Ask Mike: Bye Week Disaster, J.Q.’s Injury & The SEC Slams Texas

Q. Our first question is from mousetown who asks: Are you ready to admit that I was right and you were wrong last week when I said the open date would kill the momentum from the Tennessee win?

A. That’s not exactly how you worded that.

You posted: “I know the Hogs needed a week off but I’m worried that it will kill all the momentum from the win over Tennessee. Plus they saw how much trouble the Vols had with Florida. They have to be asking if the Vols are really just overrated.”

So you were “worried” that it would kill the momentum but you weren’t certain. I said then, and I will say it now, I had no idea how the open date week would affect the team against LSU. All I said was that these players needed the open date to heal up which they did. I also disagree with your premise that watching Tennessee almost lose to Florida made Arkansas players think that their win over Tennessee wasn’t the big deal that they thought it was.

My take on Arkansas’ sluggish play against LSU is that for the first time since last spring these players actually had most of the fan base behind them on social media. They also had their friends and family members patting them on back. They liked it and they did not approach the LSU game with the same anger and fire that they had, for instance, after losing a game they should have won against Oklahoma State or Texas A&M. If I’m right they will play with more passion against Mississippi State on Saturday.

Q. Hawgredneck: Some fans were saying after the game that Petrino is making a mistake trying to turn Green into a drop back passer. Do you think Bobby should come up with more designed running plays for Green?

A. I think Bobby Petrino should do what he thinks is best. He would have never gotten Green in the first place if he wanted to use him as a running QB. I’ll keep saying this. I think Taylen Green is a two year project with Petrino. Green wants to go to the NFL. Petrino is trying to get him there. To me he was impressive in the first half. LSU was coming at him on every snap and for the most part he was staying in the pocket and quickly finding open receivers just like Nussmeier was doing for LSU. The R-Dub fumble in the second quarter killed a promising drive and LSU got a field goal out of it.

The one big mistake Green made was in the 3rd quarter trying to throw the ball at the five yard line with two LSU defenders right in his face. Also there was a targeting call against LSU in the 3rd quarter that was reversed. That was an idiotic decision and it killed a promising drive.
Arkansas got zero breaks in that game and everything LSU tried worked. They had been a mistake filled team. Against Arkansas they didn’t make mistakes,
except tor all those false start penalties which they over game because their passing game. LSU was also running the ball effectively on Arkansas. That put more pressure on Green and the offense.

Q. EddyLynn says: I think a big part of our problem against LSU was Ja’Quinden Jackson’s injury. Healthy he’s one of the best running backs in the country but he’s been battling that leg injury for several weeks. He only had 5 carries.

A. Jackson’s ability to shift laterally on a dime and pick his way through small holes separates him from Arkansas’ other backs. They need him on the field but Sam Pittman says Jackson is very questionable for the Mississippi State game. That is not good.

Q. RazorAlex88 says: I’m trying to contain my fury and it is not going well so here’s an angry question: WHAT did this team EVEN DO over the bye week? Play video games?

A. Since none of us where there I can’t answer that question. But I suspect that it was a typical bye week. They worked some but mostly had light workouts to rest the starters and get the injured players healthy. Goofing around was not the issue. I’ve already given my theory. They just didn’t handle the success of beating Tennessee right. I can’t blame them. They had not been in that situation before.

Q. Pigsfeat says: I am confused as to what constitutes targeting. Green was hit helmet to helmet on the sideline in the first quarter and they didn’t pay attention to him at all. Broden was lucky to walk off the field on what I would classify as a textbook targeting hit…overturned. George safety Jackson was disqualified from the Texas game for targeting…very similar hit to LSU. What am I missing?

A. You’re right. The game officials completely missed Green getting targeted. Overturning the later targeting call against Georgia was a decision made by the central review both. They blew it for sure. But is anyone surprised?

Q. Razorboo says: Biggest game of the year is this week. We must beat MSU to meet any goal of this season. Am I wrong?

A. I’d say you are right. They have to bounce back and yet Mississippi State has been playing a lot better lately. They played Georgia and Texas A&M close games the past two weeks. It will be a big challenge. There are no breaks in the SEC.

Q. GA Hawg asks: What’s the story on Ja’Quinden Jackson’s blacktag hanging off his waist? I assume it would rip away or pull of as in flag football should tackler grab it in stride.

A. The next time Jackson appears in a players interview we will ask him. That’s not something we’d bring up with Pittman. He has other issues to deal with this week..

