Arkansas Bowl Prediction

Bowl Game:

According to EA Sports this is how the game will turn out.

Final Score: Hogs  15 Ohio State 17 Outback Bowl

EA Sports Record: 8-5 (5-3)
Total Offense: 294
Passing Yards: 176
Rushing Yards: 118
Total Yards: 421
Player of the Game: Tyler Wilson, 13-37, 176 Yds, TD
Heisman Winner: Nick Foles-Arizona Wildcats

My prediction:
If my record of 13-0 was to hold up then Hogs would be in New Orleans playing in the National Championship. I think the Hogs have the talent to do it. At worse I see the Hogs 8-4 and in the Cotton Bowl. I really think the Razorbacks will be somewhere around 10-12 wins and playing in a Bowl game in New Orleans. Both the National Championship and the Sugar Bowl will be in New Orleans this year.  

*Note: I will update my predictions on some games once the prediction blog series is over to account for recent developments like injuries.

Pryor proves NCAA can no longer let schools police themsleves

Terrelle Pryor has helped add further proof that the NCAA needs to change many policies. Pryor was set to be suspended for the first five games of the upcoming season. By leaving school he will not have to serve that suspension or have to answer to the NCAA on any an all violations that he had. The NCAA could have and should have suspended Pryor and the rest of the violating Ohio State players before the Sugar Bowl. I was in the group of people that did want them to play so if the Hogs had won we could have said we beat them at full strength with no excuses. However as a fan of the Hogs I knew it was a risk for the guys to play because they would be able to leave school for the NFL Draft before the season, but they promised their coach and school they would be back and serve the suspension.
 Fast forward six months and Terrelle Pryor and Coach Jim Tressel have both moved on from Ohio State. By going to the NFL both can avoid any punishment from the NCAA. More and more information keeps coming out. The latest is Pryor getting paid to sign memorabilia for large sums of money. The slip up came by payment by check. To find out more about violations just Google Pryor, Tressel or Ohio State.  This OSU debacle is just another proving that the NCAA can no longer allow schools to police themselves. OSU should and most likely will be more severely punished than USC. Its not a matter of when will it happen again but a matter of who will it be. Auburn, I am looking your direction.

The University of Connecticut Huskies are the National Champs but are they the best team?

Connecticut won what a lot of people consider the worst championship game ever on this past Monday night. The Huskies play terrible but lucky for them the Butler Bulldogs played even worse. Butler was bricking so many shots that you would have thought they were building a house. On twitter so many jokes were made about the bricks. UCONN was on a major run. They won 11 straight games on there way to the title. They won 5 games in 5 days in the Big East Tournament. They also won the Maui Invational as well making them undefeated in Tournament play. They are a good team and a very hot team but were they the best team. They were the better team Monday night, but that is what the NCAA Tournament provides, Chance. Every Division 1 Conference Champ gets into the tournament as well as some teams that didn't win to round out the field. When the tournament starts every team has a chance to become champ. That is the great thing about the Tournament. Its not like the BCS in College Football where its all politics. This year proved that the mid-majors have some of the better teams because they have more mature athletes than the big boys do. The big boys: Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, etc.. have some one and dones and kids leaving after just a few years. The smaller schools like VCU keep kids longer and they get more mature and better skilled. A lot of people I have talked to on Twitter and read reports from National and Local media think that Ohio State was the best team this year. Sometimes the best team isn't always the champion.

Who do you think the best team was in College Basketball this year?

Sugar Bowl, How sweet it wasn't for Arkansas

Arkansas Razorback fans everywhere have a bad taste in their mouth right now. That taste is that of bitter sugar that Ohio State dished out last night in the Sugar Bowl. For a while there in the game it looked like Ohio State was going to run a way with the game. Ohio State built a big 21 point lead before Arkansas came back in the second half to come with in 31-26. Arkansas gave this game away. Ohio State was not the best team but were the better team last night. Arkansas tried very hard to lose this game. This was the worse possible time to have a major case of the butterfingers. Joe Adams himself dropped at least 3 passes that would have gave the hogs 21 points. Lots of people want to blame Ryan Mallett today for the loss. Its not Ryan's fault. Yes, he did throw the game ending interception but there were lots of other issues that lead to the loss. The case of the butterfingers the receivers had, missed opportunity on the blocked punt, poor tackling in the first half....etc. Kickers played great in the bowl. Breeding put Ohio State deep in there territory several times. Hocker put through some long field goals to keep the hogs in it. Special teams played well for the most part. Knile Davis was able to end the game with just over 130 yards. Breeding, Hocker, Davis amoung others are some players to keep your eyes on in 2011. The big question now will Ryan Mallett come back for his senior season. A lot of Hog fans would love for him to come back and see what the Hogs can accompish next season. I would like to think the wouldnt want to end his Razorback career on an interception. With that said I really think its going to come down to where the so called "experts/draft gurus" think he will go. If Mallett is projected as a top 15 pick I don't see him coming back. If he is projected to the late first round or later he will be back in Razorback Red. That Sugar Bowl loss stings but the Hogs did finish the season 10-3 going 6-2 in the SEC. It was a great season. I know I am still proud today to say I am an Arkansas Razorback fan.

This song sums it up for me.

Hogs vs Buckeyes in Sugar Bowl, How sweet it is.

Its finally official the Arkansas Razorbacks will meet the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 77th Annual Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 4th, 2011 in New Orleans, Louisana
For everything Sugar Bowl click here to go to the official Sugar Bowl website
For Hog fans this will be a great treat to end a great season. Before the season started Razorback fans had high hopes for this season. Lots of people said a National Championship was possible. Others said getting into a BCS bowl and winning the SEC was possible. No matter what you thought you have to be happy that the Hogs ended up in the Sugar Bowl. The Razorbacks made history by getting accepted into the game. This will be the first ever BCS game for the Hogs. The Hogs have played in big name bowls before. The Razorbacks actually played in 5 Sugar Bowls according to Hog Database. The Hogs are 1-4 in those games. All opponents in those games are current SEC teams. Arkansas would make another milestone for the program with a win. A win in the Sugar Bowl would give the Hogs back to back wins in a bowl game for the first time in history. This game should be very exciting. Most people will being eying the big name quarterbacks Terrel Pryor from Ohio State and Ryan Mallett from Arkansas. No matter which team you root for Jan 4th can't get here fast enough.