SB Nation - D.J. Williams

Know Your Opponent: Arkansas Razorbacks

jeremyflint — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:07:35 -0000

Here we go with another round of Know Your Opponent. This time we are talking to fellow SBN bloggers Arkansas Expats. Here is what they had to say about the game this weekend. You can check out my answers to their questions as well.

1. Arkansas seems to be a Jekyll and Hyde team this year. They are near the top of the conference offensively, but rank near the bottom (or at the bottom) when it comes to defense. Why is there such a big difference between the two sides of the ball this year?

That's easy: talent.

Obviously everyone knows about Ryan Mallett at QB by now, but even beyond that Arkansas has really good players at every one of the skill positions on offense. Our eight TDs last week against Troy were scored by seven different people, and that's pretty much how it's been all season...lots of points of attack.

Unfortunately for us Hog fans, we don't have the talent on the defensive side to match. There are probably a lot of reasons for this, but the bottom line is that we just aren't as good on that side of the ball.

Also, that talent disparity includes our coaching staff, too. Bobby Petrino is regarded as one of the top offensive minds in the game even by his many detractors, and he's lived up to that reputation during his time at Arkansas. Although I'm sure defensive coordinator Willy Robinson generally knows what he's doing, my guess is that he's not in that league.

2. I have seen very little of Arkansas this year. I think the only games I watched was the loss to Alabama and the Georgia game, which I swear was really a couple of PAC-10 teams dressing up as SEC teams. Aside from QB Ryan Mallet, who are the playmakers on offense and defense that Bulldog fans should keep an eye on?

Well, as I was saying in the above answer, we have a lot of threats on offense. You never really know who's going to be the star in any particular game, but I'll start by calling out the receiving corps - WRs Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs and TE D.J. Williams are all really good, and you can count on some big plays by those guys. Our running game struggled in the earlier part of the season, but has improved lately. The starter is Michael Smith, but he's backed up by big back Broderick Green, sophomore Dennis Johnson (who also returns kicks), and freshmen Knile Davis and Ronnie Wingo, Jr.

Also as noted above, we don't have as many playmakers on defense. Malcolm Sheppard anchors our defensive line and will be a key part of our effort to stop Anthony Dixon. LB Jerrico Nelson is also usually in the middle of the action.

3. Mississippi State has never beaten Arkansas on the road (Fayetteville or Little Rock). Why do you think coming to Arkansas is such a tough road game for most teams in the SEC? Is it the travel? The atmosphere? The annoying pig calls?

Hard to say, exactly. Arkansas is pretty unusual this day and age in that we have two home fields. Most games are in Fayetteville, but the general feeling is that Little Rock actually offers more of a home field advantage - it's a louder stadium and the fans tend to be a little rowdier there. (Note: I'm from Little Rock, so there might be some bias in that statement.)

I have no idea what you're referring to by "annoying pig calls". If by some chance you're referring to the mighty "Woo Pig Sooie" Hog call - the greatest fan chant in all of sports - then yes, I'm sure that usually intimidates opponents into submission as well.

4. Give me some of the key matchups that you are looking for this Saturday on offense and defense.

The most important matchup for me will be the Hogs defensive line against Anthony Dixon. I expect Dixon to have a big day, but if he has a huge day Arkansas will be in trouble. Our nightmare scenario is a game where he cranks out about 220 yards and 3 TDs, and leads a bunch of clock-killing drives to keep the ball away from Ryan Mallett and the offense, while also opening up some possibilities in your passing game. If that happens, we're legitimately in trouble.

Next after that will be Ryan Mallett versus your defensive line. If they can constantly get in his face and force him out of his comfort zone then it will be hard to get on track offensively. If he has time to stand back there and find his receivers, then watch out.

5. How do you see this game playing out? Mississippi State is a run-based spread offense, with flashes of a passing game. Arkansas is allowing 132 yards on the ground and is ranked near the bottom in pass defense and total defense. Will the offense just rack up enough points to put the Bulldogs out of reach or will it be a close game that comes down to the last few minutes?

I think this will be a tough game for the Hogs. You guys have just missed out on beating some good teams, and will be fired up to get a step closer to bowl eligibility. I expect a tough, physical game that's close for most of the time. Mallett and the offense are playing really well right now, so they'll put up some points - but I also think Dixon will counter with a big game of his own (at least one 50+ yard TD run is pretty much guaranteed). In the end, though, I think the Hogs' "bend but don't break" defense will keep the Bulldogs out of the end zone enough times to pull out the win.

Previewing South Carolina at Arkansas: Q & A with Arkansas Expats

Gamecock Man — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:13:41 -0000

More photos » by Danny Johnston - AP

about 1 month ago: Arkansas wide receiver Lucas Miller, left, and Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams celebrate Miller's third quarter touchdown in the NCAA college football game with Eastern Michigan in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009. Arkansas defeated Eastern Michigan 63-27. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

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I got together with our SB Nation colleagues Arkansas Expats to preview this weekend's game. Here's what they had to say. (My answers to their questions are here.)

1. Bobby Petrino's tenure at Arkansas started off badly in 2008 and then pulled it together a bit late in that year, leading to speculation that 2009 would be a breakout year for the Hogs. However, while Arkansas has played well at times this year--particularly in the victory over Auburn and the close loss to Florida--it has also struggled and doesn't seem very far ahead of where it was late in 2008. Is this an accurate assessment, and how do Arkansas fans feel about Petrino's performance at this point?

Well, in one way the Hogs are very much ahead of where they were last year, and that's on offense. Last year, the Hogs averaged 21.9 points per game, which ranked seventh in the SEC, and 373.1 total yards of offense per game, the fourth-highest average in the conference. This year, they're averaging 35.9 points and 438 total yards of total offense per game, both of which rank second in the SEC. Ryan Mallett is a huge upgrade over Casey Dick, and the Hogs receiving corps - led by Greg Childs, Jarius Wright and Joe Adams - is as electric a group as we've ever seen in Fayetteville.

However, those gaudy statistics at least partially obscure the fact that the offense is fairly one-dimensional - the running game has struggled to get going this year, and tight-end D.J. Williams, a true star last year, has yet to develop a good chemistry with Mallett. Our special teams unit continues to struggle at times, and the defense too often has been downright woeful.

Add it all up, and we think the Hogs are noticeably better than last year (the 2008 team could never have taken a Florida squad down to the wire in Gainesville) but perhaps not as improved as many Hog fans were hoping. There were lots of predictions of an 8-4 regular-season record this summer, and obviously that mark is going to be very tough to attain now.

Despite the team's various struggles this season, Hog fans are still very supportive of Petrino (although there was some grumbling after Ole Miss and Houston Nutt whipped Arkansas in Oxford). Razorback fans can be as unrealistic as any fans in the country, but the large majority of us seem to realize that Bobby inherited a program that will require more than two seasons to rebuild.

2. Ryan Mallett has had an impressive season so far. However, outside of the Georgia and Auburn games, his big numbers haven't always translated into lots of points or wins in big games. What has Mallett done well this year, and what does he need to continue to work on to take his game to the next level?

Mallett has an absolute cannon of an arm, and this season the Hogs are serious threats to score quickly and often via the deep pass. But too often it seems, the deep pass has been the Razorbacks' only way of scoring. As mentioned above, Mallett and D.J. Williams have yet to click, and Arkansas' short passing game could use some improvement.

Ryan has struggled with his accuracy at times, and his mobility is an issue against aggressive defenses. He's only a sophomore, so it stands to reason that he should improve in most of the above-mentioned areas. Except for the mobility issue, that is. Not sure there's much he can do about that.

3. Despite having more experience than a year ago, Arkansas continues to have a shaky defense, especially against the pass. What has gone wrong this year, and is there light at the end of the tunnel for this particular group?

Well, the Hogs' defense may be more experienced than last year, but it's not much more talented. Although it’s quite possible that Petrino’s first pick for the D.C. job (Ellis Johnson – a guy you might be familiar with) would be having more success with this group than Willy Robinson had he stayed in Fayetteville, there’s only so much that can be done with a group that’s thin in so many key areas. The Hogs’ staff is making defense the recruiting priority, but of course that won’t help us stop whatever Spurrier has planned for Saturday.

Having said that, the Hogs' defense actually has had a few bright spots this year. We seem to do well against spread teams, having held both Auburn and Florida far below their usual outputs, and the defensive line, led by Malcolm Sheppard, is actually pretty strong. Last time we checked, Arkansas was towards the top of the country in making tackles for a loss...the only problem is that those tackles are often followed by a defensive breakdown that gives up a big play.

As far as a light at the end of the tunnel goes, we'd like to believe that a few more good recruits and a more consistent across-the-board effort from the whole team will solve a lot of the basic woes. But, until that happens we're going to have to rely on Mallett's arm to win games for us.

4. Because you're our Western Division opponent and the series has been back and forth and has had some really great games, a lot of Gamecocks see this series as a budding rivalry of sorts. Where would you put the Gamecocks on your list of SEC rivals?

That's a great question. Rivalries in the SEC are a funny thing - by the time the Hogs and Gamecocks joined the party, most of the other guys had been playing (and hating on) each other for about 100 years. Plus, both of us haven't really beaten the key teams consistently enough since joining to engender too much significant ill-will ... we're more in the "pesky nuisance" category.

So, there are a few teams Razorback fans particularly look forward to playing (and, ideally, beating), but we'm not sure if you could consider those rivalries in the true sense of the word. LSU is definitely one, and Ole Miss is becoming another (for reasons that are probably obvious). As far as South Carolina goes, there's certainly potential there for it to become a solid rivalry - we play every year and both fanbases are sort of looking for that mutual hate we described earlier - but from the Arkansas side we don't think we're quite there yet. We think most Hog fans tend to focus on the Western Division teams first and foremost, but we'd be all for getting something going!

