Pearls About Swine: The Aesthetics Edition – Arkansas Times
The Arkansas Razorbacks just had two 10-point wins in eight days over Alabama schools. You’d like to think that would feel better than it does for Hog fans, but hey, this is already a befuddling team.
Case in point: I will continue to assert that Arkansas’s first quarter in Stillwater, Oklahoma, was the best 15 minutes I have seen a Sam Pittman-coached team play.
Excluding the laugher against Pine Bluff to open the season and the overtimes against Oklahoma State, the Razorbacks have played about four good quarters out of 12.
And they’re 3-1, and 1-0 in SEC play, and still light-years better than they were a year ago.
Taylen Green offset accuracy problems again with his legs against Auburn Saturday in a 24-14 win at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. The game was not easy on the eyes or the ears (the ESPN pairing of Mark Jones and Roddy Jones made the telecast fatiguing). But with a tip of a Hog hat to Nolan Richardson, “a raggedy ride is usually better than a smooth walk.”
The Arkansas Razorbacks celebrate a touchdown versus Auburn last Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. Credit: Arkansas Athletics
It’s clear the team is adapting and learning. The first half of the UAB game was a slogging affair for the Hogs, who fell behind by 10 points to a team that was fresh off a 26-point pasting from Louisiana-Monroe.
They got a little better afterward. Much was made of Green’s missing wide-open targets, but after a 1-for-9 start, he was a much more efficient passer in the second half.
Ja’Quinden Jackson, meanwhile, is endearing himself to fans with his ability to break loose for big gains and shake off tacklers. Andrew Armstrong has been doing incredible work as the top receiving target, though he’s yet to catch a touchdown.
Wide receiver Andrew Armstrong tries to shake off a UAB defender in Fayetteville Sept. 14. Credit: Brian Chilson
But one of the team’s most pressing issues is also rooted in the Jackson-Armstrong combo.
Jackson’s been mildly beat up already, and he’s already logged twice as many carries (69) as the four remaining tailbacks who have run the ball combined (35).
As for Armstrong, who missed the opener? He’s had a whopping 23 grabs in his three games, but that represents well over 40% of the total receptions by wide receivers on the roster. Green’s been locking in on him, and that’s been evident.
Green’s scrambling out of harm’s way has been pretty impressive, though. He tends to bootleg his way backwards more than KJ Jefferson did, but he’s way better about avoiding, rather than absorbing, licks from linebackers. And he has a really nice ability to get to the edge and tightrope sidelines for extra yards.
Of course, he’s also been sacked three times in each of the last three games, has four picks, and occasionally has had play timing disrupted with snaps, some his fault and some on the center.
