Razorback football

The AP is pretty close to how I would have voted. I would have voted the Hogs at 15th.

 

That pretty much identifies where you are then. You dislike UT and that colors what you see. I am probably somewhat like that about UF. I despise them.

As for your lack of respect- UT lost by one to UF. They've beaten Cal who looks to be on their way to possibly winning that conference and is among the nation's leaders in offense.

I didn't buy the best defense in America hype. However, UGA has more talent on both sides of the ball than Arkansas and are better coached.

If you are "not all that impressed with UT" then the only question is exactly what it would take to impress you... and by extension how delusional you are.

Their defense is allowing around 17 ppg. Cal could have easily been a shut out and has pretty much ripped everyone else they've played. UF is better than Ark and only scored 21. UGA is about equivalent to Ark offensively right now and only had about 100 yards in the 2nd half after UT found its stride. Their offense scored 20 points.

UT's offense leads the SEC in total offense, passing ypg, and scoring. Ainge is the 6th highest rated QB in the country and the hands down best QB in the SEC by pretty much any stat you want to look at. Meachem is the #1 WR in the country... and shares the ball with Swain and Smith.

UGA is one of the 3 most talented teams in the conference. Their biggest problem has been that their QB position isn't settled. Joe T doesn't have the talent. Stafford and Cox don't have the experience.

It is a little surprising that Richt hasn't been more decisive. I expect a decision to be made for one of the young guys and for them to be very competitive when they play UF. Much more than they were against UT.

Arkansas caught Auburn in a trap game. The LSU game was just behind them and still hurting them physically. The UF game is this week.

Basically, Auburn overlooked Arkansas. For goodness sake, Tuberville was worried about a playoff system... which I am fairly sure was because of UF and not Ark. Arkansas was good enough to punish them for that. Arkansas won't be overlooked again.

But in direct response to the size of effort... No. You will have a much bigger challenge with LSU's and UT's offense. Auburn hasn't been very effective passing. LSU hasn't run effectively but is a great passing team when they can avoid the choke.

UT is now passing at the highest level in the conference and running effectively. They are by far and away playing the best offense in the SEC. If Ainge weren't throwing so well, there is a good chance that Coker would be among the SEC rushing leaders. He runs pretty similar to McFadden... and has stable mates better than Arkansas'.

I actually hope you are right since I like Nutt.

One thing that will help is that LSU is probably in decline. The Miles effect seems to have hit sooner than I thought it would. He's a nice guy but a poor fit for a team built by Saban. LSU is the most talented team in the conference and can still do alot of harm to UT, Ark, and the rest of their schedule. But, they don't play with discipline so consistency and championships aren't in their realm of possibilities right now.

 

I don't think Texas has beaten anyone that makes them worthy of a top ten ranking and lost pretty decisively to Ohio St.

ND is still ranked too high after being absolutely manhandled by Michigan and needing 4th qtr heroics to beat Mich St. Due to the weakness of the ACC, the GT win doesn't even look as good as it did. Penn St is pretty weak this year too. So basically, ND lost badly to the only good team they've played.

As far as Arkansas is concerned, I don't think you can disregard that game against SC. You beat Auburn. You caught them between LSU and UF. That doesn't mean that Ark has arrived. It just means they're now good enough again not to be overlooked by teams that aren't playing particularly well to begin with.

 

Ken wrote:

Didn't say that nor intimate that. LSU is good. All I said was that Auburn has not looked great. They looked sloppy in beating Buffalo. They barely escaped Columbia alive. Since the LSU game, Auburn has struggled.

I never said it wasn't. I said it was going to be more difficult now. Then again, a lot can happen between now and then.

I think GA is talented at WR and in their secondary, but neither is playing up to their potential. Further. GA has some rebuilding to do. This is not last year's GA team. I still think they're one of the top five teams in the conference.