5. Prediction. Who will win and how will it go down?

Well, for starters we should put in a plug for your readers to visit our site tomorrow when we unveil the official prognostication from our staff soothsayer, Rasputin. We lack his predictive powers, but the homers in us have to say Arkansas in a close, probably fairly high-scoring game.

Obviously, both teams really need this one in terms of setting up a strong finish to the season, and we expect it to be pretty intense (or as intense as a game played at the crack of dawn can be). Your offense will probably break off at least a couple of really big plays (it's apparently written into the SEC by-laws that each opponent will have a 70+ yard scoring play against us this year), and your defense (especially Eric Norwood) concerns us, but hopefully a well-rested Michael Smith and a newly healthy Joe Adams will give us the offensive spark needed to put us over the top.

Thanks to Arkansas Expats for participating in this Q & A.

Q&A: Chris Bahn

Arkansas Expats — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:29:05 -0000

If our elaborate system of sundials and water clocks is correct, the Razorbacks have played exactly one-third of their schedule. We marked the occasion in the same way that Hog fans have always celebrated reaching the season's one-third marker: by conducting an e-mail Q&A with Chris Bahn of ArkansasSports360.com.

Read on to get Chris' take on the 2009 season so far. Many thanks to Chris for his time. Give us your thoughts in the comments section.

What's your assessment of the Razorbacks' season: Have the Hogs generally played about like you expected or worse?

Not much has surprised me so far, honestly. This team has an explosive offense and a, uh, less-than-perfect defense. That's right on par with what I think most folks saw coming. I am surprised we haven't seen more run production from Michael Smith and more receptions from D.J. Williams. Ryan Mallett has a lot to do with that because he's doing a nice job of reading defenses and distributing the ball. Arkansas and Texas Tech are the only teams in the country with nine different players to catch touchdown passes. That's wild.

Although there were some signs of life against A&M, the running game has been surprisingly weak this season. Why are the Hogs struggling in this area?

Who could have seen this question coming considering the previous decade when Arkansas was one of the nation's best running teams? It's the offensive line more than anything and guys like guard Mitch Petrus aren't shy about admitting it. Maybe it hurts that Arkansas is scoring so quick.

The Razorbacks have seen seven of 16 scoring plays cover 25 yards or more. Those quick-strike touchdowns aren't helping the offensive line maintain a down-and-dirty approach to blocking. Run blocking is tough work, and not doing it on a consistent basis might be a problem.

Texas A&M is the first time we've seen a true glimpse of what the running game is supposed to be under Bobby Petrino. Arkansas used the backs in the passing game to loosen up the defense, then chipped away with a lot of fresh bodies and eventually wore the Aggies down to the point that they couldn't tackle Ronnie Wingo on his 62-yard touchdown run. Don't get me wrong, Wingo had a lot to do with the run, but he broke a tackle about seven yards in and a fresh defensive player probably stops him.

Last season, there were various reports of players being unhappy with Petrino. What's your assessment of the locker room chemistry and attitude this year?

Bobby Petrino is difficult man to play for and work with. I'm probably not breaking news here. Petrino demands perfection in every detail. That was a shock to the system for a lot of players in his first season.

Now that they've had a year to understand Petrino's way of thinking/working, I think the players who remain are in tune with what is expected. I don't think that makes Petrino any easier to play for, but it's not quite the shock to the system it was a year ago. Because of that, there is less complaining and the chemistry is better. That should help on the field.

It's like any of us who have ever had a change of supervisor in the work place. That's a tough transition to make for everybody involved. It takes time to get to know each other and only in rare cases does it click for everybody right away.

Is the defense capable of significant improvement over the course of this season, or do you think the Hogs' SEC foes will continually ring up big offensive numbers?

Both. ... I like what we've seen from the Razorbacks defense in terms of points allowed the last three weeks. They've gone from 52 to 35 to 19. Arkansas still gave up a ton of yards against Texas A&M, but managed to stiffen in the red zone. Arkansas has done a better job of tackling each week.

Willy Robinson seems to be finding a rotation of players that works well. There's not enough talent on this defense to shut people out, but Arkansas can do better than the 43.5 per game it's giving up to SEC opponents so far.

Before the season, you predicted an 8-4 record. Are you sticking with that? What's your forecast for Saturday's Auburn game?

Now that I know what I know about the Razorbacks and the rest of the Southeastern Conference, eight seems a touch optimistic. This schedule is absolutely brutal. And there are three consecutive top 25 opponents coming up, including two games on the road. Yikes.

That said, Arkansas' record is just what I thought it would be at this point: 2-2. I'm not sure why so many people had their finger on the panic button after the Alabama loss. That's a damn good football team in Tuscaloosa, and Nick Saban is as good as they come at building a program. Georgia is probably better than we all gave them credit for after they lost to open the year at Oklahoma State.

Anyway ... Auburn is better than I thought. I had no idea Gus Malzahn would make the immediate impact he's made on that offense. I'm leaning toward Auburn in this game (as of 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7) because I think its defensive talent is better than the Razorbacks', but I reserve the right to change my mind between now and kickoff on Saturday.

To bone up on the Auburn Tigers, be sure to head over to AS360 to read Chris' "Everything You Need to Know about Auburn."

Southwest Classic Preview

Beergut — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:36:58 -0000

The Aggies will play Arkansas for the first time since 1991 when they meet the Razorbacks on the field Saturday. The Razorbacks left the Southwest Conference for the Southeastern Conference following the 1991 season; the Ags sent them on their way with a 13-3 loss in College Station. In the 18 seasons since then, Arkansas has lost 95 games, making you wonder if they made the right move by leaving for the SEC. The renewal of the rivalry between A&M and Arkansas helps both teams; it gives A&M a marquee non-conference game in the Metroplex, which helps with television exposure and recruiting, and it gives Arkansas a guaranteed game in Texas for the next 10 seasons, which will definitely help their recruiting. A&M might have the bigger advantage here, simply because the location will make it a de facto home game for the Aggies.

Join us after the jump as we take a statistical look at Arkansas so far this season....

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Ryan Mallett	3	83.0	50	96	52.1	877	292.3	9.1	7	1	10	-22	-7.3	-2.2	0	-	-
Tyler Wilson	2	103.0	17	25	68	84.5	169	6.8	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Michael Smith	3	24	163	54.3	6.8	1	5	52	17.3	10.4	0
Broderick Green	3	15	39	13	2.6	1	1	8	2.7	8	0
Ryan Mallett	3	10	-22	-7.3	-2.2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ronnie Wingo, Jr.	3	13	61	20.3	4.7	0	1	8	2.7	8	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Joe Adams	3	13	206	68.7	15.8	2
Greg Childs	3	13	250	83.3	19.2	3
Ben Cleveland	1	1	11	11	11	0
London Crawford	1	2	44	44	22	0
Knile Davis	2	1	-1	-0.5	-1	0
Reggie Fish	1	1	9	9	9	0
Broderick Green	3	1	8	2.7	8	0
Cobi Hamilton	3	6	68	22.7	11.3	1
Van Stumon	1	1	2	2	2	1
D.J. Williams	2	4	46	23	11.5	0
Ronnie Wingo, Jr.	3	1	8	2.7	8	0
Jarius Wright	3	11	261	87	23.7	1

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts

Obviously, Ryan Mallett is the leader of this offense. As QB, he makes the Razorback spread attack go. Mallett has been able to spread the ball around to 12 different receivers so far this season, but his main targets seem to be Greg Childs, Joe Adams, and Jarius Wright. Mallett has been solid and sometimes spectacular this season; he had 408 yds through the air on 21-39 passing for 5 TDs against Georgia. Granted, Georgia has the second-worst pass defense and second-worst defense overall in the SEC, but that is still a solid performance, regardless of who you play. Part of that poor defensive showing for Georgia is because of Ryan Mallett. If Mallett has a weakness, it is that he is fairly immobile in the pocket. He was sacked twice against Georgia and three times against Alabama; getting pressure on Mallett and forcing him to hurry his throws will be imperative for the Aggie defense. Alabama was able to hurry him 8 times besides those 3 sacks, and that is something we want to duplicate.

The Razorback running game is headlined by Michael Smith, a stud picked by many as All-SEC in the preseason. Smith had over 1000 yds rushng last season, despite missing two games, and has produced this season when given the ball, as shown by his 6.8 yards per carry average. Unfortunately for Smith, Arkansas has been playing from behind in games against Georgia and Alabama, which has caused them to run the ball less. As a team, Arkansas only averages 94.7 yds per game rushing, which ranks them dead last in the SEC. Arkansas is also dead last in scoring defense (32.3 ppg) and total defense (386.7 ypg), but we'll get to that later. Next to Mallett going crazy, Smith is my biggest concern going into this game. If we don't contain him and stop the running game early, it can be a long night in Arlington for our defense.

Defensively, Arkansas is led by Matt Harris, a redshirt freshman free safety from Richardson Pearce HS. Harris has 19 total tackles on the season, which ties him with senior LB Wendel Davis, who is from Sweeny, TX. I've always said you know you are in trouble when your defensive leader in tackles is a safety, which is partially the case here, but Davis is a stellar LB, with 2.5 tackles for loss, a pass broken up, and 1 fumble recovery so far this season. The Hogs defensive line is led by DE Adrian Davis, a senior from Rosenberg, TX (you starting to understand why Arkansas wants a game in Texas for recruiting?), who has 16 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 fumble recovery so far on the season. Arkansas' pass defense is the weakness of their team; they are currently last in the SEC, giving up an average of 263 yds per game, and have already given up 8 TDs through the air. Being able to protect Jerrod Johnson from their pass rush so he can exploit their porous pass defense will be one of the bigger offensive keys to the game for A&M. Arkansas' run defense isn't great, but it isn't horrible, giving up an average of 3.3 yards per carry, and 123.7 yds per game. They have given up 4 rushing touchdowns on the year, though. Given that Arkansas' spread offense is going to force opponents to want to run the ball more to keep the ball out of Ryan Mallett's hands, this isn't a bad performance by their defense. If we can get 150 or more yards rushing on Arkansas to balance out our passing attack, we'll be in a good position to win the game.

