Hog Calls

Avert eyes from 'Dogs, Hogs last week

Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen, left, and Arkansas football coach Bret Bielema confer prior to their teams meeting in an NCAA college football game in Starkville, Miss., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

FAYETTEVILLE -- In the film exchange of their games last week, Bret Bielema and Dan Mullen might have been tempted to burn the video and tell their teams it got lost in transit.

Bielema's Arkansas Razorbacks and Mullen's Mississippi State Bulldogs play tonight at 6 on ESPNU in Starkville, Miss.

Either team could swell with undue overconfidence by watching tape of its opponent's game last Saturday.

On its Senior Night at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Arkansas was manhandled 38-10 by LSU. The Bulldogs fared even worse. Alabama annihilated them 51-3 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Coaches always show the opposition film to their teams while looking for tendencies and the such. But it wouldn't be a surprise if both staffs fast forward through last week's debacles.

They are more likely to turn to Nov. 5 games.

Arkansas flogged Florida 31-10 in Fayetteville. The Bulldogs bit Texas A&M 35-28 in Starkville while A&M was ranked No. 4 by the College Football Playoff committee.

"For us, it's a little bit of give and take," Bielema said. "We have played these guys three years in a row, and you look back to film the previous two seasons."

And you always look for certain things regardless of score, Bielema said.

"Offensively because of the style of offense we play we really steal from any game that gives us comparable looks of how they might possibly play," Bielema said. "Special teams you always take a look at every rep, win or lose really, in the current year."

Still, there seems a law of diminishing returns while scrutinizing an opponent at its worst.

"When the score gets a little lopsided, we have always used the reference point," Bielema said. "If it's a 30-point game or more, you have to be careful with what statistical information you carry forward."

Of course, there is a national understanding when No. 1 Alabama is inflicting the lopsided loss.

"Alabama has made a lot of people look not so good," Bielema said. "That's their bag."

Comparatively, the Tide only rolled Arkansas 49-30 and got burned for 400 yards passing by quarterback Austin Allen.

Comparing three other SEC scores, though, Arkansas gets the worst of it. LSU eked by the Bulldogs 23-20 on Sept. 17 in Baton Rouge. Texas A&M beat Arkansas 45-24 on Sept. 24 at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Auburn beat Mississippi State 38-14 on Oct. 8 in Starkville but drubbed Arkansas much worse, 56-3, on Oct. 22 at Auburn, Ala.

Perhaps Florida read too much into the film of Auburn annihilating Arkansas. Arkansas gashed the Gators the game after its loss to Auburn.

Thirteen SEC coaches can tell you that other than Alabama's rolling Tide, no SEC staff can watch an SEC opponent's game film and feel cocksure confident their own team will win the game.

Sports on 11/19/2016