Ask Mike: Taylen Green Update, Annoying KY Hoops fans & Is T-Will’s Defense Perfect for LSU?

Q. Our first question is from the The Hawk Hawkins who wants to know: Do we know any more about Green than we did last week? Will we have to play LSU without him and if so do we have a chance?

A. From what Sam Pittman said on Monday it looks good. He did participate in every workout last week including at least one that was full speed. Pitt says he should know more about this by Wednesday but the fact that he’s not sitting out to rest that knee is a very good sign to me.
But I do think the possibility of Malachi Singleton coming into the game at some point is there. It’s good that Singleton has already been in that situation against Tennessee.

Also they’re finally getting Patrick Kutas back and there’s some speculation he might switch to right tackle where they’ve had problems but that seems like a stretch, to me, for a guy who hasn’t played this season.

I was hoping they’d get Jaylon Braxton back but he’s still out. They could use him in the secondary in a game like this.

Q. KYHog asks: Can we beat LSU? At first I thought Ole Miss was way better but was keeping the LSU game close by making too many mistakes. But by the time it was over I was thinking LSU was better and also better than Tennessee.

A. I pretty much agree with that. I kept thinking that Ole Miss might win by a couple of touchdowns but LSU dominated them in the last part of regulation and then it was no contest in the overtime period.

They are better than Tennessee because they have a veteran QB and because their defense is more consistent than the Vols.’ You have to hope that they have a let down after such an emotional win at home.

Q. Mousetown says: 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.

A. There could not have been a better time for a week off. If Green had to get hurt, last week was the time for it to happen. It looks like he’ll be okay plus Arkansas is getting offensive lineman Patrick Kutas back. As far as Tennessee goes, you aren’t giving the proper respect to Florida. They’ve turned into a really good team. The fact that Tennessee came back to dominate the overtime period tells me that they’re still one of the better teams in the SEC. Not the best but certainly top five or six.

Q.The_Bionic_Pig says: Immediately following Ole Miss’s loss to LSU
many in their fanbase were calling for Kiffin’s head. Were college football fans this polarizing in the 70s- & 80s?

A. No, because they didn’t have the outlet that they have now. Back then the only way fans publicly expressed dissatisfaction was in letters to the sports editors of newspapers. There might be one or two crazy letters after a loss but not like now.

Sometimes TV stations would interview angry fans on Dickson street but it wasn’t all that common.

Q. Jared says: I’ve heard that T Will changed up the defense on that last drive Tennessee had…if that is correct, what did he change up?

A. He doesn’t do press conferences and I don’t remember Pittman saying anything specific about that after the game. What I do know is that T-Will switched looks all through the game. He’d got from a 3-2-6 to a 3-3-5. At times he’d be in a traditional 4 man front. He also has those hybrid linebacker/safeties which allow you to adjust back and forth on anticipated run plays or pass plays. Huepel mentioned after the game that Arkansas gave them some defensive looks they had not seen before. Tennessee was the team that had the extra week to prepare for that game but it was Arkansas that came up with a new look. Good for T-Will.

Q. HL McCamish wants to know: Are you surprised that Malzahn benched KJ? I wasn’t. He found out what we already knew. KJ is not the same player he was before he got all that NIL money.

A. I hate that this has happened to KJ. He’s still the guy that led Arkansas to a 9 win season in 2021 and if he hadn’t gotten hurt I think the Hogs would have won 9 or 10 in 2022.

The uneven distribution NIL money is a problem. NIL plus the transfer portal really stinks. I do think this problem will be solved. The powers that be are working on it behind the scenes I just hope it’s sooner than later.

Q. Hogtallica asks: If you could rewrite Razorback sports history by changing the outcome of one of two games which would it be, the 2006 loss to Florida in the SEC football championship game or the 1995 basketball loss to UCLA in the Men’s Basketball Tournament Finals? Keep in mind that only six programs have ever won the SEC football Championship game.

A. I would change the UCLA loss in Seattle. It was for the national championship. Yes Arkansas has never won the SEC Football Championship game and it would be nice to change that but it’s still a conference championship not a national championship. Also I really believe if Arkansas had won back-to-back national titles in basketball Nolan would have remained Arkansas coach for at least 10 more years. All that stuff that happened with Stan Heath and John Pelphrey would have never come about. Arkansas Basketball is back where it belongs but that long detour was hard to swallow.

