Reflection of the Blogging Experience

      Before I get started, I feel the need to tell anyone who clicked on this particular post to see a football discussion that they're out of luck on this one but there will be more in the near future.

      Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I begin with this deep (or not so deep) reflection. I'm a very opinionated person, so when we were assigned to keep a blog throughout the semester over any topic we chose I was pretty excited to get started. It was a very fun and entertaining assignment to participate in. At first, I tried to keep my posts mostly factual but that quickly got boring and really just didn't seem to encourage any feedback. So I shifted it to a much more opinionated blog and honestly it became much more fun to write. I love having a platform like this to voice my opinion to whoever cares enough to listen. Admittedly, my audience is pretty slim right now but I look forward to continuing this blog and possibly expanding to other topics within the sports world in order to get a wider audience. I love discussing sports and occasionally participating in heated debates because, of course, I'm never wrong and I'm always eager to point that out. Ha ha.

     A blog is a project that I honestly never saw myself doing; however, being handed this assignment over the semester has made me see how fun and interesting it can be. That is something that I probably never would have discovered without being forced to keep a blog and for that I need to thank you, Dr. Marlow. Web Based PR was a very enjoyable class and it gave me a lot of useful information that I'm sure I'll use as I graduate and move on to graduate school and the corporate world.

Randy Shannon to Arkansas?

Rumors have been flying around today regarding the possible hire of former Miami Hurricanes head coach, Randy Shannon, to be the new defensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas. Arkansas and Miami football message boards alike have been lighting up with the rumors; however, as of right now that's all they are: rumors. Nothing has been confirmed or denied at this point.

Rumor or fact, it's always fun to speculate when things like this come up. Personally, I would be very excited to see Shannon become the new Hogs' DC. Before becoming head coach at Miami, he served as the DC there from 2001-2007, including the 2001 National Championship team. In his 7 seasons as Miami's defensive coordinator, Shannon's defenses ranked 6th, 7th, 2nd, 28th, 4th, and 7th nationally. Obviously, if the rumors turn out to be true, Arkansas's defense is in for a major overhaul. This could potentially be the move that eventually brings the Razorbacks a national championship. The dynamic of Petrino's offense and Shannon's defense operating on the same team is simply insane. How can you stop a team that ranks in the top 10 nationally on offense and defense? The short answer may be that you can't. The only thing that's clear right now is that if these rumors turn out to be true, every other team in the SEC will definitely be on notice to watch out for the Razorbacks. Wooo Pig Sooie!

Big East Fighting for Survival

Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and West Virginia are out as the first two are headed for the ACC and the latter is heading to the Big 12. The Big East Conference is obviously determined to survive all of this conference realignment mess that the college football world is currently wrapped up in. With a recent announcement coming from conference officials, we all found out exactly how determined the conference is to continue operations.

In a statement made earlier today, the Big East is officially admitting 5 new members. Boise State and San Diego State will be added for football only while Houston, SMU, and Central Florida would be joining for all sports. I understand that the Big East is trying to survive, but how much sense does this move make? Obviously you're picking up two ranked teams, which could help your conference's credibility; however, if they prove to be unable to win consistently against tougher competition, the Big East will find itself in quite a mess and a costly one at that.

With this move, the Big East will become the first truly national college football conference, spanning coast to coast and encompassing 4 time zones. Conference commissioner John Marinatto is no doubt drooling over the thought of having back-to-back-to-back-to-back Big East games on any Saturday he possibly can but just think of the travel expenses these teams will no doubt have to shell out just for a conference game. Travelling 3,000 miles for a football game....potentially on a weekly basis? Bad idea. It's really funny to think about the fact that two of the teams, Boise State and San Diego State, will be joining a different conference for basketball. Boise will join the Western Athletic Conference and San Diego will join the Big West. Am I the only one seeing the irony in the fact that San Diego will play in the Big East for football and the Big West for basketball? If you ask me, I feel like the Big East is just flailing around, trying to find a permanent fix to ensure their survival and frankly I just don't see a future in creating a conference that spans the entire country. This isn't the NFL. College football wasn't meant to see conferences spanning the country. Regional pride is a big part of the sport. When that's taken away, what else is there? C'mon man!