Overall, I think Arkansas is a solid to decent team which is still figuring things out in coach Bobby Petrino's second season. Like us, Arkansas is still learning to win games after a losing season last year. Arkansas has a significant advantage over us in that they have played two conference games, so their team has been through the fire. Coming into this game after two straight losses, Arkansas will be a hungry and desperate team, and will play with a lot of intensity. Matching that intensity and breaking their will, so we destroy any hope they ever have for victory, will be the key to us winning the game on Saturday.

Week Four Preview: #3 Alabama vs Arkansas Overview

outsidethesidelines — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:00:33 -0000

More photos » by April L. Brown - AP

Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett is the best pure passer Alabama has faced this season.

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The 49-14 thumping that Alabama put on Arkansas last year in Fayetteville was easily the most lopsided game this series has seen in a decade. Last year's game, however, was also an anomaly as this series generally sees close, hard-fought contests, and none should expect another crimson landslide for a second year in a row.

There are two majors reasons for that: One, Arkansas looks to be a much better team this year than they were a year ago, and two, last year's game was much closer than the scoreboard indicated. Lopsided score notwithstanding, last year's game was actually played pretty evenly by the two teams, and the massive disparity on the scoreboard resulted from four major players all going Alabama's way. Those four plays were Glen Coffee's long touchdown run, Casey Dick's two interceptions (while driving) that were returned for touchdowns, and Terrence Cody's goal line stand to end the first half, and all of them directly resulted in Alabama touchdowns. Don't expect all of the big plays to go the Tide's way this year, and thus a much closer game this time around.

Let's take a closer look at the match-ups.

Alabama Offense v. Arkansas Defense

On the surface, this seems like a lopsided match-up in the Tide's favor. The Alabama offense has been surprisingly effective to date -- 500+ yards of total offense in each of the first three games, and 127 total points -- and Greg McElroy has exceeded all reasonable expectations. The offensive line was a major question mark coming into the season, and while penalties have hurt them somewhat, they've still generally gotten the job done. Even with Julio Jones not even playing in more than half of the offensive snaps to date, nothing has really been able to slow down the Tide's offense. On the other hand, Arkansas' defense has been nothing short of abysmal to date. It was a very bad unit a year ago, and unfortunately for the Hog faithful it's one that has shown little or no improvement since.

So is it just a given that the Alabama offense is going to rack up points left and right against Arkansas? Perhaps, but let's not be so fast.

An objective look at Arkansas' defense yields a group that is very light on elite top-end talent and quality depth throughout the roster, but even so this unit may not be as hapless as many would make it seem. Clearly the Hogs had a disastrous performance last week against Georgia, but it is worth noting that performance came almost entirely without the presence of two of Arkansas' best defenders: middle linebacker Jerry Franklin and cornerback Rudell Crim. Franklin is the leader of the linebacker corps and he was ejected in the second quarter, and Crim is the team's best cornerback, but he went out with leg cramps early. And as if missing two of their best players wasn't a big enough issue in its own right, their replacements -- Terrell Williams and Greg Gatson -- were effectively outright disasters. Franklin will be back this week, however, and you can rest assured that the Arkansas medical staff will have Crim properly hydrated this time around, so their returns alone will go a long way towards improving this Arkansas defense.

The big concern for Alabama, most likely, comes in the running game. The offensive line is still a bit of an unknown commodity, and for all of the criticisms of the Arkansas defense, we really haven't been challenged in the way that this Hog front seven will challenge us. Given our proclivity towards using two-tight end sets, we practically lost five starters at the point of attack from a year ago (Andre Smith, Antoine Caldwell, Marlon Davis, Travis McCall, and Nick Walker), and the replacements for those five starters simply don't have the size that their predecessors did. Combined we are about 100 pounds lighter at the point of attack than we were last year -- which is to say nothing of the fact that the combination of Preston Dial and Brad Smelley isn't near the blocker that Travis McCall was, size differential notwithstanding -- and that alone probably means that we cannot dominate teams in the trenches like we did a year ago.

And that is where Arkansas really challenges us. For all of the criticisms of their defense, this is a big, strong unit in the front seven, and that is something we really haven't seen this year. Virginia Tech openly traded size for speed, and both Florida International and North Texas were clearly outmatched physically. Arkansas, however, is a very different animal altogether. They average nearly 280 pounds in the front four, the linebacker corps averages around 235 pounds, and with Malcom Sheppard manning the defensive tackle position, they will be able to match our physical style of play. In all likelihood, if the Arkansas defense is to slow down the Alabama offense, this is likely how they will have to do it.

Unfortunately, however, the rest of the match-ups for the Hogs simply do not look good.

Looking at the rest of the defensive backfield, even with a healthy Rudell Crim, the secondary is still one of the worst in the conference. Starting opposite Crim is Ramon Broadway, but Broadway has made news for three things this year, none of which are good for the Hogs: Getting arrested for not showing up to traffic court, running his mouth before the Georgia game, and ultimately getting lit up by A.J. Green. He's a below average corner in coverage, and the same thing goes for the rest of the rotation at cornerback. Highly-touted true freshman Darius Winston -- a consensus five-star prospect -- has not been able to make any impact whatsoever. Likewise, the safety play from Tramain Thomas and Matt Harris has impressed no one to date.

Largely the same thing goes for the linebacker corps as well. Jerry Franklin is a fine player at middle linebacker, but while the starters surrounding him, Wendel Davis and Freddy Burton, have a good bit of size, neither of the two look to be particularly good players right now. The aforementioned Terrell Williams struggled greatly last weekend trying to fill in for Franklin, and while Jerico Nelson is a good player against the pass, at barely 200 pounds he struggles to get on the field on running downs, thus limiting his effectiveness.

The best match-up of all may very well come against the Arkansas defensive line in the passing game, which has struggled to rush the passer. Jake Bequette and Adrian Davis start at defensive end, but neither are particularly adept pass rushers, and while Sheppard is more active than your typical interior player, there's only so much you can legitimately expect when you need your interior defensive linemen to generate the bulk of your pass rush. Despite Georgia being without its starting left tackle last week, Arkansas still couldn't muster any pressure whatsoever on Joe Cox, ultimately racking up only one sack and one hurry on approximately 30 passing attempts. Alabama may still have some issues protecting off the edge, but Greg McElroy ought to find himself with plenty of time to throw the football.

All in all, the Arkansas defense may be a bit better than it has been given credit for, and at any rate Alabama is still going to have to come out and execute successfully over the course of 60-70 plays to get the job done. Nevertheless, you still have to think that the Tide will put up more than their fair share of points this weekend. Arkansas may make running the football tough, but Arkansas' porous defensive backfield mixed with a lack of a consistent pass rush is likely a lethal combination in and of itself if Greg McElroy continues to play like he has so far this year.

Alabama Defense v. Arkansas Offense

While most expect the Alabama offense to have a big day against the struggling Arkansas defense, it's clear to everyone that it will be strength on strength when the Arkansas offense comes on the field. Both the Alabama defense and the Arkansas offense have the ability to be among the nationally elite with regard to their respective units, and making matters even more intriguing both units are led by two of the most advanced football minds in all of college football.

The Arkansas offense is a scary group, no two ways about it. Ryan Mallett has the arm strength of JaMarcus Russell, and he is easily the best pure pocket passer that Alabama has faced in years. The backfield is loaded with talented tailbacks that bring experience along with their unique mixes and matches of different physical builds. Tight end D.J. Williams is clearly the best in the conference, and back-up Ben Cleveland is a very valuable threat as a possession receiver. The wide receiver corps, too, is a good one from top to bottom. They don't have a true superstar ala Julio Jones, but they do have five or six high quality wide receivers who have good athleticism and who run good routes -- Greg Childs, Jarius Wright, and Joe Adams are good enough to begin with, and Lucas Miller is returning this week from injury. That alone makes the Hogs very difficult to defend on the perimeter, even without saying anything with regard to Mallett. Bottom line, at the very least, this is the third-best offense in the conference, and it could easily be the best.

The only real weakness of the Arkansas offense comes up front at the point of attack, where the Hogs offensive line is seemingly still a relic of the Houston Nutt era. All five starters committed to Nutt, and not surprisingly they are generally the big, physical mashers that Nutt loved so much in his run-heavy offense. The "smallest" player on the line comes in at around 6'5 and 305 pounds, and truthfully that fact is probably doing the Hogs few favors. This line is, on the whole, a fish out of water. They are more physically built to pave the way for a run-heavy offense, but with the coaching turnover they are now being asked to pass protect against highly athletic pass rushers in a pass-happy offense. On a fundamental level it's effectively a recipe for disaster, and not surprisingly it's a team that has struggled to a degree to protect the passer. Starting right tackle DeMarcus Love probably needs to be playing inside at guard, and starting left tackle Ray Dominguez was absolutely atrocious against Georgia with four penalties and one sack allowed. The left tackle of the future is Anthony Oden, the younger brother of basketball star Greg Oden. He'll be a star one day, and the Arkansas coaches have indicated he may play some this week against Alabama, but he's a true freshman and given Nick Saban's love for giving multiple fronts that confuse offensive linemen, I'm not sure exactly how eager the Arkansas coaching staff is to put him in front of 93,000 fans. Nevertheless, if Dominguez' struggles continue, the Hogs' hand may be forced.

