What do you guys think about Arkansas next season?

[zephyr]

I will bet the over whatever it is. The last 2 years UL's offense started the year somewhat sluggish only to hit their stride mid season. I don't think that will happen this year. As for the defense, who knows? It's hard to imagine they would be materially better or worse than 2012.
What do the Razorback faithful expect coming off a disappointing year? Will they scrap the spread offense?

You are correct. We've been a slow starting team pre Hud and this has been a trend now for some time. I know it takes time to develop rhythm on offense but I wish we were playing these tough OOC games closer to the middle of the season.

Funny how I posted this before this past season and got hammered by J1M and others for saying it.

[Zeebart21]

You are correct. We've been a slow starting team pre Hud and this has been a trend now for some time. I know it takes time to develop rhythm on offense but I wish we were playing these tough OOC games closer to the middle of the season.

Funny how I posted this before this past season and got hammered by J1M and others for saying it.

Lamar-40

37- Troy

48- FIU

No slow start.... Oklahoma St, it just wasn't our day.

The following two weeks at NT and stAte.. breaking in Broadway.

Z

[arkane]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I will now try to reply in kind:

I'm just going to come out and say it. Why did you lose to ULM?

I don't want to hear any excuses like:

1 The head coach was fired because he got caught cheating
2. The new head coach was a dumpster fire
3. Your quaterback was concussed
4. You didn't know Browning could run it in on 4th and long in overtime

There was absolutely no reason for you to blow a 3 TD lead there.

If ulm loses that game, it's business as usual in Monroe and they have another sad sack 5-7 season at best.

BUT NOOOOOOOO

You had to go and give them hope.

Thanks. Thanks for that. So now when we show up with a much better offense and defense, we will be unfairly compared to those a---holes in monroe.

I just hope to hell we're not your first home game. Becuase I don't think the circumstances will allow us to leave the stadium with a win.

And when we do lose, you've just given those a---holes in Monroe another moral victory.

So again, I say. Thanks alot.

Lol. If it makes you feel any better, we got the same kind of response from Arkansas State when they beat ULM after we failed so miserably. Last year was probably the one time in 50 years when Arkansas State actually fielded a better product than Arkansas, and we were sure to hear about it. I don't harbor the hatred for State that you seem to for ULM (and I'm assuming LSU), however. They're probably my #3 team. Unfortunately, those "excuses" you listed are all pretty well part of the reason. In the previous two years under Petrino, Arkansas overachieved massively and was very underrated. I'm guessing by the third season, even though we were losing some key players as well as our coach, the media probably just though we were going to be good and "overachieve" again, so we actually got a really good preseason ranking for once. The plain and simple truth is, beyond our starting QB, one WR, one and a half RBs (Knile Davis just ain't the same), and our kicker, we didn't have a Division 1 football team. Terrible leadership, terrible fundamentals, terrible discipline and work ethic, terrible motivation, just terrible everything. We gave the Sun Belt their first win against a top ten football team I do believe. We will never ever live down that horrible loss.

I will bet the over whatever it is. The last 2 years UL's offense started the year somewhat sluggish only to hit their stride mid season. I don't think that will happen this year. As for the defense, who knows? It's hard to imagine they would be materially better or worse than 2012.
What do the Razorback faithful expect coming off a disappointing year? Will they scrap the spread offense?

Thanks for the info. We ran a good pro-style offense under Petrino. It was very pass-heavy. Bielema, our new coach from Wisconsin, places a heavy emphasis on defense and a balanced offense, with about a 55/45 or 60/40 split favoring running the football.

The Hogs' o-line last season was like paper, and our defense only really got up for two or three games the entire year - the inconsistency of it was maddening. We are currently dead last in recruiting in the SEC, but that's mainly because we have less commitments than the other SEC schools by quite a bit, but under Bielema, we're seeing a slough of 4* linemen taking looks at us, something that has never happened before. We're scrapping the entire system, replaced all of the assistants, pretty much literally everything is a question mark for us, so we don't know what to expect. Here is what I do know: Our backup QB was highly touted coming out of HS, and it was his poor playing partially that landed us in a pickle with ULM. He will probably be improved, but we don't know how much. We have no proven playmakers at receiver, and only one RB who we expect to be spectacular. Our DL and OL have nowhere to go but up, so those will be improved by default, especially with a defensive-minded HC.

My expectation for next season is about 7-6, since it is a complete rebuild of everything. I think some things will be improved right from the get-go, and others will take some time. And who knows, maybe the whole thing will be a bust and we'll be starting over again in three or four years. UL is a "should win," but it could be a long night for us.

[I_Bleed_RED]

Like others have said, I would prefer it if we played Arkansas and Kansas State towards the middle of the season instead of the beginning. Just look at last year. We got crushed by a mediocre Oklahoma state team. We couldn't move the ball and we couldn't stop their offense even after we took out their starter. And then we played Florida (who was ranked around #5 at the time) towards the end of the season and we nearly beat them. We had Florida beat, we outplayed them, but we gave it away. The team that played Florida, was WAY better than the team that play Oklahoma State.

In the past few seasons, the difference between our offense (and our team in general) in the beginning of the season and it in the middle/end of season are night and day.