As it Should Be

I know I'm about 5 days late on this, but I just couldn't miss an opportunity for an "I told you so" moment. If you've paid attention to many of my posts, you know good and well what I think of the Houston Cougars "impressive" undefeated season. The Cougars had posted a perfect 11-0 record and were ranked #6 in the BCS, a generous ranking considering their schedule. In these 11 wins, their most impressive was on the road against UCLA. UCLA? Really? I have a ton of respect for the Bruins and the history of their program but come on, they are certainly not what they once were. They finished the regular season with a 6-6 record which somehow got them into the Pac-12 championship game against Oregon even after being destroyed 50-0 to cross-town rival USC. The Bruins predictably lost the Pac-12 title game to Oregon and fell to 6-7 and had to petition to even receive a bowl game. So if you're Houston and you're hanging your hat on a 4-point victory over a team with a losing record, I don't know how in the world you could've ever been disappointed with a #6 ranking. Oh but word in Houston was their Cougars deserved a shot at the national championship. Who could argue? I mean when you play powerhouses like Georgia State, Marshall, and Tulane I guess strength of schedule is definitely on your side.

Just as I figured would be the case, the wheels completely came off the wagon last Saturday when the Cougars played the Southern Miss Golden Eagles for the Conference USA championship. The Golden Eagles were ranked #24 nationally and were the first ranked team Houston had played all season. As I expected, the Cougars couldn't get the job done even with the luxury of playing the Golden Eagles at home. Southern Miss stunned Houston, 49-28. I would love to know if anyone else saw this coming like I did. It was no surprise to me and I just don't know how anyone living outside of Houston could have been naive to think the Cougars had played a schedule that even remotely made them deserving of being in the national title conversation.

Mess in the BCS

It's no secret by now that the BCS is a flawed system. Its primary objective is to match the 2 best teams in the nation in the BCS National Championship Game. Admittedly, it accomplishes this goal every few years or so, but that's far from good enough. This year has arguably been the most chaotic for the BCS. For most of the season, it seemed like #1 LSU and #2 Oklahoma State were on a collision course for New Orleans. Both were undefeated and favored in the remainder of their games. However, chaos reigned 2 weeks ago as unranked Iowa State knocked off Oklahoma State in 2 overtimes. This opened the flood gates for a number of other 1 loss teams (and an undefeated Houston team) to stake their claims as deserving of a chance at LSU. As it stands, it seems that there will be an SEC West rematch between LSU and Alabama in the national championship game. Although I think LSU and Alabama are the two best teams in the country, other teams really do have an argument because LSU and Alabama have already played each other with LSU winning 9-6 in overtime. But let's be honest, no other teams have stepped up to the challenge. Is it time for a playoff system to be implemented? Is there even a way to implement a playoff system and keep the current bowl games intact? If chaos continues to reign in college football, we may find out sooner than later.

Big East Up for Grabs

Last night, the West Virginia Mountaineers went on the road and pulled out a 30-27 win over the South Florida Bulls on the leg of Tyler Bitancurt, who made a 28 yard field goal as time expired. This win moves the Mountaineers' record to 9-3, 5-2 in Big East play. Louisville also has a 5-2 record in conference play and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over West Virginia, having defeated the Mountaineers 38-35 earlier in the season. However, Cincinnati and UCONN still have to play. A win by UCONN would make Louisville the champions of the Big East Conference and send them to a BCS bowl; however, if Cincinnati wins, they would also have a 5-2 conference record which would force a 3-way tie for 1st place. In that case, West Virginia would likely be the team with the highest BCS ranking and would therefore be given the conference title and get the BCS bowl bid. Regardless of the outcome, the Big East will either get a 3 loss or potentially a 5 loss team into a BCS bowl while many 1 or 2 loss teams from tougher conferences will miss out on the more prestigious bowl games. Is it just me or does the Big East seem to benefit too much from being an automatic qualifying conference? I mean come on, the highest ranked team in the conference right now is #23 and the typical cut off is #14 unless you happen to be the champion from your AQ conference. Last year, UCONN won the conference without even being ranked, the only time I can ever remember an unranked team making a BCS bowl. Predictably, they got completely outclassed by a dominant Oklahoma team in the Fiesta Bowl.

Garrick McGee to FAU?

