One of the greatest sports movies of all time, Bull Durham, has a scene which sums up a lot about Saturday’s football game between Arkansas and Auburn. The young up and coming pitcher, played by Tim Robbins, sits down next to the wily vet, played by in his prime Kevin Costner, on the team bus after a win. Robbins is pretty jacked as he settles into his seat. “I love winning man,” he enthuses. “I [bleeping] love winning. You hear what I’m saying? It’s like better than losing.”
And I can certainly second that feeling after Saturday’s win by the Arkansas at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn.
If you watch the full clip you realize there is something in there for the Auburn team as well. Specifically Auburn quarterback Hank Brown, who was coming off a “huge” victory last week in his first college start against New Mexico where the freshman threw for 4 touchdowns, 235 yards and no interceptions. Full of piss and vinegar was he. So much so as to give the first of his many gifts to the Arkansas football team with the following quote:
“I love when the competition level is raised, that’s when I’m playing my best. I’m excited for SEC play and I’m excited to dominate Arkansas.”
God, Travis Williams and the banged up Arkansas secondary had other plans for the young man.
What Brown needed was a wily veteran to take him down a notch and provide some wisdom like Kevin Costner did when his young pitcher, feeling his oats, asked for something else to learn.
Costner: “Well you got something to write with? Good, it’s time to work on your interviews.“
Robbins: “What do I got to do?”
Costner: “You’re going to have to learn your cliches. You’re going to have to study them, you’re going to have to know them. They’re your friends.”
It appears Payton Thorne, Auburn’s once-again starting quarterback, watched the clip a little too late to give Brown this much needed advice:
Arkansas vs Auburn Takeaways
And now onto some more thoughts and questions following Arkansas vs Auburn:
- Defensive Coordinator, Travis Williams, got the game ball for Arkansas. Does the losing team give the game ball to its worst player? And if Hugh Freeze gave the game ball to Hank Brown would Brown immediately throw it to an Arkansas player? Probably.
- I felt for Ja’Quinden Jackson. The lack of a passing game meant he was running into a brick wall over and over. He looked stronger at the end of the game, which is always a great sign. And he still leads the SEC in rushing after four games. Rocket who?
- Braylon Russell looks amazing for a true freshman. I mentioned this to everyone within earshot every time he touched the ball. That guy is just a freshman. Coming in at a stout 253 pounds he reminds me of a young Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis. Can I trademark the nickname “Benton Bus”?
- Did we just win a hard-fought SEC away game? Or did Auburn just lose an SEC home game?
- Maybe Auburn didn’t have really, really crappy quarterback play. Maybe it was more on butterfingered AU receivers like Cam Coleman and Arknasas’ great day ball hawking. Counterpoint – see number 1.
- I appreciate the Hogs for winning this game. It gives me a reason to watch every game this year. As long as Arkansas beats its last cupcake opponent of the season and Louisiana Tech, Arkansas will be one win away from a bowl game. You thought Louisiana Tech was our last cupcake game didn’t you? Wrong. Toledo would like a word with you about the quality of Mississippi State.
- Being bowl eligible would qualify as a successful season. Maybe that’s a bit sad. However, Arkansas could hang its hat on only losing to top 25 teams and sneaking out a win against a top 25 team.
- Now if that win happened to be against the University of Texas this season would catapult into the second most successful season since Bobby left in my opinion. Maybe Texas Coach Steve “Sark” Sarkisian is right. Maybe I do hate Texas more than I love Arkansas.
- We have got to find a way to get tight ends Luke Hasz and Ty Washington the ball. My fear is that otherwise one or both of them will get poached by some transfer portal scallywag who needed to be rehabilitated by Nick Saban at some point. (Sark, Lane Kiffin, Butch Jones).
- I appreciated ESPN announcer Mark Jones and his, “Cam Newton isn’t walking through that door.” Bang up job of poking fun at both Auburn and Rick Pitino.
- I was unimpressed by the talent in the stands at Auburn. Both the quality and the, er, quantity as it were. Someone should install a salad bar on campus.
- Auburn seemed to get a lot of pressure in the backfield. Was this due to a good game plan by Auburn? Yes, they are talented but are they more talented than the defenses Arkansas is face in the rest of the season? Or are we not quite as strong on the offensive line as I was led to believe this year?
- Is there anything better for a team than getting an opposing quarterback benched after said quarterback stated he was looking forward to dominating you? No. No there is not. And again, I refer you to Number 1. Also,
- UAB coach Trent Dilfer on Hank Brown before the game, “He’s never going to make it worse. It’s always going to be par or better. He’s Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods at their prime. Like, they’re not going to give it away. They might get beat but they’re not giving it away. Hank’s going to make his pars and fit in his birdies. He’s not going to make a lot of bogeys or double bogeys.”
- If I told you Taylen Green had a QBR of 80.3 for the game would you be surprised? Because he did and I am. Although it’s also possible you would say what the hell is QBR. To which I would point you to this page from ESPN. To quote from that page, “An average quarterback will have a QBR around 50, and a Pro Bowl-level player will have a QBR around 75 for the season.” So what we saw today was secretly a pro-bowl level performance from Taylen Green. That makes you feel better about our prospects this season, doesn’t it?
- Advanced stats may be helpful in illuminating the performance of athletes the average fan (read me, although I like to think of myself as slightly above average in most ways including my fandom) cannot perceive. In this case I would have described Green’s performance as something closer to “passable” if “passable” didn’t include the word “pass”.
- On the other hand, maybe I’m wrong. It happens more frequently than I would like to admit. Former Arkansas QB great Clint Stoerner’s analysis lends weight to the advanced stat. Stoerner described Green’s performance as “really good”.
- I have taken to waking up Sunday mornings and checking up on ESPN’s College Football Power Index rankings. Arkansas climbed 6 places in the ranking to 23. That ain’t bad. If the SEC wasn’t so top heavy we would be an easy pick to go to a bowl game. As it stands we have a 78% chance according to ESPN of reaching 6 wins, which is a lot better chance than most folks have of breaking Bass Baggin’ records on Silver Oak. For comparison, the team ranked immediately below (Utah) has a 99% chance of accomplishing the same task. Life in the SEC can feel a little unfair at times. The stat geeks at ESPN also like to give odds to win the College Football National Championship. Arkansas has now clawed its way back to a .1% chance of winning the College Football National Championship.
So you’re telling me there’s a chance!
See our preview on Arkansas vs Texas A&M:
The Aggies’ Marcel Reed has 32 carries for 217 yards (6.8 per carry) and a touchdown so far this year, and poses the strongest ground game threat from a quarterback that Arkansas has faced this season.
Looking ahead on the schedule, it will only get harder in terms of the quality of dual-threat quarterbacks and quality of teams. The likes of Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart and Texas’ Arch Manning, if he ends up starting over Quinn Ewers come Nov. 16, will all put extreme stress on Arkansas’ defense.
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