Arkansas Grades

As the Commissioner and his bride continue their swing through a whole bunch of European countries that we’d have trouble finding on a map for their well-deserved vacation, it falls to us to document Saturday evening’s homecoming roasting of an overmatched bunch of Hogs in Tuscaloosa.

Let us tell the truth right up front -- Arkansas is not a good football team.  They have lost their last two games by a combined score of 99-17, and neither game was really as close as the scores would indicate.  Ever since Coach Petrino’s motorcycle crash with benefits, the Razorbacks have just not been able to recapture the form that their once-proud program could boast.  Alabama last lost to Arkansas in the 2006 season.  We’ll give you a minute to think about what you were doing 13 years ago, but the quarterback who took the majority of the second-half snaps for Alabama on Saturday was busy facing his first set of kindergarten mid-terms.

Frankly, most of the drama in this game was about how backup quarterback Mac Jones would perform in his first start for the Crimson Tide.  The answer was “admirably”.  By the end of the first quarter the issue was no longer in doubt.  By the end of third, everyone except the always laser-focused Nick Saban’s thoughts had turned to end-of-evening homecoming celebrations.   Shoot, we didn’t even get upset enough to scare the dogs to their usual hiding place under the coffee table.

We will not impose the usual letter grade deduction for quality of competition -- that would disrespectful to a division opponent, even one that sits at 2-6 on the season.  Here is how we grade the game.

Offense:  A-  The offense manage 459 total yards and possessed the football for nearly 35 minutes of the game.  They earned 23 first downs and converted 8 of 13 third down opportunities.  The quarterbacks managed to complete 24-30 passes with no interceptions.  Najee Harris left the game early but had 86 yards on 13 carries and Brian Robinson, Jr. had 67 yards, also on 13 carries and also left before the contest ended, though not for injury.  Jerry Jeudy led all receivers with 7 catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns.  Henry Ruggs III also had a TD catch. Jones played quite well and his long TD pass to Jeudy was beautiful.  The down grade is for critical penalties, some high shotgun snaps, and loss of focus on downfield blocking a few times. The offense did not turn the football over. But for a conference game with the second-string quarterback starting, this performance earned an excellent grade.  Frankly, if Alabama had wanted to score in the 60s, it would not have been a challenge.

Defense:  A  The defense appears to be rounding into shape.  Alabama held Arkansas to  only 213 total yards, divided almost equally between rushing and passing. Individually Shane Lee led all tacklers with 6, five solo, including a sack and two tackles for a loss.  There were three interceptions, including a beautiful Trevon Diggs 84-yard pick six before the half plus a fumble recovery.  Holding any conference opponent to 7 points earns an A, and their touchdown drive was aided by a mental mistake on special teams.  The Hogs did move the ball at times, but the middle of defense, manned by so many freshman, appears to be firming up.   Arkansas was 3 of 12 on third down and the Stop Troops scored as many tds on the night as the Piggie offense.  We did not recognize it till we saw the drive chart today, but it appears that Arkansas had only three drives in the second half, two of which totaled six plays.  That will lose you a lot of football games.

Special Teams:  A-

Punting:  We like the new punter.  Even his “poor” line drive punt on Saturday got a nice bounce and roll and was unreturnable.  Two punts with a 47 yards average is more than serviceable.  In an odd statistic, neither team had any put return yards, though if we were faced with kicking to Jaylen Waddle, we’d do everything we could to make him fair catch it our kick it out of bounds.  The lining up in the neutral zone penalty on the Arkansas punt nearly cost us our head coach to exploding head syndrome.  The neutral zone is only 11 inches wide, let’s stay out of it please, gentlemen.

Kickoffs:  Both teams had stupid fielding plays, catching kickoffs that were headed out of bounds and then stepping out deep in their own territory.  That cannot happen in a competitive game.  We expect the point will be made.

Placekicking:  Bulovas was 2/2 on field goals with a long of 31 yards and 6/6 on PATs.  That all deserves high marks especially on a field that had absorbed about three inches of rain in the past 24 hours.  We did not watch any of them.

Coaching:  A-  The coaches did an outstanding job this week.  It is hard to keep college players focused through the long grind of a college season, especially for a game against an overmatched opponent like Arkansas, sandwiched between the annual tussle against a bitter rival and an off week -- not to mention with perhaps the toughest game on the schedule looming after that.

The offensive coaches called a good game for Jones and put him in a position to win.  Issues related to the offensive and defensive lines appear to be shoring up.  Lighting up players for boneheaded special teams mistakes in the second half send a message that is sure to be received. 

The downgrade comes with quibbles that we have (for the second week in a row) with regard to goal line play-calls.  That recurring issue must be fixed.

Officiating:  D.  This was Mark Curles’s crew -- we dare you to not think of Moe, Larry, and Curley.  The incomplete signal on the touchdown in the back of the end zone was so puzzling that not even the booth apologists for the officials could explain it.  Despite being a not-very-good team, Arkansas is a fine bunch of gentlemen and technicians.  In fact, the zebras did not observe them to commit a single rules infraction all night, despite facing the #1 team in the country.  SEC officiating is so bad that this week the Conference Commissioner, addressing exactly nothing, felt compelled to issue a statement about just how terrific SEC officiating really is.  The dreaded vote of confidence.  What is likely to change?  Nothing.

They bye week falls at a good time.  Lots of players were nicked up Saturday, Neal, Harris, Smith, etc. left with various bumps and bruises.  We hear a rumor that the elder Tagovailoa has an ankle issue.  It’ll be good to have everyone rested and healthy for LSU.

It is not out of bounds with a bye week coming up to take a gander around the rest of college football, which is head-scratchingly odd this season.  Ohio State has a very solid team on both sides of the ball and with Wisconsin having lost two in a row, seems the class of their conference and playoff bound.  Clemson is undefeated, though with a conference schedule softer than the bucket seats in one of those fancy Italian cars that JD hates to work on because they use a different sized bolt for every fitting.  Seriously, how many SEC teams would go undefeated against Clemson’s conference schedule?  We are guessing at least five.  The Pac-12 is so impossible to predict we cannot imagine who is betting on them.  Oklahoma managed to lose a game on Saturday to an unranked opponent despite gaining over 500 yards of offense.  With the door open to climb back into the conference championship fight, Texas then managed to lose to TCU.  No word on whether they first said, “hey Sooners, hold our beer and watch this.”  Notre Dame, the traditional standard-bearer of the independents, now has two losses and appears to be out of contention.

We plan to take next weekend off from game-day stress and enjoy some football games not including Alabama.  We urge you to do the same.  The following week Coach Language Mangler and his Bayou Bengals come to town for the battle that likely determines the SEC West Champion.  It promises to be a tad more hotly contested than last week’s game.  We are so looking forward to it.

Roll Tide.  Beat the Tigers.

 


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