The Ole Miss Preview

How do you stop one of the best offenses in college football?

Oct 16, 2020

Hello folks! I apologize for the lack of Pig Tales content last week, but life happens! Happily, I’m back this week, and previewing a game that has me pretty worried if we’re being honest. Really quickly though, if you haven’t, please take a moment to subscribe as it really helps this newsletter.

Let’s talk Hogs!

The Elephant in the Room

I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the ending of the Auburn game last weekend. Obviously, I was incredibly disappointed, as I’m sure many of you were. I’m not usually one to blame officials for the incompetence of my favorite team (and over the years there’s been plenty of incompetence), but in this case, I think the case is pretty much closed on the crew officiating the Auburn game. Once again, something that hurt Arkansas was amended into a rule too little and too late.

If you’ve been a longtime Arkansas fan, you’ll find the cosmic irony in a retroactive rule change that has no benefit to Arkansas itself. The 1964 team famously went undefeated, but back then, the championship was awarded before bowls. Arkansas remained the only undefeated team after bowl week, but would not officially be named national champions because the honor had already been awarded to Alabama, who lost to Texas in the Orange Bowl. The rule was changed due to Arkansas being robbed, and the next year, the Hogs went undefeated again— until bowl season, when they lost to LSU in the Cotton Bowl. Because voting had moved, they were not considered national championship winners as they would have been the previous year.

Hogs gonna Hog.

In reality, there were many issues that would’ve made Bo Nix’s Fumblegate a non-factor, and I think those are worth discussing before diving into Ole Miss. Slow offensive starts have plagued the team this year, with Arkansas spotting Auburn 17 points to begin the game. We’re not good enough to be spotting teams almost three touchdowns.

Special teams remained an issue as well, as 7 of those 17 points were due to a blocked punt. Considering that Sam Pittman’s hiring of Scott Fountain as special teams coordinator marked the first special teams coach at Arkansas since John L. Smith served under Bobby Petrino(!), I’m a bit disappointed in how disorganized things have looked on that front. We had three penalties for lining up the wrong way on punts, which is simply unacceptable, and then of course, the blocked punt literally gave Auburn points. For as well as things have turned around, there’s still work to do.

Defense got its first punch in the mouth of the season as well, as Auburn was able to gut the Hogs by breaking tackles and piling up yards after contact. To a certain degree, weather can certainly be blamed for poor tackling, and weather won’t be a factor this weekend against Ole Miss. However, it’s something to keep an eye on, as Barry Odom has seemingly turned us into a competent defensive team.

With all that said, the team came up when it mattered, and was able to fight back to a 28-27 lead before the stupid fumble situation. Feleipe Franks was able to find rhythm, and Rakeem Boyd’s understudy Trelon Smith put on a great show. Overall, there was a lot to like about the Auburn game, despite the sour taste I’m sure it left in everyone’s mouths.

Which brings us to Ole Miss…

Can the Lane Train Be Stopped?

As much as I’d like to do a breakdown of the Ole Miss offense akin to what I did for the Mississippi State game, I’m simply not qualified enough to stop this kind of offense. As mad at the football world as I was after our game, I still ended up watching Ole Miss take on Alabama that evening, and it left me very worried. The final score of 63-48 probably left most defensive coordinators sick, but the total yard numbers were even more eyewatering: Ole Miss gained 647 yards to Bama’s 723. That’s not a Sun Belt game. That’s in the “tough defense, ground and pound offense” SEC.

Obviously Ole Miss has threats all over the field. Matt Corral is a great young quarterback, and Lane Kiffin makes the offense easy for him. Receivers will have as many as five options on any given play, and there are big play threats at all positions. Granted, Alabama isn’t the vaunted Bama Defense of old, but seeing Nick Saban’s favorite unit humiliated like that was sobering.

The good news though, is that as good as the Ole Miss offense is, their defense is equally bad. They’re historically bad. Giving up 723 yards and 63 points should be enough of an indicator in that regard, but they simply don’t pass the eye test either, with players constantly out of position, getting beat, or getting burned. Make no mistake— they’re bad.

So where does that leave Arkansas? Well, analysis on paper would dictate that Ole Miss has a better offense than us, but we have a better defense than them. So it’s up to Barry Odom’s boys to do what they’ve done most of the season and make some stops, right? Well, sure, but I think this is going to be the biggest test of offensive coordinator Kendal Briles’ mettle since arriving in Fayetteville. This may be a game that requires us to score on literally every possession to keep up. I definitely think that’s possible against this awful defense, but hiccups and cuteness have stalled several drives this year, and Arkansas can ill afford those kinds of issues this weekend.

Trick plays have gone disastrously this year, with almost all of them resulting in turnovers. I appreciate a little trickeration (although I hate that word), but this year, it seems that the gadget plays have hurt more than helped. I would also like to see Feleipe Franks take literally every quarterback snap in this game. I learned after the game that it was injury to Franks that led to us seeing Malik Hornsby in at the goalline, but nevertheless, any time we take Franks out, problems start. That’s not to diminish the talent of Hornsby or KJ Jefferson— both are outstanding athletes, and will likely have success at the quarterback position— but when you have a locked in QB1, I don’t understand the logic of EVER taking him off the field.

Offense moved the ball against a much better Auburn defense— it’s time to see them feast.

Keys to Victory

1. Get Rakeem Boyd Going

Rakeem Boyd has had a rough start to the year. He began his season against one of the best defenses I’ve ever seen in Georgia, and was injured against Mississippi State which took him out of the Auburn game. With him back, the Hogs have GOT to get him going. Ole Miss was gashed by Najee Harris last week, so I would imagine Rakeem is licking his chops. By getting the running game going, pressure can be taken off Franks, and hopefully result in a more cohesive offense.

2. Make Team Tackles

This game needs to be approached like the Mississippi State game: we need every defender flying toward the ball at all times. Auburn put Arkansas in awkward positions, where solo arm tackles were made and broken more often than not. This needs to be a game in which Bumper Pool and Grant Morgan have 15 assisted tackles each. I trust Barry Odom to get the defense ready for this game, but the arm tackling, one on one coverage is not going to work against Ole Miss.

3. For God’s Sake, Punt Better

As I said earlier, special teams have been awful this year. I want to see a definitive step up from last week, because aside from referee mischief, special teams cost us the Auburn game. Whether that means punting out of bounds, or going for it on 4th down every time, we can’t keep giving opponents the ball with such good field position. Good field position has been a given for every opponent this year, so I’d love to see that trend snapped.

Prediction(?)

I really am nervous about this game, but perhaps that’s because it’s more for the taking than other games we’ll play this weekend. Ole Miss is very beatable, but it’s going to take a comprehensive team effort. I think if defense makes stops early, and Rakeem Boyd gets going to run some clock, we have a very decent shot at overcoming Lane Kiffin’s offense.

I said on Hoggin the Mic that I predicted 38-35 for Arkansas, but I’m a coward, and will be changing it to a 56-52 Arkansas win. Hold on to your butts, folks.

How do you think the game is going to go? Do you think we can stop the Lane Train, or will the defense finally show some cracks? Leave a comment below. Also be sure to subscribe to our podcast, Hoggin’ the Mic! Hoggin’ the Mic will be posted twice a week, and feature Tucker Partridge and Saul Malone discussing all of the latest events in Arkansas sports. You can find it on any podcasting service, from Apple Podcasts, to Spotify, or you can simply find it in a feed on its website. You can also follow the podcast on Twitter to keep up with the latest news.

Pig Tales by Tucker Partridge

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