And this is the weakness that the Alabama defense must successfully attack to limit the Arkansas offense. The performance of our defensive backfield has been solid but not spectacular to date -- the overall statistics look good, but safety play has been shaky and highly inconsistent, Kareem Jackson has been hit or miss, and Marquis Johnson had a key penalty against Virginia Tech -- but the simple truth of the matter is that if Ryan Mallett consistently has the time to throw, it's going to be a very long day for the Tide. The Arkansas wide receiver corps is too good and Ryan Mallett has too much arm strength and accuracy to expect to be able to consistently stop the Arkanas offense if we cannot get pressure on Mallett.

Fortunately for the Tide, however, you have to like how we match against the Arkansas offensive line. Marcel Dareus is having a breakout year, Lorenzo Washington is playing better than ever, and we've gotten great pressure from the linebacker corps with Rolando McClain, Dont'a Hightower, and Eryk Anders. Moreover, on obvious passing downs, we have been moving the defensive ends inside in a four man front, and then putting Hightower and Anders at end. The results have been very good, to put it mildly, and we have consistently harassed passers all year long. Given the struggles Arkansas has had at the tackle positions, all signs point towards the Tide having some success getting to Mallett.

Even with that said, though, expect the Arkansas offense to have a reasonable amount of success against the Tide regardless. The running game has the potential to be a very good one -- you mix a bunch of big, strong offensive linemen with a group of highly talented tailbacks, and that is usually what you get -- and unless the Arkansas coaching staff is blowing smoke, they plan to use the rushing attack more prominently this weekend. It could have some success, and realistically no matter how well you can pressure Mallett, all of the outstanding components of the Arkansas passing game will guarantee that the Hogs hit more than a few plays in the passing game. These guys are going to score points, period.

Putting It All Together

All in all, I don't think there is much questioning the notion that Alabama is the better team here. We have more top-end talent, more quality depth, and probably a tad bit more experience as well. As long as Greg McElroy continues to play like he has to date, you have to imagine that Alabama will score more than their fair share of points tomorrow, and we should come away with the victory. Nevertheless, this game is far from a given, and it is likely to be a closely fought contest that goes into the fourth quarter. Arkansas is at worst a solid SEC team, and the difference between the two teams is far from gaping.

While it seems like we should be able to take full advantage of the Arkansas defense, truth be told we are probably going to have to do just that in order to win this game. Bamagrad has talked about these spread passing teams before, and I think he makes a good point: You can have a good defense and play well, but at the end of the day they are still good enough offensively to put up 24-28 points on the board. That could very well happen to us on Saturday, and if our special teams breakdowns continue, we could very easily be needing to score 31-35+ points in order to be able to get the victory. Arkansas is an improved team over last year, and they pulled off some pretty big upsets even then -- another victory over LSU, and came within a hair of knocking off Ole Miss as well. Rest assured, the Hogs will collect some more scalps this year, and it won't be a shock if they head back to Fayetteville with a crimson scalp in their possession.

Hope for the best.

Dawg Sports Interviews Razorbacks Blogger Arkansas Expats

T Kyle King — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:15:09 -0000

Last week, I traded interview questions with South Carolina weblogger Gamecock Man. This week, SB Nation’s resident Razorback writer, the eponymous author of Arkansas Expats, contacted me about a similar swap. Earlier this evening, he posted my answers to his questions, so now it is time for me to return the favor. Here is our exchange:

Dawg Sports: South Carolina's Stephen Garcia just had a career day against the Georgia D by extending plays with his running ability and completing short passes over the middle. Ryan Mallett, while undeniably talented, brings a different sort of ability to the table. What in Mallett's skill set will be most helpful and most worrisome for the home team when Arkansas crosses paths with the Bulldogs?

Arkansas Expats: This is going to sound impossibly general, but the most helpful thing about Mallett's skill set is that he's an all-around legit QB. You have to go way back into Razorback history to fully appreciate this, but Hog fans have been dying for an actual passing game (and blaming the coach for the lack of one) since roughly about five minutes after the forward pass was invented. So, to have a guy under center who appears to have all the physical and mental tools to lead a successful passing attack is incredibly exciting.

Slightly more specifically, Mallett seems well-equipped to run Bobby Petrino's offense. It's really the offensive strategy as a whole, rather than any particular player, that's the most exciting.

As far as the most worrisome aspect goes, it's definitely his lack of mobility. No one is going to mistake Mallett for Vince Young any time soon, and when you combine that with the fact that the offensive line was one of our weakest units last year (the Hogs ranked near the bottom of the nation in sacks allowed) it's a recipe for trouble. In the nightmare scenario, the line breaks down against a legit SEC pass rush and Mallett spends the whole evening either on his back or lumbering around throwing bad passes on the run.

The interesting thing is that, for all the talk about Mallett nobody really knows how he'll do. This is his first SEC game, so a lot of the questions will be answered on Saturday night.

DS: Mark Richt is 30-5 all time in opponents' home stadiums. Georgia's most recent road loss was in Stillwater to start the 2009 season and Coach Richt's teams have never lost consecutive away games. The Bulldogs are 3-0 against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville. What sort of home field advantage, if any, will the Hogs have against the Red and Black this Saturday?

AE: The Arkansas home field situation is a little, well, unconventional. The school is in Fayetteville, of course, and Razorback Stadium there is the official home field. But, the Hogs also play a couple of games a year in Little Rock. It'd be sort of like if Georgia sometimes played their home games in Atlanta, only if Atlanta were further away from Athens and didn't have Georgia Tech already there.

Anyway, the scouting report on these two types of home games is that even though the Little Rock stadium is decidedly smaller and crappier, it typically has a more raucous atmosphere and thus a bigger home field advantage. So, in terms of walking into a crazily intense environment, it's not like the Bulldogs will be going to Neyland Stadium or the Swamp this weekend.

Having said that, though, the Hogs will have a home field advantage, no doubt about it. For one thing, Fayetteville and Athens are pretty far apart so there's a travel factor (especially for a Georgia team that's already played a couple of tough games). And, it is the SEC...Razorback fans will make the game crazy and loud just like anywhere else in the conference. Plus, my guess is that they'll be especially geeked up for this one...it's our first big game of the year, it's on ESPN and people are generally really excited about it. Expect a lot of Hog calls.

DS: Georgia has played two tough opponents to open the autumn. Arkansas tuned up against a Division I-AA team and had a bye week. To paraphrase Alex Abrams of The Morning News, is it better to be battle-tested or well-rested?

AE: In this particular case, I'm going to go with well-rested. The Hogs' early bye followed by 11 straight consecutive game weeks is generally a pretty sucky thing, but in this case it's allowed them to focus pretty squarely on Georgia. Our week 1 cupcake (Missouri State) didn't require a lot of intense preparation, so essentially the Hogs have been preparing for this one for a few weeks now. Petrino and the players have all been pretty up front about that.

Playing a quality team will certainly be a bit of a jolt after the long offseason and then the noncompetitive game followed by a bye week, but we've certainly had ample time to get ready for it. All in all, I'd take that over coming into this game battle-tested but a little worn out. Of course, this question will be answered much more definitively on Saturday.

DS: Georgia and Arkansas have squared off only eleven times, with four of those showdowns coming in bowl games while the Razorbacks played in the Southwest Conference. Because the two teams meet so infrequently, we don't know as much about one another as we should. Name two Arkansas players---one on offense and one on defense---whose names most Bulldog fans don't know now but will know after Saturday night.

AE: I know exactly what you mean - it's kind of funny how mysterious the Bulldogs are to me considering we play in the same conference and everything. It's sort of like having that one co-worker or neighbor who you see walk by occasionally but know practically nothing about.

As for offensive players, you already know Ryan Mallett and I'm guessing you may also have heard of RB Michael Smith and TE D.J. Williams (in case not, those guys are really good). But, you may not know about Jarius Wright and Joe Adams...a couple of sophomore WRs who are starting to thrive in the Petrino offense. They both came on strong at the end of last season and have started well this year: Wright had 139 receiving yards last week, and Adams had a nifty 40-yard TD catch and run. I'd look for those guys to make a big play or two this weekend.

The Hogs have tons of potential playmakers on offense, but are definitely shakier on defense. However, one guy to watch out for is senior DT Malcolm Sheppard. He's big and fast, and was a bright spot on a pretty weak unit last year. Plus, he's from Bainbridge, GA so maybe he has a little extra incentive going against his home state's team.

Once again, my thanks go out to Arkansas Expats for inviting me to take part in this exchange. Be sure to check out our SB Nation sister site for all the Razorback-related news.

Go ‘Dawgs!

2009 SEC West Preview & Predictions

outsidethesidelines — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:00:11 -0000

In attempting to predict the SEC last year, I simply went through each member school's schedule and made definitive picks, game-by-game, and then compiled everything at the end to determine the overall standings and the division champions. For the 2009 season, however, I decided to scrap that format. As appealing as picking individual games can be simply because of its definitive nature, in many ways it is just a waste of time because there is just entirely too much random chance involved in each particular game, and on the whole it's far better to simply view the season in its entirety instead of trying to dissect its individual components from the outset.

