The 11 AM Kickoff Curse, A Tacky Billboard Shot At Pitt & Is Cal’s Roster Spread Too Thin?

Q. Our first question this week is from: TL Slaten who asks: Is there something wrong with me that I thought our guys played their butts off against Texas? Some are acting like it was the Ole Miss game part 2. Those 2 games were not close to the same.

A. We’re at a point where playing better is not enough for a lot of fans. Yes they exaggerate but playing close is something they reject. They want wins even if the opponent is number 3 in the country.

There are still plenty who understand the bounce back that occurred in that game. The secondary looked like a different bunch of guys and in some cases they were. Yes, Arkansas struggled offensively but that’s the best defense I’ve seen this year.

Arkansas needs to take care of business on Saturday and then go all out to beat Missouri. The Razorback have never won in Columbia. That would be a great way to end the regular season and a boost going into the bowl game.

Q. Hawgredneck wants to know: What’s going on with Pittman’s surgery? Some seem to think he’s going to retire because of it but that’s not what he said last week. At least that’s not what I heard him say. Am I wrong?

A. You are not wrong. He was asked about his upcoming hip surgery in press conference a week ago. He said the surgery would be immediately after the Missouri game and he planned to be back at work by the opening of the transfer portal in mid December. That’s also when bowl practices typically start. For some reason some who watched that presser on the Internet thought he was going to be out for the bowl game and would not be involved in portal recruiting. I have no idea how they got confused. If you understand common English, what he said was perfectly clear.

Q. sgiles asks: Are you willing to say that Pittman will definitely be back? With the way they played Texas and bowl eligibility coming up on Saturday it seems like to me it’s a sure thing.

A. I’m not going to get sucked into that again. I learned my lesson with the Ole Miss blowout. It’s not over ’till it’s over. I do think this team will beat Louisiana Tech but if Missouri blew them out and they lost the bowl game it could get dicey. My basic instinct tells me that Pittman will be back next season but I’m not going to say it’s 100%.

Q. KYHog wants to know: What is the number 1 thing Taylen Green needs to do to help us win games that we have been losing? I say cut out all those turnovers.

A. That would be a good place to start but to me the biggest thing he has to do is become a better decision maker. He’s got impressive talent but he struggles with the kind quick decisions that is instinctive with a lot of QBs. At times he throws the ball at a covered receiver when there’s a running lane right in front of him. He often makes the wrong read in RPO situations. If he comes back, cleaning this up could be a matter of doing a whole lot of film study in the offseason. Learn from his mistakes. Come back fresh with a seasons worth of experience in the SEC to help him next season.

But that’s not automatic. It may turn out that he’s always going to struggle with decision making. I will say that Green does make very good decisions at times but he needs to become more consistent at that.

Q. Hotdogger says: I don’t get why Taylen keeps running behind the line of scrimmage when he’s being chased by defenders. The offensive line isn’t helping but can’t Petrino come up with a plan to keep us from getting smacked with lost yards?

A. With his speed Green’s ability to give up yards while being pursued in order to get to the edge and get around them is what he does. It doesn’t always work but some of the biggest running plays this season have been with him doing this. We don’t get to talk to Petrino but based on what Pittman has said I’m guessing that he encourages Green to move up in the pocket instead of taking off sideways. This gives him more time to find an open receiver. We’ve seen him do that with success but he’s not consistent at it. That’s one of the decisions I just mentioned. If he comes back I would assume we will see less of him looping around one edge or the other trying to find a receiver or getting free to run downfield.

Q. Armon Abbe asks: What do you think about that billboard somebody put up on the highway from Rogers saying coach Pittman should quit? I guess the players saw it when the team was coming from their hotel back to the stadium.

A. This is one of those things that confirms to me that most fans are fairly rational in expressing their feelings about losing games. The response to that billboard has been about 90% negative. Most fans reacting on social media are calling out whoever paid for that message. They say it’s over the top and completely disrespectful to the players.

A couple of fans that I talked to face-to-face had some extreme opinions on what should be done about it. One said the media should investigate and make the name or names public. The athletic department should then ban them from games. I doubt that will happen.

Another man said that they ought to take whoever it is and put out them out on the field against an Arkansas opponent. Of course he was being sarcastic.

I thought it as over the top but who knows, maybe the team played better on Saturday because of that billboard.

Q. VegasHog says: Over the past two seasons Hogs are 1-6 in conference home games in Fayetteville. Do you have any insight as to what the issue might be and how the coaching staff might fix it?

A. The kick off times of those games show some interesting results. Forget two years. Go back five to Pittman’s first season. In 11 am starts Arkansas is 2-8 in conference home games but they are 2-1 in night games and 3-1 if you include the 2021 Texas game.