Earlier today, I saw where Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee has interviewed for the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic University. The Owls (1-10, 0-7 in Sun Belt Conference play) have guaranteed themselves at least a share of last place in the Sun Belt Conference after finishing 6th in the conference in 2010 and now have a record of 5-18, 3-12 over the last 2 seasons. If you're FAU, going after McGee is a very smart move. The Owls only averaged 14 points per game on offense this season. Arkansas averaged over 37 points per game with McGee calling the plays. It's yet to be seen whether or not McGee will be offered the job or if he will even accept it if he does receive an offer. But if he does, who could likely replace him as Arkansas's offensive coordinator? Paul Petrino could be a candidate. He was McGee's predecessor and was recently released (along with Ron Zook's entire staff) from the University of Illinois after a disappointing 6-6 record. Right now, I think that Petrino is probably the most logical choice; however, only time will tell. Personally, I feel that Arkansas's offense will continue to click regardless of who's calling the plays. The offense never missed a beat when Petrino was first replaced by McGee and I see no reason why it would sputter if McGee was replaced. Who else could replace McGee if he leaves? Do you think it would cause any problems with the team's offensive production?

Building a Powerhouse

Well, if you don't know it by now, the Arkansas Razorbacks got knocked from their #3 ranking and back down to Earth on Saturday when the #1 LSU Tigers manhandled them, 41-17, in Baton Rouge. The Hogs finished the regular season on a losing note; however, they still finished the season with a record of 10-2, 6-2 in conference play. With 10 wins this season, the Razorbacks recorded consecutive 10-win seasons for the first time since the 1988-89 seasons and for only the third time in school history. Bobby Petrino, like him or not (personally I love him), has proven himself to be exactly the type of coach this program needs, in my opinion. Since the beginning of the 2010 season, the Hogs are 20-5, not bad considering most of the fan base had grown used to losing 5 games in an average season. It is clear that the Razorbacks have come miles with Petrino at the helm. Now all the program needs to do is go out there and get the 4 and 5 star recruits on defense. The program seems to have established itself as a staple in the top 10 to top 15 and could very well be on the verge of taking the next step toward consistently competing at a high level on the national stage. Despite the recent set back, it still is truly a great time to be an Arkansas Razorback fan. Wooooo Pig Sooie!

Ranking the SEC West

With the recent BCS madness, the only thing that can be said for sure about the landscape of college football this season is that the SEC Western Division is simply head and shoulders above the rest of the country. That's true for the top half of the division at least. As everyone knows, LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas checked in at 1, 2, and 3 respectively in the latest BCS poll.

While the SEC West's dominance is clear, the ranking of those top three teams is something that is not quite so clear. As it stands now, they are ranked in the correct order; however, there is one more hurdle in making the final decision. On November 25, the Friday after Thanksgiving, #1 LSU takes on #3 Arkansas in what promises to be one of the most highly anticipated games of the year. If LSU wins, then the rankings should be simple. LSU would remain #1, Alabama (assuming they take care of business against Auburn) would remain #2, and Arkansas's national championship hopes would be dashed as they would likely fall to #4 or #5.

But if Arkansas manages to invade Baton Rouge and knock off the top-ranked Tigers, chaos will rule the BCS rankings. In that case, the rankings would be open to all sorts of speculation. Would a win on the road against the #1 team in the country be enough to propel the Hogs over Alabama to take over the #1 spot or would the Crimson Tide move up to #1 and the Hogs have to settle for #2? Or would that win simply move Alabama up to #1 and drop LSU to #2, leaving Arkansas at #3? At this point, anything could happen with the BCS poll.

Furthermore, of these three teams, who would get the nod to go on to the SEC championship game to face #13 Georgia? Again, if Arkansas wins, the three teams would have identical records (11-1, 7-1), all having lost to each other (Alabama defeated Arkansas earlier this year, LSU defeated Alabama, assume Arkansas defeats LSU in 4 days). If you coached one of these teams, would you even want to go to the SEC title game? This is the only time I can ever remember that teams stand a better chance at making the national title game if they don't play in their conference championship game. For instance, if Arkansas beats LSU and Alabama goes to the SEC championship game, Arkansas would all but clinch a spot in the national championship game if they move up to #1 or #2 following the LSU game. However, Alabama would then still have to win one more game to make it to the national championship game. Very rarely does it play to a team's advantage to not win their division, but it seems that will be the case for either Alabama or Arkansas this year.

