An exceptionally repairable part of Hogs Football remains broken

Arkansas let a top-25 win slip away. Again.

How would you describe watching the Arkansas football game against Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon? Hello darkness, my old friend. Saw a DJ. A quick hit in the nuts. The annual Texas A&M debacle happened again.

I spent some time Saturday night realizing that listening to Sam Pittman's press conference, staring at stats on ESPN.com or watching game breakdowns on YouTube isn't going to change the final score. In an attempt to ease my sadness, I started up Sergio Leone's old classic, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

I owned the movie Quentin Tarantino describes the greatest achievement in the history of cinema on VHS. (For younger readers, a VHS tape was no problem at all. I'm older than dirt.)

Around the time that Clint Eastwood's character Blondie leaves his former partner to die, I realized that this film encapsulates the Arkansas football game. To be honest, there are few things in life that aren't summed up in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

THE GOOD

“I've never seen so many men waste so heavily.” – Blondie (Clint Eastwood)

After a game like this, it's easy to forget that there were bright spots for your team. But there were bright spots.

LANDON JACKSON

Landon Jackson looked like the best player on the field during the game. What are the chances we have another defensive end in the rankings? Number 2 on Mel Kiper's draft board next season? Great player for the Hogs who seems like an overall good guy. I already miss him next year.

(Though I'm excited about sophomore Quincy Rhodes Jr.'s future in Fayetteville. Tip of the hat to DJ Williams for highlighting some of his play against Auburn here.)

ISAAC TESLA

The pride of Hudsonville, Michigan enjoyed a breakout performance Saturday afternoon. If TeSlaa continues to develop, Arkansas may have another option for Taylen Green to lean on next to the great Andrew Armstrong. Armstrong's back must be sore after carrying the load at receiver all year. Add in the big play ability of Isaiah Sategna and Arkansas could have a decent receiving trio here.

DEVIN BALL

A gutsy call by Sam Pittman led to what would have been the play of the game had Arkansas won. On fourth-and-15, the Arkansas punter broke off a 25-yard run on a fake punt to extend the drive, leading to Arkansas' second touchdown of the first quarter. Everything was looking for the good guys at this point in the game. (Plus, he averaged a solid 43.8 yards on six punts.)

IT'S BAD

“You see there are two kinds of people in this world, my friend: those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.” – Blondie (Clint Eastwood)

ARKANSAS'S ABILITY TO KEEP DEFENDERS OUT OF THE BACKFIELD

Others have covered this better and in more detail. But suffice it to say, when your star wide receiver almost collides with an offensive lineman, it's a bad sign.

Randy Rainwater laid out the stats in his fifth-quarter postgame show:Texas A&M had 10 tackles for loss and (officially) eight quarterback hurries on Saturday. It all feels so familiar to an Arkansas fan and brings back memories of last year's showdown against Texas A&M. Around midnight after that game, a friend texted me: KJ Jefferson just got fired again. It was a good line.

Same song, different season. Is it a lack of talent? Coaching? What needs to happen to give your experienced players time to play? It's all so baffling and frustrating. How much of the blame can go to Arkansas' projected starting left guard Patrick Kutas who is out with an injury?Last season he was described as having the most upside among offensive linemen.

A related but slightly different issue is the ongoing issue of snapping the ball to Taylen Green. Arkansas center Addison Nichols seemed to improve on snaps in the second half, but still had an extremely wild run in the first half. Sam Pittman discussed the issue during his press conference.

“I just think he took something out of the picture,” Pittman said. “Usually it's when he goes to the left. Yeah, he had one there in the far end zone, our end zone that I remember. … One was definitely wide and I talked to him and Eric [Mateos] spoke to him. That's one too many and we need to fix it. He's trying really hard. He's a good boy. We have to have consistency there.”

This is another case of that already seen for Arkansas football fans, as similar issues have occurred in previous games. The snap is one of the few plays in sports that the opponent cannot physically influence, so in theory it is also one of the easiest actions to repair. As Randy Rainwater commented on his radio show after hearing Pittman's quote at the press conference, “How many more times do we have to hear that?” What is needed to solve the problem?

ARKANSAS RUNNING GAME

Not unrelated to the previous paragraph. Still, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the season that our punter was our leading rusher for most of the game.

LUKE HASZS BACK

After tight end Luke Hasz caught a pass for a two-yard gain, he left the game with his back against the ground for the second week in a row. As I mentioned last week, I really want to see more of Hasz succeed in Razorback Red.

THE UGLY

“God is not on our side because he hates idiots too.” – Blondie (Clint Eastwood)

TURNOVER

Clearly, not all sales are equal. But in the case of Arkansas football, almost every turnover can be described as somewhere between backbreaking and why even play the game if you're just going to give the ball to another team so deep in Arkansas territory that it seems better to just let the other team play? score and try again. Taylen Green's second-quarter fumble, just 10 yards from his own end zone in the second quarter, was the last. While his interception at the end of the first half was just the first. The fumble with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter was somewhere in between.

BIG GAMES

Mel Kiper Jr. caused a bit of a stir last week by suggesting the NFL would ban the two-high coverage defensive scheme. NFL coaches are increasingly relying on this defensive scheme to avoid giving up big plays. Or they aren't. It's debatable, like everything Kiper says. That's why he says things. But I digress. At one point I read an article about the problem, which mentioned that advanced analytics in the NFL has determined that giving up big plays destroys your chances of winning a football game. That has to be one of the most “No S*** Sherlock” pieces of information ever produced by advanced analytics. But Saturday's game in Arlington is a perfect example of this.

Arkansas gave up a number of big plays that ruined its chances of winning. I literally killed them.

Don't you believe me? Luckily, ESPN offers a play-by-play winning opportunity for every college football game. Before Texas A&M completed a 58-yard touchdown pass on first-and-10, Arkansas had a 60% chance of winning the game. After the touchdown, Arkansas' chances dropped to 47%.

By the fourth quarter, when Arkansas had a three-point lead, the odds of winning had climbed back to a 57% chance. Texas A&M ran 46 yards on three plays and Arkansas slipped all the way back to 35%.

Without those four plays, Arkansas wins the game. Without the worst turnover, Arkansas wins the game. Without either of the other two turnovers, Arkansas has a great chance to win the game.

***

More about Arkansas football from BoAS: