Gameday Extra

11.20.2021 Here are some selected comments from the message boards at wholehogsports.com. IS ALABAMA AS GOOD TODAY AS IT HAS BEEN OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS? hogcotton: 'Bama is 22-point favorite at home. Hawgs' secondary will see lots of the 'Bama receivers over the middle this week. 'Bama will attempt to shut down Burks and the running game and force KJ Jefferson to beat them with his arm. Hawgs will enjoy more success running ball than they did against LSU but not enough to open up passing game unless someone other than Burks has career game at receiver. … Hawgs will trend better in this one, just not good enough to hang with Tide yet. ClayHenry: 'Bama is just without a lot of experience and upper classmen, period. They lost a lot the last three years. What's left of this senior class may not be a real talented bunch or loaded with leaders. tuschhawg: 'Bama will be very strong against our east-west tendencies, and the crowd will go berserk at our repeated tries and subsequent losses. ClayHenry: I did not pick the Hogs this week. Don't see an answer for Will Anderson. The fastest of their wideouts, Jameson Williams, will test Montaric Brown. citgeauxhog:Those are huge advantages for the Tide, Clay. But let's see how our linebackers and Tre Williams get after that Freshman quarterback. Overall, I just want to see some fight and for us to look better then we did at Georgia. Also I agree it will be hard to run wide, but I do think we can run off tackle and use Anderson's upfield rush to make a little hay in that space. We can't jump offsides and put ourselves in obvious passing downs. They will drink our blood! eurohog: My hope for best case is no injuries to key players so that we can take care of business vs. Missouri next week. Anderson is a monster and can do serious damage. FANS REVIEW LAST WEEK'S 16-13 ARKANSAS OVERTIME WIN OVER LSU … wizardofhogz: Perhaps not quite as many as you think, due to the covid issue. Of course, roster limitations will affect the final number, and we will still lose quite a few. But I'd bet we have four to seven "Super Seniors" again next season. holdenhogfield: Speaking of who might return, if that list included Bumper Poole, Montaric Brown and Jalen Catalon, it'd be a huge deal for us Hog fans. eurohog: (The LSU game) was a classic defensive struggle that hung on line play. Each team scored only one touchdown and both were following the chaos of sack escapes. The LSU defense completely lost Johnson slipping out of the backfield, an egregious error, for which they paid hugely. The Razorbacks got beat downfield, honestly, with a tight end on a smaller defensive back who was cleared out by a shove … I can't fail to mention the fake field goal. Cajones! Flawless execution. In overtime, the best case is to get a turnover when you have the ball second, especially if your kicker is among the best. A win at LSU at night by any means possible is a good win. coloradohog: We have had two real SEC wars and won them both on the last play of the game. That was some real grit! hogbacker: Healthy Hogs are hard to deal with the last two Saturdays! danny: We sorta lost at Ole Miss on the last play of the game, too. LogJam: As Meatloaf said, "Two outta three ain't bad." jhawg: It is so nice to have a dependable kicker. It is a little like Linus having his security blanket: comforting. It has been several years, but Cam Little is a really good kicker under pressure. He makes a huge difference in this SEC competitive, crazy world. RECENT SPECIAL TEAMS PLAY EARNS PRAISE … youdaman: I know Coach Scott Fountain has been body slammed for how bad (special teams) played last year and the beginning of this year, but the last four or five games they are playing well! Little has been money all year. Bauer has punted much better lately and the kick-off guy is unreal! We had a punt return for a touchdown, so I have been very pleased with our special teams play Keep it up! LDhog: And Fountain is one of the best recruiters on staff. I agree on special team play! armyhog: Special teams has improved a lot this season. Compared to the last few years. adgebg: Fountain has delivered in recruiting and coaching. Happy to see it because it was a mainstay for the Hogs when they were a force in the Southwest Conference and nationally for decades. Broyles was a stickler for it. SCORE PREDICTIONS FOR SATURDAY'S CAME AGAINST ALABAMA… LoudLoyd: We're playing better on defense. 'Bama is beat up on offense. Their defense can give up big plays. We're on a run of breaking losing streaks. So, I'm sayin' there's a chance … Not really. 'Bama 38, Arkansas 13. Bring on Mizzou. SwineFusion: I saw one pick this morning, can't remember where. They don't think we'll win, but they also don't think 'Bama will cover -22.5. pavlovhog: Tusk 12, Bigger Tusk 24. georgiahawg: 'Bama is still 'Bama. 