Thread on Arkansas board about the upcoming Bama matchup

[bamachile]

As for the rest of the thread, I don't see them as delusional. I see them as Arkansas fans on a Arkansas board; they love their hogs.

^^^^^^

Hey, I remember inventing reasons we could beat Florida and LSU when I knew good and well that we couldn't unless they forgot to practice. Your fan base is weak unless you have a few hard-core delusional members.

 

[TexasTideFan]

I guess Arkansas is this year's fad. I expect that the announcers will fall all over themselves fawning over Mallet during the first half.

Some team had to replace Auburn in the West because it's uncool to pick the reigning National Champ.....:biggrin:

You nailed it about the CBS guys as well. Gary will be ate up with Mallett when the game starts. He will probably do a Home Depot Tools for Success segment just about him...

 

[mittman]

I personally understand their optimism. It may be delusional, but I do think they have reason to believe that if they play well they could win.

Most of the rational Arkansas fans I have talked with are optimistic, but guardedly so. Several have said that they will have to play a practically perfect game to win, but Alabama has enough talent to get away with a few mistakes and still win comfortably.

Now it's my turn to be a homer

I think we are better on defense than we have shown, and are improving. I think we will get pressure on Mallet, and at least force him to release before he really wants to. While our sack totals are not showing it, we are consistently forcing early throws.

As for our offense, Greg McElroy said it best. “Pick your poison.” I don’t think they have the ability to stop us as long as we do not stop ourselves, and there is no evidence to date that leads me to believe this will happen.

I believe we will have some big plays on special teams if they kick it to our returner.

 

[bamadp]

The only team on the field Saturday that can beat Bama is...Bama.

Arky fans claim they have a better defense than last year. The problem there is that our O didn't stand pat and is a lot better than last year. Mallet and the Arky O may score some points, but I don't see them scoring more than 21.After all, it's hard to score sitting on the sidelines. I see Bama scoring at least 35 if not more. So worse case scenario... Bama 35 Arky 21.

I wonder if a fourteen point beat down at home will be considered a "moral" victory. :biggrin:

 

[crimson fan man]

It comes down to Alabama's offense is better than their offense. Our defense is better than their defense. Our team is level headed and focused on the goal ahead. Ark will come out with alot of emotion and give us a good game early but will burn out after half time. I feel the score will be 38 ala 17 ark.

 

[Hal Bennett]

I'm hearing a lot about confidence this season on their team, whereas it was missing last season. ***ssiiiighh***...If I've said it once, I've said it a million time, my main man Mike Tyson said it best:

"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."

That's great.

Richard Pryor has left a monologue in which he talks about his boxing days. He said he was great punching the big bag in the gym. "The bag didn't move. But when I got in the ring, this guy was actually moving. I said, 'Look here, Coach, this guy's movin'."

 

[Lost in TN]

:BigAon't forget about the most important aspect of the game DEPTH. It will be hot and we can run multiple people at almost all positions. Watch the d-line in the 4th quarter.:BigA:

 

[Hal Bennett]

Arkansas will not be able to match Bama score for score. I know that is what "the experts" seem to think will happen, but their defense is still not ready for the top tier of the SEC. GMAC will shred their secondary if given enough time and their front didn't look much improved to me. We'll see but I fully expect Bama to dominate the hogs.

I think you are right about this.

If Arkansas 'matches Bama score for score,' Mallett will have the game of his life.

I hesitate to predict this game, because, when you try to factor in a talent like Mallett, there is too wide a differential as to the possibilities he presents.

The problem in a set-up like they have is that their game is basically one-dimensional. The same principle holds if you invest in the stock market. If you put all your investments into one fund, and that particular fund goes under, you are out of funds. It may be a GREAT fund, but if it has gone under, you have nothing to fall back on.

Did you ever see Nolan Ryan pitch? If Nolan Ryan was on, he could pitch a no-hitter. If he was off, he was an average hardball pitcher. It depended, I guess, upon how he felt that day.

You take a guy like a Greg Maddux, whose forte was control. In his heyday, I would have taken him 5-1 over Ryan. Maddux was a great pitcher; Ryan was a great thrower.

Now which guy, Ryan or Maddux, is Mallett like, particularly at this moment in his career? Right, Ryan. If he's on, great; if not, their chances of winning go down perceptibly.

Now take McElroy. This guy is not going to throw the ball haphazardly all over the lot. If it comes down to managing the game, keeping it close to the vest, he has proven himself a master. He plays the game like he studies for an accounting exam. He keeps a record of credits and debits in his head, and he is not going to let your team go in the red.