You said you weren't impressed with UT. That puts you in some good company. Mark Richt and Jeff Tedford said the same thing :thumbs:

 

To all of you Tennessee fans:

We can all blah, blah, blah all we want on this board but this will settled on the field in Fayetteville on November 11 - probably on national TV.

So let's see what happens 33 days from now. In the meantime I just got my wireless network set up at home and I'm going to turn on my new laptop and listen to some bluegrass music at www.bluegrasscountry.org anywhere in the house that I choose.

 

It isn't "blah, blah, blah"... It's statistical facts. You have given no reason to support your lack of respect for how UT has played thus far.

They may not win another game but they have steadily improved and are now probably playing the best football and definitely the best offense in the SEC. What's NOT to be impressed with?

I hated to see them lose to UF but in the wake they "discovered" Coker.

But the most critical change was at center where a HS blue chipper finally took over for a walk-on. Frogg was/is a great story. He bleeds orange. But if you can blame one guy for a loss, the UF loss sits squarely in his lap. They pushed him back into the backfield on virtually every play. If you can't win the middle, you can't run. If you can't run, you can't win the UT-UF game.

If you think someone in the SEC is playing better at this point, I'd like to know who. UF won against LSU but the Tigers had more yardage. UF didn't stop them as much as they self-destructed... a couple of really bad calls didn't help either. I saw nothing in their win over UK that screamed "domination". You might be tempted to say Bama was a good win... until the Duke game and the rest of their season for that matter. Struggled with Hawaii and Vandy and really blew it against Arkansas though dominating on offense. Both of those games (Bama/UK) were played in Gainesville.

I think UF is a team primed for a loss and probably two in a row... The question is whether UGA and Auburn will have their act together well enough to get it done.

 

As I said I would in another thread, I will admit that UT has been very impressive recently. Cal has played better than I expected them to as well, and that makes the UT big win over them more impressive. If it wasn't for the slip up against Florida, UT could be the 2 or 3 team in the country right now. I personally do not think any team from the SEC is going to make it out undefeated and none of them will be playing for the National Chamionship in January. The only thing that could change that scenario is if all the top schools end up with 1 loss which is possible.

 

I think it is more likely now that one or even two 1-loss teams will play for the NC than it was before. Rutgers could be the wild card that shakes up the BE. Texas is undeserving even if they go with only one loss but I don't think they will.

I tend to think it is unlikely that SC goes without losing with ND, Cal, and Oregon still on the schedule. They should've lost to U-dub.

UF has three more games in conference they can lose plus FSU who will be looking for redemption not to mention salvation in the FL recruiting wars.

OSU or Michigan are assured of one loss and there is enough quality in the Big10 that either could lose though on the whole I think the Big 10 is down this year. Minnesota, PSU, and Wisconsin are all off what they were last year. Iowa is still second tier. Indiana, Illinois, and Mich St are still underachieving. Only Purdue IMO has made a definite move up.

I actually think the SEC is the best conference this year as much by default as any real improvement in play. Normally I would say the B10 is the best top to bottom but this year only 2 teams are elite, 2-3 are good, and 5-6 aren't very good.

 

Oddly, they might not have been as good had they not lost. Maybe McNeil would have replaced Frogg at center but coaches and especially Fulmer are resistent to changes while winning... part of why he didn't push Sanders out sooner.

 

I agree. The SEC is clearly the best conference this year. The Big 10 is way top heavy. The Big 12 is down. Realistically Missouri may be the best team in the Big 12 this year. The Pac 10 seems top heavy too.

I am kinda disappointed this year. There do not seem to me to be any big matchups that could make a really good National Championship game like we had last year.

I sure wish they would scrap this system and take the top 16 teams and put them in a playoff.

If the season were to end right now according to the AP Poll here are the matchups for that playoff:

1. OSU
16. Georgia

8. Tenn
9. Notre Dame

5. West Virginia
12. Clemson

4. Michigan
13. Georgia Tech

6. Texas
11. Auburn

3. USC
14. LSU

7. Louisville
10. Cal

2. Florida
15. Iowa

Now that would be fun...I just hope some day soon we get to see a similiar system.

