Saturday, November 29, 2008

Future Looks Bright - GO HOGS!


Future looks bright for Petrino's Hogs
November 29, 2008 1:04 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Seeing his team come back in the final seconds Friday to win 31-30 over defending national champion LSU was sweet enough for Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino.

Then he glanced down his roster.

Just about everybody making a play for the Razorbacks in their season-ending win over the Tigers will be back next season.

The Hogs (5-7, 2-6 SEC) fell one game short of making the postseason in Petrino's first year, but they did set a tone for the offseason. One more solid recruiting class, and this is a club that could be a factor in the Western Division race next season and certainly by 2010.

As fate would have it, one of the few guys who won't be back next season for Arkansas, senior quarterback Casey Dick, served up a memorable performance in his final game. He came off the bench in the second half after his younger brother, Nathan Dick, injured his thumb on his throwing hand, and rallied the Hogs from a 30-14 deficit.

Casey Dick's 24-yard touchdown pass to London Crawford on fourth-and-1 with 21 seconds to play won it for Arkansas, which was in every game after that wretched three-game stretch against Alabama, Texas and Florida earlier this season. Three of the Hogs' last four losses were by a total of six points.

And while Casey will be departing, Nathan will only be a sophomore next season, and the guy all the Arkansas fans can't wait to see at quarterback is Michigan transfer Ryan Mallett.

The Hogs lose a couple of key offensive linemen, including center Jonathan Luigs, but all of the guys they leaned on offensively against LSU will be back -- running back Dennis Johnson, tight ends D.J. Williams and Andrew Davie and receivers Jarius Wright, Greg Childs, Lucas Miller and Crawford. That doesn't even count 1,000-yard rusher Michael Smith, who missed the game because of a hamstring injury.

The Razorbacks took their lumps on defense this season. But they were playing a lot of young players, and the top 10 tacklers from this season are scheduled to return.

The more I think about it, the more I like Arkansas to be the breakthrough team in the West next season similar to Ole Miss this season.

Think Petrino is already looking forward to spring practice?

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sec/0-2-201/Future-looks-bright-for-Petrino-s-Hogs.html

Friday, November 28, 2008

Another News Story

It's official...

Green is a Hog
November 28, 2008 – 7:50 pm
Former Southern Cal running back Broderick Green has decided to enroll at the University of Arkansas. Read more in Saturday's Arkansas Democrat Gazette

- this according to Richard Davenport with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette

HIGHLIGHTS

HOGS WIN!!!


The Razorbacks pulled off a come from behind upset of LSU this afternoon in Little Rock. The Razorbacks won another thriller last year in Baton Rouge, so the Boot Trophy will now stay in Fayetteville for at least another year.

This was an amazing game that was won on a 20 yard TD pass from Casey Dick to London Crawford on a 4th and one when LSU thought the hogs would go for a run or a short pass. Instead, among the mayhem, Dick called a pass play over the defense that was caught easily in the endzone by Crawford.

This was a great win for morale and recruiting as the Razorbacks showed weakness in areas, but strength, desire, and talent in youth. The future is promising, and if Petrino can fill the talent gaps with this years recruiting class, the future will be very, very bright.

GO HOGS!

Gameday - LSU

WHEN 1:30 p.m. Central today WHERE War Memorial Stadium (53,727), Little Rock RECORDS LSU 7-4, 3-4 SEC; Arkansas 4-7, 1-6 RANKINGS Neither team is ranked BETTING LINE LSU by 4 1 /2 COACHES Les Miles (41-10 in fourth year at LSU, 69-31 in eighth year overall); Bobby Petrino (4-7 in first year at Arkansas, 45-16 in fifth year overall) SERIES LSU leads 33-18-2 overall, 9-5 in Little Rock TELEVISION CBS Sports RADIO Arkansas Razorbacks Sports Network, including KARN-AM, 920, KARN-FM, 102.9, and KABZ-FM, 103.7 in Little Rock; and KEZAFM, 107.9, KKEG-FM, 92.1, KUOA-AM, 1290, and KUOAFM, 105.3, in Fayetteville

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Last Year's Memorable Battle for the Boot

Battle for the Boot

This Friday Arkansas will take on LSU in Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium in what has become an annual post-Thanksgiving tradition. They will be playing for the golden boot trophy. The Razorbacks really are not playing for anything more than retaining the trophy. They won it last year in a 3 overtime barnburner at Tiger Stadium. This year, the LSU Tigers are heavily favored and playing for a bowl position.

