positions on the team and mistakes he’s made in recruiting numbers.
Sorry, Bret, but in year five in the SEC, saying those kinds of things is only giving reasons, not excuses.
To some, Bielema is actually giving reasons for their argument to have him fired. That’s why the powers that be are starting to leak out information that his buy-out may not be what everyone thought it was.
At this point, there really is only one way to quiet the noise after going 2-4 through the first half of the season.
Bielema is hoping to repeat what the Hogs did in three of the previous four years by what he claims are strong finishes.
In reality, though, he’s only 7-5 in November. That’s not exactly rolling at the end. October is worse, going just 5-5.
Maybe worse is, in my opinion, this is the worst team Bielema’s had at Arkansas. Yes, worse than the 2013 team.
Which is why the Hogs probably won’t win this game. As is usually the case in college football, the team with the best players wins the game.
In this case, Auburn has more players than Arkansas.
And, since Bielema likely isn’t going to be fired this year, he just WANTS to win this game.
Malzahn, on the other hand, HAS to win to have any hope of keeping his job and that’s not a certainty.
So, we’ll stick with the averages on this one and go with Auburn to win, 45-10.
Unless there’s that miracle we mentioned.
White rolls to win over Red in annual Red-White game
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas held its annual red-white game Friday night, with the white team defeating the red squad 95-69.
It was a nice showing by the red team, as sophomore guard C.J. Jones led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting, going 4-of-9 from behind the arc, but it was not enough to overtake the white team.
Leading the white team, freshman big man Daniel Gafford recorded a double-double with 23 points and 15 rebounds.
The contest started in the same fashion as many Razorback games last season, with senior guard Daryl Macon sinking a deep three-pointer to give to the white squad the early lead. The white team jumped out to a 12-8 lead, making each of its first five shot attempts.
The white team added to its early lead, going on an 12-2 run to build a 24-12 lead behind seven from freshman forward Gabe Osabuohien.
Red trailed the white team at half 53-36, as five total players tallied 10 or more points in the opening frame with Jones leading all scorers with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
The white team continued its hot shooting, opening the second half on a 15-2 run to extend its lead to 68-38 and never looked back.
Sophomore forward Adrio Bailey recorded a double-double of his own, tallying 18 points and 10 rebounds. Anton Beard finished with 18 points, Macon recorded 17 points, while Jaylen Barford and freshman Darious Hall tallied 14 each. Senior Dustin Thomas finished just shy of a triple-double with 12 points, seven rebounds and a game-high assists.
The white team combined to shoot 55 percent from the floor. Both teams shared the ball well, tallying over 20 assists each, as red recorded 20 and white finished with 27.
Up next for Arkansas is the first exhibition contest of the year, as the Razorbacks play host to Central Oklahoma on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. inside Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas wants to win, but Auburn HAS to win
Texas’ Darrell Royal gave us the exact comparison that works for Auburn football over its history.
In 1961, the Longhorns lost a 6-0 nail-biter to the Horned Frogs on a flea-flicker of all things.
“TCU is like a cockroach,” Royal complained then. “It isn’t what he eats or carries off, but what he falls into and messes up.”
That could pretty well sum up how Auburn works.
Current coach Gus Malzahn is taking fire from all sides after blowing a 20-point lead at LSU last week. Before the season, some were already predicting it was his final year.
All he’s done is win two-thirds of the games he’s coached on The Plains and 58.3 percent of the SEC games.
Considering he came into the league the same year as Bret Bielema (2013) with a team that had a worse record and, indeed, had lost to Arkansas the year before it’s an interesting comparison.
Bielema Backers argue that Gus didn’t inherit a dumpster fire like Bret did in Fayetteville. While that may or may not be true, the difference is the culture at the two schools, which couldn’t be more opposite.
At Auburn, everybody from the board of trustees to the janitor has an urgency that they HAVE to win.
Everybody at Arkansas just WANTS to win.
What the Tigers have done under Malzahn is have a tendency to mess things up for many teams they face. Ask Nick Saban, who ended up in the Sugar Bowl in 2013 with one loss while Auburn was playing for a national title.
Every year Auburn has messed things up for at least one team:
• 2014: Auburn goes into Oxford and beats a seventh-ranked Ole Miss team 35-31 and so demoralized the Rebels, who lost their best receiver headed into the end zone on the final play of the game, who then cratered the next week at Arkansas. That came after they had thoroughly whipped LSU earlier, 41-7.
• 2015: The Tigers beat then-No. 25 Texas A&M in College Station, 26-10, thus putting Kevin Sumlin on a warm seat that has varied at times.
• 2016: Arkansas had climbed to No. 17 in the country. The Tigers took the first play 80 yards for a score and romped their way to a 56-3 win.
Now you’ve got Auburn rolling into Fayetteville after the collapse in Baton Rouge last week. Traditionally, that’s the worst thing that could have happened for the Hogs. The Tigers will come in focused, having dropped one they know they shouldn’t have.
It’s been a tumultuous week on The Plains, even moreso than in Fayetteville. It probably would be better for Arkansas to play this one in Auburn. Being on the road gets the Tigers away from all the drama.
That’s because the Auburn faithful expect to win … every single game.
And both coaches coming into the game with different priorities.
Malzahn might be coaching for his job.
Bielema probably not.
And, like the culture at the two schools, Auburn HAS to win while Arkansas, well, they WANT to win.
We’ll see if it matters.
But what a loss does to the Hogs (and Bielema) is guarantee this will not be a season of improvement. After back-to-back five-loss regular seasons, it had already stalled.
A loss now would guarantee — with five games left — there will be no improvement for the Razorbacks this season.
In fact, a loss puts Arkansas in danger of not making a bowl game, which will ratchet up the noise around this football program that has limped through most of the first half of the season.
We won’t know for another month, but Arkansas might be the team that can’t afford a loss in this game.
But at least we know the powers that be WANT to win.
