Bleacher Report - Arkansas Razorbacks Football

Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs: Hogs on a Roll

Donald Fincher — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:19:02 -0500

Mississippi State is supposed to be one of those "dangerous" teams that has some talent and has been injected with new coaching and new enthusiasm. The Bulldogs played LSU very tough and Florida didn't run away with their game.

Mississippi State is one game shy of being .500. If it had beaten one team that it instead lost to, the Bulldogs would be even and hoping for a bowl.

That formality out of the way, there is a flip side to this coin. LSU has had offensive woes all season, so that game being close wasn't necessarily as much of a statement as some made it out to be.

'Bama dominated the bulldogs. And Miss. State would not have scored a touchdown on Florida had it not been for two uncharacteristic Tebow interceptions that both got ran back for scores.

State hasn't beaten a single team it wasn't supposed to. The team's wins came against Jackson State, Middle Tennessee State, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky. And the Kentucky game was courtesy of three Wildcat turnovers, which prevented the Bulldogs from having just one SEC win.

The trouble with teams like Miss. State is that they don't have much depth. And this late into the season, many teams are playing second stringers at a number of spots.

With teams like Miss. State, that's a bigger problem than with higher caliber teams. A team that Miss. State could have gone toe to toe with in the first or second week is going to have an easier win later in the season due to this.

And then there are matchup issues. When Miss. State has the ball, it is primarily a rushing team. Arkansas doesn't have a very good defense statistically. However, the one area Arkansas has done well is against the rush. The hogs are fifth in the league in rush defense.

And Arkansas leads the league in passing offense and scoring offense, while Miss. State is poor against the pass. Therefore, while both offenses will get their yards, Arkansas figures to be a better match against Miss. State's defense than vice-versa.

Morale becomes an issue with any team. Miss. State started out winning two of its first three. Since then, the Bulldogs have lost five out of seven. Arkansas ebbed and flowed and never allowed itself to get more than one game below .500 at any point, and is currently on its first three-game win streak since 2007.

As for motivation, Arkansas has the revenge factor since it laid an egg when playing Miss. State last year, and Arkansas can greatly improve its bowl placement with a win.

Meanwhile, Miss. State has the tough task of winning out against two better teams to even become bowl eligible and, even if it does, it then gets smacked with the reality of being the 11th team and the league only gets 10 bowls.

Adding all this up, Arkansas enjoys home field, better matchups, better depth, higher morale, momentum, and motivation. This looks like the typical Arkansas win over Miss. State. I look for Mallet and company to get out of the gates hot and to press the accelerator.

Finally, there is the coaching. Arkansas also enjoys the advantage of having the better coach. Petrino knows better than to let the opponent stay in the game and leave a glimmer of hope that it can win. Given the improvement of Mallet and the level of execution on this team, Petrino has the system, the weapons, and the trust in his team to fully utilize his weapons and his mismatches to take away any belief early in the game.

He's a "rip out the jugular" kind of guy when he has the team to do it and, in my opinion, that's his best trait. This is because college kids are easily distracted and tend to lose their focus if things are coming relatively easy.

Petrino's aggressive play calling will negate any chance that the players might let down their guards which, to me, seemed very common during the Nutt years. I look forward to more of this aggressive style from Petrino in this game and in future seasons.

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Ryan Mallett Is the Best Quarterback in the SEC, Not Tim Tebow

Blake Stansbery — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:45:18 -0500

Across the nation you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who is not familiar with Tim Tebow.

Tebow has been part of two national championships for the Florida Gators and has won a Heisman Trophy. He has already been immortalized by the University of Florida with his motivational speech plaque at the entrance to the new football facility.

Tebow is a missionary and an all-around great person.

What would you say if I was to tell you with all that success that Tim Tebow is not the best quarterback in the nation—not even the best quarterback in the SEC?

I am sure you will call me crazy, but by the numbers there is another quarterback in the SEC who has stood out as the best in the 2009 season.

That quarterback is Ryan Mallett.