The interesting thing to watch in this game will be the play of both teams quarterbacks. The hogs and the tigers are starting true freshmen with very little experience. This will be the second start for Arkansas freshman Nathan Dick and the first start for LSU's freshman QB.

Also of interest will be the ground game of the Razorbacks. It was recently announced that Arkansas star running back Michael Smith will not play due to a recent injury. The hogs will look to depend on Senior RB Brandon Barnett and true freshmen De'Anthony Curtis and Dennis Johnson.

Many Razorback fans will just be happy with the end of a rough season. Put me in that camp. However, I am extremely excited and optimistic about the future of the program. The underclassmen, especially Freshmen, have shown big-time playmaking capabilities. Couple these young men with what appears to be an outstanding recruiting class, and I think hog fans will have a team that is competitive with the top teams in the country in the next couple of years.

The Future is Bright!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Props to Hillis

We miss you. Keep tearing it up!

Wide Right, Wide Left...You Choose

The Razorbacks lost a very close game to Mississippi State on Saturday 31-28, but Arkansas had a chance in the final seconds to send the game into overtime with a 46 yard field goal. The attempt had plenty of distance, but was wide right. Earlier in the game Tejada missed another field goal from 44 yards - it was wide left.

The Razorbacks under the leadership of Freshman QB Nathan Dick jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but the momentum did not last much longer than that. The hogs found themselves down 31-21 with about a minute to go in the 4th. With an impressive 2 minute drill, Nathan and the Razorbacks scored a touchdown with about 40 seconds left in the game. For the second time this season, the Razorbacks were then able to recover an onside kick; giving the hogs a chance in the final seconds. On the final possession, Nathan completed enough passes to move the ball into field goal range with 3 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately Tejada's last second kick did not send the ball between the uprights. For the second time in the game his kick had plenty of distance, but not enough accuracy.

The hogs are now 4-7 with no chance of bowl eligibility. Next week the hogs play LSU in Little Rock. LSU dropped a game yesterday to Ole Miss. Hopefully, the hogs will at least make it an enjoyable post-Thanksgiving game at War Memorial.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Razorbacks Must Win

WHEN 1:30 p.m. Central today WHERE Scott Field (55,082), Starkville, Miss. RECORDS Arkansas 4-6, 1-5 SEC; Mississippi State 3-7, 1-5 RANKINGS Neither team is ranked BETTING LINE Arkansas by 1 1 /2 COACHES Bobby Petrino (4-6 in first season at Arkansas, 45-15 in fifth season overall); Sylvester Croom (20-37 in fifth season at Mississippi State and overall) SERIES Arkansas leads 12-5-1 TELEVISION None RADIO Arkansas Razorback Sports Network, including KARN-AM, 920, KARNFM, 102.9, and KABZFM, 103.7, in Little Rock; and KEZA-FM, 107.9, KKEG-FM, 92.1, KUOA-AM, 1290, and KUOA-FM, 105.3, in Fayetteville; XM Radio 201; Sirius 217

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Can Hogs Make a Bowl?

Simple answer, yes. The Razorbacks are 4-6 right now and with wins in their final two games they will have 6 wins making them bowl eligible. The road to a bowl is a challenge, but the opportunity is there with a game on the road with Mississippi State this Saturday and a game in Little Rock at War Memorial Stadium with LSU the day after Thanksgiving.

Mississippi State has a decent defense but an anemic offense. They have a 3-7 record and average only 15 points per game. Arkansas needs to step up in this game and win decisively in order to have the confidence needed to compete and win against a top tier team like LSU. Who will start at QB? Petrino is apparently talking about Nathan Dick looking good and possibly getting some playing time against Mississippi State and even starting. We shall see. I personally don't care as long as the QB plays worth more than a high stinking pile of you know what.

If Arkansas wins decisively against Mississippi State, they might have enough confidence and desire to pull off a win against 7-3 and 18th ranked LSU in the stadium where the Razorbacks have been dominant over the last ten years. With these two wins, Arkansas would jump back into the bowl picture giving the younger hogs a chance for additional practices and game situations to prepare them for next year. It would be up to the bowl selection committee to select the hogs and often 6 wins does not translate to a selection.

