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Tye & Tommy on CWS Game 1, creating parity in CFB, advice to student athletes and more!
’Horns not Hogs’ most important matchup from Texas in September
Arkansas fans need to drop the inferiority complex hatred for the Longhorns because they aren’t even the most important September matchup from Texas.
Two of the three will be in the Top 15 and the Longhorns aren’t the most important.
Somehow three teams from the state of Texas landed on the Razorbacks’ schedule this year and all are in the first month of the season.
Rice should be a way to start the season, smooth out some wrinkles and at least identify any problem areas.
Week two the Longhorns come to town, the game will be on the ESPN mother ship (as well as on HitThatLine.com) and the media will have the fans foaming at the mouth for the first really big night game without restrictions on tailgating or how many people can cram into Razorback Stadium.
They should be more focused on Texas A&M, who will be ranked higher when the two teams meet in AT&T Stadium on Sept. 25 where a lot more will be on the line.
Don’t start wailing about how important the Longhorns’ games are. I’ve been to more of them than 99% of the people reading this (I did miss the 1988 game in Austin when my son was born that day shortly after the game ended).
The Aggies are a bigger problem. Texas has won over 70% of the time against the Hogs by an average margin of 8.5 points per game. More importantly, they have better players.
On the other hand, A&M is a longtime matchup where the Hogs have won 57.6% of the time and have a 10-game edge in total wins.
None of those have come since the Aggies joined the SEC West in 2012. Arkansas hasn’t won a single game in the matchup since then. Don’t talk about almost because almost doesn’t matter.
In three regular-season matchups since going to the SEC in 1992, the Hogs have won once (2003 when they stunned Texas in Austin, 38-28). They caught the Longhorns in a couple of bowl games where neither the coaches, players or fan base were particularly interested in playing the game.
While the Hogs’ fan base has fallen to the level where many are just hoping the team can be competitive, Jimbo Fisher is throwing shade at Nick Saban, getting a humorous response from the Alabama coach.
All while Arkansas fans are more worried about the Longhorns.
They are hoping new coach Steve Sarkisian needs some time to get things turned around. Hog fans have become accustomed to coaches asking for time to do that in their first year.
The difference is Sarkisian inherited three straight Top 10 recruiting classes and his first signing (while he was offensive coordinator on Alabama’s national championship team) was No. 15 in the country.
Fisher has three straight recruiting classes in the Top 10 of the rankings while the Hogs have dealt with two head coaches and a world-wide health pandemic that has fouled up everything.
You can whine about recruiting rankings being meaningless and it’s true that doesn’t guarantee you of a single win, much less a championship.
Based on history, though, it does guarantee you won’t have many wins and zero championships if you don’t rank high.
Hogs’ schedule really has only 8 games in ‘getable’ category
Yeah, everybody knows Arkansas’ schedule is rated as the most difficult in the country again, mainly because they can’t schedule themselves.
As we sit around in June waiting on the SEC’s annual circus of propaganda that starts July 19, when you sit back and look at the list of games in total there are really only eight games you would put in Ruscin & Zach’s ‘Getable’ category.
That’s a trademark phrase Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns use on their show from 3-7 p.m. on ESPN Arkansas and while it has a plethora of applications, we’re limiting it to the Hogs’ football schedule.
• The games Arkansas won’t win unless the other team misses the bus to the game or there’s another panic attack over covid are pretty clear-cut:
Texas, Sept. 11: Fans won’t like hearing it but don’t be shocked if the Longhorns come in here and do an Alabama-type tap-dance in Razorback Stadium (close for a quarter, then a steady pulling away). The Longhorns have more talent and Steve Sarkisian wasn’t a bad coach before he fell off the wagon at Washington and USC.
Texas A&M managed to beat Arkansas since joining the SEC in 2012 and recently they have started pulling away. Jimbo Fisher has the Aggies right behind the top teams and could slip through the door.
Georgia gave Razorback fans some hope for a half last year in Razorback Stadium then pulled away. They may not allow any hope this year. If something changes on that the story will be more about what happened to the Bulldogs and Kirby Smart’s buyout than the Hogs suddenly getting better.
Alabama is going to, well, continue to be Alabama. The game is in Tuscaloosa this year and late in the season when Nick Saban starts positioning for the Auburn game the next week.
• The Hogs do have three games that should be wins even if they rest some starters and nobody is expecting Rice, Georgia Southern or Arkansas-Pine Bluff to be much of a challenge. Not blowing out those types of teams is why Chad Morris didn’t last two complete seasons.
• Two games are not written in ink on either side of the Getable list because nobody really knows what to think about Auburn or LSU. Both of those games should have been wins last year, but officials stole one (Auburn) and the Hogs blew one (LSU) or feelings might be different. Historically, though, both of these games are put in the Getable category for now.
• That leaves the usual suspects. Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Missouri are three games where the Hogs have to win (at a minimum) two out of three. Don’t expect a prediction because too many questions and not enough answers now on those teams just like the Hogs.
Arkansas is going to have to win the three Getable non-conference games, split the two games unknown and take two out of three to get six wins.
Winning one of the four not on the Getable list now will probably mean a good bowl trip, but don’t look for that answer here in June.
With eight Getable games, the Hogs have to win 75% of them to reach bowl eligibilty.
The path is pretty clear but the obstacles aren’t as obvious right now.
Burks’ combination of skills is what Steele saw to put him at top of WRs
Phil Steele was on The Morning Rush and outlined what he’s seen from Treylon Burks to name him to the preseason All-American team.
