After “a lot of banging for eight to 10 weeks,” the Razorbacks needed to get in front of large crowd with refs at Red-White Game.
Stanley Umude, JD Notae: Recapping Red-White Game at Barnhill Arena
Stanley Umude (16 points, 5 assists) and JD Notae (22 points, 6 assists, 4 steals) after White’s 74-63 win.
Huddle Up Episode 8: Rally Time
Tye & JD on what happened Saturday, back in LR, Hudson Henry joins and more!
Hogs’ depth problem starting to show up in loss to Auburn
There never was much question about Arkansas’ starting lineup on either side of the ball.
We found out Saturday afternoon there were legitimate questions, though, about the guys behind them.
The defense that made big-time plays against Texas and Texas A&M hasn’t been able to stop anybody the last three weeks.
“We’re not making them now,” Sam Pittman said after a 38-23 loss on homecoming to Auburn. “Sometimes we are, but most of the time we’re not.”
As the Hogs are dealing with a lot of injuries right now that didn’t improve with the news that safety Jalen Catalon will miss the rest of the year after shoulder surgery Monday.
“We’ve got a beat up team, to be honest with you,” Pittman said. “Our team is beat up and this bye week can’t get here fast enough. We’ve got a physically beat up team.”
What he’s saying without saying it is the guys starting are out there first for a reason. They are better than the guys standing on the sidelines watching.
“They’re trying,” Pittman said.
Bear Bryant had the best story about that years ago. When he was at Kentucky he got flustered with some player he called Johnny, turned to the sidelines and told a backup to go in the game.
“Can you block that guy?” Bryant recalled asking the lad.
“Coach, I’ll try my best,” the player said.
“Get back on the bench, Johnny’s already trying his best,” Bryant said.
Pittman has referred to the depth chart and backups several times this season, always saying something about being first on the depth chart for a reason.
The main thing is having everybody ready to go against Mississippi State on Nov. 6. They have Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Little Rock this week, which should be a win. No slight intended, but the Hogs’ third team is better than anybody the Golden Lions will put on the field.
Against Georgia a couple of weeks and then Saturday the Hogs aren’t winning anything on the lines of scrimmage.
“If you didn’t think we physically just got whipped today, we did,” Pittman said. “On both sides of the ball.
“That doesn’t mean if they’re better than you that you can’t counter that with blitzes and some things of that nature and with play action and all that kind of stuff, but that’s what we tried and they were better than we were today.”
Now they have to pick up the pieces on defense without Catalon, who was one of the leaders on the defense. The Hogs knew all week he wasn’t going to play, but Pittman wasn’t telling anybody. Exactly why that was kept secret is a mystery.
“He had a little bit of a tear front and back that a lot of kids play with throughout the year,” Pittman said. “Then he broke his hand. You kind of have two injuries.
“Mentally, you could see his wasn’t playing his type of ball, tackling like he had earlier in the year and this, that and the other. I think it’s time for him to get that shoulder fixed.”
Now they’ve got to get the defense fixed, but the offense needs a little work, too.
There are problems there, too.
HOG REACTION: Arkansas falls to Auburn 38-23
Drew and Tommy take your calls, text and hog reactions from the homecoming lost to Auburn 38-23.
Catalon out for season and Hogs’ defense may be going with him
Most Arkansas fans were expecting a win against Auburn on Saturday.
And I use the word “most” because there will be some so-called experts that come out of the woodwork this week proclaiming they knew what was going to happen.
It’s doubtful many saw a 38-23 loss to the Tigers.
Especially when they couldn’t contain Auburn quarterback Box Nix, who came up with a career day against the Razorbacks, hitting 21-of-26 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns.
The Hogs’ defense never got a handle on him all day. He ran for first downs and a game-clinching 23-yarder in the fourth quarter.
We didn’t find out until the game was over safety Jalen Catalon was going to miss the rest of the season after having shoulder surgery Monday.
“Catalon is going to have his shoulder worked on Monday,” Pittman said. “He had a little bit of a tear front and back that a lot of kids play with throughout the year. Then he broke his hand.