Night games do make a difference in almost any stadium. I think one of the reasons that Arkansas played better in big games in Little Rock for years because there were lights there and no lights in Fayetteville. What if the 69 shootout had been played under the lights?

Also what strikes me about the Pittman years, nine conference home games at 11 am. Just three conference night games.

There are other factors but to me that’s a telling stat and when I saw that 11 am kickoff for Texas which was announced early in the season, I said Arkansas will not win that game.

Q. WVHogfan says: La Tech has played some some big name schools close this year. Is there a chance that we may not take them seriously? We have a history of not playing well against lesser known opponents.

A. I can’t agree on the big name school part but they have played several mid major teams close, in fact a lot of them. They lost two overtime games and a double overtime game. North Carolina State is the only Power 4 conference school they’ve played. That was a 30-20 loss. NC State is 5-5 and got hammered by Tennessee and Clemson.

Sam Pittman said on Monday that Louisiana Tech has a 3-4-5 defense with a rover that is very disruptive. He said they’ve started to run the ball more and are better at it lately. But they have speed at receiver and their QB is a good passer. They’re coming off a 12- 7 win over Western Kentucky. The bottom line, Arkansas cannot play like it did against UAB. Overlooking these guys because they’re not an SEC team could be a way to get beat. However, I have to believe that because this is a bowl eligibility game, Arkansas will be focused.

The defense has to come out strong and the secondary can’t be what it was against Ole Miss.
Offensively, with Ja’Quinden Jackson back, I expect Arkansas to try to run the ball more but La. Tech is holding opponents to 118 yards rushing per game while giving up 187 passing.

Q. Referring to Rocket Sanders’ last second touchdown run to beat Missouri f00zzman says: Crazy how a lot of our contributing players leave and find success elsewhere….

A. I don’t see anything crazy about it. I’d say some do and some don’t. Give Rocket a lot of credit for going to South Carolina for a fresh start. He lost weight, rehabbed from a leg injury and came back better than ever. KJ Jefferson transferred to UCF and it looks like he will end his college football career on the bench. When Rocket beat Missouri on that bruising 8 yard touchdown run I wasn’t thinking that Arkansas was stupid for letting him go. I was thinking, All right Rocket, way to make a lot of Razorback fans who don’t like Missouri happy.

Poo Paul transferred to Ole Miss. He a good kid and he’s a big part of their success. It might be a different story if he was a jerk but he’s not. The portal is a part of football these days. You lose some you gain some. That’s the way it works.

Q. Marty Byrde’s Proxy says: Sark made a comment about Darrell Royal and our dislike for the Horns. I always considered Royal one of the good guys. Do you have the same opinion and was this due to his friendship with Frank?

A. That was my opinion long before I was around Darrell Royal as a sportscaster. You could just see in interviews and the things he said on TV that he was a good guy. The fact that he and Frank were such close friends no doubt influenced Hogs fans. In person I can tell you that Darrell Royal was one of the most likeable coaches I was ever around. I think Arkansas fans dislike for Texas has to do with their fans. They consider a lot of them to be pompous, arrogant and consumed with their own self importance.

Q. Rob_NeArk asks: Does the U of A have the ability to take “attendance” at games to see if ticket holders are going to games more times than not? It’s frustrating not to be able to buy tickets then turn the TV on and see thousands of empty seats.

A. I’m guessing that this refers to basketball because DWRS Stadium has been fairly full this season. I don’t recall any SEC football games where there were thousands of empty seats. It has happened in the last two Wednesday night games in basketball. I think what you’re asking is if the athletic department can determine which of their season ticket holders is not showing up for some of these November and December games. It would take some effort but it’s possible. However why would they do that? If you buy the tickets it’s your choice if you show up or stay home. The the athletic department does have a system where if you’re not going to a game you can notify them and they will donate those tickets to those who want to go to a game but can’t afford season tickets.

I will say that the crowd for the Troy game was larger than what we saw in the Lipscomb game a week earlier. It will be interesting to see if it’s even larger for the Monday game against Pacific since there’s a general belief that Wednesday night is the worst night of the week in terms of attendance.

Q. Hoggystyle78 wants to know: What is the latest news on Brazile’s injury and Aidoo, is he still not 100%?. Our frontcourt lacks depth. We need those guys back healthy. Did Cal make a mistake only going 9 deep?

A. He explained last summer that he was going to concentrate his NIL money on eight or nine players in order to increase his chances of bringing in the top talent that he wanted. Three big forwards is typical of what Cal plays in a game. But yes, he took a chance that injuries would leave him with two or even one inside player. So to what you’re asking, should Cal reduce the overall quality of his roster a bit to gain more depth? No. I think he’s doing the right thing.