Murphy thinks toughness Pittman instilled will show benefits this season
Democrat-Gazette writer Tom Murphy said on ESPN Arkansas that Sam Pittman’s tougher attitude for players should help this year.
Ranking Hogs’ football coaches since Broyles including Pittman
Putting together the Top 10 of Arkansas football coaches is almost impossible because nobody’s alive that’s seen them all and you can’t compare different eras.
It’s hard enough to compare the various phases of college football in the last 44 seasons.
Not only have the rules changed dramatically, but so has just about everything from roster limitations, scholarship changes and the like.
So this ranking of the 11 coaches since Frank Broyles stepped down in 1976 seems the most logical way to do things.
There were some occasional big seasons before Broyles came in 1958, but he coached 19 seasons and stayed for 50 years in some capacity and it’s no fun to do a list when there really isn’t a debate about who’s at the top.
During the dog days of summer everybody has a list because there’s not really that much to do over the next month or so. Most were expecting another week of baseball so it is a dead period of sorts.
This list ranks the coaches since Broyles stepped down and includes current coach Sam Pittman, who has just one oddball season (that was caused by a national pandemic).
He’s not the only one with a short resume.
Two coaches have had one season (counting Pittman), another a partial season and a couple of two-year stretches.
When you put all that together the decline of the Razorback program isn’t especially surprising.
Despite all that, though, here’s the ranking of the coaches … from worst to best. Barry Lunney, Jr., who coached the final couple of games in 2019 is not included.
Every aspect of their tenure is included and it is subjective. Feel free to comment if you don’t agree.
11. Chad Morris (2018-19): This one is a no-brainer. About the only name to benefit from this hire was Otis Douglas, who was the worst hire from John Barnhill’s days as athletics director. But even Douglas (who was as out of place as Morris at least won three conference games in his first two seasons). Morris still doesn’t have an SEC win and not very many good losses (if you believe in that nonsense).
10. John L. Smith (2012): After Bobby Petrino flew through the handlebars on the highway to Elkins (at least that’s the official version), Jeff Long gave an early indication of how dumb he was by bringing in Smith. He inherited a team that was probably a little over-rated in the preseason, then proceeded to stumble and bumble his way to a 4-7 season. Even he won two conference games in that season, though, so he’s not on the bottom.
9. Joe Kines (1992): There are a lot of folks that feel Kines should have been named the permanent head coach when Jack Crowe was fired a game into the season, but Broyles chose Danny Ford instead because Kines had no head coaching experience. He did revitalize the fan base after a shocking opening-game loss to The Citadel, beat Tennessee and developed a strong following.
8. Jack Crowe (1990-92): In the ongoing 44-year cycle of emergency replacement coaches, Crowe was hired when Ken Hatfield left for Clemson without notice. Crowe was on the plane headed to Clemson, pulled off and given the job. His biggest problem was Broyles announcing the Hogs were headed to the SEC because half of his team was from Texas and wanted to quit in 1990.
7. Bret Bielema (2013-17): Despite what some people thought at the time, Bielema was the worst hire since Douglas. With a shiny resume at Wisconsin just keeping in place what somebody else built, Bielema showed he was completely incapable of building something similar at Arkansas. Combined with Long’s incompetence it was clearly the blind leading the blind.
6. Sam Pittman (2020-Present): With a 3-7 record and only being a head coach for one year some might question this placement and it may be more of speculating on the future instead of the record. Pittman, though, has that feel he can get the most out of what he has, which is how the Hogs have always had success. Coaching a bunch of over-achieving players is what has worked in the past and is probably always going to be the requirement and Pittman appears to be able to make that work.
5. Danny Ford (1993-97): When Broyles canned Crowe, Kines managed to talk Ford off his cattle farm in South Carolina. The guy who said things like “scientific rocket” in press conferences could coach, but never appeared driven to do much more than win the SEC West in 1995 and cruise for a couple of years before getting fired. But he could coach … when he put his mind to it.
4. Bobby Petrino (2008-11): After Houston Nutt either walked away or was encouraged to leave, there wasn’t exactly a long line to be the Hogs’ coach so some considered it a huge hire when they talked Petrino into leaving the Atlanta Falcons for Fayetteville. He had a couple of good years but it was clear he wasn’t going to recruit well enough to sustain that, then the drama of his firing meant he was gone by the time things hit rock bottom.
3. Houston Nutt (1998-2007): One thing Ford did well was recruit and he left the cupboard pretty full. Nutt talked the search committee into choosing him over Tommy Tuberville and within a few years was the most polarizing coach of the modern era. Some loved him. Others hated him. But he did win 61% of his games and nobody has come close to doing that except Petrino’s best two seasons and 2015. Nutt also won 53% of his games in the SEC and only Petrino did that with a much smaller sample size.
2. Lou Holtz (1977-83): When Broyles stepped down after the 1976 season, Holtz was really the only serious candidate. He inherited maybe the best collection of talent in Razorback history everywhere on one team.His first team (1977) had as good of a claim to the national title as anyone after a 31-6 win over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, but they could never keep up with that pace. A few more wins in 1980-83 would have him in the top spot. He won at a 72.2% pace.
1. Ken Hatfield (1984-89): No coach in Hogs history had a higher winning percentage than Hatfield (75%). In terms of pure ability to be a head coach of a program nobody else at Arkansas has been as good as he was. Over six seasons he had 10-win seasons half the time and had 9 wins twice. The problem was losing bowl games (1-6 postseason) and frustration with administration decisions. His sudden departure for Clemson ranks with Petrino’s motorcycle ride for most shocking endings for a Razorback coach.
There it is. Admittedly it’s subjective. Feel free to comment.