While this season has been a long and painful rebuilding year, hog fans and the football players should realize the benefits of making it to a bowl game and bring their best for the next two games.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Casey Pick


Just a statistic for you to ponder...Casey Dick is leading the SEC in interceptions thrown and is in 3rd place in the NCAA with 14, including 3 last week - ouch!

To make things worse, he leads the country in number of times sacked by 5 (33 total) with 6 coming last week - double ouch!!

Broderick Green Transferring to Arkansas?

Late Monday afternoon, rumors swirled about a potential transfer of RB, Broderick Green, from Southern Cal to Arkansas. Apparently, he has family issues that he feels requires him to be closer to home to deal with. Radio outlets were reporting this to be true (Drive Time Sports) this evening.

This is welcome news to Coach Petrino if he indeed will transfer to Arkansas. Especially if he is able to enroll early. Broderick was a 4 star running back coming out of high school at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock. Broderick fits the big RB mold (6'2" 235, 4.57) that Petrino desires in his system. He is a redshirt freshman at Southern Cal and he'll be a sophomore at Arkanasas.

Time and time again, Petrino has let it be known that he is in serious need for some big backs. He has received one big commit to date in Knile Davis, and he is still pursuing Ronnie Wingo. Wingo is slow-playing the hogs right now, but Petrino still wants him badly. Wingo and Davis both bring a little more speed than Green, and Green still could be used in other roles such as TE in the same fashion as DJ Williams - leaving plenty of room for Wingo in Petrino's offense. His strengths are his soft hands, power and vision.



Below is an updated note from Broderick to USC fans. It was posted on their Rivals fans site:


Because of unforeseen family health issues with my maternal grandmother who raised me and my mother, I have asked the University of Southern California to grant me a scholarship release at the end of this semester.

After the Washington State game, I advised Coach Carroll that I was considering transferring because of a family medical situation with my grandmother, who along with my mother, raised me. Although he regretted my decision, he understood, was totally supportive, and asked me to reconsider.

At that time, I told him that I would wait a few weeks before I made a final decision because I did not want to bring any unnecessary attention to the team, as we focus on completing the season and competing for the National title.

Over the last weeks, as I have tried to maintain the desire to be a part of the USC football family, a stronger desire to be closer to my grandmother in this time of need has emerged.

Coach Carroll and his staff have been exceptional people, instructors and friends. I have learned so much from him, and I want to express a sincere appreciation to the staff for supporting me and giving me this wonderful opportunity. I will truly miss the staff and especially Coach Pete Carroll and Coach Norton.

As I move forward, I will continue to support the team and this fine University for the opportunity they gave me. However, my desire to be closer to my last living grandparent outweighs any personal, selfish, athletic goals I might have as an individual. Family must always come first.

With sincerest thanks to the Trojan family,

Broderick Green

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Worked

Casey Dick and the Razorbacks were beat handily on Saturday. Dick threw three picks on his way to a 21-34 loss to the Gamecocks. To put it plainly, the Razorbacks stunk it up from the get go. I really did not see too many bright spots aside from the one 70+ yard touchdown pass to Jarius Wright. That was beautiful.

Other than that, the game did not provide much worth remembering. Michael Smith injured his shoulder and it is not clear if he'll be available next week when the hogs take on Mississippi State.

A few thoughts on the game:

-Casey Dick has no business starting in the SEC. What was Nutt thinking 2 years ago in Columbia, SC when he benched Mustain???
-Our receivers are going to be special - most notably Wright, Adams, Childs, and DJ Williams.
-We really need Linebackers and DBs - Isaac Madison got worked again.
-We need some good sized running backs that can take it to the house.
-Petrino is going to be a great coach once he has some players.
-We need to find a good red uni and white uni and stick with it - too many combinations right now.
-It might be time to find a new defensive coordinator - Willy Robinson does not get it done.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Gameday


Coach Petrino and the Hogs travel to Columbia, SC to take on Coach Spurrier and the Gamecocks. Kick off is at 1pm eastern. PPV only.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Hogs Survive Hurricane

Arkansas held off Tulsa to send the golden hurricane home with a loss. While the Razorback struggled at times in the red zone, They did put enough points on the board to beat the #18 ranked Tulsa team. It was a total team effort from the defense which caused 3 turnovers to Alex Tejada who nailed 3 field goals, to Dennis Johnson who took a kickoff to the house to Casey Dick who threw for close to 400 yards. The final score was 30-23.