We recap a very busy sports weekend with football and basketball. Plus Zach has the best names to watch in the upcoming college basketball season.
Sports 56’s Brett ‘Stats’ Norsworthy on position Ole Miss struggles defending
Razorbacks’ tight ends could have openings because the Rebels have problems stopping that position against Razorbacks on Saturday.
The interview was prior to Hogs coach Sam Pittman’s announcement of two tight ends kicked off team and won’t return.
Tight ends Var’Keys Gumms and Ty Washington have left the program for what was later confirmed by the coach a violation of team rules. They will not be permitted to return and the Ole Miss pregame and postgame analyst thinks that is a position the Hogs can exploit.
Eastside Liquor Halftime Podcast: 10-28-24
With Phil Elson, Matt Jones, and Christian Johnston.
Guests: Dr. Charlie Liggett/River Valley Smile Center and Mike Irwin.
Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman on playing a talented Ole Miss team
Rebels have highly-ranked defense and high-powered offense that creates challenges on both sides of ball for Hogs on Saturday morning.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 10-28-24
Recapping a GREAT weekend to be a Hog fan!
With Tye Richardson and Christian Johnston.
Guests: Tommy Craft, Brett Norsworthy, Clay Henry.
Takeway results from busy week around SEC, Hogs’ win
Football games often fall into a category of explanation at the conclusion of the contest. Think about it, how many times have you ever heard the game was closer than expected? Not as close as it looks. Closer than it looks. Just the blowout we expected. Oh, and who saw that coming?
These, my friends, are the five most common cliches used around the Monday morning water coolers throughout the SEC. Sure, some will say, those phrases are common in every football conference in the nation. But within the SEC, the most competitive collection of football programs, these go-to phrases are each used every weekend.
They’re not the only phrases you will see bantered about on social media by SEC fans. Some exhibit more patience. Others are downright nasty. We will look at some of these and their respective games as we go through our SEC Wrap-up for Week 9.
Three Takeaway Games
(8) LSU 23, (14) Texas A&M 38: The battle for sole possession of first place in the conference and the driver’s seat to a playoff berth unexpectedly went through Kyle Field on Saturday. It was close going into the fourth quarter, but then LSU just petered out.
X user Brandon Walker felt “LSU’s last 10-minutes might be the worst 10-minutes of football this entire season.”
Whatever happened to the Tigers and their placeholder is beyond me. The Aggies just looked better for the most part, and their perfect 5-0 conference record to set themselves atop the leader board, with no chance of them not being the favorite until they square off against Texas to close out the regular season.
(5) Texas 27, (25) Vanderbilt 24: Vandy just does not give up, and their offense insistent on turning the ball over in the second half still did not prove to be an effective deterrent from pulling another Top 5 upset this season. We all are aware successful onside kicks are a rarity in football, but try to imagine how the landscape for 2024 would have changed had the Commodores been able to pull it off and put one more touchdown into the endzone.
Texas would most likely be on the outside looking in for the playoffs, and Vandy would have catapulted themselves into the Top 15. Instead, the Longhorns are still a favorite to compete for the national championship, and the ‘Dores will be wondering “what if”, hoping they can work their way back into the rankings, which is a feat for which they often long.
Vanderbilt’s quarterback did receive some praise on the social media sphere. A user with the handle of ‘Wake Up SEC’ stated, “Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia is on the cusp of entering the Heisman Trophy race.”
(21) Missouri 0, (15) Alabama 34: This game should have been closer, truly. Missouri got whipped like your great-aunt’s overly sized lemon meringue.
It was so bad even Tennessee fans were having the fantasy of Missouri being on their schedule this season. Austin Brown stated, “Words can’t describe how robbed I feel that Tennessee doesn’t get to play Missouri this year.” Brown then went on to extend a pleasant thought about Missouri Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz.
Remaining Results for Week 9
Arkansas 58, Mississippi State 25: For a few brief moments late in the 3rd quarter, the Hogs almost looked like they were going to do what Arkansas does best: lose composure, a big lead, and possibly the game. Fortunately, quarterback Taylen Green and the Razorback backfield kept their cool and poured on more offense in the fourth. Arkansas’s defense also stepped up with key stops and forcing crucial turnovers to keep them in the top half of the conference.
With Arkansas basketball’s big exhibition win over No. 1 Kansas Friday, X user Hog Call expressed his jubilation after the football game: “It feels really weird being happy about basketball and football in the same weekend.”
Oklahoma 14, (18) Ole Miss 26: This one came out the way any informed football fan would have expected, and it took going into the second half for the Rebels to finally get the final lead and put the game away. With the win, Ole Miss keeps themselves on the fringe of hope of making the playoffs, but no one should bet on it.
Auburn 24, Kentucky 10: Simply a bad team beating an up-and-down team with no consequences on the season. Maybe… just maybe, Tigers coach Hugh Freeze got some critics off of his tail for a week. He did not get nine-out-of-nine of them, but perhaps a few.
Check back here next week for more SEC wrap-up.
Razorbacks’ coach Sam Pittman on finally hitting on all cylinders in win
After a surprising 58-25 win over the Bulldogs, Hogs’ coach liked what he saw from players, getting back on track.
Hogs’ Taylen Green, Braylen Russell, Andreas Paaske after another explosion
Putting up nearly 700 yards in a 58-25 win over Mississippi State showed capabilities of Razorbacks’ offense on road.
Razorbacks’ defensive players after getting big win over Mississippi State
Defensive back Jaydon Johnson and defensive lineman Landon Jackson with what they saw setting tone stopping Bulldogs.
