Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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Selected comments from the message boards at WholeHog sports.com.
On the difference between Arkansas and LSU right now …
batonrougehog: Cannot believe how outmatched we looked at seemingly every position. Clearly LSU has a very good team, but how can any well-coached defense give up as many yards as we have managed to do all year? … The one bright spot was when I was on the field before the game and the beautiful and very friendly Arkansas cheerleaders crowded around me for a picture. …
youdaman: The quote from Larry Johnson when he told Nolan, “Coach, get you some men,” sums it up best. We get no push because there’s not enough lead in their pencil! Whomever we bring in better bring a totally different approach to training than what we have seen the last two years.
SwineFusion: You could give me the best training program in the world, but I can’t play SEC football. Not big enough, fast enough, etc. That’s basically what we saw last night. You gotta recruit people better than what we have now then train and coach the heck out of them.
hawgcotton: Totally agree as most recruits are similar coming out of high school so we need to prepare them like the best teams we face. But you cannot make chicken salad without the chicken so we need to improve the base product we start with.
hawgjawbend: Understatement: “There wasn’t going to be a celebration for beating Arkansas. They haven’t beaten anyone in a long time,’’ said LSU coach Ed Orgeron.
hogbacker: Ouch! If that doesn’t bring out the best everyone has from athletic director, board of trustees, players and fans. That’s about the worst insult that there can be. We have one more opportunity this year and I sure hope our program finds a way to pull it out.
hawgjawbend: We are just pitiful. We can’t even figure out where a first-down marker is. Coach O could’ve said a lot more. Glad he didn’t. This was enough.
jacksonreid: A couple of weeks ago I shared a link to the PAPN podcast — one of the hosts said he talked with an SEC coach who said off the record that Arkansas was one of the most poorly coached teams he’d ever seen and one of the things he mentioned specifically was our lack of situational awareness on the field. Thought of that (Saturday) as guys gave up on plays short of the first down marker.
neastarkie: If that’s true — and I don’t doubt it is — it actually gives me some hope. It means the talent isn’t nearly as bad as our record suggests. It means a good coach can come in and bring us immediate and noticeable improvement. Nobody expects us to contend very soon, but four wins next year and less embarrassing losses would be nice.
More talk about candidates for Arkansas head coach …
jacsonreid: (Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson) …I think he’s done a really good job at a school that has some of the same academic challenges that Vanderbilt has in this league.
GENE_HAIRE: If there was one coach I would love to see come to Arkansas it would be Kyle Whittingham. Look what he has done at Utah. Utah was just like Arkansas, a little fish in a big pond of sharks.
mchawg: Great coach. Especially in bowl games. He’s 60 and a lifelong Utah guy. Can’t see him leaving the great situation he has.
hawgfan1964: What are everybody’s thoughts on Luke Fickell, the current HC at Cincinnati? I like him for several reasons: 1. He’s young. Yes, I believe we need a young, energetic coach to help revitalize the Razorback football program. 2. He’s a winner! Yes, I also realize he’s only been a head coach for a relatively short period of time, but he is 31-18 overall as a HC, and last year he went 11-2. … And from everything I’ve researched, he doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet.
villacard: Looks like a good fit to me. He has an impressive resume with a lot of experience and is still young. Noted as an excellent recruiter and excellent defensive coach.
dfarris: I live just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati in Northern Kentucky and have followed the UC Bearcats over the past 20 seasons. Obviously, the best players around here usually end up at Ohio State, but there is plenty of talent in the area. … As for Coach Luke, I believe he’s a good coach, but I think he likes what he is building at UC and will probably await a Big Ten job …
scientificrocket: I lived in
Columbus, Ohio in the mid1990s when Luke Fickell was a starting defensive lineman. He played on a great defense with Mike Vrabel and Andy Katzenmoyer. The Hogs could do a lot worse than Luke Fickell.
bushhog: … Who really wants our job for all the right reasons, I wonder? doghog72: Mike Leach. dfwtexhog: Kiffin, Norvell, Fuente, Drinkwitz, or any good coach who wants to coach in the SEC and knows how to recruit. Hopefully not Leach.
bikehog23: Houston Nutt already confirmed he was contacted and is interested. I’ve heard that Norvell is headed to FSU, but he isn’t happy with them because they didn’t offer him the job two years ago.
mchawg: If USC lets Clay Helton go, and Arkansas says you’re welcome here, could he bring some of those great players he recruited to USC to Fayetteville?
guyinhawaii: Although the UA’s football program is currently plunging deep into the “abyss,” Baylor’s Coach Matt Rhule is an example that the UA can turn it around with the right hire.
Score predictions for Friday’s season finale against Missouri …
bakedhog19741: Missouri 45, AR 7. Bryant enters the Heisman race because of his performance.
jacksonreid: Mizzou 27, Arkansas 14.
stillgreghog: Mizzou 38, Hogs 10.
bobghawg: I think we might actually play decent, but we will lose. Missouri 24, Hogs 14.
white25: Porkers 26, Tigers 25. Do you believe in miracles?
jmetsrule: Arkansas 27, Missouri 24.
sdhog: Mizzou 28, UA 10. Defense simply can’t stop anyone, even Mizzou. Offense can’t sustain drives against anyone, even Mizzou. How many quarterbacks will see the field in this game? Can we top the current record of three?
hogbacker: Hogs 21, Mizzou 20. Boyd and Whaley run big.
georgiahawg: The three years of football misery is over. We are down 24-0 at halftime, but come back to win, 27-24.
jimbeau77: While I don’t think we could recover from a 24-0 deficit. I think we could still win by the same score without a major comeback. Hogs 27, Mizzou 24. Blowing kisses to Kelly Bryant afterward.
holdenhogfield: Hogs 28, Tiggers 24. Jack Lindsey becomes a folk hero.
razorwill: Once again, too many mistakes and no effective defensive scheme. Hogs compete, but in the end cannot stop Missouri. Hogs also have limited offense with freshman QB. … Missouri 31, Arkansas 24.