This weekend I got to see two games on TV. I wanted to make a few comments about both games. Arkansas finally put away Troy 38-28 and Florida finally put away Tennessee 33-23.
I told my kids that Arkansas was going to be facing a tough opponent this week in Troy. Harry King agreed evidently:
Well-informed Razorback fans, here’s a trivia question: What four opposing quarterbacks are on the Davey O’Brien watch list?
Thinking cap on, I came up with Texas A&M’s Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee’s Tyler Bray and Mississippi State’s Chris Relf. Knowing the watch list was released in mid-July, Alabama, Auburn and LSU were eliminated because the quarterback situation at those schools was unsettled at the time.
South Carolina’s oft-suspended Stephen Garcia was the red herring.
The final member of the quartet is Troy’s Corey Robinson, who will have an opportunity to show off this evening in Fayetteville. Two-thirds of the 38 on the watch list are from the six BCS conferences and five are from Conference USA where pass defense is prohibited, so Robinson had to have some credentials to be recognized from the Sun Belt Conference.
As a freshman last year, he completed almost 64 percent of his 505 passes for 3,726 yards with 28 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
Don’t assume Robinson feasted on Sun Belt opposition. He was 28-of-38 in a 41-38 loss to Oklahoma State, 58 percent or better against three other non-conference foes and 32-of-42 for 387 in a New Orleans Bowl victory over Ohio.
Two weeks ago, in Troy’s only game of the year, he was 24-of-42 against Clemson. Troy led the Tigers 16-13 at the half.
___________________________
The Tennessee game showed me that Bray is the real deal. I actually think that Tennesse may be the toughest game that Arkansas has at home this year. Some people would argue it is South Carolina, but I am picking Vandy to beat them this week. Miss St is very good but will they be able to recover from starting 0-2 in the SEC?
The other SEC home game for Arkansas is Auburn and with the defeat this week at Clemson it proves that Auburn will lucky to finish 4-4 in the SEC conference play this year. I think Tennessee will be a surprising dark horse in the East and probably the toughest team Arkansas will face this year at home. We will have to wait and see.
Below is a negative view of Tennessee’s game yesterday from Knoxnews.com:
Quarterbacks: B-
Tyler Bray had one of his first mistakes of the season, and it proved to be a big one. The sophomore’s interception to start the second half led directly to points and put UT in a hole it couldn’t climb out of without Justin Hunter at receiver.
Running backs: C-
Tauren Poole was a non-factor, and Marlin Lane didn’t provide much more on the ground. Lane did add another touchdown to his growing resume and was productive out of the backfield as a receiver.
Wide receivers/ tight ends: B
Losing Hunter early was a critical blow to the offense, but it did give Vincent Dallas and DeAnthony Arnett a chance to make an impact. Both got involved in the passing game and showed signs of being able to help moving forward.
Offensive line: D
There were no running lanes to be found, and James Stone struggled mightily to get the ball to Bray with his shotgun snaps. The sophomore hadn’t really shown any signs of problems through two weeks, but Bray was frequently scooping balls off the ground.
Defensive line: C-
The Vols didn’t have much time to generate much pressure on Florida quarterback John Brantley because he was so quick to dish it to his running backs. There were plenty of opportunities to wrap Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps in the backfield, but the Vols missed far too many times.
Linebackers: C-
A lot of the blame has to be placed on this group for the success of Florida’s short passing game. Rainey’s 83-yard catch-and-run came clearly as a result of busted coverage. Nevertheless, there were some highlights for this group, as both freshmen A.J. Johnson, who ran back a fumble in the third quarter, and Curt Maggitt looked very good at times.
Secondary: C
The Vols didn’t have to worry much about Brantley or Florida’s underwhelming group of wide receivers burning them for big plays, but they also share some of the blame for Rainey’s and Demps’ short catches going for long gains. There should have been someone around to slow down Rainey on his long touchdown catch. Senior Art Evans, back in the starting lineup, and Marsalis Teague were mostly reliable at cornerback, but they weren’t tested very often.
Special teams: F
What could go wrong did go wrong, and to make matters worse, there were penalties on top of that. Michael Palardy missed a short field goal in the first quarter, had a punt blocked and was woeful on kickoffs. The only facet that wasn’t a mess was the typically awful punt return team. Of course, with the way Florida was scoring, there weren’t many opportunities.
Coaching: C-
Dooley questioned his decision to go for a two-point conversion midway through the third quarter, but collectively the Vols seemed to make some adjustments on both sides of the ball that allowed them to stay competitive in a game that looked like it could get out of hand at times.
Overall: C-
The Vols were dealt some adversity early with Hunter going down, and they didn’t handle it well and struggled to get an early foothold in the game. That might not be surprising for a young team, but it showed some signs of maturing in the way it battled back late.
The Daily Hatch 