Like It Is

Don't blame all of Arkansas' troubles on QB

Arkansas senior quarterback Brandon Allen slips out of a sack attempt by Texas A&M junior defensive end Daeshon Hall on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Arkansas senior quarterback Brandon Allen slips out of a sack attempt by Texas A&M junior defensive end Daeshon Hall on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

TCU remained undefeated last Saturday when lady luck didn't just smile on the Horned Frogs, she kissed them on the mouth.

A receiver caught a deflected pass in the end zone with less than 30 seconds to play to beat Texas Tech 55-52.

The Red Raiders, like Toledo, are a much better football team than anyone who doesn't own season tickets to their games might have guessed.

The Rockets are 3-0, the Red Raiders are 3-1 and Texas A&M is 4-0.

That makes the three teams that beat the Arkansas Razorbacks a combined 10-1.

It is very possible the Razorbacks (1-3) are better than their record might indicate, and that is without several starters who are out with injuries.

The Hogs have no one but themselves to blame for the slow start against Toledo, and if they played 10 more times Arkansas might win nine of them.

However, two huge areas are haunting the Hogs on offense: a lack of scoring in the red zone and penalties. Arkansas is tied for 119th in red zone scoring, and it is tied for 92nd in total penalties and No. 97 in total yards penalized.

For some reason many fans want to blame quarterback Brandon Allen for the three losses, but there are a couple of other stats to consider.

Among all the quarterbacks from the 127 schools in the Razorbacks' division, Allen ranks 17th with a quarterback rating of 166.6, and he is second among SEC quarterbacks, trailing only Georgia's Greyson Lambert. On the other side of the ball, the Razorbacks are 99th in passing defense and are allowing an average of 264 yards per game.

The Hogs have some issues, but it is not just one person's fault. It rarely is in football.

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Controversy surrounds Paul Petrino as he brings his Idaho team to Jonesboro on Saturday to play Arkansas State.

Petrino, the former offensive coordinator at Arkansas, is 3-24 at Idaho, but it doesn't end there. A report in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News about three football players being caught on video stealing clothes from the university indicates that Petrino jumped from the hot seat into the fire.

The newspaper, citing a police report, reported that after police watched the surveillance video, two Idaho football graduate assistants at the store were asked to contact their superiors to determine who would identify the three men in the video.

Offensive coordinator Kris Cinkovich and director of football operations Bobby Daly arrived and watched the video. Petrino arrived a short time later, met with the store manager and then left. When an officer returned to talk with the manager, the manager pointed out a pile of clothing that Petrino had left behind and store officials ultimately declined to press charges.

That was a week after Petrino had to be physically restrained from angrily approaching a member of the media.

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Arkansas has a long history of producing outstanding softball teams, and while some came very close to winning a major championship, none had ever brought one home until now.

Chris Walker, a longtime player and sponsor, took his Fence Brokers Inc. team to Orlando, Fla., earlier this month, and when the dust settled they were the USSSA men's Class A world champions.

It didn't end there. Last weekend Hays LeMay took his Class B women's team, the Bryant Express, to Orlando where it won the USSSA Class B world championship.

Fence Brokers came out of the losers bracket and had to win three games Sunday to win the title. Chad Durick was named tournament MVP for Fence Brokers, while Brian McBryde was the defensive MVP and Joe Gordon, Alex Henry, Tim Bowser and Jake Mays were named to the all-tournament team.

Bryant Express went undefeated and Kandyce Hardcastle was named tournament MVP.

LeMay and Walker are on the Board of the Arkansas Softball Hall of Fame and both are residents of Bryant. Walker is also the Arkansas director of the USSSA.

Sports on 10/01/2015

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