Monday Slop: Did Arkansas take Ole Miss for granted?
October 26th, 2009
Arkansas senior tailback Michael Smith believes Arkansas may have taken Ole Miss for granted, and in doing so the Hogs fell flat in a 30-17 loss to the Rebels this weekend.
Credit the close loss at Florida for the lack of focus, Smith says.
“I don’t even think our team was feeling sorry for ourselves coming off the Florida game,” Smith said today at the Hogs’ weekly press conference .”I think it was more so we played Florida so close and so tough that we, maybe, took Ole Miss for granted and forgot that this is the SEC and, at any give time, anybody can beat anybody.”
“… Our whole mindset wasn’t where it needed to be. We felt like the game was already won before we had played it.”
Arkansas (3-4, 1-4 SEC) doesn’t need to be thinking that way the rest of the season, even with Eastern Michigan (0-7) coming to town for homecoming.
“If I had to look for a silver lining, it was good that it happened for us right after the Florida game coming up to this game, so that we know we can’t take anybody for granted,” Smith said. “We need to go out there and prepare like we’re playing the No. 1 team every week.”
Other notables from today’s press conference:
— I asked Bobby Petrino today how he’s critiquing quarterback Ryan Mallett after these last two weeks when he’s completed just 39.3 percent of his passes. I’ll have more on this in the Northwest Arkansas Times on Tuesday this week, but the gist of Petrino’s response is that the sophomore needs to stop looking down field so much. He’s also putting the game on his shoulders a little too much.
It also hurts that there really hasn’t been a good on-the-field relationship between Mallett and tight end D.J. Williams, who didn’t catch a ball Saturday and is tied for fourth on the team in receptions (14).
“That’s something I’m having a hard time with. We call plays for him and he’s not getting the ball,” Petrino said of Williams. “It doesn’t seem like the relationship with him and Ryan is good enough as far as how open he’s going to be or what the time is going to be when he’s open.”
— Cornerback Ramon Broadway (hamstring) will not play Saturday against Eastern Michigan. Petrino described his hamstring injury as “substantial,” but the defender’s history of healing fast gives the coach hope he’ll be back next week.
— Cornerback Rudell Crim has a possible hip pointer and X-rays came back negative. He has a shot at playing Saturday, Petrino says.
Much more in tomorrow’s editions of the Northwest Arkansas Times and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Make sure to also check out WholeHogSports.com for all of our coverage, plus our other features such as blogs, video and the WholeHogCast.
— Brandon Marcello
We took Ole Miss for granted? I could be but it sure looks like we're not ready for prime time yet and Ole Miss proved it.
I thinks it's as simple as Petrino sticking to his promises and sitting those that don't perform to give their backup an opportunity to take their job. To many are reading their press clippings and sulking when they don't play enough. The QB for sure needs a dose of reality, he is just not preparing for the game well enough. You can't be so confidant that you don't think you need to prepare yourself to play and give great effort!
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"We call plays for him ( DJ Williams)and he's not getting the ball." said Petrino. The past two weeks the QB has completed 39% of his passes. This raises a lot of questions. With 5 games, three real games, left hope Coach Petrino can right the ship.
The results speak for themselves. If Mallet will not receive coaching and hit his check down routes with reasonable velocity and accuracy, then we should find someone who will. 39 percent is simply not acceptable at any level of football if you want to win. I know he is young, but Mallet should be starting to make these problems. If it's possible, I think he is getting worse.
Of course, the failure of the coaching staff to stick with the run isn't doing him or the receivers any favors. There is no reason that our two best players, Michael Smith and DJ Williams (yes, they are our best), are so underutilized this far into the season.
I know the defense is bearing the brunt of the criticism as well, but the offense isn't necessarily doing them any favors. I know I've posted this before, but the nature of our offensive system basically ensures that the defense will give up yards because they will be on the field so often, so you can't judge them on that. Instead, I judge them on how many turnovers they get or points they give up at certain points in the game. To me, their job is to hold the opposing offense long enough for the offense to build a lead. Though they stumbled out of the gate, they gave our offense PLENTY of opportunities to get back into the game. If the offense had simply been average, this game would have been tied by the end of the third quarter.
To me, it looked like the Hogs left their hearts in Florida. Ole Miss looked like they wanted this game more than the Hogs did. And while this is a common human emotion after a tough loss, it is not the behavior of a team that supposedly wants to challenge for an SEC championship in the next few seasons. Teams like Florida, Alabama, and LSU don't sit around and blame officials and lament over "what might have been." They go out there and they win their next game. If we do not begin to adopt this mentality, we will continue to wallow in the 8-4 (4-4) mediocrity that the fans were hoping would end. I know this team is young, but it has to start somewhere. I, for one, will be in "show me" mode the rest of this season, and it starts November 7 against South Carolina.
1998 Arkansas 9–3 6-2 1 - West (t) L Florida Citrus 17 16
1999 Arkansas 8–4 4-4 3 - West W Cotton 19 17
Not a Nutt fan nor anti-Petrino, but the record is what it is.
It is often the suttle schedule things that make or break a game/season. Like Tebow getting a concusion but having a off week. We come off of three emotional weeks, and get to play Ole Miss after they play Eastern Tennessee following a tough loss to Alabama. We have a chance to be flat while they are looking at us like a bowl game. But you have to play through that. I do not think Petrino has showed yet that he is the coach who can amp the team up like a Holtz. If he is good enough at coaching and recruiting then it won't be as important. But it sure was this past week and will be so at other times.
What we'll never know is how Arkansas would have played had it upset Florida. If Michael Smith is to be taken seriously, then the Hogs would have lost to Ole Miss even without a post-Gators letdown. They managed to think they were better than the Rebels even after blowing the Florida game. Ryan Mallett is the epitome of this team's attitude: If we're in sight of being good, we can award ourselves the trophy. There's a lot of not finishing the work here.