This was supposed to be the dream season for Razorback football when all the offensive pieces came together at once.
It was going to be the team with so many weapons, offensive mastermind Bobby Petrino wasn't going to know what to do with himself.
It could have been the year when Knile Davis built upon a scary wrecking ball performance from 2010, running all the way to Broadway in 2011, for a red carpet appearance with Johnny Heisman in December.
And then, last night, in slow and terrifying fashion, the news about Davis started trickling across Razorback nation, one bleeding red fan by one, until, to paraphrase Keyser Soze, it became undeniably clear that "just like that---poof---he was gone."
It would be easy for Razorback fans to play the "woe is me" card, and nobody would fault them for doing that. But that's not what hurts the most right now. What hurts the most is knowing that nobody is more heartbroken for Knile Davis than Knile himself. He was heavily invested in this season, and had clearly emerged as the emotional leader of this offense in the spring, staying that way, from all accounts, throughout the summer. Coming off a campaign in which he led the SEC in rushing with 1322 yards, the workhorse junior from Texas was expected to tote another hefty load, setting the pace for an inexperienced, though talented, quarterback in Tyler Wilson.
Considering he'd averaged an incredible 6.2 yards per carry last year, and at 6'1, 240 pounds is built like a bona fide freight train, there'd have been little reason to doubt him.
Until last night's disastrous turn of events at evening practice.
Just seven plays into a full scrimmage, in what was only the eighth day of fall practice, after carrying the football a mere three yards into a "typical player pile-up", according to one assistant coach, Davis went down and didn't get up.
The immediate aftermath was chilling, with Knile's clearly audible screams the first indicator that something horrible had happened.
The word is Knile suffered a fracture of the lower left tibia, which in layman's terms means he has a broken left leg, and for all intents and purposes, will not play football at all this year.
It was a shot to the gut, for the staff, for the fans, for the team itself. But none more so than for Davis. His lengthy history of broken bones---a right ankle in high school and again as a freshman at Arkansas, a collarbone as a sophomore, now a left ankle---grows even longer.
"I am extremely disappointed for Knile," head coach Bobby Petrino said. "He is a captain who was incredibly focused for the upcoming year. His leadership throughout the offseason was significant in the development of this team. Our athletic trainers and medical staff are the best in the country, and Knile's mental toughness will be an asset to him during the recovery process. I am fully confident in the mindset of our running back group and their ability to perform."
It was highly appropriate that Petrino, now in his 4th year with the Hogs, closed his brief statement with an encouraging glance at Ronnie Wingo, Dennis Johnson and Kody Walker. The talented lightning flashes were set as the alternates to Davis' tempo-setting thunder.
Now they are the main event.
From a touches standpoint, Wingo is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of Knile's absence. The shifty tailback is visibly bigger and broader than a year ago, and will need to be, running through the behemoth lineman filling the trenches of the SEC. He's got the swagger and confidence to have a great season, but there's no way he can withstand the wear and tear of being an every down back all the way through.
Fortunately, he won't have to be, as junior Dennis Johnson returns from his own injury early last season. DJ is a great kickoff returner, but now will get a likely ten plus carries per game too. Surely he's excited about the chance to be even more involved on offense.
Freshman Kody Walker is inexperienced, but looks confident so far in practice. He's got a dart to his step, and Petrino will have no qualms about giving him a shot early now.
The young tackles will have to find their groove in a hurry, to buy time for the offense to make plays down the field.
Obviously the spotlight now shines even brighter on junior quarterback Tyler Wilson, as if there was ever any evading it in the first place. Tyler will have to be sharper earlier with less of a sure thing behind him. He must find his quartet of gamebreaking wideouts---Greg Childs, Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Cobi Hamilton---whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Another positive spin on a bad situation is the fact the injury happened during fall practice, and not during the course of the season when there is little time to get new personnel into the mix. Make no mistake, Petrino and his staff will use every inch of August to adjust the playbook as much as they can. They will have to get even more creative offensively, and Petrino will probably secretly relish the challenge, as much as one can after watching his stud tailback suffer a devastating injury.
Even with the loss of Davis, the 2011 University of Arkansas football team remains deep and highly talented. It will be harder to close out games without a go-to clock grinder, but I still believe they have a realistic shot of getting to a BCS game for the second straight year.
But the margin for error just got a whole lot smaller. And there's definitely no time to be wasted sitting around bemoaning a dream that could have been. The reality of this season can still be sweet.
You have to believe Petrino will find ways to persevere, and so will the rest of these Razorbacks.
They must take a tragic turn and find a way to make it make them stronger.
That's the nature of life in the SEC. There's no other choice.
-JAB
Friday, August 12, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
US Women Fall Short in Cup Final, America Shrugs
Every four years, America shines a light on a sport that we as a nation don't really care about all that much. They call it football, we call it soccer. It makes little difference: the lack of offensive fireworks has long kept the beautiful game from being anywhere near all that popular in the United States.
Strangely it's a fringe sport that most of us played at some point growing up. In fact, we tend to see it as a good one for getting the kids some exercise while enjoying the outdoors autumn weather. But being competitive on the international level is something the men's team has yet to approach, despite competing for over 60 years. Sure, people get up for it every four years, but it's only for a few weeks, and by the time the last eight teams are left standing, we're already talking about baseball again (not that we ever really stopped).
Instead, it's been the American women who have fared better in Cup play, though the female version of the event has only been held since 1991 (USA having won 2 of the 6 titles). The hype for the Women's World Cup is just about on par with that of the Men's, which is to say, most sports followers in a country filled with them at least keep an eye on it. And a lot of that has to do with the championship run by the Mia Hamm led '99 team, which culminated with America blasting China in penalty kicks and Brandi Chastain ripping her shirt off to cap an exciting female title run on a big media stage for the first time.