Mallett leads the SEC and ranks third in the nation in quarterback rating, with a 165 rating. His offense leads the SEC in scoring offense (37.6 ppg), total offense (450.1 ypg), passing offense (310 ypg), and pass efficiency (160).

Mallett has done all of this in his first year as a starter and with the ninth-ranked rush offense in the conference. The weight of this team has been squarely on his shoulders all year.

Mallett's numbers tell the same story. He has connected on 23 touchdown passes, while only throwing four interceptions. Two regular season games remain, and he has already broken or tied 10 Arkansas passing records and has more in his sights. The most notable came in the win over Troy when he became the Arkansas single-season passing record holder.

He has thrown for 2,885 yards, more than 1,000 yards greater than Tebow. He has 11 more touchdown passes thrown and the same number of interceptions (four) as Tebow as well.

Arkansas' schedule has been ranked as one of the toughest in the nation, and to put up the numbers Mallett has during this season is remarkable. He is on track to be the first ever single-season 3,000-yard passer in Arkansas school history to go along with his other broken records.

Mallett already projects ahead of Tebow in the NFL Draft according to many mock draft boards if he were to enter the Draft after this season. There will be no decision on that until after the season, and Mallett has told the media he has not even thought about it yet.

Mallett is a redshirt sophomore in his first season as a starting quarterback and leads a team that is the youngest in the SEC. More than a dozen freshmen and sophomores have started for the Razorbacks, and they all play a significant role on the team. With youth comes mistakes, and the Razorbacks have sputtered in some games, leading to Mallett's numbers not being even greater than where they stand now.

Pro-Tebow arguers will point to Mallett's poor games as why Tebow is better and make every argument imaginable. I have one thing to say to that...the numbers don't lie. A season is a collection of all your games, not one or two here or there.

Pro-Tebow arguers will also claim that Heisman Trophies, national championships, and other various awards make a player a better quarterback. That argument is an entirely different discussion.

The way the BCS operates and the way Heisman Trophies are awarded in this new day and age is more than just a bit of a controversial topic. That argument would be entirely separate from who currently is the best quarterback in the SEC.

The other Pro-Tebow argument sure to come up will be that of wins and losses. To that the answer is simple: The best quarterback does not have to play for the best team.

Florida ranks in the top five nationally in recruiting every single year. The talent surrounding Tebow according to all accounts should be far greater than that surrounding Mallett. That argument would make what Mallett has done even more convincing.

Mallett fans surely will have more stats and arguments to stand behind this assertion, and Tebow fans will likewise for their stance. Both groups will stand behind their No. 15 firmly, but in the end, numbers just don't lie.

Ryan Mallett is the best quarterback in the SEC.

Image Courtesy of Google Images

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Ryan Mallett Dealing with High Expectations

Blake Stansbery — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:50:51 -0500

All eyes in the state of Arkansas are on Ryan Mallett, and they have been ever since he stepped on campus two years ago. Now, eyes from across the nation and the NFL are starting to also focus in on the 6'7" monster of a quarterback.

When Mallett transferred to Arkansas from the University of Michigan he became the hot topic in the Razorback Nation, and has been ever since. High expectations were thrown on Mallett before he ever took a snap in a Razorback uniform, and before he ever took a snap in a Wolverine uniform, for that matter.

As it is at nearly every major college football program, the starting quarterback alternates between being the fan favorite and the scapegoat, depending on how they play from week to week.

Just about a month ago many Hog fans were saying Mallett should be demoted and backup quarterback Tyler Wilson should get a chance. At that time the Hogs were coming off of a poor performance to Ole Miss, and sitting at the bottom of the SEC with a 3-4 overall record.

Since that time Mallett has completed close to 80 percent of his passes, and has broken or tied 10 Arkansas records. The most notable came against Troy, when Mallett surpassed Clint Stoerner as the Arkansas single-season passing record holder. With this success, he quickly became the hero of those same Razorback fans ready to toss him aside within a blink of an eye again.

