So what did ya'll think?

[Jay_Lupo]

I was happy with certain aspects and you can't be too upset when you win by 32, but there were some things I didn't like.

First of all, we put the ball on the ground way, way too much. Some of our best players (Hillis and Monk) were responsible for some of it. While I was extremely pleased with our running game, it was a little too good. Rojo didn't get to throw much. But he did run an excellent 2-minute drill to get 6 when he hooked up with Monk at the end of the half. But the turnovers were just strange. We never turn it over that much b/c it's something Nutt harps on. Actually, it's the thing he harps on the most.

The good was a lot better than the bad though. I think we are loaded in the backfield with four highly, highly capable SEC tailbacks. Howard, Hillis, Jones and Mcfadden all looked great. Felix really does run a 4.3. That 80-yarder was nice. I think we combined for 483 rushing yards with three backs topping the century mark. Jones had 8 for 137 and a TD; Hillis had 14 for 135 and 3 TDs (boy has he improved his speed or what?); Howard had 12 for 120; and McFadden had 9 for 70 and a TD. Very impressed with our backs. I say we run the wishbone or the Split-Back Veer :D

Defensively, we looked much improved, but still bent plenty of times against a miserable team, but not as miserable as some might think. Their offense wasn't bad with a Purdue transfer at QB, a UGA transfer at HB and an Arkansas transfer at TE. We missed a few tackles, though nothing like last year. But we forced a lot of TOs and scored a def. td. I really liked our secondary. Vaughn looked great. He was everywhere and he was laying the wood to some folks. Reminds of Ken "the hammer" Hamlin back there. I thought Clarke Moore looked great. We need a big year from him.

We didn't get much pressure, it seemed, on their QB which doesn't bode well. But I noticed the 2nd and 3rd teamers got a majority of the pt on the d-line.

This game basically proved what we already know. 1) We can run and we have plenty of guys that can do it at any time in a variety of ways. 2) We have an inexperienced QB that is going to make mistakes 3) Our defense is improved and extremely fast, but small and will still give up some yards.

Like I said at the beginning, I'm happy with some things, and very unhappy (fumbles) with others. We absolutely cannot put the ball on the ground against Vandy next week. I have a feeling that's going to be a very, very close game.

BTW, congrats to the Dores for going into an ACC team's house and picking up a W for the SEC. Congrats to all the SEC teams, except for Auburn and UK. Tough loss Tigers; tough loss Cats. I was really pulling for ya'll. I don't know if everybody's mad at Cox or what down there, but I thought he looked pretty damn good, barring the int's. With him settling down more and more, he'll team with those A-W-E-S-O-M-E WRs to make some noise. I'm glad we play Auburn fairly early. That is not a team I'd want to be playing at season's end. UK impressed me in defeat. Best of luck to the Cats in '05. Good luck Rebs. I just haven't been on a computer all weekend, so I'm catching up in this post. Oh, one more thing: UGA = impressive and....I told ya so. Boise is all hype. The Broncos cannot play at an SEC level and I think that's been proven after they've gotten totally sh*t-canned by SEC teams in the last few years. Nonetheless, I think it's a dead-heat b/t the Dawgs, Gators and Vols in the East. Should be fun to watch :)

[AFWarrior83]

I like this years team. We might actually challenge LSU for 1st in the West! After seeing Alabama and Auburn, I have no real worries. South Carolina isn't even a factor this year for us. Georgia is the only SEC East team we play this year that is going to be a hard game. Also LSU plays Flordia, Tennesse, and Georgia this year, so they could end up with at least 3 L's.

[Jay_Lupo]

I like this years team. We might actually challenge LSU for 1st in the West! After seeing Alabama and Auburn, I have no real worries. South Carolina isn't even a factor this year for us. Georgia is the only SEC East team we play this year that is going to be a hard game. Also LSU plays Flordia, Tennesse, and Georgia this year, so they could end up with at least 3 L's.

Woah there bud, hold your horses. We played a I-AA team. While we're going to be capable of beating virtually everyone on our schedule with the exception of USC, we're also going to be able to lose a lot of those games too. I was pleased and our running game should be devestating - we actually lead the nation in rushing after week 1 - but we had too many turnovers and gave up too many yards.

[uscrebel]

I like this years team. We might actually challenge LSU for 1st in the West! After seeing Alabama and Auburn, I have no real worries. South Carolina isn't even a factor this year for us. Georgia is the only SEC East team we play this year that is going to be a hard game. Also LSU plays Flordia, Tennesse, and Georgia this year, so they could end up with at least 3 L's.

Jay Lupo!! Do the Arkansas State Troopers know this guy is still drinking? I think he ran into some of Granny Clampett's Rheumatism Medicine. Here is reality check number one. In the four previous games between SMS and UARK, the Razoback had a 4-0 record and outscored them by a total of 197-6. (This includes a 100-0 drubbing in 1911.)

The most recent game in 2000 was a 38-0 victory. Based on that, I would say that UARK is currently behind defensively where they were during the 6-6 season of 2000.

