On a radio show Monday morning in Birmingham, Ala., Paul Finebaum described Arkansas Razorbacks football as a dumpster fire.
Google dumpster fire and you will find the informal definition: a chaotic or disastrously mishandled situation.
There was not a picture of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, but maybe there should have been with the Razorbacks coming off a 48-22 loss at a very mediocre South Carolina team and facing the nation's No. 1 team, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.
A little later in the morning, a very direct email was received with an invite to be on Finebaum's show Monday afternoon: He wanted to talk about the loss and the future of Bret Bielema.
On Monday, Bielema became the No. 1 coach in America -- on the website coacheshotseat.com. There is no website for athletic directors on the hot seat or the Razorbacks might have two Nos. 1.
It is difficult to imagine the UA, which is raising money for academics as well as athletics, shelling out the $15.4 million to buy out Bielema or allowing Jeff Long -- who gave Bielema the contract that included such a surreal amount of money for a coach with a losing record -- to hire the next football coach if the time comes.
Although there are seven games to be played this season -- and some of them may be winnable -- the fact is much of the fan base is unhappy and the numbers are growing. It doesn't sit well with the Razorback Nation that the Hogs would have to win every remaining conference game this season and all of them in 2018 for Bielema to be .500 in SEC play.
Which doesn't seem likely, especially facing Goliath this Saturday, and the Razorbacks will need more than seven smooth stones to knock out the giant.
They need a lot, starting with consistent play in the trenches, which has been the problem in all three losses.
It is what the Hogs got in 2015 when they won seven of their final nine games, two in overtime, and the losses were to Alabama (27-14) and Mississippi State (51-50).
Problem is all of those offensive linemen are gone, some to the NFL, and there's no Alex Collins or Hunter Henry, the catalysts for the 53-52 overtime victory over Ole Miss.
The Gamecocks were one of the worst teams in the SEC running the ball going into the game, but they got 159 yards on the Hogs. South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley was sacked once, and the Hogs had three tackles for a loss.
Bentley also passed for three touchdowns and the defense scored three touchdowns. It was obvious the Hogs were predictable on offense.
With Austin Allen at quarterback, the Razorbacks ran 19 plays on first down and 15 were runs.
When Cole Kelley took the reins in the fourth quarter, after Allen was mercifully removed, the Hogs were down 41-10. On 10 first-down snaps, he passed seven times.
Before a quarterback controversy starts brewing, the redshirt freshman was playing against South Carolina's twos and threes.
Certainly not all the blame goes on the offensive and defensive lines; in fact, there's plenty of blame to go around for a 2-3 start and 0-2 in SEC play.
Running the new 3-4 defense or the old 4-3 doesn't matter. The Hogs need more Frank Ragnows and McTelvin Agims, who bust their tails on every snap.
Basically, the Hogs are not on an SEC level right now. Don't know if they are a dumpster fire, but you can smell some smoke.
Sports on 10/10/2017