 

I'd settle for 8 teams or even a plus one system at this point. An SEC team will probably be the best team in the country this year... and they have the least likelihood of playing for the NC.

In fact, if it played out that a BE team made it facing ND who gets all kinds of undeserved love then the NC wouldn't even be in the top five best teams in the country... maybe not even the top 10.

BTW, due to polling bias, ND is very well positioned to jump Michigan if the Wolverines lose... That would be blatantly unjust.

 

What's the old saying? "Statistics are for losers."?

Going into the Auburn game statistically the Hogs didn't have a snowball's chance in a hot oven. But games are won by the team scoring the most points, not the team with the most impressive statistics.

But, if you want to, just keep on with the statistics concerning this upcoming game until November 11. It will all stop then.

 

Last time I checked... the only loss UT had was by one point to the #2 or #3 team in the country. Statistics reflect performance and are to that degree an indicator of the level of excellence achieved and how a team is going to perform in the future.

Going into the game, Auburn had underachieved statistically, were overlooking Ark to UF, were beat up from the LSU game, and were distracted with talk about playoff systems and the unfairness that they might be locked out again.

On the other point- generally speaking, the teams with the most impressive statistics in things like scoring offense, total offense, scoring defense, and total defense will score the most points with consistency.

I looked at the stats going into the UT/Cal game and accurately predicted that though they were a talented team the hype wasn't deserved because they had not been tested. Same with UGA.

I looked at the talent levels and stats then told you that Ark's only chance against SC was if it became a mud bowl. It was dry and Ark got blown out. SC had proven talent. Ark did not.

The most talented team Arkansas will face this year besides SC and LSU is UT. They are also the team that is right now playing the closest to their potential on offense.

I know it is inconvenient and uncomfortable for you to acknowledge it but UT has posted its offensive and defensive stats against better teams than Arkansas has faced without posting those stats.

Statistics and history render probabilities. You are right that the game will be played on the field. What you seem to be trying to avoid though is that the comparative performances of the two teams yield a probability that UT will beat Arkansas convincingly. That doesn't mean it won't be close or that Arkansas can't win. It just means that they probably won't.

In fact based on the actual on the field performances of the two teams this year, there is probably about an equal possibility that UT will score 40+ or that Arkansas will win.

 

Ken wrote:

And we usually do :thumbs:

I don't know how this got turned into a UT vs. Ark thread. I was just commenting on how Ark has a great victory and now some of their fans have them running the table and winning in Glendale on Jan 8. Irrational exuberance is a phrase that comes to mind. And I'm not looking at Nov 11 yet. We have games before then. So do y'all. I'd not overlook them.

Scott wrote:

I disagree. I still think FLA is the class of the league, followed by us. Then, it's the weekly team of the west, and from there it's anybody's guess. Florida has not looked dominant. Neither has Tennessee.

It wasn't just Frogg. McNeil was erratic and Frogg was the better choice. However, the entire OL got pushed around by the best front seven in the land. And I don't lay the FLA loss entirely in the OL lap. Remember our secondary, much like all of last year, was personna non grata, especially on 3rd down and long. We lost to FLA and got embarassed by GA in the first half for the same reason we lost last year - secondary and no D on 3rd and long. I can still hear the shrieks of the fans who saw the clueless DBs against FLA, especially on the go-ahead TD pass from Leak.

Not true. Lots of times we've had shake-ups at RB, etc., even when winning. Fulmer does his best to get his best and healthiest 11 players on the field who give you the best chance to win. And let's let the Randy thing go, okay? Oddly enough, he's doing a great job with UK's QB who credits all his success to Randy. Here in the News-Sentinel, John Adams has been doing some sarcastic statistical comparisons of Randy and UT's offense. Not much of a difference in the numbers he's bandied about. I'm not looking forward to seeing Randy in UK blue come the last Sat in November. It's not right. Randy is a UT man.

