The TCU Horned Frogs took a trip to Fayetteville with hopes of revenge and that’s what they got in their 28-7 beatdown of Arkansas football.
Last year, Arkansas gave TCU a stunning loss at home. This year, however, the tables were turned as TCU handed Arkansas an embarrassing loss at home.
The Razorbacks, who had nine days to prepare, looked confused at best. Gary Patterson and TCU came into Razorback Stadium and put on a clinic for what big boy football looks like. One could say, Patterson came to teach 5th-year head coach, Bret Bielema what SEC football is supposed to look like.
There is a lot of questions by fans that have been answered by this game as well as more questions remaining. Although, one could take away a lot from it, here are three of my biggest takeaways.
3. TCU is more dynamic than we thought
When I and most people think of TCU, I first think of speed and huge passing plays. The high-flying offense at TCU has been a lot of fun to watch in the recent years but today, we saw something different.
SEC teams like to say they are the end all of what real football is. That here in the south, we play tough, “run it down your throat” football with big hard hitting defenses. Today, the script was flipped.
Arkansas fans know that Bret Bielema is a ground and pound kind of guy. You expect his Razorbacks to grind out every possession and run down the clock in every game. It’s a strategy of keep away and pure dominance.
Rather than Arkansas, it was TCU who dominated in time of possession with 33 minutes. The Horned Frogs won this game in the trenches, rushing for 195 yards and playing in your face, smash mouth football.
2. Arkansas’ season is going to be long
Let me start by saying this, TCU came to play some football in Arkansas and that’s what they did. They are a good team and have to potential to win a lot of games. That said, Arkansas was absolutely terrible.
The Razorbacks were 4-14 in third-down conversions and only got 13 first-downs the entire game. Austin Allen, like all of this last season, was taking hit after hit. The offensive line gave him no chance and when he did find some time, his receivers were rarely able to get open.
To put it simply, Arkansas’ offense was nowhere to be seen today. The only thing that kept them in this game was the Razorbacks defense which held TCU to within one score up until the final minutes. It was the lack of production on offense that kept the Hog’s defense on the field and slowly wore them down.
All in all, this was the worst possible outcome for Arkansas. Fans are all too used to seeing this and after five years of head coach Bret Bielema, many fans were expecting there to finally be some cohesion between both sides of the ball and for Bielema to put a stable product on the field.
Unless Bielema can perform a miracle, Arkansas is not going to have a good or even decent season. While they may have struggled to show what SEC football is about, others throughout the league are good a ready. In two weeks, Arkansas takes on Texas A&M and it’s not looking too hot for the Hogs. Well, one thing is looking a little toasty and that’s…
1. Bret Bielema’s seat has gotten toasty
To an outsider, they may not see why this is even being brought up. I mean, after all, it’s only game two of the season and surely Bielema can get it together right? Well, wrong.
Here in Arkansas, fans have watched the same thing over and over. Years of getting new coordinators, changing schemes and promises of “next year is gonna be the year.” Unfortunately, none of it has done anything to put Arkansas in any relevance in not only the SEC but nationally.
Bielema has consistently put a product on the field that is unstable and fails to show any proficiency in the aspects of the game he boasts about basing his program off of and boasts rather loudly at that. In his fifth year, Bielema has put another questionable team on the field again and for many, we have reached the tipping point.
Next: Louisville Football: 5 overreactions from UNC win
Bielema could save himself with his coaching and pull this team out of the gutter or point to a 15 million dollar buyout on his contract. Either way, something will give. It’s up to the coach to decide if the fans and boosters jump back on.