I’m out of practice because I haven’t been writing the post games this season, so pardon me if this comes up everywhere.

These games are always absolute crap. We’ve been doing this for about 16 years now and they are so stupid (a review of that later). And this one didn’t live up to that stupidity expectation.

But other than that, YOUR FIGHT IN TEXAS AGGIES found a way to win an ugly 21-17 game against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Let’s emphasize a few things.

Offence

It was frustrating to watch, wasn’t it! 134 yards rushing and 163 yards passing. Not exactly pretty. We are frustratingly predictable with runs on second downs. We’ll all have to go back and watch the film, but I’m not sure if this is a case of Klein being vanilla or if it’s a young QB not seeing things open up or a combination of both. There are only so many “easy button” plays an OC has, and I feel like Klein did a good job of calling a few of them, but man. This one wasn’t fun.

BUT AGAIN! Folks, let me tell you about the absolute STONES it takes for an OC to call a pass play in shotgun in the endzone with a struggling redshirt freshman QB. Just an absolute monster of a phone call (on a ride that ended in frustrating fashion). Neville finished 11/22 for 163 and 2 touchdowns, with 13 yards rushing. Not great, but he took care of the ball and made action when necessary.

Three more things to emphasize:

1. We had Noah Thomas’ breakout game. 6 catches for 109, including a long one for 58 on a nasty post route.
2. Leveon Moss is a real down back and when we needed him, the damn team was put on his back. The final part of this game was a collection of culture-building moments.
3. After the Moss drive, that little TE leak play we ran to Tra Watson is something I’m going to sleep on in a good way.

Defense

Classic Elko game where we give up 187 yards and 14 points in the first quarter alone and then 147 and 3 points the rest of the game. This is how he works and we’ve seen it dozens of times before.

We have some issues in the secondary: the loss of Tyreek Chappell continues to haunt us a bit (although kudos to Jaydon Hill for grabbing that fumble late). Secondary had some bright spots, with Will Lee getting several chances to do the seatbelt cell and Dalton Brooks making some damn hits (and not being thrown out due to targeting!).

Last thing. This defensive line did what they had to do today. They lived up to expectations and I say that with admiration because expectations are high considering how damn talented they are. My son Shemar Stewart who blows up the mesh point is responsible for 7 of our points. Incredible game. Albert Regis caused disruption everywhere. And everyone’s favorite Nic showed why he’s an All American. Great day for them.

Special teams

Tyler White could be the game’s MVP. 9 punts with an average of 43 yards per punt. Arkansas started on average at their own 18-yard line. In an offensive dogfighting game like today, things like that make all the difference. Huge game.

Jerry World

The first game at Jerry World was in 2009. I was at that game and we got our asses handed to us by Petrino 47-19. We then lost in 2010 with Jerrod’s bad shoulder 24-19. I’ll never get the image out of my head of Arkansas fans celebrating their second half from 2011. It feels really good to beat Petrino. Revenge is a dish best served cold and all that (despite him being our OC).

We’re 12-1 against them since then. Isn’t that insane? 12-1. And every time it feels like we’re going to lose, until the very last minute. I don’t know what it is about this game, but it’s just hell. But man, the feeling of winning it is something I will never take for granted because I feel like for 99% of the damn game I’m sure we’re going to lose (BUT WE DID NOT DO THAT TODAY MFERS)

General

We’re moving to October 4-1, which I think is solid enough. I don’t know what Mizzou will be like. I don’t know if Conner will come back. I don’t know what it will be like for us to face a top 10 team. I don’t know if I’ll make an issue of that now. We won this weekend. Celebrate it because it feels good.

BTHO mizzou