If you would like to make some money, however, it seems that AFW may be your meal ticket this season.

[Djshockley3]

I like this years team. We might actually challenge LSU for 1st in the West! After seeing Alabama and Auburn, I have no real worries. South Carolina isn't even a factor this year for us. Georgia is the only SEC East team we play this year that is going to be a hard game. Also LSU plays Flordia, Tennesse, and Georgia this year, so they could end up with at least 3 L's.


LSU does not play UGA this season. :D

[GeauxTo]

I like this years team. We might actually challenge LSU for 1st in the West! After seeing Alabama and Auburn, I have no real worries. South Carolina isn't even a factor this year for us. Georgia is the only SEC East team we play this year that is going to be a hard game. Also LSU plays Flordia, Tennesse, and Georgia this year, so they could end up with at least 3 L's.
Geez, AFW, what kind of stuff are you drinking in Japan?? First, LSU doesn't play Georgia this year; the heavy-weights on our schedule are Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, and Alabama. The middle-weights are Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The light-weights are Arkansas and Vanderbilt. (You made me do it.)
:D

[Jay_Lupo]

Geaux, you give Ole Miss way too much credit. You predicted them to go 8-3 right? To call Ole Miss and Miss. St. middleweights and Arkansas a lightweight is just absurd. But, whatever floats your boat. I hope everybody feels that way about us. Nutt loves the us-gainst-the-world theme and so do I. Ark. and LSU is way, way, way too far off to be thinking about though. My mind is on Vandy and nobody else.

[GeauxTo]

Geaux, you give Ole Miss way too much credit. You predicted them to go 8-3 right? To call Ole Miss and Miss. St. middleweights and Arkansas a lightweight is just absurd. But, whatever floats your boat. I hope everybody feels that way about us. Nutt loves the us-gainst-the-world theme and so do I. Ark. and LSU is way, way, way too far off to be thinking about though. My mind is on Vandy and nobody else.
That was just a "tongue-in-cheek" to get AFW's attention. He made me do it with his goofy post. In reality, I'm very impressed with the Hawgs. I think they might be surprisingly tough for USC, and they are certainly going to wreak some havoc around the SEC. Neither Bama nor the Rebs is secure against the Hawgs. Oh, and I still think that Mississippi State is waaaayyy down at the bottom of the SEC. If you manage to beat the Trojans, I'll be a Hawg fan forever!

[Jay_Lupo]

After reading that again, I see that man. I ain't mad at cha :) Good luck in Tempe. What channel is that game on btw. I'm off all day saturday and I'm going to sit on my ass and watch football. I definitely want to peep the Tigers.

[GeauxTo]

After reading that again, I see that man. I ain't mad at cha :) Good luck in Tempe. What channel is that game on btw. I'm off all day saturday and I'm going to sit on my ass and watch football. I definitely want to peep the Tigers.
It'll be on ESPN about 7:45 Central, I think. Chant Geaux Tigers every now and then with a few Sieux Pigs thrown in for good measure.
:p

[ScreamingTiger]

Jay Lupo!! Do the Arkansas State Troopers know this guy is still drinking? I think he ran into some of Granny Clampett's Rheumatism Medicine. Here is reality check number one. In the four previous games between SMS and UARK, the Razoback had a 4-0 record and outscored them by a total of 197-6. (This includes a 100-0 drubbing in 1911.)

The most recent game in 2000 was a 38-0 victory. Based on that, I would say that UARK is currently behind defensively where they were during the 6-6 season of 2000.

If you would like to make some money, however, it seems that AFW may be your meal ticket this season.

If you look at the time stamp on his post, it was way early in the am when all the BS started flowing from Japan :D ....probably doesn't even remember it.

[Spurrierismyhomeboy]

I like this years team. We might actually challenge LSU for 1st in the West! After seeing Alabama and Auburn, I have no real worries. South Carolina isn't even a factor this year for us.
Dude your on crack, not the Rick James high-class crack no the hobo toothless crack, if you think you'll finish first in the west! Your coach will probably be fired after this year, and just keep thinkin SC in no factor dont sleep on the evil genuis!!!!!! ;)

[gopig]

The mistakes can be corrected, I'm kind of glad they happened now so we have time to correct them. We certainly don't want to make those mistakes in sec play.

I do wish we would have thrown it around a little more, no doubt we need the practice.

[uscrebel]

The mistakes can be corrected, I'm kind of glad they happened now so we have time to correct them. We certainly don't want to make those mistakes in sec play.

I do wish we would have thrown it around a little more, no doubt we need the practice.

Two years ago, I was coaching a U15 club team that was reasonably good. We were 14-4 and ended up in second place at the end of the season. We had several games in which we were ahead by four goals before the half. For those of you who know soccer, this is like being up 49-0 at the half.

I always used those games to work on aspects of the game we had difficulty with. One game there was a trash can about 15 yards behind the rightside of the goal, I told the guys that they could not score a goal until they hit the trash from outside the 18. It took them about 20 minutes to do it, but as soon as they had, they scored a goal within five minutes.