There was already a strong sentiment to create some sort of playoff system for college football before this season even began. Now, you have to believe that people will be all over the BCS voters to come up with a more effective system because one of the top three teams in the country right now will completely miss out on a BCS poll altogether, something that has been almost unheard of up to this point.

BCS Top 10- Week 13

The BCS released their week 13 poll Sunday night at 7:15. With all the madness this weekend created, it's no surprise that the top ten has been shaken up a bit:

1.   LSU
2.   Alabama
3.   Arkansas
4.   Oklahoma State
5.   Virginia Tech
6.   Stanford
7.   Boise State
8.   Houston
9.   Oklahoma
10. Oregon

This creates a pretty interesting scenario with the top three teams all being from the same conference and division. Only one of these teams can go to the SEC championship game to face Georgia. Arkansas and LSU have a huge game looming on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Put simply, if LSU wins, they're in. However, if Arkansas wins, things will get a little bit crazy. Assuming Alabama beats Auburn and Arkansas beats LSU, all three of the top teams will have identical records (11-1, 7-1 in SEC play). In this case, the likely candidate for the SEC championship game would be Alabama; however, Arkansas could advance to the national championship game without even going to the conference title game if  a win over LSU in Baton Rouge was to propel them to #1 or #2. It will be very interesting to see how the final 2 weeks of the regular season play out. Personally, I think if Arkansas wins at LSU, they should be ranked #1 without question. In that case, Alabama would go to the SEC title game. If they took care of business against Georgia, it would likely set up a rematch between the Hogs and the Crimson Tide for all the marbles in New Orleans. What are some other scenarios you guys would like to see play out in the final 2 weeks?

Forever a Razorback

Most people probably know this by now, but the Razorback community lost a great person and a wonderful teammate yesterday morning. Backup tight-end, Garrett Uekman, was found unresponsive in his dorm around 11:15 Sunday morning. First responders arrived on the scene 5 minutes later but their attempts to revive Uekman were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at Washington Regional Medical Center at 12:20 PM. Uekman, 19, was a redshirt freshman who had played in nine games this season for the Razorbacks. He was an outstanding human being and he will be sorely missed by everyone in Razorback Nation. Please join me in offering our thoughts and prayers to everyone close to Garrett in this tragic time. God bless Garrett and his family.

BCS Bedlam, SEC Dominates

If you follow college football, then you know exactly how special of a weekend this has been. Heading into this weekend, there really weren't a lot of games that jumped out as potential thrillers but we had plenty. Four top 10 teams were toppled while two more narrowly escaped disaster.

#2 Oklahoma State     31                                                   #7 Clemson                        13
     Iowa State             37     Final/2OT                                     North Carolina State       37     Final

#4 Oregon                   35                                                  #8 Virginia Tech                24
    USC                       38     Final                                           North Carolina              21      Final

#5   Oklahoma            38                                                  #9 Stanford                        31 
#22 Baylor                  45     Final                                           California                      28      Final

So what does this madness mean? It means that the landscape of the college football season is definitely going to be shaken up a great deal. Oklahoma State will almost certainly be out of the national championship conversation, as will Oregon, Oklahoma, and Clemson. What it also means is the SEC, the SEC's Western Division to be more precise, will likely have a stranglehold on the new BCS polls. LSU has been #1 for several weeks now. Alabama was #3 and figures to move into the #2 slot with OSU's loss. Arkansas, the biggest winner from all of the craziness, will most likely jump from #6 all the way to #3 with all of the teams falling down in front of them. This would mark the first time in the history of the BCS poll that its top 3 spots were occupied by teams from the same conference. This also means that regardless of what happens from here on out, there is no foreseeable scenario in which no SEC team will make the national championship game. In fact, it is likely that two SEC teams will meet for the title.

Dominance in Little Rock

When Arkansas and Mississippi State met last season in Starkville, MS it was a fight to the bitter end. Arkansas managed to escape the madness with a 33-30 win in overtime. When the Bulldogs came to Little Rock on Saturday to face the red-hot Razorbacks, that thriller had long since been forgotten. The Hogs (10-1, 6-1) jumped out to fast start, driving 66 yards in 6 plays to score a touchdown less than 2 and a half minutes into the game. Mississippi State (5-6, 1-6) cut Arkansas's lead to 14-10 at the 12 minute mark of the 2nd quarter but it was all Razorbacks after that. The Hogs tacked on 30 unanswered points to take a commanding 44-10 lead with 3:20 left in the game. The Bulldogs managed to put it in the endzone one more time with 15 seconds left to narrow the final score slightly, 44-17.

