Opening Thoughts:
Its not time to jump off the cliff or anything, but obviously a lot of things have to get fixed by as early as next Saturday. Austin Allen showed some good things without a doubt, but he has a real problem that is obvious to everyone that he does get locked in the on one wide out. Knowing that I don't make excuses for someones play, but I think some of the tunnel vision is because he doesn't trust the pocket (for good reason) so he is going to look for anything short as of right now. Early in the first half it appeared that the same ole problems on defense. However, I felt like there were some adjustments made by Robb Smith and company and we really got after their qb in the second half. Then with us in the lead and the game on the line our defensive front darn near ended the young man's season with a violent hit. This team showed a couple of things that make you feel good, but right now there are a few too many glaring weaknesses that are going to have to be addressed.
The O-NO line:
In no way does it take a football genius to see what the problem is here. Our offensive line struggled mightily in pass pro. Namely #51 and #74 looked lost against any line game or blitz that was brought. Colton Jackson made red-shirt freshmen mistakes so those will be corrected in time and experience. This first game for Froholdt worries me because he flat looked like a defensive linemen trying to play O-line. Not saying he can't be good in time, but to me its going to take him more time I think than its going to take Jackson. Its hard to take a 4 star defensive linemen and make him a 4 star offensive linemen. He is very athletic and strong, but he just looked lost and played with poor pad level in pass pro. Any movement by the defense seemed to confuse him and looked lost. Most of the pressures that got in AA's face came in the A or B gap to his side. He also straight whiffed three different times in the run game in the first half and once in the third quarter. It was an atrocious start against one of the weaker defensive fronts we will face this year.
The good news here is that most of the problems are correctable, if some pieces fall into the right place. TCU's defensive front looked bad against a less than stellar opponent Saturday.
Our Identity?:
I heard Booger McFarland make the statement that we are "a passing team" and with our talent in the places it is, you would think it would make sense. However, this teams success came when we committed to the run and stayed to man on man run blocking. I think until the issues get worked out our only chance is to grind the clock and mix in some short passing game, because of our offensive line problems in pass pro. I have no complaints about AA's ability to throw the football when given time, he actually looked good other than locking in oandn one team.
Our only shot at TCU is to control the clock with a pounding run game. I believe our defensive front is going to have to carry this team with pressures until we get things corrected up front.
This teams best unit:
Obviously our wide out's are our best unit on offense, but the best unit on this team bar none is the defensive line. Based on our well document troubles last year, until towards the middle and end of the season last year. Our defensive line played an overall pretty good game. There was one or two first game breakdowns but for the most part they really played well. Dline compiled 3 sacks and 4 qb hurries.
Name Sacks Hurries
Ledbetter .5
Wise .5 3
Roesler 1
T, Johnson 1
Ramsey 1
Its been a long time since we affected the quarterback like we did in the second half of that game.
Sunday Grades:
QB: Austin Allen didn't play horrible, but it wasn't great either. He does stare down his target a bit much. However, in the clutch he delivered in his first game as a college starter. He didn't have a chance really because of A gap and B gap pressures coming from the Left guard spot. Can't score high and throw picks regardless of what the reasons are.
Grade: C (would have been higher but 2 picks can't happen)
RB: Raleigh looked pretty good, Kody looked pretty slow, and hoping to see more of Whaley and Hammonds as we go forward.This group missed a lot of blitz pick ups in pass pro and we lacked a running back with good vision or explosion Saturday. I know some of that was because #51 played so bad so its not all on them.
Grade: B-
WR: Cody Hollister was underwhelming 2 drops in 2 chances if you can't catch you don't need to be on the field. Need to see more Reed less Hollister. Love Drew, Jared (hope his injury isn't significant) and Keon played very well. Hoping to see Jordan Jones, or others step up and surpass Hollister.
Grade: B+ (Hollister brought this grade down)
TE: Love Sprinkle and we need to get him more touches. Love what I seen out of Cantrell hope is isn't hurt for long either. He made a great block (although it was a hold on film) to spring a first down run with Williams around the edge.
Grade: B
OLine: Skipper was decent, Ragnow was good, Raulerson was ok, Froholdt was the worst I have ever seen on an Arkansas Oline, and Jackson was a red shirt freshman. I also want to say that all these guys can get better and I am NOT WRITING ANYONE OFF!! However, this is a game to game breakdown and it was rough! You cannot surrender 4 sacks to anyone, but especially a below average Dline we faced Saturday.
Grade: F+ (The 4th quarter drive got them the +)
Defense
Dline: Very good game, and we have a lot of depth in this area for sure. They are our hope to get us through this first part of the season. When they needed to make a play, they made the play.
Grade: A-
Linebacker: For one Greenlaw needs props because he actually did well in coverage and did his job on a pass. Brooks and Dre looked good, didn't really notice anyone else. Excited to see Dejuan Harris. Didn't tackle particularly well as a group.
