Poli
09-06-2006, 01:11 AM
I don't find that I enjoy reading any particular writing often, with the exception of Chris Low (The Tennessean, writes about the Vols, of course) and Ivan Maisel.
This bit made me smile and I'm sure to pass it on to OU and Arkansas fans around the base.
Razorbacks turn to Mustain
So you're Houston Nutt, and the hounds are at your door after you won four games last season. Never mind that your best players were your youngest ones. People aren't that patient anymore, even with a homegrown hero like you. It's year nine, and you're coming off two losing seasons, and you may as well as won that 2002 SEC West championship in 1902.
Now your Arkansas team is young and experienced, and you are a dark horse in an SEC West that already had been conceded to the winner of the Auburn-LSU game on Sept. 16. You hoped for the best going into the USC game, hoped that the sting of last season's 70-17 humiliation still goaded your players. You hoped that the record crowd of 76,564 at Reynolds Stadium would make up for the disparity in talent between your team and the Trojans.
But your best player, sophomore tailback Darren McFadden, got into a barfight and injured his foot, and your best quarterback, Casey Dick, injured his back. Then your young players start giving the ball away, and there's no crowd in the world big enough to make up for that disparity.
So you lose, 50-24. A year later, your team again finds the Grand Canyon between itself and the Trojans. You've got to remind them and the fans that the USC game has nothing to do with the SEC West. Stay the course. Keep focused.
Or not.
Your backup quarterback, Robert Johnson, can't get you there. The potential of your freshman quarterback, Mitch Mustain, is enormous. Keeping one of the top quarterback recruits in the country home last February scored big points for you. You put him in against USC in the fourth quarter, and the team responded. So what if it was against the Trojan managers, the flight attendants on the USC charter from L.A., and anyone else Pete Carroll could get onto the field with a 44-7 lead. Mustain took the Hogs right down the field for a touchdown.
Yes, Mustain threw an interception one possession later, but you saw that spark. You saw enough that you can build on. On Sunday, you named Mustain starting quarterback. You awarded Johnson the Paul Thompson Memorial Wide Receiver Trophy, and moved him out wide. The fans demanded it, and you agreed with them.
Your fate rides on a freshman quarterback and the patience of your constituency. Can Mustain win enough? And if he can't, can he show enough positive play that the fans will stay behind you and allow you to enjoy the proceeds from this gamble?
Coaching is not for the faint of heart.
This bit made me smile and I'm sure to pass it on to OU and Arkansas fans around the base.
Razorbacks turn to Mustain
So you're Houston Nutt, and the hounds are at your door after you won four games last season. Never mind that your best players were your youngest ones. People aren't that patient anymore, even with a homegrown hero like you. It's year nine, and you're coming off two losing seasons, and you may as well as won that 2002 SEC West championship in 1902.
Now your Arkansas team is young and experienced, and you are a dark horse in an SEC West that already had been conceded to the winner of the Auburn-LSU game on Sept. 16. You hoped for the best going into the USC game, hoped that the sting of last season's 70-17 humiliation still goaded your players. You hoped that the record crowd of 76,564 at Reynolds Stadium would make up for the disparity in talent between your team and the Trojans.
But your best player, sophomore tailback Darren McFadden, got into a barfight and injured his foot, and your best quarterback, Casey Dick, injured his back. Then your young players start giving the ball away, and there's no crowd in the world big enough to make up for that disparity.
So you lose, 50-24. A year later, your team again finds the Grand Canyon between itself and the Trojans. You've got to remind them and the fans that the USC game has nothing to do with the SEC West. Stay the course. Keep focused.
Or not.
Your backup quarterback, Robert Johnson, can't get you there. The potential of your freshman quarterback, Mitch Mustain, is enormous. Keeping one of the top quarterback recruits in the country home last February scored big points for you. You put him in against USC in the fourth quarter, and the team responded. So what if it was against the Trojan managers, the flight attendants on the USC charter from L.A., and anyone else Pete Carroll could get onto the field with a 44-7 lead. Mustain took the Hogs right down the field for a touchdown.
Yes, Mustain threw an interception one possession later, but you saw that spark. You saw enough that you can build on. On Sunday, you named Mustain starting quarterback. You awarded Johnson the Paul Thompson Memorial Wide Receiver Trophy, and moved him out wide. The fans demanded it, and you agreed with them.
Your fate rides on a freshman quarterback and the patience of your constituency. Can Mustain win enough? And if he can't, can he show enough positive play that the fans will stay behind you and allow you to enjoy the proceeds from this gamble?
Coaching is not for the faint of heart.