Overall, the Hogs played their most complete game of the season. The offense was stellar as always. Prior to this game, the Bulldog defense was only allowing an average of 19 points per game. However, the really impressive aspect of Arkansas's game this week was the defense. Mississippi State scored an early field goal and scored their first touchdown only after a Tyler Wilson fumble was returned all the way to the 20 yard line. The final touchdown was scored on the backup defense. Even more impressive, the Hogs did not allow the Bulldogs to pick up a single first down in the 3rd quarter. Overall, the Hogs outgained the Bulldogs 539-211.

The Hogs now set their sights on #1 LSU in Baton Rouge on the Friday after Thanksgiving in what will almost surely be a battle between 2 of the top 3 teams in the newest BCS poll. LSU will almost lock up a spot in the national championship game with a win; however, it now looks likely that Arkansas could do the same.

Latest BCS Standings

On Sunday, the BCS released their latest poll, ranking the top 25 teams in college football. This is what it looked like after week 11:

1.   LSU
2.   Oklahoma State
3.   Alabama
4.   Oregon
5.   Oklahoma
6.   Arkansas
7.   Clemson
8.   Virginia Tech
9.   Stanford
10. Boise State
11. Houston
12. South Carolina
13. Kansas State
14. Georgia
15. Michigan State
16. Nebraska
17. Wisconsin
18. Michigan
19. TCU
20. Southern Mississippi
21. Penn State
22. Baylor
23. Texas
24. Auburn
25. Florida State

While I agree with most of these rankings, there are a couple of things that bother me. First of all, I do not see any justification whatsoever for ranking Oklahoma ahead of Arkansas. Yes, maybe this is just my bias toward Arkansas talking but think about it. Arkansas is 9-1, 5-1 in SEC games while Oklahoma is 8-1, 5-1 in Big 12 games. Arkansas's lone loss was in Tuscaloosa to #3 Alabama, 38-14. Oklahoma's only loss came in Norman at the hands of a terrible Texas Tech team, the same Texas Tech team that lost at home to Iowa State, 41-7 the very next week. Since taking down the Sooners, the Red Raiders have lost 3 straight games by a combined score of 159-33. Even more to the point, the Red Raiders are 2-5 in Big 12 games, with their only wins being against Kansas (2-8, 0-7 in Big 12) and the "mighty" Oklahoma Sooners. It would not surprise me one bit if the Sooners lose to Baylor in Waco this weekend. Then this entire argument will be irrelevant.

The next thing that stuck out to me was the number of non-BCS conference teams in the poll, 4. Boise State only fell 5 spots to #10 after losing at home to an unranked conference opponent in TCU. That "major upset" shot the Horned Frogs all the way up to #19. Let's be honest. Neither Boise State nor TCU should be ranked at this point. TCU is just not a very good team this year and they simply exposed an average Boise State team for being just that, AVERAGE! Any team in the SEC, Big 12, Big 10, etc. could have sleep-walked through Boise's schedule and be undefeated. Their only semi-impressive win came against Georgia in week 1, at the time that it was questionable as to whether or not Georgia's coach would even have a job at the end of the year. Admittedly, the Bulldogs have turned it around and now have the inside track to winning the SEC's Eastern Division; however, they look completely different than they did in week 1. It's like night and day really. Frankly, I would have Georgia in the #10 spot in this week's poll if I controlled it, but I do not. I am also not sold on Houston. The Cougars are 10-0; however, they squeaked by a couple of mediocre teams early in the year (4 point win over UCLA, 1 point win over Louisiana Tech, 7 point win over UTEP). They have not been challenged in the past few weeks so maybe they are deserving and maybe not. Personally, I don't think so. Last but not least, Southern Miss. Their only loss is to a 2-6 Marshall team. Enough said.