Grade: C
Secondary: We have been told how great they would play, but on more than one occasion they looked lost in coverage. A lot of breakdowns in this group here and they didn't tackle worth a crap. I hope it gets better, I noticed that we played more straight cover 2 in this game, while mixing in the quarter quarter half. La Tech found the holes in the cover 2 side of the quarter quarter half side. It was not a good game overall by these guys. Especially with what the Arkansas Media told us they were supposed to be.
Grade: F
Special Teams: Punt team was pretty good all but the coverage breakdown on the 31 yard return by Taylor. I harped on this all year last year and it reared its ugly head once again. Our kickoff team has to the the most under coached group on this team. LA Tech had a kicker that put it in the end zone regularly. We put in there twice and one of those was because the kid deflected it through the end zone. I continually brow beat this, but I hate that we are good with putting our defense with a short field to defend constantly. I know many will disagree that our special teams wasn't bad, but it cost us at times last year and it darn near did this time as well. We aren't good enough to not play well in all 3 aspects of the game.
Grade: D+
Conclusion:
I do want to give Skip Holtz a ton of credit for having his team ready to play. They were undermanned and out skilled yet they should have won that game. We didn't play well enough to win, although in sports I know sometimes you have to find a way to win even when you don't have it that day.
Looking ahead I think we will play better next week, but based on what I saw from both TCU and us this week I don't feel too confident. Preseason I thought this one was ours to win. However, I think Kenny Hill will be more than we can handle with our secondary break downs.. I don't believe our offense can outscore people like we did last year and as much as I think we will pressure them I don't think we can stop them.
The Keys to this game:
1) Control the clock with the running game. (like we did two years ago at Lubbock)
2) Get after the QB and hit Hill A LOT!!!
3) Gonna have to make a play or two on special teams!!
4) Don't try to get into a shoot out, because with our oline problems we cannot win a shootout in my opinion.
Next Saturday in Fort Worth I feel we will play better and feel we will see some corrections, but I don't think it will be enough. It will take a drastic improvement in pass coverage and line blocking to win this one. I think it will be close, but they will outscore us in the end so I am saying
TCU 35- Arkansas 21 ( I pray I am dead wrong) but based on what I saw Saturday I have no reason to believe it will be any different of an outcome.
I am far from jumping ship and think we will still go bowling as BB's teams always get better as the year goes on and so will this one. I think there is talent and it will improve and by years end our defense will be pretty good, and I have no doubt BB will have Oline improved sooner rather than later. Just basing it on the last few years I don't see us improving to the point we will need to be to step it up to a whole new level and win this one,
Have a great day! #WPS (it will end up ok when its all said and done, just not yet)
Its not time to jump off the cliff or anything, but obviously a lot of things have to get fixed by as early as next Saturday. Austin Allen showed some good things without a doubt, but he has a real problem that is obvious to everyone that he does get locked in the on one wide out. Knowing that I don't make excuses for someones play, but I think some of the tunnel vision is because he doesn't trust the pocket (for good reason) so he is going to look for anything short as of right now. Early in the first half it appeared that the same ole problems on defense. However, I felt like there were some adjustments made by Robb Smith and company and we really got after their qb in the second half. Then with us in the lead and the game on the line our defensive front darn near ended the young man's season with a violent hit. This team showed a couple of things that make you feel good, but right now there are a few too many glaring weaknesses that are going to have to be addressed.
The O-NO line:
In no way does it take a football genius to see what the problem is here. Our offensive line struggled mightily in pass pro. Namely #51 and #74 looked lost against any line game or blitz that was brought. Colton Jackson made red-shirt freshmen mistakes so those will be corrected in time and experience. This first game for Froholdt worries me because he flat looked like a defensive linemen trying to play O-line. Not saying he can't be good in time, but to me its going to take him more time I think than its going to take Jackson. Its hard to take a 4 star defensive linemen and make him a 4 star offensive linemen. He is very athletic and strong, but he just looked lost and played with poor pad level in pass pro. Any movement by the defense seemed to confuse him and looked lost. Most of the pressures that got in AA's face came in the A or B gap to his side. He also straight whiffed three different times in the run game in the first half and once in the third quarter. It was an atrocious start against one of the weaker defensive fronts we will face this year.
The good news here is that most of the problems are correctable, if some pieces fall into the right place. TCU's defensive front looked bad against a less than stellar opponent Saturday.
Our Identity?:
I heard Booger McFarland make the statement that we are "a passing team" and with our talent in the places it is, you would think it would make sense. However, this teams success came when we committed to the run and stayed to man on man run blocking. I think until the issues get worked out our only chance is to grind the clock and mix in some short passing game, because of our offensive line problems in pass pro. I have no complaints about AA's ability to throw the football when given time, he actually looked good other than locking in oandn one team.
Our only shot at TCU is to control the clock with a pounding run game. I believe our defensive front is going to have to carry this team with pressures until we get things corrected up front.
This teams best unit:
Obviously our wide out's are our best unit on offense, but the best unit on this team bar none is the defensive line. Based on our well document troubles last year, until towards the middle and end of the season last year. Our defensive line played an overall pretty good game. There was one or two first game breakdowns but for the most part they really played well. Dline compiled 3 sacks and 4 qb hurries.
