Gameday Extra

Missouri has done a good job of keeping pressure off of quarterback Brady Cook, allowing 21 sacks through 11 games. The Razorbacks lead the SEC with 37 sacks. BACK-UP LINEBACKERS Pittman was transparent Monday when speaking about linebacker Bumper Pool's availability in Arkansas' final two games of the season. He said he does not know if the super senior will play for the Razorbacks again on account of various injuries, including ones to his hips and back. Roughly five weeks ago, Pittman admitted, he thought Pool's record-setting career might be finished. He is Arkansas' all-time leading tackler with 441 since 2018. But the Razorbacks dialed back his in-game snaps and practice time to ensure his health to this point, and afford him time to rest and recover. "He's beat up, man," Pittman said. "But he's a trooper, and I don't know how much further he can go, to be honest with you. And I think with us getting bowl eligible, it could or could not be his last game. I don't know." Asked if he is holding out hope that Pool could play in the bowl game, Pittman said there is "not a lot of hope there." Should Pool not be able to play in the Razorbacks' final games, back-up linebackers Chris "Pooh" Paul and Jordan Crook would be in line for extended snaps. Paul has 41 tackles, 7 tackles for loss and 4 sacks, and finished with a career-high 7 tackles against Ole Miss. Crook has five tackles, including two against South Carolina and Auburn. "He's actually played the same or even a little bit more than Bumper has, just because we know Bump's not full-speed healthy," Pittman said of Paul. "Every game he seems to get a little more confidence. He played well against Ole Miss, ran around, did some nice things, so we have confidence in him. "That moves Crook up another spot, too, to get him in the game and let him play a little bit more." In the spring, Pittman said Crook is "one of the hardest- working young guys I've ever seen," and lauded his thick base, intelligence and desire to be coached. Paul in recent weeks has made plays that can lead some to believe he is the future of the linebacker position for the Razorbacks. Arkansas fans will likely get a good, long look at Paul and Crook on Friday. CLOSE GAME Which team can make the plays necessary to win a close game? That has been an issue for the Razorbacks and the Tigers this season. Missouri has been outscored 168-118 after halftime this season. Arkansas has outscored its opponents 172-161 in the second half, but there have been multiple lopsided fourth quarters in favor of the opponent, such as Ole Miss' 21-0 finish last week. Arkansas won a one- score game, 31-24, against Cincinnati to begin the year and made a flurry of big plays in the fourth quarter to hold off an upset bid by Missouri State and win 38-27 in the third game, but the Razorbacks have struggled to close out close games since. Three of Arkansas' losses have been by three points or less — to Texas A&M (23-21), Liberty (21-19) and LSU (13-10) — and the Razorbacks were outscored 21-3 in the fourth quarter by Alabama after pulling to within 28-23 by the end of the third. Missouri is 1-4 in games decided by seven points or less this season. The Tigers' only one-score victory was 17-14 over Vanderbilt. Close losses have included games against Auburn (17- 14), Georgia (26-22), Florida (24-17) and Kentucky (21- 17). Georgia and Kentucky scored late fourth-quarter touchdowns to take the lead, and Missouri made multiple end-of-game errors to lose at Auburn in overtime. "They've been a little bit like us," Pittman said. "They've lost some very close games to put them where they are record-wise, very similar to ours." Quarterback experience is important in tight games. Jefferson led a go-ahead drive at Missouri two years ago and led a game-winning drive against Mississippi State last season, plus a drive against Ole Miss last year that could have sent the game to overtime if the Razorbacks had elected to kick an extra point. Brady Cook has not led a successful comeback drive in 12 starts for the Tigers, though he put Missouri in position to win at Auburn before Harrison Mevins missed a chip-shot field goal with no time remaining. MOTIVATION Arkansas played inspired in its final home game last week, earning its sixth victory to become bowl eligible for the second consecutive season. Missouri can follow the same script this week. The Tigers are 5-6 overall and could give the SEC an 11th bowl team with a victory. Pittman was asked this week if he thought the Razorbacks could match Mizzou's motivation to play the game. "I think so," Pittman said. "I mean, we've got a lot to play for. There's a lot of diference in 7-5, 6-6 bowl- wise. Obviously, we can get to 4-4 in conference like we were last year, finishing in the top half of the conference like we did a year ago. "I think simply because it's our rival game it's a big deal. And we haven't beaten them there since we've joined the SEC. I think there's a lot of things. We haven't beaten them back-to-back, and I think there's just a lot of things that we have to play for." ELEMENTS After playing in the cold the