Anyway, enough about him. We have a season to play.

PastorSBC wrote:

I'd take the top 8 and be happy. Let #9 scream all they want. We could have an 8 team playoff and still have the bowl system we have now. Even better, we wouldn't have to go almost a month without a meaningful NCAA game :thumbs:

 

Uhhhhh..... What? I am not sure of what you call the wins over Cal, UGA, Marshall, and Memphis if not "dominant". Granted the last two aren't very good but last year the games probably would have been much closer (ie. UAB).

UF hasn't looked incredibly dominant even against the bad teams they've played.

The difference I will acknowledge is that UF is deeper into their SEC schedule than UT is.

 

Oh and concerning your other comments. UT allowed 21 points against UF. That is definitely good enough to win. The critical factor in the loss was the inability to run and keep the ball away from UF. That starts with the O-line. And succeeding on the O-line begins with getting at least a stalemate from the center. Even watching on tv, I noticed that Frogg was being pushed 1-3 yards deep on almost every running play.

Fulmer acknowledged after the game that McNeil should have played as well as Coker. Since then both have played. The running game has picked up as has the pass protection.

The Vols didn't even need complete dominance against UF to win. They needed enough of a push to make two rushing 1st downs. They couldn't get them then but they more than likely could now.

UGA will help us decide who is right next weekend.

 

If you wanted to let the Sanders issue go... you should have.

If you can't see the difference between how Cut has coached this year's O and how Sanders did last year... I don't really know how to help you.

Sanders is probably an outstanding position coach. That doesn't make him capable of being a coordinator and getting the discipline and execution out of a team that is needed to win in the SEC.

 

Yeah I would take the top 8 teams too, heck I would even take the top 4 teams. Anything is better than what we have right now. I just think the top 16 would provide the best situation, but any playoff would be better. And I believe it is how the other divisions have their playoff set up. So it would give the opportunity for a lesser school to jump in there and provide some upsets, etc.

 

Excuses, excuses, excuses...which, by the way, are also for losers. I guess that Arkansas being beat up from the Alabama game and their injuries don't count with you. By this time in the season every team is dealing with being beat up and having injuries. As I said, excuses are for losers.

Come on, Scott, and belly up to the bar. My prediction for November 11 is Porkers - 35, Volunteers - 17. What's yours?

 

Excuses? I am stating facts. You are resorting to cliches because you can't cite facts.

Bama is not as talented or as physical as LSU by a long shot... of course you will get a taste of that in a few weeks too.

Not excuses. I don't really have any more vested interest in Auburn than I do Arkansas. I like both of them and almost always pull for them out of conference.

Being beat up was only one of the reasons I gave and it wasn't original with me. It was cited by the Auburn football team even before the game if I am not mistaken.

If you want to operate under the delusion that Arkansas is simply a better coached and more talented team than Auburn then I guess that's your prerogative. The fact is that Arkansas is finally good enough to catch a team like Auburn in one of those "trap" games... sort of like Air Force was with UT (plus a few extraordinary bounces in their favor that turned a potential blowout into a game).

UT scored on 80% of their possessions against UGA. My prediction is that they'll score on at least 70% of their possessions (5-7 scores) against Arkansas and allow no more than 21 points.

I don't think Arkansas scores 35 unless UT turns the ball over alot. You didn't put 35 on Auburn and their offense gave their defense no rest at all.

If I remember correctly SC's passing game ripped Arkansas and even Bama who struggle with Duke threw the ball effectively. It would be a shocker if Arkansas defended UT's offense better than Cal or UGA or became the first to hold Ainge under 200 yards this year.

As with all predictions, teams can have bad games or the wheels could just fly completely off for either team between now and then. McFadden gets hurt again or Mustain... I don't think you'd score 35 points against air. Same with UT- a critical injury here or there could reshape the whole thing.

The one thing I would be very surprised to see is UT overlooking Arkansas like Auburn did.