“Mentally, you could see he wasn’t playing his type of ball, tackling like he had earlier in the year and this, that and the other.”
Nothing was slowing down Nix on Saturday.
Nix, who was replaced by a transfer in September, was 21-of-26 for 292 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver corps that couldn’t catch a cold previously didn’t drop many.
The Hogs were going to make Nix beat them, but they weren’t going to let him scramble. The wild antics he’s shown at times making big plays didn’t happen.
He didn’t have to.
The Hogs’ defense was torched by Ole Miss last week after we heard for a week they were working to fix a defense that suddenly fell apart after a 4-0 start to the season.
Now they are going to have to pick up the pieces without Catalon, one of the biggest leaders in the defense, certainly in the secondary.
“I think it’s time for him to get that shoulder fixed,” Pittman said after the game. “It was a decision that he came and talked to me and that’s what we came up with. I think it’s best for Cat that he gets fixed, and that’s what he is going to do on Monday.”
Hogs coach Sam Pittman: Thoughts after falling to Auburn on Saturday
Despite getting a second-half lead, Arkansas couldn’t hang on, giving up big plays and defensive busts against Tigers.
Montaric Brown, Bumper Pool: Recapping Razorbacks’ 38-23 loss to Auburn
Defensive back Montaric Brown (who had a big interception) and linebacker Bumper Pool on disappointing loss.
Myron Cunningham: Loss to Auburn on homecoming day ‘disappointing’
Arkansas offensive tackle Myron Cunningham said after the 38-23 loss to the Tigers they will just have regroup.
GAMEDAY LIVE: Hogs can’t stop Nix’s career day as Auburn pulls away
Arkansas couldn’t get a handle on Bo Nix all day and KJ Jefferson couldn’t find the magic from a week ago as the Tigers won going away, 38-23.
It is the third straight loss for the Razorbacks after starting the season 4-0
1Q 12:16: Auburn won the opening toss and has elected to receive on a cool, bright, sunny day at Razorback Stadium. Arkansas star safety Jalen Catalon was not in the starting lineup on the first defensive drive for Arkansas. It showed as Auburn went 75 yards for an opening-drive score on a 39-yard scoring strike from Bo Nix to Ja’Varrius Johnson and an early lead. Auburn 7, Hogs 0
1Q 7:37: Hogs have an answer but Treylon Burks’ big play backed up because he stepped out of bounds and then the offensive bogged down and Cam Little kicked a 44-yard field goal. Hogs 3, Auburn 7
Arkansas starting to put together drive at the end of the first quarter following a bad Tigers’ punt near midfield. The Hogs running the ball straight ahead on Auburn.
END FIRST … HOGS 3, AUBURN 7
2Q 9:59: Tank Bigsby plows up the middle as Arkansas’ high-powered offense is misfiring all over the place. The Tigers drive 65 yards in nine plays using 4:18. Hogs 3, Auburn 14
2Q :18: Hogs put together best drive of first half mixing runs and KJ Jefferson hitting key passes before he finally double-clutched a jump pass (you have to watch a replay) and hit Treylon Burks in the end zone for an 11-yard score. Hogs 10, Auburn 14
3Q 12:30: Arkansas takes the second-half kickoff and goes 75 yards in six plays with Jefferson throwing to Burks for the final 30 on a deep slant. The Hogs have their first lead of the game. Hogs 17, Auburn 14
3Q 7:19: Auburn grabs lead back playing field position, backing Hogs inside 10, then when Jefferson fumbled when tackled in the end zone by Derick Hall and Marcus Harris recovered for a touchdown. Auburn 21, Hogs 17
3Q 4:16: After Arkansas is stopped cold on a fourth-down conversion, Bo Nix hits Demetris Robertson who simply took off down the field for a 71-yard score. Auburn 28, Hogs 17
3Q End: Dominique Johnson runs up the middle for a 10-yard score to cap a quick (13-play, 75 yards) answer to the Tigers’ score, then a 2-point conversion pass to Burks was broken up by Auburn on a play that was close to pass interference. Auburn 28, Hogs 23
4Q 10:35: Taking advantage of a questionable pass interference call against the Hogs, Auburn goes 63 yards in 9 plays before a 29-yard field goal by Anders Carlson. Grant Morgan got Tigers quarterback Bo Nix on a scramble to save a touchdown, setting up a field goal. Auburn 31, Hogs 23
4Q 2:30 Nix catches Arkansas over-playing on a pass and scrambles 23 yards untouched for the clinching score. Auburn 38, Hogs 23
ANDY’S PICKS: Can Hogs figure out how to get back to winning?