Conference Shake-Up

Anyone who follows college football even just a little bit is surely aware that the landscape is changing. The conference moves just continue to grow in numbers. Earlier this season, Texas A&M made its move to the SEC official. Now it looks as though Missouri will follow suit and head to the SEC as well. West Virginia has since been lobbying to take Missouri's place in the Big 12 and will likely be accepted. TCU has changed conferences twice in less than a year, first leaving the Mountain West for the Big East and then withdrawing from the Big East after being offered a spot in the Big 12. The latest conference expansion news focuses around the Big East. There has recently been a lot of speculation as to whether or not the conference would survive all of the changes in college football. It now seems that the conference is determined to survive as it is rumored to have recently invited 6 schools to join: Boise State, Navy, and Air Force for football only and SMU, Houston, and Central Florida for all sports. Memphis and Temple are also candidates to receive invitations to the conference. I will no doubt be discussing this more as more information surfaces.

Wade Suspended for One Game

If anyone saw the Arkansas Razorbacks' game Saturday (10/29) in Nashville, TN against the Vanderbilt Commodores, I'm sure you saw Marquel Wade lay out Vandy punt returner Jonathan Krause before he was ever able to touch the ball. Wade was flagged for a personal foul and ejected from the game. SEC commissioner Mike Slive has since announced that Wade would be suspended from Arkansas's upcoming game against the #9 South Carolina Gamecocks. I have to admit that when I first saw the hit, I felt like the ejection was justified and fully expected a suspension to follow; however, recent events have caused me to change my opinion slightly. Monday (10/31) Wade issued a public apology, stating that "he thought the returner had already fielded the punt and was trying to advance the ball.......but he (Wade) would take full responsibility for his actions." Based on the way that Wade jumped up and celebrated the hit, I do believe that he thought Krause had the ball and thought he had made a legitimate play. He clearly stopped celebrating after seeing that Krause was hurt.

Of course, Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN's College Gameday condemned Wade's hit and implied that a one-game suspension was not enough. On the other hand, ESPN First Take hosts Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith argued that Wade should NOT have been suspended or even ejected from the game. I tend to agree. I don't think you can do that to a kid who is out there giving 100%. He is just a kid afterall and he made a mistake. I think the personal foul penalty was plenty. I just feel like if Wade played for Alabama, LSU, or another of the media's favorites this wouldn't have been blown out of proportion like it has been. Maybe that's just my bias for Arkansas talking but I really feel that way. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them.

Huge Weekend for the Razorbacks

The Arkansas Razorbacks picked up a monumental win Saturday night with a 38-14 blowout of the defending national champions, the #15 Auburn Tigers. Auburn (4-2, 2-1) came into Fayetteville undefeated in SEC play with hopes of continuing what has been a surprising season, but they ran into a dangerous Arkansas team that is finally clicking on both sides of the ball. The Hogs predictably got off to a rocky start, trailing the Tigers 14-7 at the end of the first quarter; however, they went on to hold Auburn scoreless the rest of the way while reeling off 31 unanswered points in what turned out to be a dominating performance.

Tyler Wilson once again turned in a solid performance for the Razorbacks, completing 24 of 36 passes for 262 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Between the 1st and 3rd quarters, Wilson completed 19 straight passes. The biggest offensive play of the night for the Hogs came in the middle of the 3rd quarter as they were pinned at their own 8 yard line. Wilson handed the ball off to WR Joe Adams for a simple sweep play to the outside. After catching a couple of nice blocks, Adams' speed turned what should have been a nice 8-12 yard gain into a 92 yard sprint to the endzone, putting the game out of reach, 28-14. A Zach Hocker field goal and an 18 yard pass to Dennis Johnson later, the Hogs had pushed their lead out to the final of 38-14.

Many landmarks were reached by the Hogs in this game. Tyler Wilson's 19 consecutive completions tied for the third longest completion streak in SEC history. The win itself was also monumental for the team as a whole. It marked only the second time in program history that the Hogs have knocked off top 15 teams in consecutive weeks (#14 Texas A&M last week, #15 Auburn this week). The only other time this occurred was back in 1999 as the Hogs defeated #3 Tennessee and #12 Mississippi State in back-to-back weeks. The win also moved the Hogs' record to 5-1, their best start under coach Bobby Petrino and only their second 5-1 start since joining the SEC in 1992.

This win has given fans hope that a return trip to the Sugar Bowl is still possible. The Hogs will be favored in the rest of their games up until their November 25 showdown with #1 LSU in Baton Rouge and will likely enter that game with a 10-1 record and possibly as a top 5 team. It will be very interesting to see how things shake up as the season rolls on. How do you guys see the season playing out from here?