Houston obviously had a bit different idea. Below is a listing of the ratio of passing plays to running plays for the SEC and USCal. Notice that all of these teams came very close to some sort of balance between the pass and the run. The two notable exceptions were MSU and ARK, with Bama a close third. I am not sure that any of those three teams are going to be able to pound SEC D-linemen the way that they did they opponents on Saturday. What a perfect way to work on timing and communication....I think that they missed a good opportunity to work out some kinks.

Team pass/run
OM- 31/36
UTK - 38/35
UGA- 33/33
VAN - 36/30
UFL - 34/30
ALA - 25/37
MSU - 27/44
USCar - 23/28
UKY - 27/27
USCal - 29/33

UARK - 25/51

[AFWarrior83]

The time zone is different here just so you know, I don't care what anyone of you say, even the fake hog fans! We are good this year, we will win at the least 7 games this year so deal with it! Bama is good, Auburn is good, and even USC will be a game, but I feel we can pull those games out. I meant the only teams that worry me are Georgia, LSU and USC'Cal because those are the games I think we get beat down by! If we lose 4 games it will be from Auburn, or possibly Alabama since it is in Bamaland.

Sure we coughed the ball up the first game, and have a new QB, but by the time Bama comes around I don't think the Hogs are worried as long as they can play with in a few TD's of Cal. We have a great team this year, everyone thinks we suck cause MJ's gone, but I think we are better!

[JerryBeeds]

Thanks for the insight! Really thanks!

[AFWarrior83]

I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JerryBeeds]

I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right back at ya slick! :p

[AFWarrior83]

Good luck to USC this year!

[JerryBeeds]

Good luck to USC this year!

Thank you, something tells me we'll need it.

[gopig]

Houston obviously had a bit different idea. Below is a listing of the ratio of passing plays to running plays for the SEC and USCal. Notice that all of these teams came very close to some sort of balance between the pass and the run. The two notable exceptions were MSU and ARK, with Bama a close third. I am not sure that any of those three teams are going to be able to pound SEC D-linemen the way that they did they opponents on Saturday. What a perfect way to work on timing and communication....I think that they missed a good opportunity to work out some kinks.


UARK - 25/51

Yeah I'll admit I'm a little curious as to our strategy there. He could be saving some things for usc, but I really doubt it. We'd be better off practicing the vanilla passing plays than trying to hide everything.

More likely he's figuring out which back to use in each situation.. we played 4 backs fairly equally that game.

We might be trying to get our run game as absolutely solid as possibly before usc. really, that's our only chance. USC's most likely weakness is run defense and the only way we could possibly win is by eating up the clock to keep usc's offense off the field. it'll be usc's second game so maybe a polished attack stands a chance.

I dunno, I've just gotta figure it has something to do w/ usc.

[jbuzbee]

I'm not too worried about the fumbles. They are really gonna focus on that this week and If we are gonna have that problem then that was the game to have it. We are notoriously a sure-handed team, as evidence by the fact that Senior tailback De'arrius Howard has NEVER fumbled....thats right...NEVER.

I also am not too worried about RobJohn....if we have to run the ball every single play thats fine with me as long as we win. We are gonna have a strong running game...against every team we play....thats just a fact....whether we'll be able to run enough to keep us in the game is another question because I feel like our defense is still not where it needs to be. If our defense can't keep the opponents offense in check enough and we have to start throwing it around then thats gonna be trouble. I don't think we get enough pressure on the QB from the line...Sims and Brown were being heralded in the spring and I didn't hear either's name once during the SMS game. If they are being held in check by SMS tackles....then whats gonna happen when they go against some big SEC tackles? At the very least....I think they might cause Herring to have a massive coronary.

[cocky4ever]

I'm not too worried about the fumbles. They are really gonna focus on that this week and If we are gonna have that problem then that was the game to have it. We are notoriously a sure-handed team, as evidence by the fact that Senior tailback De'arrius Howard has NEVER fumbled....thats right...NEVER.

I also am not too worried about RobJohn....if we have to run the ball every single play thats fine with me as long as we win. We are gonna have a strong running game...against every team we play....thats just a fact....whether we'll be able to run enough to keep us in the game is another question because I feel like our defense is still not where it needs to be. If our defense can't keep the opponents offense in check enough and we have to start throwing it around then thats gonna be trouble. I don't think we get enough pressure on the QB from the line...Sims and Brown were being heralded in the spring and I didn't hear either's name once during the SMS game. If they are being held in check by SMS tackles....then whats gonna happen when they go against some big SEC tackles? At the very least....I think they might cause Herring to have a massive coronary.
Well, you just officially jinxed Howard. Now he will without a doubt fumble the ball this Sat.

[roosterj37]

TOO MUCH SAKI for AFW

[jbuzbee]

Well, you just officially jinxed Howard. Now he will without a doubt fumble the ball this Sat.

even if he does...you see my point. The guy is a senior with quite a bit of playing experience and he hasn't ever fumbled. Pretty impressive.

[AFWarrior83]

TOO MUCH SAKI for AFW


vewe vewe strong when saki served hot!