Three games (including a bowl game) still remain, and Mallett has a handful of other records in his sights to be broken. But winning is all that matters to him at this point. Mallett has not even broken a smile as members of the media continue to mention the records he is breaking and is set to break before the end of the season. All that he continues to divert back to is winning games and executing the offense.

With that, he knows with confidence that the Razorbacks will continue to win games.

The success he has achieved thus far in the season has done nothing but raise expectations on the young redshirt sophomore quarterback. One of the hot topics: Will he go into the NFL Draft after this season (where some already project him to be one of the top quarterbacks on the board), or does he return to college and take Arkansas to a BCS bowl game?

Mallett will be Arkansas' first ever 3,000-yard single-season passer, doing it in his first year in the SEC and as a starting quarterback. ESPN projects Mallett to reach 3,462 yards passing before the completion of the season.

Currently Mallett sits third in the nation in quarterback efficiency rating. He has thrown an incredible 23 touchdown passes with only five interceptions. With all of his success comes more out-of-this-world sized expectations, such as being a Heisman front-runner going into the 2010 season.

The expectations keep growing with every sign of progress that Mallett and this Razorback team make. The desire of the fans to win the big games and make it to a BCS bowl game have been brewing for years. Acquiring Bobby Petrino, who had BCS success as head coach at Louisville, has added to this fire.

Arkansas fans want to win, and they want to win now.

The young Razorback team has not disappointed. They have reached bowl eligibility, and currently start more underclassmen than any other team in the SEC. Interestingly, the team has done this all with what ESPN ranks as the third most difficult schedule in the nation.

Returning that young talent next season has not only the fans, but also the team and recruits, believing the Razorbacks are a team on the rise. Expect to see most major sports outlets project the Razorbacks to be a top team in 2010 as well, and to heap preseason expectations as well as accolades onto Mallett.

Mallett's success almost mirrors that of Jevan Snead from a year ago at Ole Miss. However, his numbers are far better than the numbers Snead put up in 2008, and his progress as a quarterback is also more evident.

Students of the game can see that Mallett has improved his footwork, patience, and decision-making. He has made these improvements from game to game, and that is the reason he has improved the Razorback team as a whole.

It could be tomorrow or a week from now when Mallett has a bad game or shatters more records. Between now and the end of Mallett's career, expectations will only rise. Could he be the greatest quarterback ever to play for Arkansas? Will he take the Razorbacks to a championship?

Those are the questions being asked by Razorback fans everywhere. The answer is all up to Ryan Mallett and his team. If he continues to progress the way he has since stepping foot on campus, the sky really is the limit.

The ball is in his hands. What he does with it will tell us if he can meet or exceed expectations.

Image Courtesy of ESPN.com.

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Arkansas Razorbacks: College Football's Next Powerhouse

Ashton Gilstrap — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:12:47 -0500

The Arkansas Razorbacks are currently sporting a 6-4 record. On first glance, the average sports junkie will dismiss them with out a second's hesitation. This immediate dismissal of the collective skill of the team is a tragedy, because the nation just won't be ready for an unstoppable Razorbacks team next year.

Allow me, before you navigate away from this page, to elaborate. I base this argument on a few basic premises, each of which I will enumerate herein below.

Ryan Mallett has the best arm in all of football, NFL included. When he throws the ball, it goes precisely where he wants it to go at the exact time that he wants it to go there. This sounds like the basic formula for any good quarterback, but Mallett takes it to the next level.

He is third amongst all quarterbacks in the nation in passer efficiency. On Saturday, he broke or matched five Arkansas offensive records. He passed Clint Stoerner's single-season passing record.

"Big Deal!" you say, or

"Who is Clint Stoerner?"

Those are typical, but uneducated remarks. Mallett broke the record, and still has three games left in the season. Furthermore, Mallett is shattering this record whilst in the midst of what ESPN ranked as the "Third-Hardest Schedule" in college football this year. It's not like Mallett is tearing apart cream puffs, he is offensively dominating powerhouse SEC defenses. Sorry critics, he is the real deal.

