Ask Mike: Arkansas’ Underdog Mindset & Is the Hogs’ secondary big but slow?

Q. Our first question is from Murphy the Shoat who asks: Did you see Otis’ prediction of an 8-4 season for the Hogs? He getting roasted as a homer and a media hack.

A. I saw it. Otis has been covering the Hogs for almost four decades. He actually watches August camp ever year, talks to the coaches and players, has various sources who see the part of workouts that the media aren’t allowed to see. If you bother to actually read through the online story he posted you know that he, like me, believes that there’s no way to know for sure how the season will turn out. He explains his prediction for all 12 games in detail. It is not based on being a homer and he’s not a media hack. In fact, of the reporters who actually cover this team in person on a daily basis, I don’t know any media hacks.

There are a lot of fans who get online and start their own websites, do podcasts, etc. Some of them are good at what they do and some aren’t.

There are a lot of keyboard warriors in the Internet who base what they post on virtually no information other than the coaches and players on last year’s team and last year’s record.

Otis doesn’t give a rip about those ripping him. He has the same attitude that I have. You can take take what I post and agree with it, disagree with it or trash it. I don’t really care. I’m not always right but I’m right a lot more often than I’m wrong. I do enjoy talking with fans even if they disagree with me as long as they don’t get rude.

I’ve known Otis for decades. He’s as good as they come at covering Arkansas’s football recruiting.

Q. mousetown says: Finebaum claims that Pittman is about to go over a cliff this season. I can’t stand Finebaum with his Dumbo ears but he might be right about this. What do you think?

A. Finebaum has a very limited knowledge of what’s going on with Arkansas football team right now. His opinion is based on last year. Arkansas is small potatoes to him. He’s focused on Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, A&M and Ole Miss. What did we just see in the first college football game of the season? Florida State was the name team. The media was sleeping on Georgia Tech. How about Nevada and SMU Saturday night? Nevada was picked last in the Mountain West. SMU was a heavy favorite. SMU trailed for most of the game but got a late safety followed by a touchdown to pull out the win. This early in the season statements like, Pittman is headed over a cliff, is just Finebaum being Finebaum. He doesn’t know.

Q. David Porter says: Everyone is fawning over Petrino and Pittman doesn’t seem to have problems with it. It could be that he’s hoping to keep his job but I get the feeling that he’s just a humble fellow who can stand someone else in the limelight. What do you think?

A. Pittman is a humble guy and I think he really values Petrino as an OC and his previous experience as a head coach. They get along great. Pittman let’s him do his job. That wasn’t the case at Texas A&M. I think Petrino wants to finish his coaching career as Arkansas’ OC and he would like for Pittman to remain as head coach.

Q. Armon Abbe asks: What’s your reaction to the UAPB receiver saying Arkansas is big but slow in the secondary? Doesn’t seem like a wise thing to bring up even if you believe it.

A. It’s a sign of confidence. We’ll have to see if it comes back to bite him and his teammates. The times I’ve been at practice and the video I’ve seen posted by Arkansas, the secondary is picking the ball off and breaking up passes. Those guys look fast enough to me and they can really jump. To me they are very athletic. UAPB’s JaVonnie Gibson has to go up against Arkansas secondary. I don’t. We’ll see if he’s right.

Q. Twinky 275 wants to know: What’s y’all’s thoughts for worse case, and then best case, for the W-L total in football this season? You know me, I believe it can be a least a 10-2 reg season and then add a post season win or 4!!!

A. Wow. Twinky makes Otis look conservative. Okay, just a guess. Nobody really knows but I’ll go 7-5. Not gonna pick a bowl win or loss because clearly I don’t know the opponent.

Q. The_Bionic_Pig wants to know: Do you agree that the absolute best thing Arkansas has going for it right now is “THE UNKNOWN” or the perception by the opponents on our schedule that this team is not a threat?

A. I think being overlooked helps but if you come out strong you aren’t going to be unknown for long. What Arkansas has going for it is a really good coaching staff and players who are talented, have worked hard since January, are helping each other get better and are unified. There are no factions on this team. These guys are unified.

Q. sglies says: I’m hearing that there’s only going to be 35,000- 40,000 in Little Rock for Thursday’s season opener. When will we get an AD that says no more of that? Nobody else plays games in two home stadiums.

A. Pulling out of Central Arkansas completely is going to be difficult. Basketball plays a game there. So does baseball. I’m not sure what will happen to War Memorial after the Arkansas State game next year but Pittman seemed to hint in his Monday presser that it might end after 2025. He talked about true home games Arkansas has been losing to Arlington and Little Rock since the Jerryworld game started. Every other year, that’s two games.

Q. Hotdogger says: I’m assuming any NIL funds of players are taxable. Does a university have an obligation to provide a player with assistance?

A. They are not obligated under NCAA rules but a school would be stupid not to do it. Arkansas provides its athletes a list of tax advisors. It’s up to each athlete to decide what to do. They are not obligated to use those firms or individuals who are recommended but most probably will.

Q. WVHogfan asks: Since this is the last year to play A&M in Arlington are there talks to continue playing there against another team?

A. Apparently not at this time. With Texas joining the SEC Arkansas will be playing a team in the state of Texas every season so the Jerryworld game is not needed as much for recruiting purposes as previously. I think the focus right now is to get the maximum number of games played at Arkansas home stadium, something Pittman referenced just a short time ago.

Q. RazorAlex88 says: I hear that Missouri State pulled out of the 2025 matchup. Who would you like to see in place of them on our 2025 schedule?