Name Sacks Hurries
Ledbetter .5
Wise .5 3
Roesler 1
T, Johnson 1
Ramsey 1
Its been a long time since we affected the quarterback like we did in the second half of that game.
Sunday Grades:
QB: Austin Allen didn't play horrible, but it wasn't great either. He does stare down his target a bit much. However, in the clutch he delivered in his first game as a college starter. He didn't have a chance really because of A gap and B gap pressures coming from the Left guard spot. Can't score high and throw picks regardless of what the reasons are.
Grade: C (would have been higher but 2 picks can't happen)
RB: Raleigh looked pretty good, Kody looked pretty slow, and hoping to see more of Whaley and Hammonds as we go forward.This group missed a lot of blitz pick ups in pass pro and we lacked a running back with good vision or explosion Saturday. I know some of that was because #51 played so bad so its not all on them.
Grade: B-
WR: Cody Hollister was underwhelming 2 drops in 2 chances if you can't catch you don't need to be on the field. Need to see more Reed less Hollister. Love Drew, Jared (hope his injury isn't significant) and Keon played very well. Hoping to see Jordan Jones, or others step up and surpass Hollister.
Grade: B+ (Hollister brought this grade down)
TE: Love Sprinkle and we need to get him more touches. Love what I seen out of Cantrell hope is isn't hurt for long either. He made a great block (although it was a hold on film) to spring a first down run with Williams around the edge.
Grade: B
OLine: Skipper was decent, Ragnow was good, Raulerson was ok, Froholdt was the worst I have ever seen on an Arkansas Oline, and Jackson was a red shirt freshman. I also want to say that all these guys can get better and I am NOT WRITING ANYONE OFF!! However, this is a game to game breakdown and it was rough! You cannot surrender 4 sacks to anyone, but especially a below average Dline we faced Saturday.
Grade: F+ (The 4th quarter drive got them the +)
Defense
Dline: Very good game, and we have a lot of depth in this area for sure. They are our hope to get us through this first part of the season. When they needed to make a play, they made the play.
Grade: A-
Linebacker: For one Greenlaw needs props because he actually did well in coverage and did his job on a pass. Brooks and Dre looked good, didn't really notice anyone else. Excited to see Dejuan Harris. Didn't tackle particularly well as a group.
Grade: C
Secondary: We have been told how great they would play, but on more than one occasion they looked lost in coverage. A lot of breakdowns in this group here and they didn't tackle worth a crap. I hope it gets better, I noticed that we played more straight cover 2 in this game, while mixing in the quarter quarter half. La Tech found the holes in the cover 2 side of the quarter quarter half side. It was not a good game overall by these guys. Especially with what the Arkansas Media told us they were supposed to be.
Grade: F
Special Teams: Punt team was pretty good all but the coverage breakdown on the 31 yard return by Taylor. I harped on this all year last year and it reared its ugly head once again. Our kickoff team has to the the most under coached group on this team. LA Tech had a kicker that put it in the end zone regularly. We put in there twice and one of those was because the kid deflected it through the end zone. I continually brow beat this, but I hate that we are good with putting our defense with a short field to defend constantly. I know many will disagree that our special teams wasn't bad, but it cost us at times last year and it darn near did this time as well. We aren't good enough to not play well in all 3 aspects of the game.
Grade: D+
Conclusion:
I do want to give Skip Holtz a ton of credit for having his team ready to play. They were undermanned and out skilled yet they should have won that game. We didn't play well enough to win, although in sports I know sometimes you have to find a way to win even when you don't have it that day.
Looking ahead I think we will play better next week, but based on what I saw from both TCU and us this week I don't feel too confident. Preseason I thought this one was ours to win. However, I think Kenny Hill will be more than we can handle with our secondary break downs.. I don't believe our offense can outscore people like we did last year and as much as I think we will pressure them I don't think we can stop them.
The Keys to this game:
1) Control the clock with the running game. (like we did two years ago at Lubbock)
2) Get after the QB and hit Hill A LOT!!!
3) Gonna have to make a play or two on special teams!!
4) Don't try to get into a shoot out, because with our oline problems we cannot win a shootout in my opinion.
Next Saturday in Fort Worth I feel we will play better and feel we will see some corrections, but I don't think it will be enough. It will take a drastic improvement in pass coverage and line blocking to win this one. I think it will be close, but they will outscore us in the end so I am saying
TCU 35- Arkansas 21 ( I pray I am dead wrong) but based on what I saw Saturday I have no reason to believe it will be any different of an outcome.
I am far from jumping ship and think we will still go bowling as BB's teams always get better as the year goes on and so will this one. I think there is talent and it will improve and by years end our defense will be pretty good, and I have no doubt BB will have Oline improved sooner rather than later. Just basing it on the last few years I don't see us improving to the point we will need to be to step it up to a whole new level and win this one,
Have a great day! #WPS (it will end up ok when its all said and done, just not yet)
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