Another thing that makes this team so remarkable, and so terrifying for their opponents in next year's schedule, is the sheer youth of the team. Mallett is, himself, a red-shirt sophomore this year. Those bad games that people keep citing when I talk to them about Razorbacks football, like Ole Miss, Florida, Alabama, etc, are moot points.

There are no mistakes, not a one, that the Razorbacks have made this year that cannot be attributed to youth. Mallett's going to do nothing but get better, and the incredible receiving corps that Petrino has surrounded Mallett with is there to stay as well.

This brings me to my next point, one that all anti-Razorback fans are literally slavering over. Defense.

Yes, I'll begin by saying something that I know you want to hear. The Razorbacks defense has been torn apart, giving up huge yardage plays on an almost regular basis.

Let me respond to that by quoting this particular statistic, Arkansas ranks first in the SEC in Red Zone Defense. We bend, we may bend a lot, but we do not break.

The Razorbacks defense is young too, with many starters coming back for next year after an offseason of working on weaknesses. Arkansas is looking to be an offensive juggernaut, but the defense will learn to hold its own as well. It's already showing signs of being able to do so with it's amazing Red Zone stands.

The Razorbacks have entered a new era, and the current team members are going to be the forefathers of a whole new generation of Razorback football. With Mallett under center, and Petrino in the cockpit, there is nothing that these Razorbacks won't be able to accomplish.

I have every expectation of them being in a BCS bowl game next year. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to have fun watching college football's most explosive offense.

Woo Pig.

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Arkansas Feeling Lucky Against Mississippi State for Win No. 7

Blake Stansbery — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:41:29 -0500

The Arkansas football team is bowl bound and looking to improve their bowl selection with a strong finish to the season. The Hogs have not been shy about sharing their goal with the media all week: win out.

The next team standing in their way is the dangerous Mississippi State Bulldogs, one of the top rushing teams in the nation with stud RB Anthony Dixon leading the attack. They sit at 2-4 in SEC play just like the Hogs.

The Dogs come into this game with their backs against the wall looking to win their final two games to reach six wins and bowl eligibility in Coach Dan Mullens' first season.

Unfortunately for the Dogs Arkansas has gained steam and is 6-1 at home this season and in the midst of a three-game winning streak.

The Razorbacks will be looking to defend their home away from home at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The Razorbacks rarely lose in Little Rock and will not be wanting to change that anytime soon.

The Little Rock crowd is notorious for getting loud, which has to do with the two-day tailgate on the War Memorial golf course leading up to the games. The Central Arkansas fans look to celebrate another win in the Rock this weekend, and the party that ensues.

Ryan Mallett—now the Arkansas single season passing record-holder—seems fully focused on getting the Razorbacks that seventh win. Since last weekends record breaking performance he has barely even cracked a smile as members of the media bring up the records.

To Mallett the only thing that seems to matter is wins.

Coach Bobby Petrino also brushed off the importance of breaking records at this point in the season. He made it clear they are great for recruiting and can be used after the completion of the season, but there is no sense in celebrating them now.

Ryan Mallett and the Razorbacks also are having to field questions about him leaving early after this season to enter the NFL Draft. Mallett is a top quarterback in the nation, and with that comes a lot of attention from the NFL.

Offensive coordinator Paul Petrino stated yesterday that Ryan needs to stay another year and that it is a conversation they will be having this time next season. Petrino stated that they have not discussed it at all to date.

On the field Arkansas has distinct advantages in nearly every offensive category over the Bulldogs besides the rushing game.

Arkansas is seventh in the nation in both passing and scoring per game while Mississippi State ranks 110th and 80th in those categories. The Bulldogs also are running into an Arkansas defense that has improved leaps and bounds as the season has progressed.

Mississippi State quarterback Tyson Lee has merely been a game manager and lacks the skills to threaten the weak spot of Arkansas' defense: the secondary.

Lee has only thrown four touchdown passes to 13 interceptions for the season. His quarterback rating of 108.4 sits in the bottom six in the nation, while Ryan Mallett's 165 rating ranks third in the country.

