Honestly, it's a travesty to see all of us ULL fans embrace not only heightened expectations but heightened hubris. To think that we are going to visit Fayetteville and come out with a win is just silly -- now, I would certainly welcome the W but it would be an upset on par with Moanroe's upset of the Hogs last year. And remember, they were losing 28-7 at halftime, and T. Wilson was knocked out of the game, Arkansas's imbecile coaches kept calling pass plays when they could have easily protected the lead, and Kolt[off] Browning played the game of his life, PLUS that game was in Little Rock. Fayetteville crowds are much bigger, rowdier, and supportive. In short, it was the perfect storm that allowed ULM to beat Arkansas in overtime during its worst season in over fifty years.
A lot of the arguments on here about why we have a chance against the Razorbacks are just hogwash. The players recruited by Petrino were in fact recruited for a different system, but that doesn't mean they can't play Bielema's new system either. Look at Arkansas's o-line -- there's not a single one of them who wouldn't immediately step in and start for us, and all five are easily over 300 lbs. And have you seen the pictures of Brey Cook's before and after pictures after going through conditioning this season? They have not one but TWO fullbacks who can easily pancake anybody on our team, one of which will be all SEC. And they have two top-tier running backs that run hard and fast, and two change of pace guys. Our only hope is to generate turnovers (people forget how much that contributed to Arkansas's losses last season) and win that battle, but Bielema, while not known for in-game management, is known for having well-disciplined teams that do not turn the ball over. Sure, Arkansas will be installing a new offensive scheme, but it's not like they don't have the personnel to learn it; arguablly, our change on defense is more dramatic and more likely to be a negative factor than a positive factor as some on here have suggested. Finally, people don't realize just how good Arky's coaching staff is now -- best o-line coach in the country, proven SEC o-coordinator, defensive coaches who are comfortable with Bielema, and a linebacker coach who has won a national championship as a d-coordinator as well as the Broyles Award. I know we think we have adequate replacements for our losses on the o-line, but Arky has a stout front four that will give them at least some trouble. We also lost the best kicker in the history of our program while the Hogs return an all-SEC caliber kicker.
Our only hope is that our entirely defensive scheme can completely stuff the run, Arky's highly underrated QB performs highly deficiently despite all indications throughout Spring and this Fall that he's legit, our offense runs at will and passes with ease against, and we somehow win the turnover battle. If all of this happens, we have a snowball's chance on alpha centauri.
So I think everybody needs to take a deep breath and realize that we are probably going to lose, and likely lose by 2+ touchdowns, to a very underrated Arkansas team. I hope this is not the case, but I just think like all CFB fans we are letting our hopes get in the way of a reasoned view of the future during the preseason.
Re: Your pre-season prediction...
Originally Posted by DieHard1280
11-1
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