Gameday Extra

10.23.2021 Here are some selected comments from the message boards at wholehogsports.com. ARKANSAS FANS REGROUP AFTER A DISAPPOINTING LOSS TO AUBURN AT HOME … neastarkie: I've waited to cool down before I posted anything on the game. It was by far the most disappointing game of the season. It changed my outlook for the final record back to 6-6 or more likely 7-5. However, I still see 8-4 as possible. … I still like the trajectory of this team. … At least football is interesting to me in 2021. It wasn't so for about three years. cody: I feel the same way. Thankfully, we now play something resembling football and look to be trending upward. … Here's hoping for a magical end to the season and really magical offseason in the portal! HogDoctor: Last month we were all giddy about our end of year potential after sweeping the Texas schools, but now reality sets in. ricemab54: I think that we will win over UAPB, Miss. State, and Missouri. LSU is certainly a winnable game. … Remember how bad we were two years ago? This Razorback team is much better than expected and we will always have to play well to win an SEC football game. razorwill: We might win six. Same as last year. Defense ran out of gas and we were gashed. The three-man front is no surprise. SEC coaches know what to do. I liked the four- man front today. sdhog: I just don't see us winning against MSU… our secondary is very vulnerable … LSU on the road? Nope. Missery? Maybe. We should but we should have beat them last year. I'm thinking we win five for sure, hopefully six, but only two SEC wins. generalhog: I say we win the next five outright. These next two weeks couldn't come at a better time. This team as a whole needs to regroup and figure some things out and we essentially have three weeks to do it and I think they will. thehuntinhog: Every game left is winnable. That's the good news. dogen: This is ridiculous. Why do we even show up?. Just shut it down and let's move on to basketball season. Seriously. Texas A&M beat 'Bama. And we beat the Aggies. But it's the freaking favorite line around here like the gospel that we cannot beat 'Bama. We are incapable. No possibility. … Definitely a loser mentality. … I'll say this: We can beat 'Bama. Chad Morris couldn't. But Pittman and KJ and this team can. It is a possibility. rzbackangler: Yes, UAPB is a win. After that we can win any of them if we play we played against Texas. If we play like (against Auburn) than only Missouri is a likely win. adgebg: 6-6 looks most likely unless we manage somehow to beat MSU. I just hope we do get to six wins. eaglehog5: My 7-5 pre-season prediction is looking pretty accurate at this point, though I think 8-4 is far more likely than 6-6. That was a brutal stretch of four games we just went through. We need a cupcake and a nap, which is exactly what we're getting. thenotoriouspig: We were happy because we should have been happy. We are better than everyone else on the schedule except 'Bama — doesn't mean we will win them all… We got rocked by the clear No. 1 team in the country, lost on the road to a Top 10 team by 2 yards, basically, and then lost a game, today, with four starters out that we could have won had we caught a punt, not given up a strip sack TD and not gotten abused by the refs in our home stadium. We are a good team … But, sure. Let's go back to the woe-is-me, inferiority complex stuff. … Until it stops, we will continue to be an afterthought. ncschwartz3650: For all you who as disappointed: Of course you are, as I am. But you are not as disappointed as the players and coaches. And you need to put this all in perspective. We had not won an SEC game in three years before Pittman showed up. … Cheer up. As Nolan said, not all sickness is death. We'll probably be fine. But fans losing hope for little reason won't help at all. brorodger: Injuries seem to haunt us at the wrong time. I'm still behind the team. A couple of breaks our way would be nice. We can still go to a bowl game. After the last few years, I'm going to be happy about it. We are heading in the right direction but it's going to take time. goldsurfer: As always, folks know better than the coach. That play didn't work, so it's a bad call! Our defense makes a stop (It's a) great play, not the opposing coach made a bad play call. Armchair QBs, after the fact, I just find it very amusing. Three weeks ago our coaches was geniuses! SHOULD STARTING QUARTERBACK KJ JEFFERSON PLAY AGAINST UAPB SATURDAY? poochpunt: Does KJ really need to play this Saturday? Yes, it is his first full year and reps are important. I just don't think this far along in the season taking hits unnecessarily will be advantageous down the stretch. I'm sure there's plenty of other walking wounded that could use a three-week healing period. youdaman: Yes, he needs to play. He's still progressing as a quarterback. He needs to approach this game just like another SEC game. He needs to continue to get better each and every week. hawgcotton: Understand your point but Sam Pittman has to win this game and best shot is to build big early lead and then start resting and letting other backups get experience. Unfortunately, due to depth and injuries, he does not feel comfortable depending on wholesale shift in starters until he knows the game is in hand. ewest: He should salt this game away and boost his confidence. No way should we take for granted we win this game with the bus ride. Take care of business early and enjoy watching the others play the second half. This game should be fun, there is healing in that. We are not far enough removed from losing these kind of games. cody: KJ will hopefully only play the first half. We need to get up by four scores, then let the (backup quarterback Malik) Hornsby run the show the second half. If the Hogs go up big early, then KJ and the other starters sit earlier. On defense, this is a great time to find some young playmakers. We have a lot of DBs on this team. Now is the time to figure out who is SEC quality and who isn't. ClayHenry: The fact that Hornsby has not been great is the reason you start KJ. Get the lead. Getting the lead is important for the rest of the team and getting others in the game. …Not starting KJ has merit. But getting the lead so others play has more merit. neastarkie: Yes. Start KJ and get an early lead. While I expect to win the game easily, it's possible to blow it off badly enough to lose. oklahog: We saw what happened (vs. Rice) when you don't take advantage of an out-manned opponent early. They scratch and claw a bit harder, and a bit longer, extending the time on the field for the starters. We desperately need to see the pups play and we desperately need to rest the starters. tuschawg: I can see