After watching last Saturday’s match up between Arkansas and Auburn, Hog fans felt like they had been on the wrong end of a prostate exam.
And rightfully so.
What makes this worse, is the fact that the SEC is still trying to explain why the calls were made. To me this means one thing: They know they were wrong.
If the calls had been accurate, the SEC would have come out with one explanation and left it at that. The Arkansas Razorbacks were yet again hosed by awful officiating. ( See Mark Curles circa 2009)
But the 14 points the officials gave the Tigers, is not the reason the Hogs lost on Saturday, although had the calls been made correctly, who knows.
Arkansas’ defense and special teams lost the game.
You simply can not give up 65 points and expect to win, unless of course you play arena football.
The defense was atrocious, the special teams is undoubtedly still in their hotel rooms in Montgomery.
But aside from the pitiful display of defense, there are some positives that came from the game.
When Ryan Mallett went down with an injury, and Tyler Wilson ran on the field, Hog fans everywhere held their breath.
How bad is Ryan’s injury ? Will he be back in the game ?
Many questions about the future of the quarterback position were answered Saturday. Ryan Mallett usually throws for 300 yards in a game, it took half that for Tyler Wilson to throw for 332.
The one thing that jumped out at me, was Wilson’s composure. There was never a wide-eyed look, never a bobbled snap anticipating the rush, he just stepped in and played.
There is no doubt in my mind that if Ryan Mallett passes all the required tests, he will be the starter against Ole Miss this Saturday, but now, Hog fans can rest assured that Tyler Wilson is more than happy to step in and lead the offense in the event of an injury.
Reading message boards and tweets the past two days, I’ve seen people calling for Willy Robinson’s job. This is ridiculous. No one was complaining through the first five games when the defense was keeping the Hogs in the game. Others were talking of complaining to the SEC office, concerning the poor officiating.
In situations like this, it’s the thought that counts. No amount of complaining will change anything. Mike Slive is well aware that the officials should return their game checks.
The important thing to remember is that, although the officials took points away from Arkansas and handed them to Auburn, the score would still be 51-43.
Now the Hogs can respond in one of two ways this Saturday, they can use the whipping they took on the plains as motivation, or they can sulk and drop another game to Houston Nutt.
One big factor for the Hogs will be that the fans show support.
A football team is similar to a child, after a kid does something wrong, they need to know you still love them, a football team needs to know they still have your support after a painful loss.
It was a painful loss, not only for the Arkansas Razorbacks, but the entire fan base.
But the season is not over, the Hogs still have six games to play, and a realistic chance of ending up (9-3) or maybe even (10-2).
Are you going to tell me that you wouldn’t be happy with that ?
Just some food for thought, in relation to what the coaching staff at Arkansas is doing: Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Where the program is now in comparison to where the Hogs were four or five years ago, I see major improvement.
In a perfect world, officials would get it right, it would be 70 degrees year round, and the Hogs defense and special teams would show up every game. But that’s clearly not the case.
It’s a work in progress.
A work that Hog fans have not seen in finality.
Follow James Moseley on Twitter: @that_who_is_he
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