Hog Wild in Arlington

It's funny how there are a few things in this world that can take you on such an emotional roller-coaster ride that you literally feel exhausted at the end. For me, Razorback football is definitely one of those things and Saturday's game against the Texas A&M Aggies in Arlington, TX did every bit of that and then some.

For anyone who missed it, #18 Arkansas met #14 Texas A&M Saturday in a game between two teams trying to recover from disappointing losses the week before. On September 24, Arkansas was completely dominated at #2 Alabama 38-14 while Texas A&M blew a 17-point halftime lead to #5 Oklahoma State, losing 30-29. With Arkansas and A&M both having preseason hopes of a national championship, the loser of this game could definitely hit the panic button and I am proud to say it was not my Razorbacks.

I have to admit, I was more than a little worried about this game before it even started. Aggie QB Ryan Tannehill gave the Hogs trouble last season as did RB Cyrus Gray. Both came ready to play on Saturday as well, but the real shocker to me was the Aggie RB by the name of Christine Michael who torched the Arkansas defense for 230 rushing yards. Largely because of the efforts of Michael, the Hogs were playing catch-up all day and trailed 35-17 at halftime. From that point, it looked like deja vu for the Aggies as they watched that lead evaporate quickly in the second half. Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson proceeded to go crazy on the A&M defense, hooking up with WR Jarius Wright for most of the damage. By the beginning of the final quarter, the Hogs had trimmed the Aggie lead to 8, 35-27. At the 11:00 mark of the 4th quarter, Wilson connected on a pass to Cobi Hamilton, who fumbled the ball into the endzone where it was recovered by Wright for an Arkansas touchdown. After Wilson ran it in for the 2-point conversion the game was tied 35-35. A&M marched the ball right back down the field, connecting on a 23-yard field goal at the 4:22 mark to regain the lead at 38-35. Unfortunately for the Aggies, they left more than enough time on the clock for Tyler Wilson and company as the Razorback offense simply would not be denied. After several more passes down the middle of the field, the Hogs were back within striking distance. With 1:41 remaining in the game, Arkansas RB Broderick Green scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to give the Hogs their first lead of the game, 42-38. Thirty seconds later, the Arkansas defense sealed the game by stuffing Christine Michael behind the line of scrimmage when the Aggies went for it on 4th and 2 and the Razorbacks' half of the 65,000+ fans in attendance erupted.

Wright finished the game with 13 catches for 281 yards, both single-game school records. He also caught a touchdown pass and recovered the Hamilton fumble in the endzone for a touchdown. Wilson completed 30 of 51 passes for 510 yards (a school record), 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Wilson's 510 yard performance is also the 5th most passing yards by a QB in SEC history, 13 yards shy of Peyton Manning's 523-yard performance against Kentucky in 1997.

This may prove to be a landmark win for Coach Petrino and his Razorbacks, as it catapulted the Hogs back into the top ten and sets up a huge showdown next week in Fayetteville as the #10 Razorbacks will host the defending BCS National Champions, the #15 Auburn Tigers. How do you guys see this game going? Should Arkansas have jumped 8 spots in the AP rankings? Is Auburn coming into Fayetteville a bit overrated?

Conference Expansion - Where Are We Headed?

It's been a while since my last post. But with everything swirling around about this particular subject, I could not resist throwing my two cents out there. I'm sure anyone who cares enough to read this post already knows that Texas A&M has finally been officially accepted into the SEC, effective on June 30, 2012. This will end a 16-year stint in the Big 12 Conference for the Aggies. This move will give the new SEC 13 teams; however, it surely will not be the only move made. Conference realignment has definitely been the hot topic in college football for the past year, beginning with the announcement of Colorado and Utah bolting from their conferences to join the newly aligned Pac-12 and Nebraska jumping to the Big 10. It seems that having four or five proposed "super conferences" is becoming an inevitability, but what does this mean for the current powerhouse conferences?

I feel like today's major conferences will remain in existence with the possible exception of the Big 12. The conference has already lost three teams (Colorado to the Pac-12, Nebraska to the Big 10, and Texas A&M to the SEC), dropping the conference to nine remaining members. Furthermore, some of the remaining members are not ruling out moving on to other conferences. Rumors are floating around out there that the Missouri Tigers plan to seek acceptance into the SEC as well and Oklahoma and Texas have expressed interest in the Pac-12. If these three teams leave, the Big 12 will dissolve, plain and simple.