alternating series with them, starting with KJ (assuming a TD on the first drive). I can also see a scheme where Hornsby only throws, period, unless he's forced from the pocket. In other words, it hardly does the Razorbacks any good to scheme Hornsby to run and not to take advantage of UAPB to develop confidence in his passing game. His first play should be a long pass. hogbacker: Trying to decide who to play and for how long is a question that should be answered by halftime and hopefully by the end of the first quarter. We were calling last weeks game a must win, the one we are getting ready to play is the must win game of the season. Lose this one and we will be seeing the ghost of Chad Morris. PREDICTIONS FOR SATURDAY'S GAME IN LITTLE ROCK … LoudLoyd: Hogs get well a little ahead of the off-week: 52-13. armyhog: I hope to see the young players play and get some experience. As long as the Hogs win and avoid injuries it will be fine. neastarkie: Seems like I had 52-14 in another thread, so I agree with your prediction. Hogs can name the score so I guess it will be what kind of score they want to name. I don't see them scoring more than 52 unless they can't avoid doing it. I think by the end of the game we'll see a whole lot of players getting some PT, so I wouldn't be surprised if UAPB doesn't manage at least a couple of TD's late. BEST OF THE WEB THE CROWD It's not easy to get energy for a 11 a.m. kickoff. If anyone knows how to do it by now, it's the Arkansas fan base. They have been starting at 11 a.m. for the past month. It's been said that War Memorial is terrific at night, not so good in the morning. That's probably true for most places. The best way to produce energy in the stands is to do something exciting on the field. So it may be on the Hogs to get the crowd started with solid play on the field. BACKUPS There are few times when backups might get more time than starters, but this is one game that might happen. Quarterback Malik Hornsby, exciting when he runs, might get a chance to display his passing skills, somewhat lacking when he's played so far. Hopefully, he polished that part of his game in practice this week. This should be a good week to get starter KJ Jefferson some rest after taking too many hits the last few weeks. It will be interesting if third quarterback gets action and who it might be. Some think John Stephen Jones is third. Others suspect it will be Kade Renfro. This might be when we find out. The offensive line hasn't had much depth. In fact, it appears the backup for almost every position on the line is fifth- year senior Ty Clary. He's got a bad back and probably needs some rest like most, but he's been playing at right tackle for injured starter Dalton Wagner. This is the week Jalen St. John and Ty'kieast Crawford get some time. Both have worked at both guard and tackle, more at guard of late. Can they get some meaningful snaps this week and give O-line coach Cody Kennedy more options down the stretch? BIG PLAYS Who gets them? UAPB does have a big-play receiver in Josh Wilkes. Aside from the opener, he's been a big factor in every game this season for the Golden Lions. He averaged 60 yards per game through the first six weeks. Wilkes caught at least one touchdown in all five of UAPB's spring games. He's had TD catches of 82 and 35 this season. SPECIAL TEAMS If there is a place where the Lions expect to make plays, it's on special teams. They have blocked four punts this season, scoring twice. The Hogs have had two punts blocked this season and three last year. The Golden Lions have returned kickoffs for over 60 yards three times this season. If Vito Calvaruso doesn't put them in the end zone, the Hogs may have their hands full getting down the return specialists, something they haven't seen this season. Conversely, this may be the week the defense gets some stops and forces more punts. It could be the week to try someone aside Nathan Parodi at punt return. He's usually a safe option and catches the punts he can see (and that's a reference to last week when he lost a punt in the sun). CLEAN MACHINE The way you knock out an outmanned opponent is to play clean. The Hog have been up and down as far as penalties. The goal this week has to be to play clean. As much as anything, pre-snap penalties should be eliminated. The Hogs should be able to run the ball and that should provide a clean pocket on play-action passes if and when they do throw some. If the Hogs throw, they should have a speed advantage at the skill positions on offense and have open receivers. There is a belief that tight ends Blake Kern, Hudson Henry and Trey Knox should be open if the Lions are forced to focus on stopping the run. Those tight ends must play clean and take advantage of their targets, perhaps up this week. FIRST DOWN The Hogs had a tough time running the ball on first down when they got the lead in the third quarter last week against Auburn. They made 17 yards on nine first-down runs in that quarter. This is the week those numbers should flip. The running backs might have a big day. Perhaps it's a chance to rest Trelon Smith, beat up with a toe injury in preseason. He's close to full speed, but some rest is in order. So who gets those first down carries? Is it Dominique Johnson, Rocket Sanders or AJ Green? Let's go with an age-old description of the back making the most out of his chances. Give it to the hot back. INJURY FREE The top key this week is to get through the game with few injuries. Unfortunately, there is no way to make sure that happens. Injuries are part of the game. But if the trainer gets little work Saturday, it's a successful game. The most important men are the drivers who get the team to the field on time. Showing up on time is the first key and maybe the most important key. And, if there are no are few significant injuries, the weekend will probably be dubbed successful. FAST START Jefferson is the key player for the game. How efficient he is at the outset in the run-pass option, the key play in the Kendal Briles offense, could be the difference between a fast start and a plodding start. If Jefferson can get the Hogs off on the right start, this could be a fun day for the complete roster. The goal is to get him off the field in quick fashion, but he needs to play better than last week against a good Auburn defense. Jefferson's decision making was average last week after rating high on the charts against Ole Miss. Either way, the Hogs did move the ball in both games. They made 676 yards against Ole Miss with 38 first downs and 460 yards with 28 first downs against Auburn. Expect big numbers again this week, with either Jefferson or Hornsby calling the plays. 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