Two weeks ago, Arkansas fans were cocky after a 4-0 start to the season.
The truth was they had a couple of rent-a-wins and caught Texas and Texas A&M while they were still trying to figure out what they were going to do this season.
Georgia shut down the Razorbacks’ offense that roared back the next week but the defense couldn’t stop Ole Miss in the second half.
Add all that up and you end up with more questions than answers through the first half of the season and a 2-2 record over ranked teams.
Now Auburn comes to town.
Some fans are expecting a fairly easy time. The fact is this quite possibly could end up in another shootout if neither team shows a particular interest in stopping the other from running the ball.
The Tigers can run it and have a stable of running backs as deep as the Hogs. Their quarterback has been making wild big plays his entire time on The Plains and this year has been no different at all.
KJ Jefferson and the Hogs’ offense put up some big numbers last week, but the defense gave up virtually the same thing. That’s the biggest problem.
Arkansas’ lack of depth on that side of the ball is starting to show. In today’s world of college football you have to have about 45 players where the drop-off rotating fresh players is minimal and the Hogs just aren’t there yet.
Auburn has played in front of a rowdy crowd in an electric prime time atmosphere at Penn State earlier this year. They actually came close to pulling out a win in that. Razorback Stadium won’t be that crazy with an 11 a.m. start, despite Sam Pittman rallying the troops all week.
Arkansas broke a decade-long problem with the Aggies earlier this year but now they get the Tigers in a position where few people are giving them much of a chance.
It’s the first time the Hogs have been favored in an SEC game in a ridiculously long stretch of games.
Arkansas is favored by 4.5, which sounds about right.
Hogs 31, Auburn 27
No idea what Pete Morgan is doing this week and one can only assume he’s been partying so hard with a slim lead he forgot what the deadline is to get his picks in.
Maybe the craziness of this season will subside a little this week, but Auburn messed up my big weekend last week and there likely won’t be much ground made up this week.
Florida (-12) at LSU: The Tigers are playing terrible this year and there are questions about Ed Orgeron’s longevity. The worst problem is he’s starting to look like a one-hit wonder at LSU but could be getting paid enough that nobody really cares. The way this season has gone it could go either way. Florida 35, LSU 17
Texas A&M (11) at Missouri: The Aggies will probably have somewhat of a hangover after upsetting Alabama last week and, for some strange reason, I keep thinking the Tigers could pull off an upset in this crazy season. Stranger things have happened, but don’t be surprised if it’s closer than anyone thinks. Texas A&M 38, Missouri 35
Kentucky at Georgia (-21.5): In a battle of unbeatens and CBS’ latest favorite, the Bulldogs are playing like the best team in the country and yet again give them a laugher. Remember, the Wildcats think they are contenders, but it’s not basketball yet. Come back to reality. Georgia 38, Kentucky 10
Vanderbilt at South Carolina (-18.5): Sooner or later the Commodores are going to actually play somebody in the league close, but not this week. At least we’ve seen absolutely nothing to think they know the ball is blown up with air and not stuffed. South Carolina 34, Vanderbilt 14
Alabama (-17) at Mississippi State: You can bet practices in Tuscaloosa this week have been intense. Nobody wants to lose, but Nick Saban learned a long time ago one loss doesn’t derail the season. Mike Leach and the Bulldogs just happen to be the next team up, bless their hearts. Alabama 41, Mississippi State 14
Ole Miss (-2.5) at Tennessee: Ready for a Saturday night Shootout? Last week’s over-under with Arkansas was 66 and they passed that in the third quarter and never looked back. Look for something similar this week. Ole Miss 48, Tennessee 41