No, I'm not going to predict this game, because I consider Mallett too unpredictable. I know we will put some points on the board, and we won't make a lot of mistakes on offense. I don't know what Arkansas will do on offense.

 

[Samdog91]

The only team on the field Saturday that can beat Bama is...Bama.

Arky fans claim they have a better defense than last year. The problem there is that our O didn't stand pat and is a lot better than last year. Mallet and the Arky O may score some points, but I don't see them scoring more than 21.After all, it's hard to score sitting on the sidelines. I see Bama scoring at least 35 if not more. So worse case scenario... Bama 35 Arky 21.

I wonder if a fourteen point beat down at home will be considered a "moral" victory. :biggrin:

Hear Hear

 

[Probius]

Arky says all they have to do is stop our running game, that's a little easier said than done. So all you have to do is stop the best two running backs in the country and that O-Line? Oh, well if that's it... what a silly lot.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

no...no one denies last year was a beatdown

a lot of the "refs are against us" sentiment dates back to last year's game against Florida - the team of refs was actually suspended after that game for making bad calls and if I remember right it is the only time that has ever happened

the refs really did hand that game to Florida

then against Georgia there were some bad calls late in the game that pushed the dawgs down the field - the most obvious one was the holding non-call

Hi Arkiebrian,

Welcome to Tidefans. Hope your stay here has been productive and the interactions fair. Allow me to comment a few things. Please note that the next paragraph or so applies to my own prior experience with Hawg fans and should not be applied to you at this point because I don't know you. (And I concur that there were some bad calls against you guys in the UF game last year; don't know about the other one because I didn't see it).

I lived in central Arkansas from 1993-1997. And this was one thing that drove me crazy - no matter how bad the Hawgs lost it was ALWAYS to blame on something other than the other team being better than they. I'm serious - I talked to fans in restaurants (they usually talked to me noticing my Tide hat) who seriously thought that Arkansas "should" have won the 43-3 trouncing we gave you guys in 1993. And then "we shoulda won" in 1994 but "the refs didn't see Barker was over the line on the TD throw." Please note that I have that game on tape and Barker WAS NOT over the line on the TD throw - I know because I checked. Yes, he was close, but close isn't over.

So then came 1995. Now let me say this - Arkansas outplayed us the bulk of that particular game. Arkansas probably should have won it WITHOUT the insanity of what happened at the end. But what was funny was these same Hawg fans who saw ref conspiracies in 43-3 losses could not even admit the call on the JJ Meadors "non catch" was terrible or the missing of 12 men on the field.

Oh - and every time the Hawgs b-ball team lost? It was because the refs "hated" race-baiter Nolan Richardson. Amazingly enough - unlike most other teams - I never once ran into a Hawg fan who thought Arkansas ever got outplayed. That's in FOUR-PLUS YEARS of living in the state.

The Net has not made that much better although a few of the comments on the linked board do show that there ARE Hawg fans who can see what is in front of them.

You will find I'm not very popular on here when I dismiss the blown ref calls. Those even out over a lifetime. VERY RARELY does a bad call actually lose the game for a team. The Fifth Down game is a stellar example of a blown call that DID lose the game for Missouri. And calls at the end (with less time to overcome) are certainly more damaging than a missed call that leads to a TD in the first quarter. That said, there have been THREE Arkansas wins against Alabama that have been questionable - 1995 (12 men on the field followed by the trap), 2000 (12 men on the field followed by the truly specious defensive holding call), and 2003 (celebration penalty in OT knocks us out of FG range to start our possession).

But the only one I can maybe put on the refs is 1995. The fact remains that Arkansas still drove down the field in 2000. And it's not like they had 12 men on the field on EVERY play. In 2003, Tide fans presume too much to think that just because we started in FG range that we would have won. Who knows? We might have fumbled on the first carry. I say that so you know that unlike some of my Tide fan brothers and sisters here, I don't automatically buy into all the hype about refs costing games - and I hope you don't either. I heard enough of that in four years in a great state to live in.

That being said - my feeling for this game is that we will win, but I do think it will be a close "pull away" game - one of those games where y'all stay within 7 until the last 5 minutes and then a big play seals it. I think Mallet will enjoy early success as our defense adjusts on the road in a fired-up environment. (I would admittedly be more concerned if the game was at night).

So I don't think it will be a "beat down" but I'm expecting a hard-fought win on our side. Strangely enough the two teams I fear most this year have been you guys and South Carolina.

The one thing that keeps me from saying you guys will win is that your defense seems to give up a lot of yards and a lot of points.

One more thing - I don't know if invoking "we stopped the run" last year (not saying you did it but it's a common Hawg theme) is a good argument. Ingram was not yet Ingram in the Hawg game last year. His coming out was not until the South Carolina game.

