Gameday Extra

11.26.2021 Here are some selected comments from the message boards at wholehogsports.com. ARKANSAS' SPECIAL TEAMS ARE FINALLY SPECIAL … bluegrassrazorback: My how Arkansas special teams have matured … Our field goal kicker and punter are special and consistent this year. hogq: Special teams has indeed improved this year. Vito Calvaruso is kicking them deep. Cam Little isn't little, he's darn near automatic. Coverage teams have improved. coloradohog: Not a small reason why they are 7-4. Hard to win with just special teams, but you can sure lose in one big hurry without it. I have really enjoyed kickoffs this season. Just watch them sail for no run back. youdaman: They are the most improved part of this team. They deserve big-time kudos because they were blasted for so long. Time to give credit where credit is due. Great job guys, keep it up. cody: It says a lot, too, on trusting who Sam Pittman brings in as a coach. We heard Scott Fountain was an elite special teams coach. Last year, we all questioned the hire. This year, we are getting to see why he was such an important piece of the puzzle. RAZORBACK FANS WONDER WHAT IF ROCKET SANDERS OUGHT TO MOVE FROM RUNNING BACK TO WIDE RECEIVER … youdaman: I would hate to see Burks miss his last home game but if worse comes to worse I would love to see us move Rocket Sanders out and let's get the ball to him the same way. You saw the incredible catch he made in the end zone and he has the burst that we need to make big plays. razorback339: Actually not a bad idea. How tall is Rocket? We need to do something., IMO our backs can get unhappy with playing very little. bikehog23: It is interesting that we played four RBs yesterday, with Dominique Johnson and Sanders playing before Treylon Smith did and Smith was the starter at the beginning of the season. He still has a burst, but Johnson is just playing so well now and Sanders is big and fast. A.J Green might be the fastest of all of them … holdenhogfield: I hope we use Ketron Jackson. He looks so impressive, runs so well. Seems like a real threat, just one we haven't used in eight games. youdaman: Yeah, I never have understood why we haven't gotten the ball to Jackson more. I think he could have a bright future. vaham: I think there is a strong possibility (Sanders) moves to slot receiver next year and is used like Treylon is now. goldsurfer: It's a short week to begin with, I don't see that happening. It's not as simple as "just move him to wide out." I know he was at receiver earlier but still. hogmaestro: I am not sure about Rocket going out to WR this Friday, but next season, unless he straight up is No. 1on the depth chart. I would move him to the Burks' spot. eaglehog5: Da'vion Warren Thompson needs to step up and have big day. Both of him. WHEN IS A TYPO NOT REALLY A TYPO? ClayHenry: We had a typo – that got fixed – in the lead of a story in this week's (Hawgs Illustrated) magazine. But I thought it was a pretty clever typo. The person who did it was unaware of what he'd done. It said "Treylong" Burks. I kind of like it. He has a bunch of plays over 20 yards this year. Indeed, he's Treylong. earohog: Freudian slip. BREAKING DOWN THE 42-35 LOSS AT ALABAMA … ClayHenry: Ironically, 'Bama fans were upset at the officials, too. A neutral media guy told me the refs were bad both ways. Go figure. tuschhawg: Yep, I cringed when Burks pushed off on one of his big catches and run for touchdown. Just knew it would be called back. Marveled that it wasn't. MoreThanASquealin: … Once again as usual, both sides thought the calls went against them. …Of course, Hog fans were upset about the replay booth, the intentional grounding and the awful spot on the obvious touchdown. The impressive thing to me was that our team overcame the replay overturns and the supposed bad intentional grounding call and still scored on those drives. In the end, the refs didn't take over the game and throw a lot of flags, allowing it to be settled on the field, which is all your really want for the most part. vaham: …The stripes have not called offensive pass interference all year on plays like that. Considering we were playing Alabama, I was surprised it wasn't called. holdenhogfield: Our room all laughed at Burks' push off. We all yelled, "Kick the PAT!" before it could go to replay. But when they showed the replay, he did not push off. The 'Bama defender just ran past the play. Just a great, totally legal play by Burks. Again. FANS PREDICT THE OUTCOME OF FRIDAY'S GAME AGAINST MISSOURI … jmetsrule: I have a sneaking suspicion that this one is going to be close, but we're going to win. I think we're playing a highly motivated team that has also shown some real scrappiness as of late. It's not easy to stop a losing a streak. Arkansas 42, Mizzou 34. Snout: Too many level-headed kids on this team to not have a strong finish to the regular season. UA 48, UM 20. LDhog: Hogs will be ready for the challenge. Motivated big time. Us 34, Them 14. We take all three trophy games. pjhawg: Arkansas 42, Missouri 10. BEST OF THE WEB I couldn't help but join in. "It's sad," I said, "because no one at the Tulsa World knows how good I am yet." I got nervous when Daily Oklahoman columnist Bob Hurt took out a notepad and jotted that down. Our landing was without issue, although we were coached on the "brace position" with heads between knees. I forgot about what I'd said until the next week when I walked into the Tulsa World newsroom for the first time and Hurt's column was pinned on the bulletin board. Terrell