2008 Woodie Awards
Poor scheduling to blame
Razorback Road
Matt Jones
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Sports
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LITTLE ROCK - Call it looking ahead, call it flat or call it poor preparation. Whatever you want to call it, Arkansas' performance in Saturday's first half against Tennessee-Chattanooga was pathetic.
At the 3:46 mark of the first half, the most impressive thing going was the wave that had encompassed War Memorial Stadium.
It wasn't Arkansas' offense. That unit had already fumbled the ball three times, bringing the Razorbacks' season total to 18 fumbles.
It wasn't really the Razorback defense, although that unit was the lesser of two evils. Arkansas' defense gave up a 25-yard run on a fourth-and-six play with all the noise 54,836 could muster.
There are a number of different reasons to why Arkansas played so poorly Saturday night, but it's hard to overlook the scheduling in that situation.
Arkansas started out with a legitimate non-conference opponent this season against Troy. If you don't think the Trojans are a good team, ask Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy (He's a man, he's 40). The Trojans wiped the floor with OSU just two weeks after the Razorbacks came away with that win.
Arkansas followed that game up with two good conference opponents, in games Arkansas realistically should have won, but let get away.
But how can you allow back-to-back games in the middle of the season like Arkansas just finished with?
North Texas is coached by a man just one year removed from high school football and Tennessee-Chattanooga has a losing record in an entire subdivision below what the Razorbacks play.
Arkansas' biggest problem was beating North Texas the way it did last weekend. Reports from practice said Arkansas practiced poorly throughout the week.
Tuesday, offensive coordinator David Lee said it was the worst practice Arkansas had all season. Wednesday apparently wasn't much better.
Saturday night, Darren McFadden summed it up best saying, "You play the way you practice."
So in all reality, Saturday's outcome shouldn't have come as that big of a surprise. And that brings us back to scheduling for a second.
At the 3:46 mark of the first half, the most impressive thing going was the wave that had encompassed War Memorial Stadium.
It wasn't Arkansas' offense. That unit had already fumbled the ball three times, bringing the Razorbacks' season total to 18 fumbles.
It wasn't really the Razorback defense, although that unit was the lesser of two evils. Arkansas' defense gave up a 25-yard run on a fourth-and-six play with all the noise 54,836 could muster.
There are a number of different reasons to why Arkansas played so poorly Saturday night, but it's hard to overlook the scheduling in that situation.
Arkansas started out with a legitimate non-conference opponent this season against Troy. If you don't think the Trojans are a good team, ask Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy (He's a man, he's 40). The Trojans wiped the floor with OSU just two weeks after the Razorbacks came away with that win.
Arkansas followed that game up with two good conference opponents, in games Arkansas realistically should have won, but let get away.
But how can you allow back-to-back games in the middle of the season like Arkansas just finished with?
North Texas is coached by a man just one year removed from high school football and Tennessee-Chattanooga has a losing record in an entire subdivision below what the Razorbacks play.
Arkansas' biggest problem was beating North Texas the way it did last weekend. Reports from practice said Arkansas practiced poorly throughout the week.
Tuesday, offensive coordinator David Lee said it was the worst practice Arkansas had all season. Wednesday apparently wasn't much better.
Saturday night, Darren McFadden summed it up best saying, "You play the way you practice."
So in all reality, Saturday's outcome shouldn't have come as that big of a surprise. And that brings us back to scheduling for a second.
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