past two weeks, Arkansas might play in the rain at Missouri. Rain chances have diminished somewhat, but the National Weather Service still has rain chances of between 20% and 30% on Friday in Columbia, Mo., with a high of 48 degrees. It seems there are tough weather conditions each time Arkansas travels to Mizzou. The Razorbacks lost bitterly cold games in 2016 and 2020, and were shut out in a cold rainstorm in 2018. Arkansas has not played in rainy conditions this year. In fact, the Razorbacks have not played in the rain since a 2020 loss to LSU. The Tigers' 40-12 loss at Kansas State in Septemeber was delayed twice by lightning. Pittman said early in the week that the Razorbacks planned to work on some wet-ball drills to be prepared for rain. "We've had that, maybe two or three possibilities this year where we squirted the balls and have a period where KJ will throw it and we'll catch it and backs carry it," Pittman said. "Of course, (center) Ricky (Stromberg) would be a concern as well with the snaps." Keys n Continued from Page 2 11.25.2022 BEST OF THE WEB Here are some selected comments from the message boards at wholehogsports.com. CHRIS "POOH" PAUL JR. GETS SOME FAVORABLE COMPARISONS TO A FORMER RAZORBACK GREAT HogDoctor: I went back and watched the game last night, and he flashes at linebacker. Good closing speed and tackles through the offensive player. He's a good one. ClayHenry: The great Wayne Harris would smile. Jhawg: I was at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock as a young boy when the Thumper hit Don Meredith. He was out cold. Harris was not big, but he just hit so hard. youdaman: He plays the position the way it should be played! Glad he is showing up. Has a bright future. HogDoctor: I see legit SEC LB speed in him. I hope these LBs redshirting are as good as he is because we will be good at LB. Hard to replace the leadership and experience of Bumper Pool and Drew Sanders, but dang this kid is really good. Glad he's ours. I predict he's All-SEC before he's done, if he stays healthy. hogfanfish: Watching the game I came away thinking that the defense next year could be good again. (The Razorbacks) Lose some people but look to have some stars in the making. Pooh looks like he is going to be an absolute beast at LB and I am assuming that Quincy McAdoo will not return to wide receiver as he may be better than (Dwight McGlothern) at corner back. Pairing those two next year on both sides man to man on WRs will let Odom have free reign to run all types of blitzes to pressure the quarterback. MORE ON CORNERBACK QUINCY MCADOO, WHO STARTED THE SEASON AS A WIDE RECEIVER hogq: McAdoo is a stud. I didn't know he was that fast. There were a couple of plays where (Quinshon) Judkins was off to the races and McAdoo was the only player that was catching up with him. rayzabackerii: (Paul and McAdoo) have speed and explosiveness and are not injury bound. I sense the speed especially is essential to Coach Odom's preferred scheme. An opposing offense can take advantage of their (over) aggressiveness, but I like the speed infusion. Wish that could happen on the inside defensive line. Where have you gone Dick Bumpass? I'm not asking for a Dan Hampton or John Ridgeway, just a Dick Bumpass-sized havoc-wreaking nose tackle. Find that and we will better looking in the secondary and more fun for fans to watch. Pooh Paul on a blitz is refreshing, McAdoo making plays of commission is also mucho welcome. harleyhawgidson: I noticed that. I didn't remember reading much about (McAdoo's) speed, but he certainly saved a couple touchdowns by catching Judkins. … He certainly appeared to be our fastest defensive player last night. eaglehog5: They don't time country boys chasing rabbits through bean fields. The ones that do that usually have pretty good football speed. No matter what the stopwatch says. Q can play. … I hope he stays at corner but occasionally gets to catch a few passes. hogbacker: There's a difference between track speed and speed with pads on. McAdoo is fast and ran good angles in pursuit. I think he's found his niche and is a team player. Way too many young men are in the wrong position and are unwilling to change position for the betterment of the team. But guys that do are priceless. ARKANSAS BUILT A HUGE LEAD ON A RANKED TEAM IN JUST MORE THAN HALF THE GAME ClayHenry: I don't believe any Arkansas team has ever hung 42 on a top 15 SEC foe two plays into third quarter. They put 35 on a bad Kentucky team that was shut down because of weather. I've never seen anything like what they did to Ole Miss on Saturday. armyhog: Me either. The Hogs could have put up a lot more points and I wish they would have. It would have been nice to see "all gas, no brakes" at least up through the end of the third quarter. ClayHenry: You could have done that and let Ole Miss take a few shots at KJ Jefferson. Not smart. Coaches know better. It is not video games. danny: When clicking our offense can be outstanding. Clearly the best half all season. FANS REACT TO ESPN'S BROADCAST CREW CALLING THE GAME FROM THE SIDELINES SATURDAY: Hogmodo: At first, I thought they had technical