Arkansas won the toss and in Bielema fashion takes the football. Once again the Hogs dominate with the Power run game, taking nearly all of the first quarter to cap off a 75 yard TD drive. Kiero punches it in from the 2 and the Hogs lead 7-0 after 1.
The second quarter put the Hogs on the heels a tad. Samford played like it was the National Championship and attacked the Hogs secondary. Chris Smith would end a TD threatening drive with a big sack and Samford was forced to settle for a field goal. 7-3. Arkansas would come back with another impressive drive, but Alex Collins let the freshman come out of himself and fumbled on the 15 yard line. Time would expire before Samford could get to field goal range and we're 7-3 at the half.
Arkansas defense forces a 3 and out to start the 3rd quarter and Brandon Allen showed off his arm on the first play, finding Jevonte Herndon for a 68 yard TD strike. Samford, though would answer right back, chipping away at the Arkansas secondary and finalizing a drive with a 10 yard TD pass. At the end of 3, Arkansas 14 Samford 10.
The 4th quarter brings back a ULM feeling as the Hogs go a rare 3 and out. Samford again would pick apart the secondary and with 1:07 left in the game score to go ahead 17-14. Not wanting a repeat of last year's LR debacle, Johnathan Williams puts the team on his shoulders. 2 plays 75 yards and a TD and a giant exhale for Hog fans. 21-17 final.
So the wonderful stadium debate has resurfaced as the Hogs hit the road for Little Rock. Coach has even thrown in his piece, calling Little Rock a road game for the Hogs. I'm sure once he sees how well the clock runs down there he'll move practice down there for the rest of the year. Surely the place will grow on him, right? Heck no. Folks, welcome to the Farewell Tour for Little Rock.
All 40,000 that show up tomorrow will be much cooler than they were last week in the blazing sun, but hopefully they didn't drink too much KoolAid to cool down with. While the Hogs dominated ULL, we can only be left to wonder are they really that good? Physically and conditionwise it seems that answer is yes. The offensive and defensive lines showed that Heberts conditioning program involves much more than riding motorcycles by controlling the line of scrimmage through ALL 4 QUARTERS. What a welcomed sight!
Obviously, with an FCS team coming to town (or state), the Hogs will once again win the conditioning and depth battles. But the key to tomorrow's cupcake is how well we spread the icing. Can the back 7 of the defense improve? They made a small step last week looking for the ball, but now they've got to be in position to knock it down or, yes, actually try to catch it. How much can the linebackers improve in what should be their cliched "biggest improvement of the year?" With a good coaching staff, teams get better each and every day and so far this team has done that this summer. Defensively they need to continue that trend tomorrow....and all year.
As funny as it sounds, ball control will be the offensive key tomorrow. If you think you saw a run play last week, get ready this week. Alex Collins and Johnathan Williams will each get 150 and I expect Nate Holmes to get a good bit of action as well. Vanilla, but impressive. In games like this in Wisconsin, Bielema wasn't afraid to hang 80. If they can't stop you running the ball, well, they just can't stop you. That will be his mentality tomorrow as he prepares to "Throw the A" with his bride.
Coach will be ready to board that flight home when he learns "Throwin the A" is a gang sign not far from War Memorial. And the bad part is they don't use T-shirt guns as weapons.
Get your golf clubs and your tailgate ready. It's Little Rock time!
Hogs 45
Samford and Sons 10
Go Hogs!
Superfan
