Ag Football Recap: Ags Smash SMU, 42-13 and Fry the Hogs, 45-33

SMU

The only good that came from my "Beat Bama" Beard dying was the "Smash SMU" Stache I salvaged out of it.

It was strong.

SMU was not.

Johnny finished with 244 yards and a TD passing and 102 yards and two TDs on the ground playing only our first possession in the second half before giving way to Matt Joeckel and later Kenny Hill, who did not look nearly as good as he did in his debut against Sam.

Malcome Kennedy had a nice performance with 83 yards and a TD on 6 receptions.

Toney Hurd forced a fumble that Deshazor Everett recovered and ran back for a TD.

We did have some problems in the kicking game after missing three consecutive PATs and we got to see kicker, Josh Lambo, for the first time as a result.

I did think that SMU's WR #81 was pretty good....we nicknamed him Longstride.

Darian Claiborne made his first career start at LBer, the second true freshman in as many weeks to do so.  I love Claiborne - he's probably my favorite recruit out of this past year's class.

In other news, RSJ had surgery on his knee and will apply for a medical redshirt.

Surprisingly, this game was one of the first times I've actually sat with both my dad and brother at a home game, so that was a nice little plus.

We also met one of my favorite players from my time as a student, Ja'Mar Toombs, down on the field after the game. TOOOOOOOOOOMBS!

Arkansas

At half it looked like Johnny was going to threaten his own single game yardage record (yet again) - he was at 260 yards  and two TDs when the second quarter came to an end.

And then the rain came and completely changed the game.  At one point in the second half, we ran on 24 of 27 snaps.

Trey Williams had a great game (83 yards on 9 carries) and Tra Carson is a load (64 yards and 2 TDs on 9 carries) and Ben Malena is just pain old reliable (40 yards and 2 TDs on 12 carries).

Mike Evans didn't play for 90% of the second half and still had 116 yards and two TDs
 
The defense is just pain old bad.  I understand why, we're incredibly young, but that doesn't lessen the fact that we're bad.  How many forced punts on the season?  Very, very few.

To make matters worse, Kirby Ennis got hurt in the first half and tried to play in the second half but couldn't and Darian Claiborne hurt his right thigh and had to come out.  The bye week before Ole Miss is coming at the right time.

One of the bright spots on defense has been Deshazor Everett, who has been forced to play safety as a result of Floyd Raven's injury and some regression from others.  He had another TD this week in the way of a pick-6.

We weren't at our house when the game started but I had the DVR going.  I had promised Benjamin that he could stay up late and watch the game with me, but at the time I didn't realize that we wouldn't be sitting down to start watching it until 8pm.  To his credit, the little guy made it all the way through....his eyes fluttered closed off just as Johnny took the knee to end the game.  It was the first game full game that he's watched.

Next up.....Ole Miss!