problems, but they went the whole game chatting on the sidelines, yucking it up with fans, Tusk, cheerleaders and, repeatedly, each other. Is this a new way to do broadcasts? SwineFusion: They did a sideline game last year, the Vandy-Ole Miss game. I thought it was kinda fun. Even got me to mute Chuck and Quinn and listen to them. hogq: I hated it. Every freakin' minute of it. They absolutely made it about themselves and not the game. … Not that the SEC Network gives a rip about my opinion but they got an email about it this morning. Pavlovhog1: Some really old farts on this board. I thought it was great. Mike_Tucker: Great? Not sure. But it was different. I thought it was OK. Hogmodo: I resemble that remark! I am not old, I am just juveniley challenged. Tell those kids to quit running across my lawn! hogq: If they had focused on the players/ game … that would be one thing. But it was more about them, their heated vests, how comfortable they were on the sideline, blah, blah, blah. I liked the part they did about Bumper at the end of the game. SwineFustion: When it's 42-6, there's not much game to focus on. Would have been something similar if they'd been in the booth. longtimehog: Not sure if I liked it or not. All you can hear is the crowd noise and can barely hear the announcers. Whoever the sound mixer is for SEC is horrible. MattJones: SEC Network is kind of like ESPN's minor league. And like MLB does with some of its minor leagues, I think there are some things that are tested on SEC Network to see if it works. The networks are trying to figure out how to keep the younger audience engaged, and some non-traditional broadcasts — like the Mannings' alternate Monday Night Football and what Pat McAfee is doing with some of the Saturday night college games — are having some success. I think this is another attempt at that. lilhawg: I liked it. They were very kind to the Hogs, coaches and the program in general. Ole Miss fans had to hate it… redpig: Announcing should never detract from the game being played. That is the purpose of the broadcast. This is why sporting announcing would never be suggested as journalism. pike1205: I liked it but I also enjoy the Manning cast and even Pat McAfee. The coaches' cut of national championship game is a lot like that. I enjoyed the relaxed take. neastarkie: I had mixed feelings about it. While the game was still in doubt (basically the first half), I found it a bit annoying. By the time the outcome was known (basically the 2nd half), it didn't bother me as much and there were aspects of it I actually enjoyed. I thought some of the banter was funny and some of the interaction with the crowd and players was enjoyable. I don't care for any long interviews that happen while the game is going on. Last night they had Grant Morgan for a whole series of downs. I wanted to watch and hear about the game on the field. Overall, I give the experiment a C+. I don't want it to become a permanent thing. Put the play-by-play guys in the booth and have a good sideline reporter. That's a time tested successful formula. The game is the entertainment for me. IS MISSOURI A RIVALRY GAME FOR HOG FANS? LoudLoyd: For me, living 20 minutes from the Missouri line, it's a rivalry. I know some fans pooh-pooh that idea… I dislike Ole Miss, Auburn, LSU and, of course, Texas, more than Missouri, but beating them in any sport gives me a pretty good feeling. The silly trophy doesn't make it rivalry; the hard feelings and joy in winning does it. Plus, they've beaten us in football several times when we were the better team. Time to prove who's boss. hogq: I don't the feel the same way about them as I do LSU or Ole Miss but their coach is pretty easy to want to hang 60 points on and having two coaches on our staff from Mizzou helps make it a bigger game. Plus, it always seems we have a recruit or two we're pulling out of Misery. Historically, we've not played great in their joke of a stadium. The way we played Saturday against Ole Miss gives me a lot of hope though. bushhog: If this is a rivalry, almost every game is a rivalry. I get we border Missouri. To this fan it's just embarrassing when we lose to them. They are not a program we aspire to be and I don't like feeling on par with them although that may be our place. thewerners4: Perspective — are we their Texas? eurohog: Hardly. To be their Texas we would have had to have had an advantage in wins, and laid a particularly painful win on them. silverlakehog: It's a very reluctant rivalry. i don't really care about Mizzou, but (the Tigers) have put the "black" in too many of our Black Fridays in my opinion. We should own them! neastarkie: If hatred defines a rivalry, it's sure becoming one with me. We owe them. We need to win about 10 in a row over them. We've lost three or four we should not have lost. bayouhog: One word says all a Hog fan needs to know – Dorkwitz. 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 Best of Northwest Arkansas the *Offer available only in-location through 12/31/22. Promotional card must be used between 1/1/23 and 3/31/23. 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