re: Nutt does more with less (Greatest backfield ever)

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I thought is was Butch Davis

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Could have been the new coach for the 2007 season, all Broyles had to do was have a quick trigger...

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all Broyles had to do was have a quick trigger

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He's like 300 years old. I'm sure he has a "quick trigger."

Twitter says Mallett has agrred to terms with the pats. 4 year deal...no $ numbers yet

LINK

There's a joke in my statement as well.

Others will see it.

Some will explain it to you, but you still won't get it.

yeah the chances of Mallet making it in the NFL especially behind Brady, no very good.

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Name me one time during that stretch when Arkansas was the better team.

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Hell, I don't know when they were out-playing each on the field and/or leading the game before finding a way to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.

You act as if Arkansas was hovering around the 25th ranked spot instead of being ranked in the top five during the time these games were played.

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I don't believe he even played in that game.

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He did.

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Arkansas had to play three top 5 opponents in a row.

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These were not games played in back to back consecutive weeks. There was as much as a month to prepare for one game for instance...

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I mean how do we hold Wisconsin to -3 yards rushing

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God, I had forgotten about that

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Not finishing the season with 3 straight losses would have been a start.



He lost to three teams that finished the season ranked in the top 5 in the coaches poll. Three teams that finished the season with a combined record of 36-4. Name me one time during that stretch when Arkansas was the better team.

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Lost the first game in glorious fashion in front of a max capacity home crowd.



USC destroyed a lot of top OOC opponents during those years. They were a juggernaut even after Leinart and Bush left. Actually, Arkansas should be proud of the fact that they are one of the few SEC teams that weren't afraid to take on the best of the best. Also, wasn't Darren McFadden hurt? I don't believe he even played in that game. Even more reason why Houston Nutt shouldn't be blamed for that loss.

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Won 10 straight.



Which is a hell of an accomplishment in the SEC.

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Lost 3 straight to finish the season.



Again, that was due to their tough schedule. Some CFB teams go years without playing as many three top 5 opponents. Arkansas had to play three top 5 opponents in a row. That's just bad luck, difficult scheduling, whatever, but it's yet another thing that was completely out of Houston Nutt's control. Nutt did a great job coaching Arkansas in 2006.

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2006 wasn't the main issue that most people had with Nutt, apart from the Mustain saga. It was that the typical Nutt 3-4 year cycle had started to repeat, and people were tired of it.

Year 1: Sneak up on people when expected to finish 4th or worse in the division (1998, 2002, 2006, 2008)
Year 2: Collapse under higher expectations, but still have a winning record around the 8-4 mark (1999, 2003, 2007, 2009)
Year 3/Year 4: Pathetic rebuilding year with 0.500 record or worse (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2010)


As for Nutt's coaching, that 2006 squad was pretty damn stacked, and much was probably due to some positional coaching, though much of that talent was mismanaged IMO. 3/4 DL members ended up getting drafted (Jamaal Anderson-1st round, Keith Jackson, and Marcus Harrison). Sam Olajubutu was a great LB despite being undersized, and Fairchild probably would have been a late draftee had he not decided to be retarded. Our secondary was pretty good though. Chris Houston was a 1st round pick, and even Matteral Richardson got drafted late (though I remember him getting burned so bad against LSU). Michael Grant was a track stud, and Randy Kelly was a good headhunter.

On offense, of course you had DMac, Jones, and Hillis, and Marcus Monk. Even Robert Johnson did decently as a receiver after being moved over from QB. On the OL, you had Tony Ugoh (2nd round pick), Jonathan Luigs (2xRimington award winner), Zac Tubbs (7th round pick IIRC).

Most of the losses that we suffered were losses taht could have been avoided had it been for better coaching. For example, just against USC, despite going into the half down 13-7, Nutt shite the bag, and we ended up losing 50-14, which explains his panic move to burn Mustain's redshirt. Against LSU, despite having NO success in the passing game, he decides to call 4 straight pass plays despite having the greatest backfield in NCAA history. I don't care if there are three minutes left in the game...DMac and Felix were averaging nearly a 1st down every time they touched the ball. Against UF, that was more of Reggie Fish botching the punt catch and momentum swinging. However, Nutt should have called more outside plays since UF was pinching inside and shutting down the inside run game.

The most damning evidence was exhibited in the Wisconsin game. Arkansas WAS the better team, and was favored to win as well. Jones averaged 9 ypc that game because Wisky was collapsing inside and not allowing DMac to get into the open field. Yet Jones barely touched the ball that game, with Dmac getting the lion's share of the carries with some terrible play calling. We'd shut down PJ Hill too, and still due to unimaginative playcalling, we lost that game.

Flagship