'Bama 31, Hogs 20. LDhog: My rose colored glasses are fogged over. And the Kool-Aid I love is bitter this week. Nevertheless, Hogs 36, Tide 35. Without hope what do we have? bayouhog: Hogs capture three 'Bama turnovers and Cam Little kicks the 50-yard game winner with 3 seconds left. Nick Saban is seen crying on the sideline. BEST OF THE WEB ever by a first-time starter at Alabama. Joe Namath and Jones previously held the record with three. In his first 10 starts, Young has thrown for 3,025 yards with 33 TDs against just 3 interceptions. He's completing 70.9% of his throws. That ranks just behind the first 10 games Jones started last year, but it was as a senior. Jones threw for 3,368 yards and had 29 TDs against 4 interceptions to set the record as a first-time starter at Alabama. WILL ANDERSON There is a growing thought that Anderson should be considered for the Heisman Trophy. Young has been mentioned more, but Anderson is Alabama's best player and might be the nation's most outstanding player, the defining charge on the Heisman ballot. The outside linebacker/rush end has 12.5 sacks. One NFL scout said Anderson would be the first pick in the NFL draft if he was eligible next year. He's not because he's a true sophomore. Anderson (6-4, 243 pounds) is the type of talent that requires special consideration in building the game plan. Pittman said the Hogs will be challenged. Few teams have tried to block Anderson with just one lineman. He said simply, "Will Anderson is probably as good a rush end as there is in the country." Incredibly, for a line player (and that's what the Jack linebacker is at Alabama), Anderson is second on the team with 67 tackles, 19 for 86 yards in losses. He's been the national defensive player of the week three times this season. TRE WILLIAMS A graduate transfer from Missouri, Williams (6-5, 243) is the best edge rusher for the Hogs. He's been bothered by nagging injuries at times this year, but Williams has still managed six sacks for 26 yards in losses. That isn't in the same territory as Anderson, but he's faced more blockers equipped with better help since the Hogs have usually just rush three. That may change this week because Alabama plays a tight end in many sets, meaning the Hogs will likely play a four-man front to cover more linemen. That look helped provide a little more pressure last week against tight end sets on blitzes because it's easier to slide another defender — usually an inside linebacker — into the front from an odd angle. THE RUN Which team can control the line of scrimmage with the running game might be the biggest key after the way the quarterbacks and pass rushers play in the game. Both teams are strong on both sides of the ball in that area. It's the primary focus of both teams. Here's a quick look at the numbers on both sides of the ball: Rushing offense: Arkansas (233.5), Alabama (162.1). Rushing defense: Arkansas (151.3), Alabama (81.5). The Alabama rushing defense isn't quite as good as that last number appears because the NCAA statistical sheets subtract sacks from rushing totals, not passing totals like the NFL. Alabama is No. 5 in the NCAA with 3.4 sacks per game, primarily because of Anderson. The Hogs could not block the LSU blitz last week, forcing top runner Dominique Johnson to reverse his field several times looking for room. Some of his best runs were for small gains. That's not the way to make a living against Alabama. Anderson will chase down Johnson. Brian Robinson is the top Alabama runner. He's got 823 yards on 164 carries for an average of 5.0. He will be pressed to play all of the meaningful snaps because of injuries. The Tide played a wide receiver at running back in relief of Robinson in the blowout victory last week. BEST MATCHUPS The key matchup could be the Arkansas cornerbacks against Alabama wide receivers John Metchie (67 catches, 722 yards) and Jameson Williams (51 for 1,028). If Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom doesn't have confidence in this matchup, there probably won't be many blitzes. The Hogs played a three-deep zone against Alabama last year and the Tide hammered away with 38 rushes for 216 yards. After the game Saban indicated that's not the way the Tide prefers to play. They probably wanted to get the ball to DeVonta Smith, their best player, but the Hogs stacked defensive backs in front of the wide receiver. Alabama has to game plan to stop Treylon Burks. The slot receiver for the Razorbacks had only two catches for 16 yards last season when the Tide cruised to a 52-3 victory. Saban calls his nickel back the Star position and it's manned by backup safety Malachi Moore. That's likely who Burks will see the most, but often the second of two men in stacked coverage. UPSET RECIPE The Hogs are three- touchdown underdogs, typical of their role in this series since Saban became coach. Obviously, that would make for a huge upset if the Hogs can snap a 