Liberty Bowling, Portal Free For All & Too Bad For Bama & The ‘Sip

Q. Our first question is about Arkansas’ Liberty Bowl matchup with an old SWC foe: RazorAlex88 says: Our Liberty game against Texas Tech does not move the needle of my confidence in this team going forward. I believe Tech is gonna blast what is left of this team.

A. What if I told you that some of the Texas Tech fans I know, guys I grew up, with feel the same way about their team? To them the Liberty Bowl is a better bowl than they deserved which is crazy, but that shows the difference in the mindset of Arkansas fans, who have seen too many Liberty Bowls over the years and don’t respect it as a decent bowl which is usually is.

The problem is the weather. Usually it’s very cold and if this Liberty Bowl were played in the afternoon the weather would not be that bad. But it’s a 6pm start and the temperature is expected to drop into the upper 20’s before the game is over. The bowl itself has some decent events including a big street party on Beal Street the night before the game. There’s really good barbecue in Memphis and for Hogs fans in Central, Northeast and Southeast Arkansas it’s a one day trip. The stadium is being renovated and only holds 45,000 right now so a near sellout is predicted.

As for Texas Tech, at first glance this looks like a mismatch but there are some similarities between the two teams. Both have a win over a team in the college football playoffs. Arkansas beat Tennessee. Tech beat Arizona State. But both also have an embarrassing blowout loss. The Hogs got trashed by Ole Miss and the Red Raiders got run off the field by Colorado. They have a common opponent. Arkansas lost to Oklahoma State by 8 in overtime. Tech beat the Cowboys by 8. But anybody who knows anything about Oklahoma State will tell you that they were not the same team in October and November that they were in early September when Arkansas played them.

Texas Tech is 9th nationally in total offense and Arkansas is close to that at 13th. But there’s a big difference in defense. Tech is giving up 36 points a game, Arkansas just 25. The Hogs defense is better at stopping the run and the pass than Tech. The Red Raiders are giving up almost a hundred yards more total offense per game than Arkansas.

What about transfers? Right now Arkansas has eight starters leaving. Tech has nine total but only one starter gone, their top running back, as of Monday.
The point is, this may or may not be the mismatch that some Arkansas fans seem to think it is. The Tech fans I know aren’t looking at it like that at all.

Q. DWR asks: Any idea why this mass exodus of players? Will we be able to field a team for the bowl game that can compete?

A. Sam Pittman pointed out in a Liberty Bowl zoom on Sunday that in 2022 Arkansas beat Kansas with nine starters missing. So it’s not like this is unprecedented. However Arkansas has starters missing on the D-Line and in the secondary. Two offensive line starters are gone and two starting receivers will not be there. There are experienced backups available but they’re still not starters.

We’re seeing starters beginning to jump and in fairly large numbers all over the country. Each year that this portal madness has been allowed to continue unchecked the attitude of players has started to shift to a, “I gotta get mine” mentality. “Too bad for the team.” What’s worse, more of those who are staying are posting encouraging messages to them.

The team concept is out the window. A pro football mentality is developing. The problem is, pro football has rules for this. Currently the college game doesn’t. Unrestricted free agency is turning college football into a play for hire sport with zero loyalty to coaches, teammates and fans.

These players aren’t mature enough to see what they’re creating. When you turn your back on that logo on your helmet your dumping on the fans and when you dump on the fans it’s only a matter of time until they dump on you. When they do that you’ve got nothing. You’re playing touch football in a park with your friends.

Hopefully the revenue sharing plan that’s coming will save the day. A cap on what teams can offer players with reduced NIL bidding sounds good. I hope it works. But don’t underestimate the money grubbers, schools like Tennessee that started this mess with their lawsuits against NIL rules. Some believe that the SEC and the Big 10 will eventually combine and create an elite division of college football leaving all others team out.

Hopefully that won’t happen.

Q. WV Hogfan says: I understand players transferring to get playing time but how should I feel about Patrick Kutas leaving after promising Pittman he would stay if he redshirts this year?

A. Some would say Pittman should have gotten it in writing. But of course that would not have been binding because again, there are currently no rules on this.

