A Rather Dull Afternoon: Arkansas 24, Texas A&M 17

by Stephen Expat on Oct 9, 2010 6:30 PM CDT in Arkansas Razorback Football

Is the game over yet? Thankfully, blessedly, the answer is yes.

People say that one of the signs of a good team is that it still wins when it doesn't play well. Time will tell how good these Hogs are, but they looked awfully sluggish today, as if they hadn't quite shaken off their post-Alabama depression.

The Razorbacks did accumulate 441 total yards of offense, but they didn't score a touchdown in the second half, and Mallett looked somewhat wobbly in the final 30 minutes. On the plus side, the running game showed some signs of life, as the Hogs had 130 yards of rushing.

And the defense came up very big in the second half. And Hocker and Breeding continue to impress.

Overall, though, it was a pretty boring afternoon - even though A&M's final drive did spike my blood pressure a little.

We'll have more thoughts on the blog and on our podcast in the days ahead, but for now, a beautiful fall evening beckons, and I plan to enjoy it. Hope you do too. Before you go, though - what are your thoughts on today's game?

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My thoughts are

I don’t know why a QB laying on the ground with the ball in his arms is not down. Happened vs Tennessee in the cotton bowl too.

Y’all have very talented RBs so was not surprised y’all ran the ball with some success.

Was happy with our defense in the second half once we started to blitz under control.

I think y’all are the best team we will face this year. Just pissed about the stupid errors.

by miketag on Oct 9, 2010 7:42 PM CDT via mobile reply actions

Shades of the liberty bowl

Our second half offense has to improve. Is Mallett hurt?

by trip andrews on Oct 9, 2010 7:51 PM CDT reply actions

He's looking far more mobile and has that 'escapability' in the pocket now

But I just don’t think his head’s in it. He needs to level out emotion-wise.

Plus I wish he was a little tougher. He frequently seems like he’s acting to get the foul called, which doesn’t come off well.

by starry on Oct 9, 2010 7:57 PM CDT up reply actions

It was excruciating

Especially all the unnecessary mistakes.

Running game looked much better.

Looking forward to the day when our victories don’t depend on a failed last second hail mary. If we get into that situation with LSU or Ole Miss, we will LOSE.

by starry on Oct 9, 2010 7:54 PM CDT reply actions

Hog Slop

A win is a win. Unsettling, uncomfortable, sloppy win.

But I bet Alabama wishes they won so sloppily. Win’s a win.

"Heaven love's ya. . ." - David Bowie

by Pirategeorge on Oct 9, 2010 8:45 PM CDT reply actions

That wasn't necessarily fun to watch.

The running game showing signs of life was refreshing. A&M boasted the #3 rushing defense in the nation, but like an A&M fan pointed out, that’s likely because everyone they have played thus simply didn’t run the ball much (kind of like how E. Michigan boasted the #1 pass defense last season, simple because it was way too easy to run against them).

I’m very glad to see that Zach Hocker didn’t let that long miss get in his head. Sometimes that first miss can make you a bit shaky on more reasonable kicks, but it didn’t seem to slow him down (aside from the botched fake FG, which wasn’t busted on both ends).

A win is a win is a win. It wasn’t pretty, the pass defense still got burned (but, props to Willy Robinson for making adjustments when it was clear Winston couldn’t cover his man), and the vaunted pass offense started to show signs of weakness. The bright side is, this performance was (hopefully) the result of the post-‘Bama hangover not being cured by the bye week. Here’s hoping to a better game (but the same result!) next week at ’Barn.

by dxf04 on Oct 9, 2010 9:07 PM CDT reply actions

I was glad when it was finally over.

I kept wondering if we were try to ‘nutt up’ and let A&M win the game. Was pleased to see some running game; kudo’s to the special teams, especially kicking; defense was our saving grace. Offense needs to snap out of it quickly, we need them to score next week.

by omahahog on Oct 9, 2010 9:29 PM CDT reply actions

I was never really concerned

that we were in danger of losing this game, our Defense was playing too solidly.

And it was very nice to see our Defense step up and win a game when the Offense was struggling. This was the kind of game we would lose in years past.

It was nice to see the running game show some signs of life and the Special Teams were pretty solid.

Hopefully, and I’m too lazy to look this up, we’re done seeing that 3-4 Defense from opposing teams that has been giving us such fits.

Awww. c'mon girl.

by SmoovP on Oct 10, 2010 9:47 AM CDT reply actions