A. Arkansas already has a replacement opponent lined up, Alabama A&M. That seems like a good decision. These days the schedule is already tough enough. Play somebody you can beat.

Q. Hud Windom says: Bobby Petrino is no longer a head coach but he’s still talking like one. Basically he wants Power Four schools to start paying mid-majors to go away. What do you think about that?

A. I think he was referring to something that is probably going to happen. There’s a lot of speculation right now that with the possibility of schools paying players directly out of athletic department budgets, a lot of extra TV revenue will be needed. To pay more the TV people want better games. They don’t want Alabama vs South Alabama or Arkansas vs UAPB. They want Power 4 teams playing other Power 4 teams in non conference games. But what would happen to those smaller schools who get a big part of their revenue from playing Power 4 teams? Petrino is saying that the Power 4’s should pool their money and pay those smaller schools so they can keep playing scholarship football against each other.

That’s not a bad solution.

Q. Hawgredneck asks: So now we have a two minute warning in college ball? Seems like very season there are new rules to make college football more like the NFL. Why?

A. This particular rules change is probably about making the TV people happy. If schools want big money out of the various networks they’ve got to help those people make big money. This rule provides two more built in time outs, one with two minutes to go in the first half and another with two minutes to go in the game. Extra time outs means more commercials which translates to more revenue.

Q. HL McCamish says: It looked like the Georgia Tech quarterback was having trouble with his helmet communication system. I hope that doesn’t happen to us. Any word on how it’s worked in the scrimmages?

A. I didn’t notice Florida State having trouble. Neither QB in the SMU-Nevada a game appeared to have a problem. Just like the coaches using I-pads which we discussed last week, this is a new technology. Some teams are going to benefit more than others. We do know that Bobby Petrino has already identified some potential problems and has plans to deal with those issues.

The biggest is what happens when the in-helmet communication is cut off with 15 seconds left on the play clock. Perino says Arkansas will huddle during the communication process. Once the QB has his instructions the players will break the huddle and quickly go to the snap count in order to minimize the defense’s ability to adjust to what they are looking at.

The other thing he talked about is adjusting when the system goes down which, he says, is inevitable. I assume in that situation the offense will still huddle. Play calling will be done the old fashioned way, with a receiver or running back entering the game with the play or a play can be signaled in.

Q. ErieHog doesn’t agree with those calling for the targeting rule to be dialed back.
He asks: Why? It’s done what it was designed to do. Drive down the totals of significant spinal/brain injuries.

A. A change is needed because there are too many targeting calls made without helmet-to-helmet contact. Adopting so called “soft shell” helmets would eliminate the need for targeting calls except for top of the helmet contact which should be a penalty on a defensive OR offensive player depending on which one initiates the contact.

Q. KYHOG says: I love Calipari’s confidence. Playing Baylor in Dallas will boost Arkansas recruiting in Texas. The schedule is scary but he’s not scared. Time to get these guys ready. Can’t wait.

A. It sure looks good right now. Some would say too good. Hog fans are always worried that just when something looks good it backfires. But I agree with you. Cal has said he wants to play a game in Dallas each year. It’s a huge recruiting area. Arkansas will also be playing in Austin and College Station on a semi regular basis. Recruiting is not going to be an issue under Cal. What he has to do is get to Arkansas to the NCAA Tournament and win games like Muss did up until last season. Basketball season will be here before we know it.

Q. Ann Jackson says: I was told that there is more NIL money available for Arkansas basketball than for the entire football team. We’re talking 13 players compared to 85. Is that true?

A. Supposedly NIL money for football is around $5 million. For basketball the rumor is $ 8 million. So yes, it looks like that’s true. How did this happen? The answer seems obvious to me. There’s a lot more excitement surrounding the basketball team than the football team right now. I think that will change if this football team does what I think it will do. Arkansas is number one in NIL money for basketball. More than Kansas. More than North Carolina. More than Kentucky. More than Purdue and that shocked a lot of basketball fans around the country. What it tells me is Arkansas does have to money to compete in football too. You just have to get the fans on board. Again hopefully that’s coming.

Q. Eddylynn says: We can probably forget Tony Vitello replacing Van Horn when he decides to retire. Tennessee just gave him a big fast raise making him the highest paid coach in college baseball, more than double what DVH is making.

A. Van Horn is not going anywhere for several more years so Vitello’s situation is not relevant right now. People who know Vitello tell me that he’s not motivated by money, If he wanted to return to Arkansas down the road it wouldn’t matter how much Tennessee offered him. But those same people don’t know if he’d want to come back.

Arkansas will be fine when DVH decides to finally step down. The AD, whoever it is, won’t have any trouble finding a top quality replacement. Arkansas baseball sells itself.

Q. PopularPorkster asks: Can you talk about the Aggies and their weirdness? Why is it that every single Aggie fan I meet has the collective IQ of negative 20? Just some weird people down there in College Station and I would love to hear your thoughts!

A. It’s definitely not an IQ issue because most Aggies are very smart. Sometimes people with high IQ’s lack common sense and I think that’s part of the problem with some Aggies. But mostly they have become prisoners to all the crazy traditions they have. All schools have traditions and most of them are fun things but the Aggies have too many of them and in trying to observe them all I think they get strange.

I have noticed that when they get away from that environment they start normalizing. I have an uncle who was an Aggie. I had not seen him for decades but my sister had visited with a few years ago. She said he was a perfectly normal guy. About four months ago I saw him at the funeral of one of my aunts and he was completely different from what I remembered about him. We got along great. So there is hope for Aggies. They just have to leave College Station.

However this is untrue of Longhorns. They don’t change.