Q. RazorAlex88 says: Can we please do something about those fossil lights (at DWRRS) that have been there since the dinosaurs and install some LED lights?

A. The word I get is there won’t be any LED lights in the immediate future. Becoming more competitive with NIL money and dealing with the possibility of revenue sharing are the priorities. There are some other projects deemed to be more important than new lights at this time.

Q. Inhogswetrust says: Ole Miss came out with a statement on faking injuries. I found it interesting that they felt compelled to do so. What do you think can be done to stop injury faking, if anything.

A. If a player is down on the field resulting in a stoppage of play, a rule that that player can not return until the current offensive possession is over would likely cut out fake injuries. I think you could make a good case for such a rule even if the injury is legit under the premise that an injured player need to be observed for a few minutes to make sure they are okay to return to the field. A player safety rule.

Q. Hawgredneck wants to know: When are people going to get it about Vanderbilt? This is no fluke. Beat a pretty good Kentucky team on the road. They are for real. Glad we don’t play them.

A. They are the surprise team in the SEC. At the midway point they are tied with Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee for fifth in the SEC with 8 other teams behind them. Teams like Ole Miss and Missouri. The ‘Dores are 4-2 overall and have that win over Alabama.

Q. Eddylynn asks: With no Hog football game were you at the baseball games over the weekend? Arkansas won two of three from the Okies. What did you think?

A. The pitching was really good in games one and three. I think DVH used 7 pitchers in game one. They limited OSU to one hit with 18 strikeouts. The Cowpokes did score on an unearned run but Arkansas pounded out 13 hits and won the game easily 8-1.

The two Saturday games were five innings apiece. In game one veteran Arkansas pitchers Ben Bybee two home runs. Will McEntire gave up another as did true Freshman Tate McGuire. OSU won 6-3.

DVH went with an entirely different lineup in game two and apparently the Hogs have good depth at the plate because Arkansas won that game 7-1. Tyler Holland, a true freshman shortstop, hit a three-run home run. Really good pitching by Arkansas in that game. Five different pitchers including veteran Parker Coil gave up just one unearned run.

Q: Ham Porter says: Slobberin’ Hog is back and the masses rejoice. Now can Cal and the athletic department can fix the blue shark outfits a lot of students wear for big games? I don’t have a problem with the sharks themselves but wearing blue is ridiculous. You would never see Kentucky students wearing red. Surely there is a solution that can be found on this, right? Or am I just an old fogey who needs to let it go?

A. Like you I appreciate the enthusiasm of the students but maybe they could get the athletic department to purchase some red and white shark costumes. I looked it up. They are available.

Q. Armon Abbe asks: Is there anything more annoying than Kentucky Basketball fans? I saw a nice story on the Internet about Cal having his players pass out socks & sneakers to needy kids, even washing the kid’s feet first like in the Bible. But here came the Kentucky fans dumping all over the story with their stupid “Cal is a loser” comments.

A. I thought that stuff would eventually go away but in answer to your question, they are the most obnoxious fans in the SEC. Alabama is to football in the SEC what Kentucky is to basketball and yet Alabama football fans are saints compared to those Big Blue Nation people. No wonder Cal wanted outta that place.

Q. Lanny wants to know: Do you accept Kirby Smart’s explanation that shoving Mississippi State’s QB was unintentional and he doesn’t remember much about it?

A. If you watch video of the incident, the Mississippi State QB was run out of bounds and went to the bench before turning around. Smart was walking quickly toward someone on his staff that he appeared be be mad at. He pulled off his hat and appeared to be yelling something. At that moment the QB came in from his right and they bumped into each other at which point Smart shoved him. It doesn’t look like Smart saw who the QB was until after the shove. But he does look at him so it’s hard to accept the explanation that he didn’t see the QB and can’t remember much about it. It doesn’t appear that anybody at Mississippi State is going to make an issue out of it and the SEC office has not commented so it’s probably over and done with.

Q. Marty Byrde’s Proxy asks: When you first arrived in Arkansas was there one media member covering U of A sports during that era that you looked at and said, “I want to do my job like that?”

A. Yes. Orville Henry. Orville didn’t lecture fans or pop off with his opinions. If he wanted to make a point about something he believed he did it, but the thing he did best was to find out as much as he could about a certain subject and then pass that information to the fans. He put the work in. I liked that.