It Was Obvious in Spring Winter Was Coming Early for Hogs

New faces, coaches really haven't fixed much of anything as season blowing up fast

Author:
Andy Hodges
Publish date:
Oct 1, 2023 12:19 PM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Upon reflection, we all should have seen what was coming more clearly Saturday. Back in spring, I had the feeling winter was coming for Arkansas this year and that's exactly the way it's playing out. Nothing happened in the summer to change that.

If you don't understand the whole "winter coming early" reference, you either didn't watch the Game of Thrones on HBO or didn't understand it. That has nothing to do with the weather. Sam Pittman finds himself smack in the middle of a nest of problems and time may be running out to fix it.

Nothing improved in the summer. When I heard Bill King of Nashville Sports Radio with former Razorbacks quarterback Matt Jones and Phil Elson on ESPN Arkansas back in the summer issue a warning about Texas A&M.

"Listen, guys, the Aggies have quietly put together one of the deepest defensive lines in the country," he said. "Maybe the best in the SEC. They basically could put together a three-deep lineup with five-star recruits on that defensive front." He made the Aggies his darkhorse team in the West.

One of the things I've learned doing sports radio for more decades than most people have been alive is some people you pay attention to and others are just talking heads. Bill is usually right on the money, especially when it comes to recruiting.

The Hogs found out Saturday he appears to have been right. A&M may be one of the favorites in the SEC West that is so full of challengers right now I'm wondering if everybody in the league including Vanderbilt, the Hogs and Mississippi State are still in the running ... and the Commodores are in the East.

If you even think that 34-22 final score indicates a close game, you are living in a fantasy world. When they were settling for field goals instead of touchdowns in the first half, I knew exactly how the thing was going to end. The only thing in doubt was the final score. Pittman knew it, too.

"We weren't any good when we went and got field goals," he said later. "We were converting third-and-12 and third-and-8. We had two ugly plays and a first down, two ugly plays and a first down."

The Aggies had more players that were better and that was obvious back in spring practice. Everybody talked about how former Hogs coach Bobby Petrino and coach Jimbo Fisher were going to get along. You don't know much if you don't think two real coaches can't co-exist.

Mainly, though, they have players and athletes on defense. That became clear real quick and if you still have doubts, ask Hogs quarterback KJ Jefferson. They made what fans thought was the best quarterback in football look below average in a bad way. The coaches probably knew what was going to happen all along, which is usually the case. They just don't tell us or the fans.

"Physically, they dominated us on the edge," Pittman said. "They did exactly what what we thought they would do. We just never had a really explosive play until the game was really over."

Coaches being confident is always a warning sign there's a problem somewhere and they don't want to throw anybody under the bus. They lose confidence and there's really a problem. Of course we heard that from other coaches for nearly a decade, too, and everybody saw what happened there.