To that end, this year I'm going to focus more on teams as a whole and make final predictions from there, thus omitting the individual game predictions. Moreover, unlike last year where I predicted the entire SEC, this year I'm going to focus only on the SEC West. My thought is that unless the terrorists successfully carry out jihad against Gainesville, the Gators are going to win the East by a mile, and frankly if you aren't a fan of one of the other five SEC Eastern Division members, who really cares what order they go in two through six? Thus, here goes my SEC West preview and predictions for 2009:

Alabama Crimson Tide

Coming into the season as the prohibitive favorites for the first time in ages, a quick look reveals why the prognosticators have been so high on the Tide. This is the most talented team we've seen in Tuscaloosa in ages, and the defensive side of the ball should probably be stronger than any defense the Tide has fielded since 1992. With the strength of the front seven -- a front seven that could legitimately feature three All-American candidates -- 'Bama should once again field an elite run defense. The loss of Rashad Johnson won't help things, but 'Bama led the SEC in conference play last year in pass efficiency defense, and by returning every other member of the two-deep rotation in the defensive backfield -- not to mention additions from Dre Kirkpatrick and Burton Scott -- a drop-off in performance is unlikely. Furthermore, things could even better, because for the first team since 2002, Alabama looks to have the pieces in place to at least be a solid pass rushing team, and even a solid, consistent pass rush would work wonders for the overall pass defense given the quality of defensive backs the Tide has.

The offense, too, has more than its fair share of strengths. Mike Johnson is one of the best guards in the country, and Colin Peek will be one of the conference's upper echelon tight ends if he can stay relatively healthy. Of course there is Julio Jones, already probably the greatest pure wide receiver in the history of Alabama football, but aside from him the rest of the receiving corps is deep with many talented playmakers in the fold. Likewise, the backfield is loaded with elite talent including the likes of Mark Ingram, Roy Upchurch, Trent Richardson, and others. And as an additional matter, quality depth on both sides of the ball is better than we have in years in Tuscaloosa.

With that glowing overview in mind, however, this is far from a flawless team. Greg McElroy has made tremendous amounts of progress in the past 18 months, and he has done effectively all that the coaching staff has asked him to do until this point. I think 'Bama fans can be as confident as can reasonably be expected with him under center, but until you step under center against a hostile defense in a real, live situation, frankly you can never really know what to expect. I think it's fair to say that the reasonable expectation for McElroy right now is that he will provide solid play at the quarterback position, but that is not to say anyone should be overly shocked if he suddenly turned into a liability.

The real concern, though, is the offensive line. The ideal situation for the Tide, of course, is to have the line mow over opponents like last year, dominating the game and turning McElroy into a game manager. Unfortunately, there's no such guarantee of that. The official depth chart will not be released until next week, but that notwithstanding, the starting five is this, going left to right: James Carpenter, Mike Johnson, William Vlachos, Barrett Jones, and Drew Davis. And I'll be frank, though quality depth is much improved, I think we should be a bit concerned with this group. Barrett Jones may play well at right guard (and I figure he is at least decent), but his presence is a major surprise, and we won't be able to give Drew Davis near the help from backs and tight ends that we did a year ago without having Andre Smith locking down the other side. Mike Johnson should do well again, but while James Carpenter and William Vlachos look to be solid players, a step down in performance from what we had a year ago at those positions is probably to be expected. As a whole, I don't think you have to worry about the line being bad -- far from it, I think the line should be pretty good -- but by the same token, I think we'll struggle somewhat in pass protection this year (as we did last year), and in the running game this line probably won't be able to consistently annihilate opponent's at the point of attack like it's predecessor did a year ago. That translates into putting more pressure on McElroy and forcing him to make more plays in the passing game, all of which could turn relatively easy wins into close games, and close wins into close losses.

Finally, special teams remains a legitimate concern for the Tide. Our coverage units should do really well simply because the great athletes we will be able to put on special teams, but the rest remains a concern. There is no doubting that Javier Arenas is an elite returner who will generate his fair share of big plays, but his decision making ability on punt returns is highly questionable at best, and many times last year he gave the opposition points on turnovers as a result of his poor decision making. Moreover, Leigh Tiffin will probably remain highly inconsistent at best (even when he is healthy), and frankly we do not want to see him trotting on the field with the game on the line. Likewise, he doesn't routinely get great distance and / or hang time on his kick-offs, another concern. Along those same lines, P.J. Fitzgerald at punter is a concern as well. He has slowly progressed and improved in his time at Alabama, but he's a small kid with an average-at-best leg, so he has most likely reached his peak. The smart money is clearly on yet another year in which Fitzgerald cannot produce great distance or hang time on his punts. As a result, despite some likely good coverage units and big plays from Javier Arenas, special teams isn't likely to be a strength for the Tide in 2009, and may in fact even be a liability.

Fortunately for Alabama the schedule does set up nicely. The opener against Virginia Tech will be a tough one -- and a loss there, at the very least, likely eliminates the Tide from BCS bowl contention (unless they can run the table from there) -- but a win there and it's relatively easily sledding until the road trip to Oxford the second week of October. Likewise, even after the Rebels, Auburn, Tennessee, South Carolina, and UT-Chattanooga remain on the schedule, all four of which should be wins. An upset loss here and there wouldn't be a shock, but the defense and the coaching is good enough to guarantee at least nine wins barring either a complete meltdown by either McElroy, or a terrible run of injury luck.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Bobby Petrino's debut campaign in Fayetteville has about as many obstacles as expected, but things seemingly look much better for year two. It's clear that Petrino and company are still rebuilding the Razorbacks, but this is a much better squad than what we faced last year in Fayetteville, and all of those teams that got an easy win over the Hogs last year won't be so lucky in 2009.

The biggest single addition for Arkansas comes at the quarterback position. The Hogs spent most of last year with Casey and Nathan Dick at quarterback, and suffered the consquences thereof. Neither of the two were legitimate SEC caliber players, but all of that changes this year with the arrival of the gargantuan Ryan Mallett. A former five-star recruit from Texarkana, Mallett played as a freshman for Michigan before transferring to Fayetteville after the arrival of Rich Rodriguez. Mallett will start in 2009 for the Hogs, and in doing so he will not only be a major upgrade over both of the Dick sisters, but he'll have the strongest arm of any SEC quarterback. The reasonable expectation at this point is that Mallett will be one of the conference's top quarterbacks.

And, even aside from Mallett, there are a lot of other promising players at the skill positions for the Hogs. Tight end D.J. Williams is probably the best that the conference has to offer, and scatback Michael Smith -- who led the SEC in all purpose yardage last year -- is probably the best back you've never heard of. He's small, but he has great speed and agility, he's surprisingly effective as an inside returner, and he's much more durable than you would expect given his small frame. Likewise, with Dennis Johnson, De'Anthony Curtis, Broderick Green, and Ronnie Wingo rounding out the rest of the backfield, it's a highly talented group. Moreover, while the wide receiver corps doesn't really feature any truly great playmaker, it's a deep, solid group of guys who have shown that they can get the job done.

The real concern on the offensive side of the ball is the line. Three starters return from a year ago, and a fourth starter (Mitch Petrus) is actually a player who started in 2007. Unfortunately for the Hogs, though, All-American center Jonathon Luigs is gone, and in general the returning starters are the ones who were weak links a year ago. The tackles, in particular, Ray Dominguez and DeMarcus Love, have struggled with edge rushers, and if anything both of those guys probably should be playing inside at guard. All in all, it's just a bit of a concern for the Hogs. If these guys can consistently keep Mallett upright, the Hogs look to have a very potent offense, and one that could give even the best defenses legitimate trouble. On the other hand, a struggling offensive line will almost certainly slow what must be the unit that carries the Hogs to victory in 2009.

The defense, too, remains a major concern. The Hogs struggled defensively in 2007, and were even worse last year. In 2008 they were dead last in the conference in run defense, and the pass defense wasn't much better. Some steps may be made in the right direction in 2009 -- a couple of JUCO transfers in the defensive backfield should help, plus most of the defensive line returns -- but they still have a lot of issues, and it's unlikely that the Hogs will be able to move out of the cellar in most defensive categories in 2009.

All in all, the Hogs are a team that is clearly moving in the right direction, and they will be a dangerous team in 2009. Last year they knocked off LSU, Auburn, and almost beat Ole Miss. Rest assured they will get a couple of big-name upsets this year as well. Though sheer strength of schedule will dictate a few more roadblocks for the Hogs in 2009 -- five teams on their schedule are currently ranked in the AP top 15 -- this is a dangerous team, and one that could really surprise a lot of people if the defense can show some signs of life.

Auburn Tigers

Following their worst season in a decade, Auburn made a different kind of splash hire by bringing in former defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. Though near suicidal upon first hearing the news, most Auburn fans are now predictably bathing in the Kool-Aid, but looking at the Tigers in an objective light reveals that their fan base probably had it right to start with. On the whole, it's nearly impossible to believe their fall from grace in recent years. After going a combined 34-5 from 2004-2006, Auburn now finds itself with scholarship levels reminiscent of a program undergoing major NCAA sanctions, and possessing a depth chart paper thin in terms of both elite talent and quality depth. Things are so bad that almost any true freshman -- though they came from a highly unimpressive recruiting class -- healthy enough to play will be required do so in 2009, and a few walk-ons will be expected to contribute as well. From the outset, the mere fact that the athletic director is publicly trying to cool expectations for the program for the next couple of years ought to tell you all you need to know about their future prospects.

Chris Todd surprised many when he won the starting quarterback job all of a week into Fall camp, but despite a surgically repaired throwing shoulder, Todd's starting job probably has more to do with the shortcomings of the other candidates than it does his own skills. Neil Caudle is a bust now, as is Kodi Burns, and they are going to try to run some Wildcat-type stuff with Burns at the helm. But, of course, no one really knows what to expect of the newfangled Auburn offense. It's going to be a spread offense, but apparently one that is run-heavy, and it's also going to be a hurry-up offense to boot. And yes that's a major break from offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's track record, and yes they are going to run some Wildcat as well. So, no, I don't have any clue as to what they are going to do, and frankly I doubt anyone else does either.

And, truth be told, it probably doesn't matter one way or the other regardless of what they do. Todd is likely to be a below average quarterback, and the offensive line looks to struggle. Lee Ziemba and Ryan Pugh look good (when healthy), but the rest of the line looks to be in major trouble. Byron Isom, Mike Berry, and Andrew McCain are nothing special, and the depth on this unit is ridiculously thin. A kid like Chris Capps would easily see playing time with this group. And making matters worse, there is zero proven depth at wide receiver. About the only good thing you can say about this offense is that the tailbacks look to be a solid group. On the whole, though, given the overall lack of depth, good quarterback play, and game-changers at the skill positions, this offense looks to struggle regardless of what type of offensive system they implement, which is exactly the reason I'm not going to waste any time here trying to predict exactly what they are going to do offensively. Again, wishbone, run and shoot, whatever, the end result is almost certainly the same.

On defense, too, Auburn has a lot of problems. Last year's group was strong one hindered only by an incompetent defense, but a lot has changed since then. Guys like Trey Blackmon and Jerraud Powers left early, and what is left is largely a shell of what once was. The entire group is thin as a whole, and outside of Josh Bynes and Antonio Coleman, it's hard to identify many defenders who are clearly above average at this point. Mike McNeil is a fine player at safety, but he broke a leg in Spring practice, and at this point it looks like he is going to miss a few weeks of the season at least. Eltoro Freeman is a JUCO transfer who could really help out and be an impact player, but he has missed time this Fall with both an arm injury and a leg injury. All in all, much like the offense, the defense features very few top-end players, and almost no quality depth whatsoever.

On the whole, Auburn has a fairly decent starting 22, but considering modern day college football is a game that needs 50-55 good, solid contributors in order to play at a high level, that doesn't do them much good. Again, quality depth is the name of the game in football, and Auburn possesses almost none of that precious commodity. The schedule isn't easy in 2009, either, and frankly only Furman and Ball State are guaranteed wins. Of course Auburn will get more wins than that, I'm sure, but the point remains that wins likely won't come frequently for the '09 Tigers, and the few that do will likely be the result of some very close, hard fought contests. Much like last year, Auburn expects to be fighting tooth and nail with Mississippi State for last place in the SEC West.

LSU Tigers

After a disappointing 2008 campaign, the Bayou Bengal faithful hopes for improvement in 2009, and in all fairness they probably should get it. Jordan Jefferson, at the least, shouldn't be quite as disastrous as Jarrett Lee was a year ago, and while John Chavis is not a spectacular hire at defensive coordinator -- and in fact one I don't like in the long run -- he's an upgrade over what they had a year ago. As a result,

At quarterback the job belongs all to Jordan Jefferson now, and we'll have to see what he has made of. The LSU Hype Machine naturally has him as a superstar in the works, but a more objective view reveals more question marks and uncertainty. He played decent football last year -- relative to what Jarrett Lee did anyway -- but nevertheless he struggled to complete passes, and he took a ton of sacks thanks to his poor decision-making abilities. Based on what Jefferson has shown us, he looks to be a solid player eventually, but he still has a lot to prove, and all of these purple and gold notions just assuming that it's only a matter of time before he becomes a star quarterback are really just wishful thinking more than anything else. For now, what we can reasonably say about Jefferson is that he has a nice physical skill set with good long-term upside, and that if the LSU coaching staff uses him wisely, he might not be a top-end player this year but he will at least provide solid play and not turn the LSU offense into a trainwreck like Jarrett Lee did a year ago.

The rest of the skill positions are generally in good shape in Baton Rouge. Brandon LaFell will be one of the conference's top receivers, and likewise Richard Dickson will be one of the conference's top tight ends. Charles Scott is one of the conference's better tailbacks, and there is a lot of depth in the backfield with Keiland Williams, Richard Murphy, and incoming freshman Mike Ford. Likewise, while I don't think Russell Shephard will ever be an above average quarterback in this league, he's clearly an elite athlete, and I'm sure the LSU coaching staff will find some ways to take advantage of that this year. The only real concern at the skill positions is a lack of experienced depth, but the Tigers have recruited extremely well, and tremendous amounts of raw talent and athleticism are everywhere, so they should likely be fine even though they are not particularly experienced. Besides, experience at the skill positions tends to be a bit overrated, and in any event the Tigers aren't likely to face a legitimate test until the fifth week of the season when they go on the road to face Georgia, so again lack of experience shouldn't be a major concern.

The real concern with LSU's offense in many ways, much like Alabama, is with the offensive line. Jefferson is still green and ideally the coaching staff would be able to use a highly successful running game to take pressure off of him, but again there is no guarantee that will happen. Ciron Black is clearly the best tackle in the conference now, and Joseph Barksdale is more than adequate at right tackle. However, the interior linemen aren't necessariliy strengths. Gone are left guard Herman Johnson and center Brett Helms -- both punishing blockers in the running game -- and while Lyle Hitt returns at right guard, I've always considered him to be the weak link of the line. Making matters worse, T-Bob Hebert was expected to start at center after the departure of Helms, but he has been banged up in Fall camp, and that too is in question now. Moreover, this is a young line that probably doesn't have as much depth as you would at first imagine. The bottom line is that center / guard play of the interior linemen is exponentially important to the success of the running game, and if LSU has trouble here -- regardless of their strengths at the tackle position -- the running game will suffer, and more pressure will be put on Jefferson to make plays on his own. Again, as was the case with Alabama and Greg McElroy, that could very well result in more mistakes from the quarterback position, which can easily turn relatively easy wins into nailbiters, and close wins into close losses.

Defensively, the Bayou Bengals look to rebound from its worst showing in years in 2008. Truth be told, though, the LSU defense a year ago was a tale of two stories... a really good run defense, mixed with a really bad pass defense. And the bad news for the Tigers is that the cornerstones of the run defense -- the defensive line and linebacker Derry Beckwith -- have all moved on to the next level, so there are legitimate question marks there. Most of the defensive backfield returns, but again it is returning a unit that couldn't stop the pass, despite the fact that they were constantly helped by a good pass rush. Nevertheless, LSU has boatloads of talent all over the defense, and the real question is just whether or not they can take full advantage of it. They couldn't do that a year ago and struggled, but it will take an equally bad showing by both coaches and players to get a repeat performance of that poor effort in 2009.

All in all, LSU is a difficult projection, easily the most difficult of the entire SEC, and perhaps even the country. You still have questions at quarterback, and the running game may not go as smoothly as many assume. Furthermore, while the talent is there on the defensive side of the ball, and while John Chavis is an upgrade over Peveto and Mallory, he himself on occasion did field some bad defenses in Knoxville despite having loads of elite talent up on ol' Rocky Top. Plus, each and every year since arriving in Baton Rouge, Les Miles and company have lost games to some not so impressive teams that they should have easily won, and that will likely continue in 2009. On the other hand, LSU is easily still one of the nationally elite programs in terms of raw talent and athleticism, and the schedule once again is doing them a huge favor. Their athletic department continued a commitment to cupcakes approach to non-conference scheduling in 2009 -- getting 0-12 Washington, mixed in with Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Tulane -- and that combined with the luck of drawing the likely three worst SEC teams (Auburn, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt) means that they could play very poorly and still easily sleepwalk to seven wins. As I said two weeks ago, if I had to give all the possible outcomes, I'd say LSU could go anywhere from 7-5 to 11-1, and I'd give them a 20% chance of each individual outcome. Exactly where will they end up along that spectrum? It'll probably come down to the same two things it did a year ago: coaching and quarterback play, but trying to predict exactly where cannot be anything more than a pure guess at this point. Only with ignorance could you be particularly certain of that prediction at this point.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

After showing some signs of life for almost the first time in a decade, the Bulldogs came crashing back down in 2008, and the struggles brought a new regime to Mississippi State. Out is Sylvester Croom, and for the first time in almost 20 years a non-Alabama alum is roaming the sidelines in Starkville, as Dan Mullen takes over for the Bullies. And in all fairness to MSU, it's not a bad hire. Mullen is a young, energetic coach who is on the rise, and one who already has a couple of national championship rings on his resume. His hire may very well have been better than either Lane Kiffin or Gene Chizik.

That notwithstanding, though, it looks to be a very harsh reality for the Bulldogs in 2009. Mullen may have been hired because of his offensive background, but it's hard to see him breathing any life into this offense in 2009. It's been hapless for years, and with the 5'10 and 195 pound Tyson Lee leading the offense this year, it's hard to see that changing. It will probably be a major shock if he can withstand a year's worth of pounding in the SEC, and even if he can he's not likely to be very effective anyway. True freshman Tyler Russell is the quarterback of the future in any event, and his reign will likely begin sometime this year in Starkville. That's good news in one sense because Russell is a much more talented player than Lee, and he's a bitter fit for Mullen's spread option system, but I'll let you do the math on the success true freshmen quarterbacks have in this league while surrounded by poor supporting casts.

And speaking of that poor supporting cast, I think that's probably the nicest way to put it. The wide receiver corps has some problems, to put it mildly. Brandon McRae is a fine wide receiver, but who knows how he will rebound from the gruesome, Prothro-esque broken leg he suffered last year against Ole Miss? And aside from McRae, there really are no proven commodities. JUCO transfer Leon Berry will be counted on heavily, and from there true freshmen like Chad Bumphis will get a great chance at playing time. Mullen's spread needs a lot of quality receivers, and the Bulldogs just don't have it right now. Likewise, the offensive line doesn't look very good either. To be sure, most of the starters return from a year ago, but MSU has struggled in the trenches for ages now, and the physical brand of football that the Dawgs often played with under Croom will do them no good under Mullen. How will the MSU linemen handle the transition to the spread option? It's anyone's guess, but nearly everyone will be surprised if they do it with any considerable degree of success.