LIVE BLOG: Offense returns for Hogs; nearly 700 yards in 58-25 win over MSU
STARKVILLE, Miss. — At first blush, it’s understandable how Arkansas fans are looking past today’s game with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
After all, State is 1-6 on the season and running out of chances fast for their first SEC win in Jeff Lebby’s first season. The Razorbacks want to erase the memory of a 34-14 loss to LSU last week that dropped them to 4-3 overall, but at 2-2 in the league they are only a game back from being in the conversation for the SEC Championship game in Atlanta in December.
The Bulldogs don’t have many chances left for a league win the rest of the year. The Hogs better not think they are the biggest and baddest thing the Dawgs have seen this year. They just played Texas, Georgia and Texas A&M the last three games. State has seen some pretty good teams.
We’ll have all the highlights and scoring plays here until the end. Scroll to the end every time to stay in order that things happened.
The Razorbacks will be decked out in their traditional white road uniform while State is in all maroon with the white stripes on the pants. Weather won’t be an issue, which hasn’t been a problem in any game this season.
Q1 13:06: Landon Jackson got the Razorbacks rolling, stripping Michael Van Buren on the second play, then a pair of runs up the middle by freshman Braylen Russell (making his first start) allowed Taylen Green to sprint in around the right side from 8 yards out and an early lead. Hogs 7, Bulldogs 0
Q1 11:45: That didn’t last long. The Bulldogs get a break on a facemask penalty and the offense came to life when Van Burn flipped a little screen to Devon Booth, who got a couple of blocks. Arkansas’ secondary couldn’t get a handle on him and he raced 54 yards down the right sideline to tie the game. Hogs 7, Bulldogs 7
Q1 8:50: Nobody appears to have a lot of interest in tackling anybody as the Razorbacks drive 66 yards in 7 plays with Russell carrying a lot of the load himself. The drive stalls and Matthew Shipley has at least get points with a 23-yard field goal. Hogs 10, Bulldogs 7
Q1 2:09: Razorbacks drive 78 yards and face a fourth-and-short, then offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino pulls out one of his old favorites. Green faked a handoff inside, then pulls up and finds tight end Luke Hasz with nobody in maroon in the same zip code and threw a 14-yard scoring pass. Hasz could have run to Tupelo he was so wide open. Razorbacks 17, Bulldogs 7
Q2 12:44: Bulldogs can’t answere when kicker Kyle Ferrie (from Searcy) missed a 42-yard field goal, leaving the Hogs with a cushion.
Q2 10:50: Razorbacks hitting on all cylinders now (plus Mississippi State is playing absolutely terrible) as Green throws one of his best passes of the season on a hitch route, hitting a diving Jordan Anthony in the end zone for a 27-yard scoring strike. The Hogs drove 76 yards in five plays as Green is getting hot. Hogs 24, Bulldogs 7
Q2 4:27: Razorbacks’ domination becomes clear when Mississippi State has four tries from Arkansas 2 and the defense keeps them out of the end zone. Part of that may have been Bulldogs coach Jeff Lebby’s first-year inexperience or the talent differential may be just that great. For whatever reason, though, the Hogs hang on to their lead with no further damage done.
Q2 1:54: Bulldogs finally put together another long drive and miss another video review of a possible touchdown made worse when the receiver threw the ball into the stands thinking he’d scored. Ferrie kicks a 36-yard field goal to slow the bleeding. Hogs 24, Bulldogs 10
Q2 :16: Razorbacks build a three-score lead going into halftime as they drive 75 yards in eight plays and Green throws a 1-yard pass to Andreas Paaske. Hogs 31, Bulldogs 10
Q3 11:23: Now the object for the Razorbacks is to shorten the game and come home. They take the second-half kickoff and march 62 in eight plays yards before having to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Shipley. Hogs 34, Bulldogs 10
Q3 6:51: Where has Paaske been all this time. He catches his second touchdown pass of the game and it’s turned into a blowout and there’s still most of the second half to play. Hogs 41, Bulldogs 10
Q3 4:40: I’m sure both coaches didn’t tell the defenses to take it easy, but it’s hard to prove they didn’t. State gets a 31-yard scoring pass to Kevin Coleman that was confirmed on a review (apparently his heel didn’t touch at the 7) and it’s officially a track meet with one of the runners limping a little. Hogs 41, Bulldogs 17
Q3 3:57: Green pass intercepted by Nic Mitchell and the Bulldogs get a 4-yard run from Van Buren followed by a 2-point conversion pass from to Kelly Akharaiyi and they are only two scores down. Will Petrino keep Green throwing the ball? Hogs 41, Bulldogs 25
Q4 14:04: Razorbacks manage an answer, eating the clock and getting points. They drive 64 yards in 10 plays before having to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Shipley to push the lead back to three scores. Hogs 44, Bulldogs 25
Q4 5:51: Razorbacks get a fumble inches from a touchdown, then Braylen Russell pops a 78-yard run that barely gets to the Red Zone at the other end. Green finishes the drive with a 15-yard pass into a tight window to Luke Hasz to make it a bigger spread. Hogs 51, Bulldogs 25
Q4 4:50: State’s Van Buren throws a quick interception to Xavian Sorey and the Hogs, with Malachi Singleton at quarterback, waste little time against a Mississippi State defense that’s simply not very good. Rashod Dubinion runs it in from the 3 and now everybody is just trying to get to end. Hogs 58, Bulldogs 25
Arkansas, now 5-3 on the season (3-2 SEC) will host Ole Miss next week at 11:45 a.m. on SEC Network.