 

[Just Win]

The early line only had us at -4.5. I thought the line would be -6.5.

I assumed the line would be Bama -14 to -18. I just don't see how this game is close at all.

 

[crimsonaudio]

It's amazing, they consider themselves to be "the most knowledgable board" regarding college football yet they have NO clue about this Bama team. I don't think I can spend any more time over there, the combination of ignorance and delusion is amazing. All they'd have to do is spend a few minutes reading something other than their own forum and they'd have a better picture of what the various aspects of this weekend's game are.

 

[Just Win]

I think the only way Arky beats us is if they have a restaurant serve our team food that gives them all food poison, like they did back in '97 or '98 under Dubose when they beat us 42-6. I'm not going to go all "Oliver Stone" and declare that they did it on purpose, but usually if it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, it's a rat. If you recall, almost our entire team was suffering from it, and had to be given fluids all game long. DuBose never would come out fully and say anything about it because he thought it would be just an excuse, but there were a few assistant coaches who did.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I don't automatically buy into all the hype about refs costing games - and I hope you don't either. I heard enough of that in four years in a great state to live in.

Too late. The "refs stole it" excuse is already being prepared in advance...

 

[REBELZED]

Too late. The "refs stole it" excuse is already being prepared in advance...

The amount of that has really surprised me. A lot of their predictions start off with "if we can actually get a fairly called game" or "if we can beat the refs." They're definitely trying to leave the excuse wide open for use after the fact...

 

[JBama_in_PCOLA]

I know our secondary has the skills to be an elite group. But to look at Dre and Millner and Lowery and compare them to the physcial bodies of Kareem and Javi leaves no doubt that they will be easier for a mature reciever to block them on the run game. Menzie is another story no doubt. They also probably cant jam recievers at the line as well either. Marquis was no gym rat either and was undersized but he did great his senior year after struggling previously. I just hope our db's physicalness can match their skill set. Thats what it is going to take for this year to turn out great. They will grow up fast because they are going to get baptized by fire.

I'm not saying they are last year at all. That D was special in everyday. It just seems like we are being hard on this year's D. They are playing better than what I thought they were at this point in the season and still have a high ceiling. I just think aside from a couple of injuries maybe best in the league and only getting better. They haven't had near the reps together as last year's team. I just believe that they will show up in a big way this week. I just believe this will be a message to not only the SEC but the nation.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

The amount of that has really surprised me. A lot of their predictions start off with "if we can actually get a fairly called game" or "if we can beat the refs." They're definitely trying to leave the excuse wide open for use after the fact...

That's what I was talking about. I heard that EVERY DAY from 1993-1997. It didn't matter if you were talking about a 43-3 shellacking in 1993 - "the refs went against us."

I've known some Bama fans who did that after a loss, too, but nowhere near to THAT extent.

I lived in Mississippi for 17 years, and I NEVER ran into that - not to the Arkansas extent - from any of their big 3 teams. Even the Barn is not as bad as what I saw in Little Rock.

And when I was there, of course, ANY negative thing said about Nolan Richardson was automatically racist. Never mind if you had a good point - like the players not going to class, for example. Nolan even took a comment made by Mitch Albom (a liberal with an impeccable civil rights record) on "The Sports Reporters" as proof of "racism." Albom - clearly referring to BASKETBALL smarts - said of the Arkansas-Duke title game, "The more intelligent team wins this game and that's Duke." Nolan spun that into a racist attack that was ridiculous.

Oh - and their homers make our homers look like Tim Russert.

There was a reference by Arkiebrian to a suspension of the officials back last year after their loss to Florida. Well, in 1995 the officiating crew of the Alabama-Arkansas game was suspended, too. Wally Hall - a writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and referred to be Hawg Nutt over on another as "the village idiot" - then went haywire and said the suspension of officials by the SEC suggests that "Arkansas stole" the game whereas "what really happened was Arkansas beat Alabama."

I wonder what Wally said about the Florida game last year?

Bad officiating calls- esp. lots of them - can spin games. Look at Super Bowl XL. I'm not saying the Steelers would have lost, but jeez!!

 

[REBELZED]

I think my favorite sentiment from that Hog board so far is that Ingram is arrogant. Could they be any farther off?

 

[mdb-tpet]

Something I've believed for a while is it's the teams job to keep the game score far apart enough that one or two bad calls can't determine the game. If you never win games by more than one play/score, you're gonna have a call go awry once in awhile and hurt your team. It's a game reviewed by people, and their gonna blow a call sometimes.

So, to blame the officials for blowing a call now and then, really comes down to your team not being good enough to take the game under control.