Probably the best player State has, period, is tailback Anthony Dixon, but even with him you have to worry. He's a big, powerful running back who gets the job done between the tackles. Now, one of you readers, remind me... how successful has Urban Meyer been with big, powerful, between the tackle running backs? His only success with them has been signing them, and then watching them flame out as recruiting busts. His offense has no real need for such a player, and Mullen's might not at MSU either. I'm sure he'll try to work Dixon into the mix as much as possible just because he's one of the few talented players he has, but at the end of the day the point remains that Dixon is built to run out of the I-formation and in between the tackles, not as the centerpiece of the spread option. Look for Christian Ducre to get more of a role there simply because he's a better fit for the scheme.

And the defense is probably in just as bad of shape as the offense. Defense was the strong point of the Croom teams, but only three starters are returning in 2009. The defensive line is both small and without any great amount of depth, so much so that when JUCO transfer Pernell McPhee -- a good player in his own right, in all fairness -- stepped on campus, he probably became State's top lineman almost instantaneously. That's good news for State, but the bad news is that he'll likely have to be a truly dominant player just to give the rest of the line a fighting chance. Likewise, the defensive secondary is effectively a complete makeover. Marcus Washington returns at cornerback, and Damein Anderson looks to start opposite him, with Derek Pegues gone, the rest of the Bulldog secondary seemingly either lacks the size or speed (or both) needed to be high-end defensive backs in this conference. Last year's defensive backfield was a good unit for the Dawgs, but it'd be a major surprise if this revamped unit could pull off the trick again this year.

The only good news for the Dawgs on defense comes at linebacker. If Jamar Chaney successfully returns from his leg injury, he'll be a top end player, and perhaps the most underrated defensive player in the entire conference. Aside from Chaney, both K.J. Wright and Chris White are solid players in their own right, and if this unit can stay healthy, it has a chance to be a good one. Unfortunately, the rest of the defense looks to struggle so much in front of them and behind them that it probably won't give them much of a chance to shine.

As I've said before, I've always had a soft spot for the traditionally hapless Bullies, and I like Dan Mullen to boot, but objectively speaking it looks to be a long year ahead for them. They'll start off with a good fluff win over Jackson State, but from there the schedule is brutal. They will almost certainly be underdogs in every single conference game, Georgia Tech will go through them like a hot knife through butter, and even Houston and Middle Tennessee State probably aren't sure wins.

Ole Miss Rebels

The media darlings of the SEC this year, Ole Miss made a big jump last year, and many in the national media are betting that they will make yet another big jump in 2009. Yet, interestingly enough, they were picked to finish third in their own division at SEC Media Days. And that brings me to a point that I keep coming across... the further away you get from the Ole Miss program, the more heightened the expectations are for the 2009 season. The closer you get to it, the lower the expectations get. Personally, I think that is because the people who follow the program on a closer level than the national pundits are able to spot some flaws and weaknesses that the national pundits are apparently overlooking in their rush to deify the Rebels as the next big thing.

And make no mistake about it, despite the hype in some circles, this team does have a lot of holes and a lot of concerns. Jevan Snead is a fine quarterback, and the backfield is generally loaded, but the offensive line looks to be a major concern. The loss of Michael Oher cannot be overstated, simply because he was an elite talent and because the Rebels do not have anywhere even near his level of ability now that can replace him. Many hoped Bobby Massie would be able to do that, but after arriving in Oxford only about three weeks back, that is highly unlikely. And making matters worse, both starting guards are gone as well, and frankly the replacements don't look to be anything overly special. Of the remaining linemen, only John Jerry looks to be one of the best in his conference at his position, and the rest of the starting five have more of the look of a below average line than anything else. It's basically the exact same problem Alabama has, only that the Rebels don't have anywhere near the number of talented players to fill the holes.

A lesser concern on the offensive side of the ball can also be found at wide receiver. With Mike Wallace gone to the NFL, only Shay Hodges remains in Oxford. Hodges is a fine player in his own right, but from there things get dicy. Dexter McCluster will assume the role of a full-time starter now in Wallace's absence, and while McCluster certainly has the talent, he thrived last year in a jack of all trades role, and no one knows how he will do as more of a traditional, full-time wide receiver. And after McCluster, the proven commodities are pretty non-existent. Players like Lionel Breaux and Markeith Summers aren't necessarily bad players, but by the same token they aren't the ultra-elite athletes that you find at a place like LSU where you can almost just assume that you can plug and play them and they will perform at a high level. The Rebels are probably going to have to rely heavily on true freshman Pat Patterson.

And the defensive side of the ball has more concerns than the offense. Peria Jerry was the key to Ole Miss' stout run defense last year, and he is now with the Atlanta Falcons, and just like with Michael Oher, the Rebels do not seem to have a player of comparable quality to replace him. Ted Laurent and Lawson Scott will play a lot inside, but I really don't think they would play for any other SEC contender, and for all of his recruiting hype and academic saga, Jerrell Powe has done nothing of note to this point. Likewise, at linebacker, it's a thin unit with no true star players. It's not exactly what you what you dream of having when you prepare for a tough run through an SEC schedule.

Defensive end is a clear strength, and if Greg Hardy finally gets things together, he along with Marcus Tillman and Kentrell Lockett will probably form the best defensive end rotation in the SEC. Unfortunately, that strength is off-set by more concerns in the secondary. They really struggled against the pass last year -- despite having the conference's best pass rush -- and while three starters return, none of those returning players seem to be particularly good. More struggles against the pass seem likely for 2009. Moreover, Houston Nutt's two major recruiting additions to the defensive backfield have already flamed out. Jamar Horsnby, the five-star who washed out of Florida after being caught using a dead woman's credit card, has been kicked off the team after yet another run-in with the law. His next stop will likely be jail. And speaking of jail, the other big recruiting addition to the defensive backfield for Nutt in 2009, Tig Barksdale, also spent some time there recently after being arrested on charges of DUI and driving without a license. Now, Barksdale will not enroll this Fall as a result of "medical issues."

So what do you have when you put it all together with the Rebels? You've got a good quarterback, a good backfield, a couple of good receivers, and a great pass rush. But you've also got major concerns with the offensive line, a middling linebacker corps, a suspect interior to the defensive line, a secondary that will likely struggle again, and a team with very little depth at almost every single position. And your head coach has disappointed almost every single time high preseason expectations have been placed upon his teams. Does that sound like a championship team to you? I'll let you be the judge of that.

Of course, this is not to overly denigrate the Rebels. They went 9-4 a year ago, and they have enough strengths to knock off almost anyone they face on any given day. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them knock off either Alabama or LSU, or both for that matter. However, before we deify the Rebels, it should be kept in mind that they have enough weaknesses to where they could just as easily lose those big games, and also lose some that they are expected to win. When everyone looks back on the 2008 Rebels, they love to remember them as the team that beat Florida in the Swamp, the team that blew out LSU, and the team that spanked Texas Tech. Yet the fact that they lost at home to Vanderbilt, lost at home to South Carolina, lost to Wake Forest, and needed a squeaker to hold off 5-7 Arkansas gets completely overlooked. Bottom line, the Rebels have enough strengths to win a lot of games and get some big wins, but they also have enough weaknesses to where they are also likely to lose some games they should not, and once again, just like last year, be left outside the championship chase.

Final SEC West Predictions

(1) Alabama: 10-2 (6-2)*

(1) LSU: 10-2 (6-2)*

(3) Ole Miss: 9-3 (5-3)

(4) Arkansas: 7-5 (3-5)

(5) Auburn: 5-7 (2-6)

(6) Mississippi State: 3-9 (1-7)

* A two-way tie atop the SEC West between Alabama and LSU, with the winner of the November 7th Alabama v. LSU game in Tuscaloosa advancing to Atlanta to face the Florida Gators.

SEC West Pre-Season Breakdown

Richard Pittman — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:49:13 -0000

The first goal of the season for LSU this year is to win the SEC West. The task will not be at all easy. There are good teams in this division, and while Alabama and Ole Miss have gotten a lot of attention, I believe Arkansas and Auburn will probably be dangerous opponents as well. Arkansas moreso than Auburn, but don't mark a check in the W column for our game against Auburn yet.

Anyway, here is a brief breakdown of how I see our opponents in the SEC West, the obstacles they have in front of them and their strengths as we all are preparing to start another big season in the SEC.

Alabama: The defensive front seven should be outstanding, probably the best in the conference. They will make tons of plays and be in the backfield much of the night. The secondary struggled towards the end of last year, and the loss of Rashad Johnson at free safety is a significant blow. If there was one position on the defense that Alabama fans considered to perhaps be below par last year, it was cornerback, and some are expecting true freshman Dre Kirkpatrick to come in and be an immediate upgrade. I always find claims that a true freshman can come into a top program and immediately become a key player at a tough position somewhat dubious, but we shall see.

On offense, the big questions are how will Alabama replace John Parker Wilson at quarterback, and how will the offensive line perform? Junior Greg McElroy will be a more-than-adequate replacement for Wilson, who frankly wasn't that good. The real concern, though, is at offensive line. No team has to replace more of its offensive line skill than Alabama. Everyone knows about the loss of All-American left tackle Andre Smith, but the Crimson Tide lost two other starters on the offensive line as well, including All-Conference center Antoine Caldwell, who was the leader of the group. If you can't block effectively, you can't do much of anything on offense. If they get the blocking, the running backs should be about as good as last year, but they continue to struggle to find receiver depth behind Julio Jones.

Bama is probably the toughest competition in the West. I think they have questions like a bunch of other teams, but unless the offensive line is a disaster or injuries devastate their team, they will be a very tough opponent again this year.

Arkansas: I find this team pretty scary. It's not just that they beat us last year, though that certainly affects things. It's the fact that they have good players at a lot of positions. Running back Michael Smith may be pocket-sized, and needs to cut down his carries if he hopes to stay healthy, but he is perhaps the most dangerous back in the conference. Arkansas's receiver corps, led by TE/WR hybrid DJ Williams is as good as anyone's in the conference. Bobby Petrino is an outstanding offensive coach, and if Ryan Mallett is as good as advertised, this Arkansas team will put up some offensive fireworks.

