Arkansas football is like that famous quote from The Godfather Part III: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
Arkansas fans seem to be “back in” after a thrilling 39-36 overtime win over Florida. That gets Arkansas back to 3-6. Even if they don’t make a bowl, this team has something to hang their hat on: they delivered the program’s first-ever win in the Swamp.
The story of the game was interim OC Kenny Guiton, who got the game ball. Arkansas’ offense looked nothing like what we’ve seen this year. The Hogs used more tempo and more spread formations. They rolled the pocket. Their plays were quicker-developing. They threw downfield more. They seemed to have simplified everything for KJ Jefferson, allowing him to take over the game late. It was truly a reversal back to what we saw for three years with Kendal Briles. It’s what works, at least for this roster, if not for this program in this era of college football.
Swamp shenanigans
The win came with all the usual Swamp shenanigans, of course. There was the “forward progress” fumble on a Florida field goal drive where the receiver pretty clearly seemed to still be moving forward when the ball was punched out by the Hogs.
And then were was the “illegal substitution” penalty that saved Florida on the final field goal. For those that missed it or didn’t understand it: Florida got a first down at the Arkansas 21 with 8 seconds left and no timeouts. They needed to spike the ball, but the field goal unit inexplicably ran on before the spike, and then immediately realized the issue and ran off. But technically, that’s still a substitution, so the referee should have stood over the ball while Arkansas was given a chance to substitute. The NCAA rulebook is vague about allowances for defensive substitutions – the officials simply have to allow a “reasonable” amount of time for the defense to substitute – but in all likelihood, a “reasonable” amount of time would have used just about all of the remaining 8 seconds. What should have happened is that the clock should have run out before Florida could spike it (or during the spike, which by rule has to take at least one second), then Florida could be flagged for an illegal substitution, which Arkansas would decline, and we’d go to overtime. Instead, Arkansas was not allowed to substitute, and Florida was hit with a 5-yard penalty but also a stopped clock for their field goal. (I would note that the official said in the penalty that the game clock would start again “on my signal” but then it didn’t start until the ball was snapped, even though Florida ran several seconds off the play clock. I don’t know if the official never gave the signal, or the clock not starting was a mistake.)
The catch here is that last year’s TCU-Baylor game – where TCU ran its field goal unit out during a running clock and kicked without a spike – taught us that the “reasonable” amount of time the NCAA rulebook allows can become much less in the final seconds of a one-score game. So it may turn out that the officials were correct in getting off the ball and letting Florida spike it so quickly after trying to substitute. But if that’s the case, I think the rule needs to be changed, because teams could theoretically intentionally take that penalty when they don’t have a timeout, which seems gamey.
Of course, much like the Matt Landers fumble and Quincey McAdoo targeting in last year’s Liberty Bowl, it thankfully didn’t matter, because the Florida field goal sailed wide right and we went to overtime anyway.
Kenny Guiton for permanent OC?
Kenny Guiton’s first play call as an offensive coordinator was a 25-yard completion. His first drive was a 7-play, 75-yard touchdown march. After that, the Hogs’ offense bogged down for quite a bit before roaring to life again in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Razorbacks finished with a season-high 481 yards and scored more than 31 points for the first time against an FBS opponent this season. Not bad for a first-time playcaller!
So should Guiton have the interim tag taken off? He certainly made a case for it through one game. There’s a lot to recommend to him:
- First, when he was hired, the main draw of him is that he’s known as a very good recruiter. So all the scheming and playcalling stuff has not really been part of the draw, making it icing on the cake if he’s actually good at it. He really could be a complete package.
- Second, continuity is good. He’s already on staff and has relationships with current players, coaches, and recruits.
- Third, if you want to keep him on staff, he probably has to get the job. He’s already well-liked in the coaching industry, so showing that he can immediately upgrade the product on the field means that he’ll get plenty of offers to be an offensive coordinator this offseason if Arkansas doesn’t attempt to retain him. Basically, he’s not going back to being the wide receivers coach.
- Fourth, most other good candidates that Arkansas should be considering will probably run an offense similar to what Guiton is already running. We’ll look at it in tomorrow’s Box Score Breakdown, but the Hogs reverted back to the Kendal Briles offense even more harshly than I thought they would. You could hire another veer-and-shoot guy (like Colorado OC Sean Lewis, who was inexplicably demoted by Deion Sanders for Saturday’s game), but you already have a guy who seems comfortable running it.
So the case for just keeping Guiton is pretty strong. But the case against promoting right at this moment is even stronger:
- First, Florida didn’t really know what Arkansas was going to do. If they had done their homework, they should have had an idea, but they couldn’t have known exactly what plays Guiton would call.
- Second, Florida might not be very good, and they are dealing with significant injures right now. We noted in the preview that the Gators are a pretty poor defensive team overall, but the overall numbers may not capture it well. Florida’s defense looked really strong early in the year, but ever since a 33-14 thumping against Kentucky, they’ve been pitiful. They gave up 39 to South Carolina and 43 to Georgia in the two games before facing the Hogs. Yes, the Hogs getting 39 is much, much better than what the Dan Enos offense would have done, but Enos isn’t the standard for future OC hires.
- Third, the Hogs got Rocket Sanders back, which certainly helped. Sure, Enos couldn’t do much with him for a few games he had him, but again, Enos isn’t the standard. Rocket is a really good running back. Against the Gators, he recorded 81 of his 103 yards after contact, had four explosive runs (10+), and had five runs where he was initially hit in the backfield but gained positive yards, including the next-to-last play of overtime. The Hogs have missed him dearly.
There is still a scenario where Auburn and Mizzou – both better defenses than Florida – now have film and can come up with a plan to stop the Hogs. If Arkansas’ offense struggles mightily in those two games, then you probably aren’t promoting Guiton before at least looking hard at other candidates. But still, what a fantastic first game.
Other scores of note
Alabama 42, LSU 28. Is there anything scarier than Zombie Alabama? We left the Tide for dead after a disastrous offensive start to the season, but Jalen Milroe has come a long way. Alabama has locked up the SEC West and can absolutely beat Georgia to win the SEC. There is a scenario in which 12-1 SEC champ Alabama and 12-1 Georgia are both left out of the playoff in favor of 13-0 Ohio State, 13-0 Florida State, 12-1 Texas, and 12-1 Oregon. I don’t think the committee would do that – I suspect Oregon would not make it in that case – but I don’t know that for sure.
Ole Miss 38, Texas A&M 35. The Aggies can do no better than 8-4 this year, which is not good news for Jimbo Fisher. But I don’t think the Aggies will (or can, really) fire him. But at some point, the recruiting momentum has to let up.
Georgia 30, Mizzou 21. This was a good game, and Mizzou is a really good team. Their receivers are extremely talented. The Hogs getting to 5-6 and then coming into that game and getting blown out is both extremely possible and extremely depressing to think about. Meanwhile, Georgia is your SEC East champ. They’re beatable, but only by a few teams.
Auburn 31, Vanderbilt 15. The main notable about this game is that Auburn gave all quarterback snaps to Payton Thorne, so I think the Wildcat-type Robby Ashford package is out. Thorne has improved over the season, but he’s still not very good. Auburn is hanging its hat on star RB Jarquez Hunter (who is really, really good) and a pretty solid defense.
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