Things I am learning about Arkansas

[TulaneVandyRiceCoug]

It's a lovely Saturday in the TVRC household and as I watched Arkansas v Miss State, I noticed a few things in prep for next week's visitor. Final score Arkansas 17 and Miss State 40. Miss State jumped out to a 21-0 lead and controlled most of the game. Here is what I think matters to BYU next week, before seeing what happens with Notre Dame.

The Arkansas defense allowed 5-8 yard runs up the middle pretty consistently, which set up the Mike Leach pass happy offense. I think the BYU running game can and should get going next week. Part of this might be due to defending the pass, but overall I do feel a bit better about rushing against the Arkansas D. Miss St got 173 yards on the ground. I think we could get at least 120.

Arkansas had 10 penalties. And we know what that feels like. Their offense had several false starts. I think LES atmosphere will give them a few more false starts too. They are a little bit like Utah State with dirty play, but not nearly as bad.

Arkansas does have a deep pass threat, but it looked inconsistent. Our secondary *should* contain it. Arkansas passing I give maybe a C+. Their run game is the threat.

And one more thing. We all know that a balanced BYU offense where Jaren consistently reaches 250+ yards is great. Our run game has struggled a bit but it is coming along and I like what ARod does game after game. But imagine this alternate universe: what if Mike Leach had the BYU offense and had Jaren and our receivers in 5 wide out spreads and passed 50+ times each game? It would be INSANE. I think Miss State has good receivers, but ours are just better and we have more. Jaren would have 4000+ yards for the season and probably a few 1000+ yard receivers. I think we would have an even better version of that offense. Jaren has the arm and could do it quite well.