And now, a session that I'm
You know what really grinds my gears? The belief that Houston Nutt is incapable of coaching a team that passes.
This belief is usually held by Arkansas fans. These fans said that while Nutt was at Arkansas, he didn't lead a high-powered passing offense. They're right. Matt Jones was not a passer. Neither were Casey Dick or even... MITCH MUSTAIN. Yes that's right. Even Mitch Mustain couldn't pass very well during his freshman year. He completed only 52% of his passes with a whopping 6.8 yards per attempt. TD:INT Ratio? 10:9.
But here's where it gets really interesting. In Houston Nutt's first season at Ole Miss, the Rebels threw the ball only 100 times fewer than the 2008, Petrino-led Razorback squad. That's roughly eight more pass attempts a game by Razorback quarterbacks. Did I mention that we played several games in which Jevan only threw four or five times in the second half because we were up by a million? Arkansas, on the other hand, was obliterated (and thus needed to pass) against Alabama, Texas, Florida and South Carolina, needed come back efforts to overcome Louisiana Monroe, LSU, Western Illinois (who they threw 41 times against), and had to fight back (by passing) to keep it reasonable against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The Rebels on the other hand, often up by a good bit at half time, rarely threw more than ten passes in the second half. Sure, it may not be flashy, but look at the results.
I guess that Arkansas fans will always have an offense that has a lot of pass attempts if they're always behind. Maybe that's what they want. It certainly makes the numbers look better at the end of the year. "Hey! We passed for 4,300 yards since we were down 30 at every halftime! Awesome!" Well I'll take winning the cotton bowl over 100 more attempts for Jevan Snead.
I guess my points on this issue are twofold:
1. This team passed a good bit.
2. Even if they hadn't, we still won nine games.
One last thing to really get that comment thread going:
Casey Dick's passer ratings in 2006 and 2007 were better than in 2008. Discuss.
11 comments:
It's not that Nutt refuses to throw the ball. It's that many of the QB's he's had turned out to be very average at best passing the ball. I've always felt that Nutt will run whatever offense will work best for the talent he has on the field.
Example: McFadden and Jones in the same backfield? Run the ball as much as humanly possible. Snead at QB with Bolden and Eason at RB and breakaway speed at WR? Balanced offense.
He plays with the hand he's dealt.
:sound of cork hitting water:
@Rebels7: I think you have it. It is the mark of a good coach to adjust his offense according to his personnel. I still think that is what ruined Cut at OM -- he tried to run the same offense he had with Eli with the 5'10" Spurlock. It was doomed from the beginning because it didn't fit.
(OK, so that is just one of the things that led to Cut's demise.)
Sweet, an Arkansas-related post. This should get interesting. Can we start ripping on Arky on a weekly basis?
What about D-Mac-he was pretty good at tossing the ball.
The restricting shoulder pads D-Mac was shackled with surely prevented him to be the first guy to rush for 2000 and pass for 3000 in a year.
/inside joke
Juco,
It would be nice to start this argument with a little more accurate info, but as usual, it's doctored up pretty well for nothing.
It's damn funny you guys honestly believe some of the shit you type down here.
You have a so-called legitimate SEC caliber coach that doesn't know how to, or isn't capable of recruiting for a balanced offense, so someone who, I guess, claims to possess some sort of real and genuine intelligence about this particular topic, makes the statment, more or less, that "Houston just coached with the hand he was dealt"
GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!!!
That's like saying "My best friend chased whores for 10 years, hanging out in the bars 'n shit. Everyone always said he was incapable of keeping a marriage together, but I think he just did the best he could with the hand that was dealt to him."
It's also pretty damn funny that you actually included for your argument, a kid that played for the UofA for 1 whole year.
How many years did those other QBs you mentioned play for the UofA, having at least a legitimate chance of developing under a system for a few years.
You list his stats as not impressive for a passing QB, but fail to recognize the fact that most of the time he was on the field, he had only one, and sometimes two WRS to choose from, with TEs that were recruited to do absolutely nothing but block.
I'm also quite sure being a true Freshman had nothing to do with those stats either, huh guys?
Oh well, didn't matter anyway did it? Especially since he told Nutt to take his 3rd grade offense and shove it up someone else's ass.
Since USC's Mark Sanchez has moved on to the NFL now, it'll be interesting to watch this kid finally get his shot with some real coaching for a change.
Have you ever attended an Arkansas practice, coached by HDN?
Have any of you intelligent people ever sat and watched how much detail was given to the passing game at a practice?
The same passing game, that if effective, could have kept opposing defenses from stacking the box against what was probably the most talented backfield in the country? Naw, just run the damn thing up the middle. That'll win D-Mac the Hiesman.
You clueless bufoons have no clue how stupid you look defending your coach with that type of bullshit propaganda, but I like it anyway. Keep it coming.
This is great entertainment!
Yea!!! 9 wins!!!
Houston Nutt is in an ideal situation where the fans are happy to win 9 games and have a reason to gather together and get drunk.
Have fun with that.
@Gonzo
I don't know which facts were "doctored up." Doctoring up to me means hedging a fact. I didn't do that.
Also, talk a little bit about my last talking point.
@ Kilgor
You're an imbecile if you're not satisfied with winning nine games.
Juco,
It's ok. Kilgor does not like 9 win seasons. He prefers 5 win seasons with top 20 recruiting classes.
That's true Monkey, but at least he likes the ones who get to step onto the field, play, and actually graduate from a Div.1 university.
they also usually pan out as the better classes in 2 or 3 years too, but then again, I guess you guys wouldn't be too familiar with that kind of philosophy now would you?
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