Like It Is

Bielema finds out the truth hurts sometimes

Arkansas head coach Brett Bielema celebrates after an NCAA college football game against Tennessee Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 in Knoxville, Tenn. Arkansas won 24-20(AP Photo/Wade Payne)

So far this season Bret Bielema has been slapped on the wrist by some folks for speaking his mind, which generally has been the truth.

Earlier this season he spoke of Ohio State's easy schedule and some Ohio media took exception, even though the Arkansas head coach was spot on. The Buckeyes do have an easy schedule, although they are not playing like it.

Last summer he talked about the importance of playing a fullback and not throwing the ball 70 times when facing Arkansas, and while that blew up in his face against Texas Tech -- who knew Kliff Kingsbury saved those quotes from a talk at a Texas high school coaching convention in June -- his conventional style has brought him success.

Of course, with the Razorbacks playing Alabama this week a couple of quotes more than two years old are getting recycled.

In March 2013 Bielema said he didn't come to the SEC to play Alabama, he came to beat Alabama.

Any coach in the SEC who doesn't share that philosophy should be fired or reassigned to crossing guard duty.

Every coach in the SEC wants to beat Alabama, just like in the old days when everyone in the Big 12 wanted to beat Texas, and now they are. Charlie Strong needs more time to work his magic.

One way or the other, more times than not, it seems the SEC championship runs through Tuscaloosa to Atlanta. If you are in the Western Division, the only way to get there is by beating Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

Lastly, that comment about having a better record in the Big Ten than Saban had might have been worded better, but the facts are the facts and Bielema was telling the truth.

Saban was 34-24-1 at Michigan State. Bielema was 68-24 at Wisconsin.

Saban's greatest success has been in the SEC at LSU and Alabama.

The story is also being told that after Saban accepted the job at Alabama he asked then-Athletic Director Mal Moore if he thought he had hired the best football coach in the country. Moore said yes.

Saban said no, you have hired the best recruiter.

In the past five years, Alabama has had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country four times and was No. 2 the other. Saban has signed 20 five-star players during that time.

During that same span Arkansas has an average recruiting class rating of 27.8 with a low of No. 24 and a high of No. 29, and the sum total five-star players signed is zero. Alex Collins may play like a five-star recruit, but he was a four-star.

If you forget all the quotes and focus on the numbers, it is easy to see why Alabama is favored by more than 15 points Saturday.

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Ballots have been mailed to voters for the next class of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and it may be the most diverse list of worthy candidates in the history of the organization.

There are lots of mainstream athletes and coaches from numerous schools, but the list includes some intriguing names such as Paula Juels Jones, a former outstanding high school, college and professional tennis player. She is one of four people named Jones on the ballot.

On the senior list are a couple of intriguing names. One is from the world of car racing, Bill Davis, and the other, Mike Beard, played in two College World Series as a pitcher for Texas and pitched for the Atlanta Braves.

There are 45 names on the regular list, 36 on the senior list and 26 on the posthumous list.

No matter what, it will be another great and deserving class of inductees.

Sports on 10/08/2015