Tabula Rasa: Arkansas' Transition Begins
by cocknfire on Feb 12, 2009 12:58 AM EST
in Football
2 comments
When your humble correspondent started reviewing the 2008 season for SEC 
teams, he warned that there might not be that much to say about some of them. Arkansas is one of those teams.
Essentially, 2008 was a wasted year for the Hogs. Moving from a Houston Nutt/Darren McFadden offense to Bobby Petrino's system doesn't happen in a season. The skills required of players all over the field are vastly different. But, still, there is something vaguely haunting in the numbers for Arkansas.
The passing offense was actually pretty decent, Casey Dick-Nathan Dick saga and all: second in the SEC in yardage, fifth in efficiency. But what was absolutely deplorable was the defense, which can be categorized without further research as the worst unit in the SEC.
We knew early on that Arkansas was in trouble, needing rallies to defeat Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe, one an FCS teams and the other a functional equivalent. Consecutive torchings at the hands of Alabama, Texas and Florida, a trio that defeated the Hogs by a combined 108 points, simply confirmed our suspicions.
The Gypsy Coach of the South and his team did end up with some victories over decent teams, from BCS Buster favorite Tulsa to LSU. But the wins were all on offense. Arkansas' defense did not hold a single team to fewer than 21 points, despite a schedule containing offensive, ahem, powerhouses like Auburn, Mississippi State and Kentucky. It's nice to have offense, but if Petrino and Co. want to win in the SEC, they have to play defense at some point.
That said, Arkansas did find some good players in 2008: RB Michael Smith turned out more than 107 ypg, while DT Malcolm Sheppard anchored the defense with 14.5 TFL and 6.5 sacks. Both return, and Michigan refugee Ryan Mallett, despite rumors of a wide-open race, is certain to make his debut as starting QB. If Petrino can mold Mallett into a solid signal-caller and the Hogs can find a fix at defense, they could make themselves a factor, though probably not a contender, in the SEC West.
After a yearlong delay, the future has come to Arkansas.
Previous Reviews:
Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Georgia and the Woes of 10-3
Only Human: The Perfectly Average Season No One Saw Coming [LSU]
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Defense
The problem with the defense is we had to play WAY too many freshmen. We didn’t have any depth and they had to learn as they went.
On the other hand...
One must be pretty impressed that Petrino had the kind of offensive production, especially in the passing game, that he did this season. Arkansas has NEVER had any sort of a passing attack, even with Stoerner (who just fumbled AGAIN) at the helm. I’m excited about the prospect of a diverse offense that might actually have a 100ypg back, decent quarterback, AND quality downfield targets. I’ve been going to Arkansas games for a decade now and I’m not sure I would recognize a balanced offense.
The points about the defense are very well taken and undeniable. Though the Petrino hire garnered most of the attention, lets remember the even later-dated carousel at defensive coordinator. Reggie Herring, Ellis Johnson, Willy Robinson, I think a few other people were hired and lured away somewhere in that litany. I would love to have a dominant defense but would currently settle with a defense in the top half of division I. Consider this as well. Two D-lineman and one linebacker who started most of the games this year were true freshman and made up 10% of the SEC All-Conference Freshman Team. One, linebacker Jerry Franklin, led the team in both tackles and interceptions (2, I think, but one broke Tebow’s streak of interception-free games). That’s a LOT of responsibility on untested players that now will be entering their sophomore seasons as seasoned veterans.
For that fact, one in six of the SEC All-Conference Freshman Team were razorbacks. It gives this fan, at least, cause for hope.
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