The afterglow wasn't so sweet. Soccer has remained in the margins for this country, despite the persistence of incredibly lame Major League Soccer. (Seriously, do you know anyone who has ever gone to a game? Me neither.) And the last two Cup runs by American women weren't so sweet. USA failed to make the final in either, finishing 3rd both times. But this Cup in Germany was supposed to be different. With a new generation of soccer stars leading the way, Hope Solo, Abby Wombach and Megan Rapinoe were supposed to end the drought. And then a funny thing happened: they didn't win.
After a wobbly 2-1 mark out of group play that was marred by a throttling at the hands of Sweden, the US gutted its way through an exciting penalty kick win against Brazil in the quarterfinals. France was too slow to stop the American girls from rolling through the semifinal round, but Japan stood its ground in the Final, dodging US attacks early and often.
Opportunities certainly abounded for the US side in the first half, but a couple of clanked posts and a hard crossbar still equaled no goals at the break. The second half saw 22 year-old star Alex Morgan give the Americans a late regulation lead off a strong finish of a long ball by Rapinoe. But just minutes later, the US defense squandered the advantage on a bad defensive sequence in front of its own goal. In extra time, Morgan hit Abby Wombach for a header goal that looked like it would clinch the game, only to see Japan's Hamare Sawa hit a on a sensational one-timer rocket off a corner kick to tie it up at 2-2 and force a shootout for the crown.
That's when it all got a little hazy for USA coach Pia Sundhage and the Americans. Instead of using her better shooters early on in the kickoff, Sundhage saved them till late. Japan struck early and often, and goalkeeper Ayumi Kaori was lockdown on her saves when it mattered most, while Solo faltered. Cruelly, American scorer Alex Morgan never even got a chance to shoot by the time Japan had clinched the penalties, and the Cup, 3-1.
A great win for the Japanese undoubtedly, particularly when you consider their country was truly devastated by a major earthquake and subsequent nuclear power disaster just a few months ago. Sometimes sports can help the healing process, if only emotionally, and this victory will surely do some of that for Japan.
On the flip, simply a disheartening loss for the Americans, who believed so deeply and were so close to their ultimate goal, only to see it all slip away at the very end. And now women's soccer will disappear from public view for the next four years, because that's just the way it goes around here.
Canada 2015 anyone?
-JAB
Strangely it's a fringe sport that most of us played at some point growing up. In fact, we tend to see it as a good one for getting the kids some exercise while enjoying the outdoors autumn weather. But being competitive on the international level is something the men's team has yet to approach, despite competing for over 60 years. Sure, people get up for it every four years, but it's only for a few weeks, and by the time the last eight teams are left standing, we're already talking about baseball again (not that we ever really stopped).
Instead, it's been the American women who have fared better in Cup play, though the female version of the event has only been held since 1991 (USA having won 2 of the 6 titles). The hype for the Women's World Cup is just about on par with that of the Men's, which is to say, most sports followers in a country filled with them at least keep an eye on it. And a lot of that has to do with the championship run by the Mia Hamm led '99 team, which culminated with America blasting China in penalty kicks and Brandi Chastain ripping her shirt off to cap an exciting female title run on a big media stage for the first time.
The afterglow wasn't so sweet. Soccer has remained in the margins for this country, despite the persistence of incredibly lame Major League Soccer. (Seriously, do you know anyone who has ever gone to a game? Me neither.) And the last two Cup runs by American women weren't so sweet. USA failed to make the final in either, finishing 3rd both times. But this Cup in Germany was supposed to be different. With a new generation of soccer stars leading the way, Hope Solo, Abby Wombach and Megan Rapinoe were supposed to end the drought. And then a funny thing happened: they didn't win.
After a wobbly 2-1 mark out of group play that was marred by a throttling at the hands of Sweden, the US gutted its way through an exciting penalty kick win against Brazil in the quarterfinals. France was too slow to stop the American girls from rolling through the semifinal round, but Japan stood its ground in the Final, dodging US attacks early and often.
Opportunities certainly abounded for the US side in the first half, but a couple of clanked posts and a hard crossbar still equaled no goals at the break. The second half saw 22 year-old star Alex Morgan give the Americans a late regulation lead off a strong finish of a long ball by Rapinoe. But just minutes later, the US defense squandered the advantage on a bad defensive sequence in front of its own goal. In extra time, Morgan hit Abby Wombach for a header goal that looked like it would clinch the game, only to see Japan's Hamare Sawa hit a on a sensational one-timer rocket off a corner kick to tie it up at 2-2 and force a shootout for the crown.
That's when it all got a little hazy for USA coach Pia Sundhage and the Americans. Instead of using her better shooters early on in the kickoff, Sundhage saved them till late. Japan struck early and often, and goalkeeper Ayumi Kaori was lockdown on her saves when it mattered most, while Solo faltered. Cruelly, American scorer Alex Morgan never even got a chance to shoot by the time Japan had clinched the penalties, and the Cup, 3-1.
A great win for the Japanese undoubtedly, particularly when you consider their country was truly devastated by a major earthquake and subsequent nuclear power disaster just a few months ago. Sometimes sports can help the healing process, if only emotionally, and this victory will surely do some of that for Japan.
On the flip, simply a disheartening loss for the Americans, who believed so deeply and were so close to their ultimate goal, only to see it all slip away at the very end. And now women's soccer will disappear from public view for the next four years, because that's just the way it goes around here.
Canada 2015 anyone?
-JAB
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