Leftovers: Football Notes on Jacksonville State

The eating and yelling at the TV screen is over now, and its time to hash over the game itself. If you missed the menu, please read the article below to find out about all the great grub we had. Of everything we made, the Fruit Salad "Ancho" Villa was the surprise star of the show. What an amazing blend of chili spice, cachacha rum, lime juice, salt and fresh fruit. On to the game.

The Positive

Knile Davis looked fresh and eager in his debut. When running between the tackles he was the Knile we have all come to love. On sweep plays he seemed to get caught in the backfield. Others have pointed out that this might be because Tyler Wilson didn't check out of the play after misreading the defense. He looked fantastic catching the ball on a slant route. He seemed over-eager at the goal line and mistimed his jump. Had it not been for two losses on the sweep plays he would have been around 100 yards, and coach was really distributing the ball to several backs, so I would say this was a good debut for Knile. But his best play of the day was that monstrous, from-behind tackle on the play where quarterback Tyler Wilson fumbled to stop a touchdown. It looked like he was devouring that guy like Conan the Barbarian.

Dennis Johnson ran for nearly 7 yards per carry because he was used sparingly. He seems to really thrive when he is not the primary ball carrier. Ronnie Wingo fumbled as usual. I can't be objective about him because he has disappointed me so many times. He always shows flashes in the early season then goes back to being the slow-hitter he is. Have to admit, though, he showed a couple of flashes. Just not getting my hopes up.

Wilson was fantastic at QB, throwing for nearly 70 percent and almost 400 yards, and even having a good run with a nice looking pro slide at the end. He would have been perfect on the day had he not somehow lost the ball on his own thigh on the first drive and set up a drive by Jacksonville State that only delayed the beat-down.

And what about Brandon Allen on that scramble play! Wow, he is a legitimate runner.

What excited me the most about this game was that even though Cobi Hamilton was out early with what appears to be a neck injury, the team didn't seem to miss him. Chris Gragg came up huge with several twisting catches. He is such a huge, fast body and a deep threat! Probably the country's best tight end. And Brandon Mitchell! In his first game as a wide receiver, with very little time to get used to the position, he produced about 120 yards and added many yards after the catch  by using that strong, tall frame to evade tackles. To be honest, he reminded me a lot of Greg Childs and I would not be surprised if he contends for the best receiver of the year. Kudos to John L. Smith for letting this happen. The guy has the body of a pro receiver and based on how he looks right now, I would not be surprised if he is drafted as a receiver by the NFL.

The Negative

So let's talk defense. And let's strip away -- pun intended -- the two fumbles because some of that early scoring Jacksonville State did was partially due to good field position.

Early on, it seemed  that Arkansas was committed to stopping the run, but our defensive backs seemed  lost in space, with the notable exception of Ross Rasner, who was a complete stud out there playing two positions throughout the night. Jacksonville State was gashing us with big pass plays here and  there, frustrating everyone who felt like we should have been able to lock this team down.

Then, at the half, the Gamecocks suddenly were able to create holes for some big runs, though when you look at the stats for the game, they only averaged about 2 yards per carry due to the huge number of runs we stuffed or turned into losses.

Before the game, Gamecocks coach Jack Crowe said that his offense was very flexible, that they usually start in a pro set and quickly adapt to what the defense if giving them. It seems like that is exactly what they were  able to do. Which leads to this question: Why is it that the Razorbacks, regardless of the coach, the decade or what have you, are never able to totally dominate their cupcake opponents in every aspect? We Hog fans sit back in frustration as Oregon or Texas or Oklahoma or Alabama just takes their opening opponent to the woodshed. But remember New Mexico's receivers abusing us last year? Remember years and years of Troy and Louisiana Monroe showing surprising scrap?

I am going to guess here that the deal is that our defense has never, in recent memory, been dominant enough and experienced enough at the same time to be ready to stuff a team completely. That they are never deep enough to be ready for that this early. The defense that played the Cotton Bowl last year would have killed this team. Now, though, we have too many people getting used to their positions. If you have a better idea, please throw it me.

Conclusions

This team is essentially the same team we had last year, which is a huge credit to Coach John L. Smith, who held everyone together, and to Tenarius Wright and Tyler Wilson, the captains who took over the team. They might be even more potent on offense, and they are still not top caliber on defense.

I suspect the D will improve substantially, but they are not going to stop Alabama. We will have to score 32 to win against Bama, I think. We will be really beat up after that game and struggle to stop Rutgers, too. But by mid-season you will see the defense start to play with some swagger. If anything, they will be good at stopping the run. Against Bama they will sell out to stop the run and get gashed with some big pass plays.

 Finally, take the time to go read ArkansasSports360.com and RazorBloggers. These are great news sources about the Hogs, and they always have nice photos. Let's get ready for next week's Little Rock game! Please post comments about the blog, and tell me what you are excited about for next week.