ARKANSAS RUNNING HOG-WILD
At Arkansas, the offensive linemen always fly first class. Literally. It’s Bret Bielema’s way of recognizing the efforts of the guys who power his smashmouth attack by giving them the best seats — and the biggest, too — right up front, on team charters.
“It’s huge,” says Brey Cook, the Razorbacks senior right tackle, and he means it literally. “Those airplanes are tiny. Road trips can be miserable. First class is great. You get to spread out and relax.”
In other words, it’s Hog heaven.
But the best reward for the biggest guys might have come in the last few weeks. After hammering away for a long time with little to show for it, the Razorbacks finally have broken though, ending a 10game losing streak — the longest in school history — by pounding Nicholls State, Texas Tech and
“I understand why people would doubt. It’s been a long year and a half, but we know it’s working. We’ve seen its steps — but we’re definitely excited to put it out there.”
Brey Cook, Arkansas senior right tackle
Northern Illinois.
The win Sept. 13 in Lubbock, Texas, was especially sweet. Arkansas rushed for 438 yards and threw the ball 12 times. In stark contrast to the postmodern era of college football, the Hogs huddled. They lined up in power formations. Running backs bolted through holes that grew larger and larger as the game wore on — and the defense wore out.
“It was fun to go out there and do what we do, especially at the offensive line position, to be able to take over a game like that,” Cook says. “It’s something we look forward to repeating.”
Which means the goal is much bigger. Arkansas’ matchup with No. 7 Texas A&M on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is a classic clash of football philosophy. Kevin Sumlin plays the speed game, and we already know Bielema’s preference: He calls it Normal American Football — although these days, it’s almost a changeup. Last winter, the coaches were on opposite sides in a passionate debate over whether to slow the game down with a 10- second delay between plays.
We know about the Aggies, who haven’t slowed down at all after the departure of Johnny Manziel (they might be better). But all of a sudden, it’s worth wondering: Can the Hogs handle their end of the debate?
“We’re ready to go out and prove ourselves,” says Cook, who calls what the Hogs have done so far “a glimpse of what we want to do here.”
So, then, was the video he retweeted a few days back, of Dan Skipper, Arkansas’ left tackle, tossing a Texas Tech defensive lineman to the ground with one swipe of a mammoth paw. A onearmed pancake.
“That was an awesome picture,” Cook says. And for the Hogs’ offensive linemen, it might have been a sweeter moment, even, than Alex Collins’ 84-yard touchdown run later in the game.
“It was something you see at practice, or you dream about when they’re drawn up,” Cook says. “To see it actually work was just fun.”
But it’s hard to know what to make of the non-conference results. Arkansas opened with a 4521 loss at Auburn (it was 21-all at halftime), extending a losing streak in Southeastern Conference play to 13 in a row. And the rest of the competition in the SEC West figures to be fairly difficult, too; every team but Arkansas is ranked in the Amway Coaches Poll. After Texas A&M comes Alabama. And then Georgia. And Mississippi State. And so on.
If nothing else, though, the results of the last three games have built confidence. Bielema has been pointing to inward signs of success — academic progress, how the players have practiced, higher daily expectations and accountability — and saying the program was on solid footing, primed for a breakthrough. But he also understands, “We had not given any recent hope to people.” Here’s some, then: “I knew eventually it would happen,” Cook says. “I understand why people would doubt. It’s been a long year and a half, but we know it’s working. We’ve seen its steps — but we’re definitely excited to put it out there.”
Arkansas ranks eighth nationally in rushing (324.5-yard average) and third in scoring (48.8) — though this early in the season, the numbers can be skewed by one game (such as the 73-7 victory against outmanned Nicholls State).
And after Arkansas beat Texas Tech, the immediate comparison was to a victory by Wisconsin in 2010 at Michigan, when Bielema’s Badgers pummeled the Wolverines en route to a 48-28 victory. They threw the football once in the second half, ran for 357 yards and “really imposed our will,” Bielema recalls.
It was a watershed moment; Wisconsin went on to three consecutive Rose Bowls. But Bielema isn’t about to claim similar significance. The SEC is a different animal, and these Hogs are starting from a different position than those Badgers.
“There’s a lot of different reasons I took this job, but I wasn’t walking into a perennial SEC power,” Bielema says. “I understood that. But I took the job with the expectation to get there. That’s never been brighter than it is today.”
A couple of weeks ago, that last part would have sounded like one more outlandish sound bite from a coach who has been known to make a few.
But no one should discount the possibility that Arkansas might, as athletics director Jeff Long suggests, have made a larger jump from 2013, when the Hogs went winless in SEC play, than he or anyone else anticipated. If noth- ing else, Long has enjoyed what he has seen these last few weeks.
“When you can impose your will on someone,” Long says, “that is a particularly rewarding brand of football to play.”
And a competitive run — and run, and run, and run again — through the SEC’s grueling schedule?
It would be Hog heaven.