Q. tophawg19 wants to know: What is your choice for a bowl for the Hogs and if you could pick the other team who would you like to see?

A. I really don’t care. I just want them to make post season play and I don’t care about the opponent either. One projection has Arkansas going to the Liberty Bowl vs. West Virginia. I’d be okay with that.

Q. Hotdogger asks: So do we already have injuries on the basketball team? All these exhibition games could be detrimental to the health of these your men. Hope they aren’t too banged up.

A. It looks like Cal has three injured players right now based on who did not participate in those practices in front of fans in Hot Springs and Pine Bluff over a week ago. They are each veteran players and include junior forward Jonas Aidou, senior guard Johnell Davis and junior forward Adou Thiero. They were at those practices but didn’t do much. I don’t think you have to worry about Cal risking them during the exhibition season. He’s said that no player will play in the exhibition games unless they are 100% physically okay. I do hope the fans take this into consideration because unless something changes Arkansas will be a very young team in those games.

Q. Lanny wants to know: Which team is the best in the SEC for football?

A. It changes every week. Three weeks ago I thought Tennessee was the best. Last week I would have said Texas. This week it’s Georgia. Who knows? I might be Texas A&M next week or LSU or Tennessee again. I can’t figure it out.

Q.Hoggystyle78 asks: Do you think that Greg Sankey or the NCAA will address and remedy all of the fake injury flopping going on right now in college football?

A. I suspect not. I gave my solution last week, a player safety rule stating that any player down on the field resulting in the stoppage of play has to remain out until the opponent’s next offensive or defensive possession to make sure they are okay. This would stop fake injuries unless a team was two deep at the affect position. I have no reason to believe that such a rule will be adopted.

Q. WholeHogAlum87 says: NIL and the transfer portal appear to have brought parity to college football. Do you see the sport adopting the NFL model in terms of a “salary/NIL cap” which could potentially bring even more parity to the sport?

A. As I continue to say, paying players a standard amount from the athletic department budget is probably coming. This would cut down on poaching players with better offers if they will hit the portal because each team would be offering the similar money to most players. There will still likely be NIL money generated in some form or fashion. Higher profile players would continue to be offered NIL money but they could put a cap on NIL payments and institute a rule that you have to sit out a year if you transfer. That would pretty much eliminate the outright buying of players away from other teams. Sitting out a year with no money would not be good option.

Q. that’llduepig asks: Have you heard anything that is being done to make sure we keep our offensive and defensive coordinators? Losing them would be like starting all over again.

A. The only way I see to make sure they are retained is to keep the head coach who hired them.

Q. Marty Byrde’s proxey asks: What’s your take on Tony Bennett abruptly retiring at Virginia? The story out there is that it was related to the NIL/portal. Any other stories circulating?

A. I know of no other explanation than his frustration with the buying of players in recruiting mostly through the portal with NIL money. He said he’s fine with player revenue sharing but it needs to be done more like the pro sports model.

Here’s what he said about it:

“There’s got to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction on the salary pool that teams can spend. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some limits on the agent involvement to these young guys. And there are good agents, and there are bad agents, and they’re driving some of this stuff that we’re in.”

Hopefully this will be another wake up call for college athletics. The outright buying of players to win titles is going to chase good coaches away from the game and turn a big part of the fan base off. Get this thing fixed. Now.

Q. BigDaddyKene wants to know: Did you see Illinois helmets against Michigan? Thoughts on us doing a throwback helmet?

A. I did see the helmets. They were a regular helmet designed to look like a leather helmet. It was really cool. If Arkansas went to a throw back helmet it would probably be the ’64 hog on a red helmet. Personally I didn’t like that look because TV resolution wasn’t all that good in those days and the Hog ended up looking looked like a white blob on the helmet. It would look better on today’s HD and 4K TVs.

Q. WVHogfan asks: Will Texas be fined for throwing water bottles on the field? Do you agree with me that this is more dangerous than a bunch of happy fans rushing the field after a win?

A. Apparently they WILL be fined. The SEC will assess a $250,000 fine against Texas and the school must make every effort to identify those who threw objects onto the field or at the Georgia players. In a statement SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said that Texas must review its polices related to alcohol sales at games. The SEC also reserves the right to suspend alcohol sales at DKR Stadium if it’s not satisfied with the way Texas responds to this situation. That fine will go to the SEC, not Georgia, as it would in a rush the field situation.

Texas is getting an SEC reality check. Not only did the ‘Horns lose at home to Georgia, they got slapped down by the SEC office who basically said to them, control your fans better or else.