The defense has a long way to go. There are some good players on this defense, but it was a unit that ranked dead last in run defense last year, and 10th in pass defense. To make matters worse, one of their expected starting corners is lost for the season to a torn ACL. The defense will need to play much better than it did last year, but they were very young in 2008. You can expect some natural improvement between the seasons.

The short story here is that I think of Arkansas this year pretty much exactly what I thought of Ole Miss last year: not talented enough to run with the big boys but with enough good players at key positions to be dangerous. Do you remember how that turned out for Ole Miss? The schedule is awfully difficult for this team though, as they travel to LSU, Bama, Ole Miss, and Florida, and also have to play Georgia. They play every team in the SEC that is expected to be good, and get 4 of them on the road. That's brutal.

Auburn: Last year was a train wreck, leading to a mid-season coordinator firing and then a post-season head coach-firing, and a second train wreck when a new coach was hired. The offense was awful in 2008, ranking 2nd to last in points per game. Auburn went and added a couple nice receivers on signing day, but for the most part the personnel is going to be the same on that side of the ball. Chris Todd will be the starting QB again. Much of last year's starting offensive line returns. They just hope that Gus Malzahn can get more out of these same players than Tony Franklin and his successor were able to get. That's actually a pretty tenable position.

Defensively, Auburn had a pretty solid group last year, but they have a fair bit to replace, especially in the middle of the field, as Auburn loses its two best defensive tackles and its middle linebacker. I think this year will be a struggle for Auburn, but if Chizik is at all up to the job (no guarantees there), I think they should be able to win a couple conference games and maybe sneak into a bowl game. An upset of a better-regarded team is not out of the question. But then again, a 4-win season is not out of the question either.

Mississippi State: Has disaster written all over it. The Bulldogs were the worst offensive team last year, scoring only 15 points per game, and were one of the worst defensive teams last year as well. It is hard to name one particularly dangerous offensive player. Senior running back Anthony Dixon is entering his 4th year as MSU's primary running back, but has a pretty pedestrian average of 3.98 ypc over the course of his career. He's also never really had a very good offensive line, but nothing should change there. He also enters the season with an off-season DUI under his belt and may be suspended for the first game or two.

Add in that the Bulldogs do not have an outstanding quarterback and are trying to transition from a power running game to a spread under new coach Dan Mullen, all without really having the wide receivers to run it yet, and you have the makings of a poor offensive season as they transition to the Mullen system that was so successful in Florida.

Defensively, the Bulldogs should be respectable as always. Last year's poor stats are deceptive, because so much of the blame rests with an offense that could not keep the defense off the field, but they lose a good number of starters from last year's unit. The strength of the team is in the linebackers, where Jamar Chaney and K.J. Wright are arguably the best players on the team regardless of position. The secondary should be a nightmare, however.

Ole Miss: They still have one of the best QBs in the conference, and a very good set of wide receivers, but I wonder if the overall talent level is all that high. I think Ole Miss snuck up on some teams last year and caught LSU in a down year, but they won't be able to use that formula for success this year. Jevan Snead, Dexter McCluster, and Shay Hodge form a great nucleus for a passing team, but the offensive line has to be completely rebuilt, and no running back on the team is particularly scary. I'm sure the Red Cup Rebellion guys will love hearing that.

Defensively, the front 4 is very good if healthy. Greg Hardy may be the best defensive lineman in the conference if he can ever get his foot completely healed, and he's actually pretty effective in a limited role even when he's not healthy. Kentrell Lockett and Marcus Tillman round out a very good 3-end rotation, and Ted Laurent is a solid veteran defensive tackle. They will be counting on Jerrell Powe to build on his solid freshman campaign. Behind the defensive line is a lot of question marks. Ole Miss had the worst passing defense in the conference on a "per game" basis, though the overall defense was solid, and they managed to stop the high-powered Texas Tech offense in their bowl game. Looking through their roster, it is hard to pick out a linebacker or defensive back who looks like a difference-maker.

Ole Miss has the easiest rout to Atlanta of any of the most-discussed contenders. They miss Georgia and Florida and they get Bama and LSU at home. They could potentially lose one of those two games and still win the West outright if they don't stumble against a lesser opponent.

Of course, we're going to have to see how all of this shakes out. Every team, even the good ones, have questions and areas of concern, including us. Also, injuries can derail anyone's season, including ours. Upsets are also possible, each and every week. I think we have as good of a shot at winning the west as anyone, except that our tough schedule looms large.

Rebel Roundup - 7/27 (Slow News Day)

The Ghost of Jay Cutler — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:10:38 -0000

Ole Miss Week
Over at TeamSpeedKills. All week. Seriously, check it out for coverage that is as objective as SEC coverage can be.

Darth Brandt's Countdown is Over
Thanks a lot, idea snatcher. Oh really, Jevan Snead is the most crucial person to the Rebels' success this upcoming football season? Way to go out on a limb there.

Wild Turkey
No, not this Wild Turkey, unfortunately. The above linkage deals with the continued spread of the Wild[NOUN] formation and Virginia Tech's potential use of it this fall. Why is this of note, you may ask? Well, while most teams use the most elusive, laterally-mobile athlete in the formation, the Hokies plan on using--I shit you not--a 6'3" 280lb tight end. This could be very, very fun. (HT: Swindle)

BS!!!1 Ole PI$$ Hooten DALE MORON!!1
</Hogville> You've gotta admit that, for all of his shortcomings, Houston Nutt is a real players coach. At Arkansas, just as today at Ole Miss, he could motivate his players to run through a damned brick wall if need be. Current Razorback stars DJ Williams and Malcolm Sheppard even had this to say when asked which SEC coach besides their own they would most like to play for:

That was an easy question for Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams and defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard. Both said Ole Miss' Houston Nutt.

"I speak to him from time to time and people on the staff," Sheppard said Thursday. "One thing about Coach Houston Nutt: when he recruits you, he's not just recruiting you to play ball for him. He's recruiting you because he likes you as a person. He's a great man."

SHUN THE NONBELIEVER!
Steve Spurrier explains his vote "against" Tim Tebow in the coaches' All-SEC poll. I have mixed feelings on this. While I don't think it really matters that much in that it's not like it's going to cause Tebow to play with less heart and effort, I do find it a bit odd that coaches are oftentimes not the ones filling out their ballots. This is especially bothersome when considering the substantial weight placed on polls with regards to bowl seedings and BCS standings. As for this individual incident, I find the whole ado surrounding it to be a tempest in a teapot. I mean, is it reallythat big of a deal that Tebow wasn't a unanimous first pick in a preseason All-SEC poll? People acted as if this was some sort of blasphemy, making sure to unleash an inquisition on every coach at SEC Media Days. Are we really that bored with our Summers/enamored with a 20-something-year-old man-rhino who doesn't use his penis?

Don't Start Thinkin' About Yesterday: Arkansas Tries to Turn a Corner

cocknfire — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:55:15 -0000

More photos » by Butch Dill - AP

Feeling comfy? Not being portrayed as a cad will help with that.

Browse more photos »

For more on Arkansas at SEC Media Days, tune into Team Speed Kills Now at 9 p.m. ET.

"I feel a little more comfortable today than I did a year ago standing up here, I can tell you that." One can imagine.

Last year, when Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bobby Petrino took the stage at SEC Media Days, he was most recently known for jilting the Atlanta Falcons midseason and taking over the program formerly headed by widely-loved (if more so outside Arkansas than within) Houston Nutt. This year, Petrino's team is a pick to make a bowl and continue on the upswing.

But the shadows still lurk, even if they're much smaller now than a year ago. After all, Petrino headed to the podium just two days after Michael Vick finished up his federal sentence on dogfighting charges. It was perhaps the end of Vick's Falcons career that had more to do with Petrino leaving Atlanta than anything else; "perhaps" is as close as we can get, because Petrino's not talking about what might have happened had canine's worst friend had stayed out of prison.

"You know, you don't think about those things," Petrino said. "There's all the ifs, ands and buts of the world. That's not one you think about."

Which is, of course, nonsense. It's reasonable to wonder if Petrino would have gone to Atlanta without the opportunity to coach one of the most unique athletes the NFL had ever seen and a chance to prove that he, the Great Petrino, could tame Vick's formidable talents and turn him into a pocket passer.

But the Vick saga wasn't the only reason Petrino wants to turn the page to the future. Even if Arkansas' last season was the start of something in Fayetteville, it wasn't the most auspicious start. Too-close wins against Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe kicked off the year, followed by consecutive demolitions at the hands of Alabama, Texas and Florida. And while Hog fans will quickly point to the season-ending win against LSU, it came the week after a loss to Mississippi State that left Arkansas at home for the holidays.

The second year has promise, though. Ryan Mallett appears to have won Petrino's trust, and players say that a system that once seemed foreign to them -- blame Nutt for that, Arkansas fans; you blame him for everything else -- is now familiar. TE D.J. Williams says he has learned some of the finer techniques from Petrino, like how quick step can throw the defense off enough to change the outcome of a play. Williams demurred when asked if that underlined a difference between Petrino's style and Nutt's.

"They're both successful in their own right," he said.

Eventually, Nutt's former ties to Arkansas will be mentioned only fleetingly at the beginning of the annual tilt. There will be no players in Hogs uniforms who played for Sir Giggity. But while Williams tried to downplay the significance of the Ole Miss game, it was obvious that the recent past is not entirely behind Arkansas.

"I'm not going to say that the game's not going to mean anything," Williams said.

Acknowledged or not, memories don't fade so quickly.