The strong point of Arkansas' defense has been their rush defense. The Hogs have ranked atop the SEC in tackles for a loss for most of the season.

Arkansas also ranks tops in the SEC in red-zone defense and turnover margin. If the Hogs continue to dominate in these categories against the Bulldogs they will win this game convincingly.

Arkansas does have two defensive injuries in cornerback David Gordon and nose tackle Zach Stadther that are questionable for the game. Both will be monitored throughout the week and will hurt the depth at their defensive positions.

Still, lets cut to the chase. Arkansas wins games by scoring with their dynamic offense. It is this offense that will extend Arkansas' winning streak from three to four games as they push to make a Jan. 1 bowl game.

The Razorbacks also have a motivational spark for this game: coach Willy Robinson is set to return to the field after being hospitalized last Friday with an infection and missing the Troy game.

Bobby Petrino spoke about Willy's return and how close to home it hits with the coaches and the players. Robinson essential was killing himself at work, and not properly eating and staying hydrated while putting in his long hours.

Coach Petrino said he is going to make sure he gets Robinson home early this week, but joked that he is hard to get out of the building. Sounds like back to business as usual.

Expect to see the Razorback players extra motivated to make Robinson's return a good one.

Prediction

Ryan Mallett passes for over 300 yards as the Hogs gain an impressive SEC win over the Bulldogs. Dixon makes some noise for Mississippi State but gets little to no help from the rest of his team. Lee is forced into three turnovers, and continues his struggles.

The Hogs take a large halftime lead off of these turnovers, and extend the lead in the second half as they get win lucky No. 7.

The victory gets the Hogs one step closer to their goal of winning out leading into their Thanksgiving weekend matchup with LSU in Death Valley.

Hogs 48 Bulldogs 20

Image Courtesy of ArkansasRazorbacks.com

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Ryan Mallett Lights Up Troy Trojans for Arkansas' Third Straight Win

Ashton Gilstrap — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:19:46 -0500

The Razorbacks are on fire, and Ryan Mallett was the match that struck it.

Mallett completed 23 of 30 passes for 405 yards and broke or met five separate Arkansas offensive records.

That's quite the résumé for the redshirt sophomore from Texarkana.

The Hogs are now, as predicted, bowl eligible for the first time under Bobby Petrino.

Two games remain in the regular season, both in-conference games against SEC rivals. The Hogs will face Mississippi State at Little Rock this weekend, followed the following week by the Battle for the Golden Boot at Baton Rouge against the Bayou Bengals.

Arkansas has certainly shown improvement from last year, as is evidenced by their statistics. They are eighth in the nation in passing yardage, with Mallett third in the nation amongst all quarterbacks. They rank 14th in the nation in total offense. We're first in the conference in QB rating, passing yards, and scoring offense.

This is a far cry from the run-heavy Razorbacks of the Houston Nutt era. With Petrino putting Mallett at the head of an offensive juggernaut of a team, the Razorbacks are a force to be reckoned with.

The season, however, isn't over. If the Razorbacks win out, they're looking at a bid to a respectable bowl. More importantly, we are a very, very young team. Expect even better results next year.

Arkansas has had some disappointing losses this year to Georgia, Ole Miss, Florida, and Alabama. You have to consider, though, that we were two missed field goals away from tanking the Gators' national championship hopes, and we have, according to ESPN, the third hardest schedule in the nation.

Next year looks to fall along those same lines, but there's going to be a whole different attitude in the SEC when the Razorbacks come to town. This year has produced great things, with immaturity and youth on the team fudging a couple of should-win games.

Next year, our foes will not be so lucky.

Look for the Razorbacks to finish strong this season and arrive at a respectable bowl game, hopefully the Cotton Bowl. Look for Ryan Mallett to be at the top of everyone's Heisman watch list this offseason, and look for the long overdue emergence of a football powerhouse with Petrino and his wild Razorback hogs.

Woo Pig.

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