[gohogs14]

Another hog fan here.

Our defense might be better than our offense for the first time in a while next season. We lost Tyler Wilson, Cobi Hamilton, TE Chris Gragg, and RBs Knile Davis and Dennis Johnson. The only proven player we really get back is RB Jonathan Williams. We have some talented WRs but no one has stood out...it could be WR by committee. Sophomore Brandon Allen is favored to win the QB job. He is a former 4* but played pretty bad against ULM and Alabama last season. He should improve though. Senior QB/WR Brandon Mitchell could win the job too though if bielema prefers the mobile QB.

On defense DE Chris Smith was 4th in the SEC in sacks last season and he's back...the DL is the strength of our defense. We started 2 freshmen at LB last season but they were named all-SEC freshmen so they're back. We are thin at LB though and are bringing in a lot of them this recruiting class. Our secondary was beyond terrible last season. We lose safety Ross Rasner but the other safety, freshman all-american Rohan Gaines, returns. Tevin Mitchel is our best corner and all-SEC freshman will hines is behind him...but the rest will be newcomers or inexperienced players.

We have a pretty rough schedule next season so i'd be satisfied with 6-6...the offense probably won't look like what bielema ran at wisconsin. He's said he will mix his and Chaney's ideas along with the personnel we already have on offense.

[CajunRebel]

Here's my answer.

For years we've been at the level of a crappy Sun Belt team. Computer rankings usually had us from 100-120. But over the past few years we've moved up to being at the level of a crappy SEC team. This year the computer rankings have us in the 50-70 range. I would expect us to be at least as good next year if not a little better.

So if Arkansas is going to be a crappy SEC team next year it could be one heck of a game. If y'all are going to be a much more improved team from last year's then it shouldn't be close.

We'd love to knock off an SEC team. I'm sure we're going to throw all we have at you.

2012 Massey average computer rankings (the most accurate IMO):
53 Missouri
58 UL
61 Tennessee
68 Arkansas
82 Auburn
95 Kentucky

[douglas]

it's gunna be a lot closer than people think. cajuns 74 hogs 10.

[Just1More]

You are correct. We've been a slow starting team pre Hud and this has been a trend now for some time. I know it takes time to develop rhythm on offense but I wish we were playing these tough OOC games closer to the middle of the season.

Funny how I posted this before this past season and got hammered by J1M and others for saying it.

Are you still trying to make a point that you cannot make? "Hud's offenses" do not start out slow. His first year, we had a quarterback battle and two freshman RBs starting in the backfield. Blaine is a naturally amped up guy, and had to be individually coached into settling down. That was purely "situational"... not a trend starter. Last year we started out like a firecracker on offense. 4 of the 5 first games we scored over 40 per game... higher than our season average. If anything, we hit a "mid-season slump" last year (NT and ASU)... and that too... was situational. There is nothing whatsoever about Hud's program or this team that "starts out slow".

If you bring this up again... please have your own hammer handy... and smash your keyboard before you get done. You are far too intelligent of a football guy to keep up a stubborn line of thinking that you were given ample evidence to the contrary.

[wcd35]

Are you still trying to make a point that you cannot make? "Hud's offenses" do not start out slow. His first year, we had a quarterback battle and two freshman RBs starting in the backfield. Blaine is a naturally amped up guy, and had to be individually coached into settling down. That was purely "situational"... not a trend starter. Last year we started out like a firecracker on offense. 4 of the 5 first games we scored over 40 per game... higher than our season average. If anything, we hit a "mid-season slump" last year (NT and ASU)... and that too... was situational. There is nothing whatsoever about Hud's program or this team that "starts out slow".

If you bring this up again... please have your own hammer handy... and smash your keyboard before you get done. You are far too intelligent of a football guy to keep up a stubborn line of thinking that you were given ample evidence to the contrary.

I wouldnt say slow, but 2 of the 4 wins were probably the 2 worst teams we played (Lamar/Tulane). I think we could have scored much more against those teams, but its still 40+ pts. We had defensive scores in a couple of games too. Also your stat of 4 of 5 games over 40 pts should be over 37 points. Troy game was 37. FIU, Tulane, Lamar over 40. Certainly not slow or bad, but there was a lot of inconsistency from Blaine early on that kinda gives the illusion that we werent scoring well.

Now, offensive yardage/production was lower early on. Besides the Florida game, of course, and Broadway's first road start at UNT, the first 3 games were our worst Total Offense games. We got on such a tear at the end of the season that, when compared, it makes the first few games look woeful.

LU 346
Troy 389
OSU 376
FIU 501
Tulane 444
UNT 371
ASU 450
ULM 607
Florida 267
WKU 582
USA 538
FAU 452
ECU 591

[Turbine]

Now, offensive yardage/production was lower early on. Besides the Florida game, of course, and Broadway's first road start at UNT, the first 3 games were our worst Total Offense games. We got on such a tear at the end of the season that, when compared, it makes the first few games look woeful.

LU 346
Troy 389
OSU 376
FIU 501
Tulane 444
UNT 371
ASU 450
ULM 607
Florida 267
WKU 582
USA 538
FAU 452
ECU 591

Just think with a little "now want" (in the last few series on offense) UL could have easily gone over 300 vs Florida.