14-game losing streak against the Tide. The recipe for an upset is always the same: flawless play in the special teams and no mistakes on offense. That means limiting turnovers, something the Hogs have done well most of the season. But the Hogs do make too many mistakes. At LSU, they had too many lost-yardage plays caused by missed blocks on the edge (both on wide plays and blitzes) and too many penalties. As for eliminating penalties, Pittman said some changes were made in practice this week, but didn't list them. "What we were doing obviously was not working," Pittman said. "Nobody wants to jump offside on either side of the ball. We work on it all the time and this week we did something different. Hopefully it shows up and helps us on Saturday." Pittman has worked his team with crowd noise all week, but that didn't provide the kind of antiseptic play that was desired in the two big crowd road games, Georgia and LSU. The Hogs must eliminate the pre-snap penalties if they are going to make it a four-quarter game at Bryant-Denny. THIRD DOWNS This is where Alabama dominates. Offensively, Alabama leads the nation at 56.6%. Defensively, the Crimson Tide are 13th at 31.7%. This is an area Arkansas has improved at least on one side of the ball. The defense is tops in the SEC at 30.5%, eighth nationally. The offense is at 36.8%, 88th nationally. The offense has to do better than that at Tuscaloosa. The best way to slow the Tide offense is to keep the ball away from Young, moving the chains on third down. It's not something the Briles offense has done well. The defense hit a lull in the middle of the season, perhaps because of the absence of safety Jalen Catalon. But his replacement, sophomore Myles Slusher, has been steadier of late. He was superb against LSU. His ability to move teammates into the right spots has improved and is noticeable. "I think Myles especially played a really, really good game the other night," Pittman said. "I think he's gone from, 'I'm nervous, I'm a little afraid of what's going on out here,' to, 'I'm seeing everything better. I'm winning the battle pre-snap.' I think that's why he's playing so much faster and more aggressive." NOTHING EASY This probably seems like stating the obvious, especially where it comes to Arkansas, but it's crucial against Alabama. The Hogs can't give away cheap points. In the Saban era the Tide has scored 85 non-offensive touchdowns on interception returns, fumble returns, kickoff returns, punt returns and blocked punts. There have been five of those this season, including two apiece on kickoff returns and blocked punts. That last category is scary for the Hogs. It's been a real issue under Pittman. They've had four blocked punts in two years and Georgia scored one touchdown on such a play this year. One of the big keys is Arkansas kickoff man Vito Calvaruso. Of his 62 kickoffs, 52 have been for touchbacks. Williams, the wide receiver, is the danger this week. He's returned two kickoffs for touchdowns. Calvaruso has to keep the ball away from him. POOL, HENRY AND MORGAN How the Arkansas linebackers go, so goes the Arkansas defense. Bumper Pool, Hayden Henry and Grant Morgan are the straw that stirs the drink. They rotate at the two inside spots in the defense. Pool is not a starter, but leads the team with 100 tackles. Henry is next with 79 and Morgan has 78. They have played well all year, meshing with first-year linebackers coach Michael Scherer. That group — coach and players — probably had its best game against LSU. There was a great understanding of the LSU scheme and it showed with timely blitzes. "Our linebacker group Saturday night played outstanding," Pittman said. "Pool, Henry and Grant, they played as good as you could play." The middle of the Arkansas defense has been tough all year. Nose tackle John Ridgeway has been terrific at times. The Illinois State transfer also probably played his best game last week. How that group plays against Alabama will be critical. Tide center Darrian Dalcourt is playing through a sore ankle, an injury that severely altered the running game against LSU. If you want to put your focus on one area, it might be the middle of the field when Alabama has the football. If the Hogs are winning the line of scrimmage there with Ridgeway and the linebackers, it might mean a close game. Keys n Continued from Page 1 www.innisfreeseniorliving.com "Treating you like family" NOBODY'S PRICES OR CARE CAN COMPARE IN NWA! Innisfree Senior Living We are cheering on our College Team this season! GO TEAM! 300 Innisfree Circle • Rogers, AR • 479-636-7363 123 S. Maestri Road • Springdale 479-361-2000 • www.sodpartners.com Where the grass is alWays greener. The Sod Store offers the highest quality grass and mulch along with topsoil, grass seed, and several different types of rock. We supply homeowners, contractors, and builders in the Northwest Arkansas area.

• Cover