I have no idea what is going though this young man’s mind and he hasn’t given his side of the story but it looks like it doesn’t bother him that he made a promise, that his head coach lived up to his end of the bargain related to that promise, and he didn’t.

To me this is part of the mentality change I’ve already referenced. All that matters is doing what’s best for them.

Q. Dr. Strangepork asks: Is this the new norm? It isn’t just the Hogs enduring the poachable portal player…it is rampant throughout. It is like a perpetual fantasy football draft.

A. That’s a good description of it and it’s exactly what some schools want. Schools like Ole Miss. Their fans apparently love the idea that you can steal players from other schools with big money offers. Well, look what that 20 million dollar NIL war chest got them. No SEC title. They didn’t even get to the championship game. They bragged for months that Ole Miss would be in the playoffs. Nope. They didn’t make it. They’ve been reduced to complaining that other schools got in that didn’t deserve it.

Q. EddyLynn says: Looks like Hook ‘Em’s plan to take over the SEC in year one failed. Longhorns are like Aggies. A lot of talk but beef and cotton prices are always down come market time.

A. That analysis could only come from somebody who grew up in a place where there were farmers and ranchers and some who did both. Eddy Lynn and I knew some farmers and cattlemen like that. They were always bragging to look good. It was always interesting to see them when things didn’t work out so good. The point is, there were a lot of farmers we liked but their kids went to Texas Tech not Texas or A&M. Like me, Eddy Lynn enjoys it whenever A&M or Texas gets beat.

Q. Marty Byrde’s proxy wants to know: Can you gather any information as to how other P4 teams with similar records to the Hogs are faring? Are others seeing similar numbers?

A.

Q. HotlantaHog asks: What’s your take on the football playoffs lineup? The 3-loss SEC teams left out — Bama, Ole Miss, South Carolina — argue they are being hurt by playing a tough schedule…..

…..So does this incentive these teams — and Arkansas — to play easier non conference schedules? Why schedule a Notre Dame if there is no upside?

A. Maybe but what’s going to be more interesting to me is if no SEC team gets to the finals. What then?

Q. Hawgredneck says: It seems like our basketball team constantly gets off to a slow start but rebounds in the second half. The last two games have been crazy. Shooting like 30% in the first half and 60% in the second half. What gives?

A. Maybe it says that Cal is a really good halftime X’s & O’s coach. Kind of the opposite of what Kentucky fans have been claiming. I also think he’s still been dealing with injuries and that has affected his starting lineups at times. By halftime he has a better idea of who to give minutes to.

Hogdogger wants to know: What is the problem with the poor attendance in home basketball games this season? It’s a little worrisome to me. Did ticket prices go up and fans aren’t going for it? Maybe they are just waiting for SEC play to start.

Stephen Shoops adds: Why are the fans not showing up for basketball games? When coach Muss was here.. it was full house . They should be doing that with coach Cal !

A. This is interesting to me because when this subject has come up for discussion on the Internet I see a lot of excuses. Some of the very people who constantly attack players, coaches and the media get highly sensitive when somebody questions them. Like, I have a right to go to wherever games I want and it’s none of your business if I buy tickets and choose to not go.

Q. whippersnapper says: You have worked a long time around Bob Holt. Could you share a story about him? Or a funny moment?

A. The best one is from an NCAA Basketball Tournament Regional many years ago in Indianapolis. Arkansas was there and so was Little Rock and they were not playing each other. Because Bob worked for a Little Rock newspaper and he took it on himself to go to Arkansas’ day-before-the-game press conference and also Little Rock’s.

As I walked by the Little Rock press conference, which was over, I saw Bob questioning one of their players. The kid had a pained look on his face. Apparently he had been answering Bob questions for a while. So as I walked by I heard the kid say, BOB STOP. I’ve told you EVERYTHING I know about EVERYTHING. I feel like every thought I’ve ever had, you have. There is nothing left. My brain is empty. I have to go.

The young man then hurried off to his locker room.

Bob looked at us and with no emotion he simply turned and walked to whatever he saw as his next task that day. He was a total workaholic. He also had the ability to ask tough questions and to those questions more than once if he didn’t get the answer he was looking for. But he did it in such a way that nobody stayed mad at him. He was without ego. He never tried to call attention to himself. He was just doing his job.