Lester, the night editor and also a talented writer, introduced himself and said, "You did OK on the Skywriters Tour, but we'll see how you write on deadline at night football games." I've taken that as my lifetime challenge. Deadlines — even at night — should never be an excuse to do anything but your best work. What I've learned, you are only as good as those around you. So while you move on to the keys to victory, know that on this Thanksgiving I am appreciative of the many who have helped make me look good and know that good luck trumps everything. THE BEST MATCHUP If you want to see the two most interesting matchups of the game, watch the middle of the field. Arkansas center Ricky Stromberg is assigned the task of blocking Fayetteville native Akial Byers, the Mizzou nose tackle. Conversely, Arkansas nose tackle John Ridgeway takes on Mizzou center Michael Maeitti. In pre-season SEC coaches voted Maeitti the league's best. He's a senior graduate and considered an intense and solid competitor. Although only 6-1, 290, Maeitti could give the bigger Ridgeway a strong battle. THE SERIES This is something that has become glaring on the Arkansas end: the Hogs trail the series with the Tigers, 9-3. Pittman probably is tired of pointing to that with a following comment that you have to win some to make it a rivalry. Arkansas has lost five straight in the series. This has to play into the motivation. The Hogs almost snapped the streak last year when Missouri kicked a field goal to end the game in a 50-48 victory in Columbia. Whether or not the series has developed into a true rivalry game is up for debate, but they will be playing for the Battle Line Trophy. TURNOVERS The Hogs have been strong in this department of late. There was a fumbled snap that was lost against Alabama, but quarterback KJ Jefferson did not throw an interception against the Tide. Alabama had intercepted an Arkansas pass every season since 1998. Jefferson has only three interceptions on the season. By contrast, Mizzou quarterback Connor Bazelak has thrown 10 picks. Bazelak has thrown 10 fewer TDs than Jefferson. The Tigers do excel in one area: ball security. They lead the nation with only one lost fumble. Arkansas has lost five. Arkansas is second in the SEC in fewest total turnovers lost with just eight, four fewer than the Tigers, who are sixth best the league. TREYLONG Yes, that's a typo, a Freudian slip that almost made it into last week's Hawgs Illustrated magazine. Treylon Burks could be nicknamed "Treylong." Burks leads the Hogs in plays over 20 yards. He's got 20, including 18 via the pass. The junior wide receiver from Warren, likely playing his final game at home, leads the Hogs with 59 catches for a 16.5-yard average. He's caught 10 of Jefferson's 20 touchdown passes. The most important information of the week came Monday when Pittman suggested often injured Burks would be "fine" by game time . 4TH QUARTER One week after having a shootout with Alabama, it's hard not to recall that last year's game with Missouri was a similar type game for the Razorbacks. The Razorbacks won the fourth quarter at Alabama 14-8. They did not last year at Columbia when the Tigers outlasted them 27-15. The key aspect of the game was linebacker play. Neither team could manage many stops after losing key linebackers. Arkansas did not have an answer for Tyler Badie on the ground after losing linebacker Grant Morgan late in the game. The Tigers finished with 653 yards, with around half of that coming in the final quarter when they had drives of 61, 60, 80, 82 and 75 yards. The Tigers had little defense after losing All-America linebacker Nick Bolton to a targeting penalty in the second quarter. THE RUN It's never as simple as one thing, but it would appear the team that stops the run has the advantage. Here are the numbers in the running game on both sides of the ball and SEC rankings: • Arkansas rushing offense (222.3 per game, 2nd SEC), Arkansas rushing defense (147.7, 8th). • Missouri rushing offense (172.4, 9th), Missouri rushing defense (234.4, 14th). The single-most effective player in all of those numbers is Badie with 227 carries for 1,385 yards, a 6.1-yard average. He has scored 13 TDs. THE ENEMY In the enemy-is-among-us category, there are several players and coaches with ties to the other school. It makes for some interesting matchups. Arkansas defensive coaches Barry Odom (coordinator, safeties), Sam Carter (cornerbacks) and Michael Scherer (linebackers) all coached at Missouri before landing in Fayetteville under Pittman. Odom was head coach at Missouri before the move. Odom and Scherer both played at Mizzou. Carter played at TCU. Williams and Markell Utsey, both defensive ends, played at Missouri before moving to Arkansas at the start of the summer. Both are starters for Odom, the man who recruited them to Mizzou. Alfred Davis is the defensive line coach at Missouri, moving from an analyst role during the season when Drinkwitz fired Jethro Franklin. The Tigers were struggling to stop the run before that change and have improved since. Johnson, the Arkansas running back, was committed to Missouri before making the switch just before signing day. Missouri has two key players from Fayetteville High School: wide receiver Barrett Banister (24 catches, 160 yards, 6.7 average) and Byers (22 tackles, 3.5 sacks). Drinkwitz has an Arkansas connection on the staff in offensive analyst Rick Jones, the former head coach at Greenwood. Jones coached Morgan at Greenwood. 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