State of the Hogs: Toby Baker Did Make Trip to Starkville

Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen celebrates after the Razorbacks victory over Mississippi State in Starkville, MS.

— Toby Baker did punt some Saturday night. The Arkansas senior warmed up before the game and again at halftime.

There were also some times Baker hit some practice punts on the sideline just in case the Hogs ever stalled on offense. They never did, rolling over Mississippi State, 58-42, to quiet the cow bells in Davis Wade Stadium.

Ultimately, Baker was about like the Maytag repair man, never needed and just like some of the redshirts along for the ride to Starkville.

“We gave him some razzing after the game,” said Dan Skipper, the senior left tackle.

“Obviously, when you don't need your punter, you've had a good game. I've never been a part of a game when that's happened in my life. That was fun.”

Running back Rawleigh Williams was well aware that Baker did not set foot on the playing field during the game.

“Actually, we knew it at halftime and so we made that our goal in the second half, not to use Toby,” Williams said. “We didn't want to have to punt and we did it.”

It wasn't like State's Kody Schexnayder punted often, but it was the key to a 24-0 Arkansas spurt that proved to be the difference. The Hogs made Schexnayder punt four times, all in the first half when they spurted away to a 38-14 halftime lead.

The Hogs scored on all but one possession, their second of the game when Adam McFain missed a 40-yard field goal. They were seven of 11 on third down conversions, two of two on fourth downs and scored touchdowns on all but one other possession.

The Arkansas offense found big yardage on sweeps to the boundary, counter pitches, screens and just vanilla power plays into the middle. They were particularly effective on the outside behind Skipper, with center Frank Ragnow pulling to clean up the outside trash.

And, that's what they made the State defense look like to the tune of 661 yards. There were 357 on the ground and 304 passing.

“It's pretty sweet to go over 300 yards on the ground for us on the offensive line,” Skipper said. “We really had everything working. Those outside plays with Frank pulling, they never really had an answer for it so we never quit running them.”

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema couldn't really point to any specific calls from offensive coordinator Dan Enos. He said the game plan as prepared by Enos and line coach Kurt Anderson was perfect.

“Obviously, our line played really well,” Bielema said. “You are frustrated not to stop (Mississippi State) a little more. But that's what the game has evolved into with the rules.”

Bielema said the preparation was outstanding. There was special mention of a pep talk Sunday night from Ben Herbert, the strength and conditioning coach.

“The speech that Ben gave Sunday was unbelievable,” he said. “He said things were building up and he wanted to talk.”

Skipper said it's common for Herbert to give motivational talks in the weight room workouts throughout the year, but it was not usual for him to take the floor in front of the entire team on a Sunday night.

“I don't know that he's ever talked to the whole team,” Skipper said. “He spoke from the heart. It meant a lot to us.

“It was about what we are capable of doing as players. He told us what he thought about us and that our finest effort was good enough.”

Running back Rawleigh Williams called it “the best speech I've ever heard. It was about just doing what we are capable of, no more. But, he said there have been times we haven't been doing all we are capable of doing. What you saw tonight, we showed all we are capable of doing.”

It didn't take long for the Hogs to show what they were capable of doing. Williams took the first second hand off on a sweep to the left. He dashed 72 yards for a touchdown. Williams romped for a 42-yard touchdown to make it 14-7. He added touchdown runs of 7 and 33 yards in the second quarter.

The Hogs had rushed for just 81 yards on 24 tries the week before in a 38-10 loss to LSU. The running backs didn't make the best cuts in that performance. They were special against the Bulldogs with Williams making 205 and Devwah Whaley adding 112.

“You don't know until you see the tape, but I bet when we do we are going to see them both hit every crease and every little opening there was to find,” Skipper said. “I know we blocked it for them, some but I think they got everything we gave them.”

Williams said the holes were massive.

“For much of the game, the (holes) were so big you couldn't miss them,” Williams said. “All we had to do was run. Our line was great and so were the wide receivers. That first run, I know that Keon Hatcher got the defensive back. I saw that and he told me about it, too.”

State's defense was set to stop the run. There were eight in the box most of the night, sometimes nine. So when the Hogs used their play-action and bootleg passing games, there were big chunks there, too. Quarterback Austin Allen was terrific. He took some hits to deliver strikes all night.

Bielema said there was a pep talk earlier in the week after he read comments about not doing enough in the LSU game. Basically, Bielema thought Allen was putting too much blame on his shoulders.

“I told him last spring that the head coach and the quarterback are under way too much pressure,” Bielema said, noting he's the only one who gets paid. “I thought he took too much on himself after last week.”

Allen responded with a great week of practice.

“He was exceptional on Tuesday,” Bielema said. “He was really good on Wednesday. His numbers were exceptional. The first couple of times tonight, he threw strikes.”

Allen executed an offense that did not commit a single turnover, did not commit any penalties and did not give up one sack. The only team penalty was on the defense for holding in the secondary.

It was clear that the cow bells that are ever present in Starkville did not cause any problems.

“We wanted to take them out of the game,” Williams said. “We knew that if we were successful on offense, they would get quiet. They did.”

Bielema said the Hogs practiced with cow bell noise piped through the loud speakers at practice all week.

“We made it as loud as you can,” Bielema said. “We worked on our silent count. We prepared for this and we handled it great.”

When an offense averages 9.9 yards per play, it can deflate the home team crowd. There were times that MSU coach Dan Mullen was booed for sending his punter onto the field. The home fans knew what was happening when the Hogs had the ball.

Some left the stadium wondering if Arkansas even had a punter. The Hogs have a good one, but Toby Baker is well rested for the finale at Missouri next week.