Hog calls

QB Allen looking for the right hook

Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen (behind) prepares to take the snap from center Frank Ragnow during a game against Florida A&M on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Little Rock.
Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen (behind) prepares to take the snap from center Frank Ragnow during a game against Florida A&M on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Little Rock.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Dr. Phil, the noted TV psychologist, didn't accompany Frank Ragnow's fishing expedition with Arkansas Razorbacks teammate Austin Allen.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville senior center made that abundantly clear when a TV reporter apparently deduced a psychological master plan upon Ragnow's revelation that he encouraged the Arkansas senior quarterback to just be himself as they fished together during a NCAA mandated day off.

"Whoa! Whoa! Let's get this straight!," Ragnow said after Tuesday evening's practice. "It wasn't like some therapeutic idea. We just happened to go fishing and I talked to him: 'Hey, man, just be yourself. Just go be Austin Allen.' That's all."

Allen led the SEC in passing last season.

He is nowhere near the top after two games in 2017, and there are many reasons.

Last season's top receivers, other than senior Jared Cornelius, who has been slowed by a stiff back and inactivity, are gone, and an offensive line, other than All-American candidate Ragnow, is a struggling work in progress.

The strong running game, a trademark of Coach Bret Bielema's teams, has yet to materialize.

Consequently, fifth-year senior Allen has quarterbacked like a struggling perfectionist, ever farther from perfection the harder he strives to be perfect.

Even with Arkansas rolling by FCS foe Florida A&M, 49-7, in the Aug. 31 season-opener in Little Rock, Allen didn't look last-year sharp.

When Arkansas last played, Allen completed 9 of 23 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown, and the Razorbacks were thumped 28-7 by TCU Sept. 9 in Fayetteville.

Allen and the Razorbacks have had two weeks to prepare for today's 11 a.m. ESPN televised SEC opener against the Texas A&M Aggies at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium.

One lasting impression from Allen's first two games was that he seemed visibly frustrated trying to spark a team that -- including last season's final two games -- has been collectively outscored 70-0 its past three second halves against FBS peers Missouri, Virginia Tech and TCU.

"Austin is one of my good buddies and I think he might have been trying to do too much," Ragnow said. "I took him fishing and said, 'Hey, man, just be yourself. Because the Austin Allen we have is a pretty danged good player."

Ragnow said the old Allen has returned to practice.

"I think he's more relaxed," Ragnow said. "He's realizing, 'Hey, I don't have to do it all. I just have got to make plays I've got to make."

That's what Bielema and offensive coordinator Dan Enos have also stressed to Allen, their slightly stressed out quarterback.

Allen hooked more than just the confidence that Ragnow baited.

"I think he outfished me," Ragnow said of their quest for bass. "They're little, but a win is a win."

Offensively it hasn't just been Allen falling farther from perfection the more he presses for it.

Ragnow and offensive line coach Kurt Anderson said the line played "tight," tensely aware of mistakes against TCU.

"When you play tight and mistakes happen you tighten up even more," Anderson said. "Just go to the next play and play it out. I've never had a guy grade out 100 percent who played more than three plays."

Sports on 09/23/2017

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