Personally, I would be all for conference expansion. I could picture a 16-team SEC possibly coming into existence with the acceptance of Missouri and Texas A&M in the western division. The two teams that I would love to see come into the eastern division are Florida State and Clemson. Obviously, this remains to be seen. For the sake of argument, let's just assume that only Texas A&M and Missouri enter the SEC, leaving it at 14 teams. If this happens, I think the divisions would have to realign slightly to allow the two new teams into the western division. This is how I see the divisions being carved out:

Western Division

Arkansas

Alabama

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

Texas A&M

Missouri

LSU

Eastern Division

Auburn

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

Vanderbilt

Tennessee

South Carolina

How do you guys see conference expansion progressing? Do you think it will come to this? Will the Big 12 dissolve or will the NCAA step in to prevent that from happening? I would love to hear your opinions on this debate. 

Do or Die for the Arkansas Razorbacks

So I have to admit (and I'm most certainly not the only one) that I was left with a pretty bad taste in my mouth after the Razorback game on Saturday. I know a win is a win but I was left scratching my head after the Hogs narrowly avoided disaster against an inferior opponent in the Troy Trojans. Arkansas (3-0) won the game 38-28 but they looked like they just didn't have their heads in the game after the first half. The first half really couldn't have gone much better, as the Razorbacks jumped out to a 24-0 lead and eventually led 31-7 early in the third quarter; however, from that point the Trojans outscored the Hogs 21-7. Granted, Troy is a much better football team than they get credit for (they are currently seeking their 6th straight Sun Belt Conference championship). But, there is no excuse for the Hogs allowing the game to get that close.

Even more unnerving is the fact that the Hogs' competition gets dramatically better as they enter SEC play. Next week, they head down to Tuscaloosa for a nationally televised game against the #3 Alabama Crimson Tide that could potentially have implications for not only the SEC title game, but also for the BCS National Championship. I firmly believe Arkansas has a realistic shot at winning this game but they have to play 4 full quarters of good, fundamental football.

If they manage to get by Alabama, they then have to travel to Arlington, TX the very next week for what would be a battle between 2 of the top 10 teams in the country: Arkansas vs. #8 Texas A&M. While this is another winnable game, it just goes to show you that the Arkansas coaching staff have their work cut out for them in getting this team prepared to go through one of the toughest schedules in all of college football. Can the Hogs run the table and make it to the BCS Title game this year? As a firm supporter in the team, I'm inclined to say yes. They have the talent to do it but can they consistently rise to meet the level of talent in the SEC? The only thing clear in this whole situation is that if Arkansas is to make a run at the national championship, it starts now. It truly is do or die for the Razorbacks.

                                                     Above: Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson
                                                     scrambles to find a receiver vs. Troy.

Welcome/Opening Comments (Ariz. @ OSU)

First and foremost, I want to welcome and thank all of you who had the time and interest to take a look at my first attempt in the blogging world. This blog is going to cover every topic related to college football that I feel the need to discuss. Admittedly, I am a die-hard Arkansas Razorback fan but I will try to keep my opinions as objective as possible (no promises to the LSU and/or Longhorns fans out there).

I want to kick this blog off by commenting on the game Thursday night between the #9 Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Arizona Wildcats. The Cowboys took Arizona to the woodshed by a final of 37-14. Maybe I was alone in this, but I was expecting a much more competitve game than we got. I know a lot of you probably looked at OSU's #9 ranking and immediately thought "Well no surprise there," but I thought with Nick Foles bringing the experience at the QB position, the Cats would have been eager to regain the momentum they lost at the midpoint of last season. If you saw the game, you know just how far off my prediction was. Foles played a pretty good game from my viewpoint but how can you plan for the opposing QB to complete 42 of 53 passes? Brandon Weeden was an absolute field general for the Cowboys. As if that wasn't enough, Joseph Randle and Jeremy Smith combined for 186 yards on the ground.

I think Arizona is a solid football team that just ran into a powerhouse in Stillwater. OSU has been a solid team for the past couple of years but just haven't been able to make it to that next level (thanks largely to those boys from Norman). In my opinion, if the Cowboys are ever going to take that next step to being "the team" in the Big 12 this is the year. Do you guys see that happening this year or will the Sooners once again be the team that has to step up and keep the Cowboys down?