There's the good, the bad and the ugly about the Arkansas offense in the first game of the Chad Morris era.
The Good: The Hogs rolled to a 55-20 victory that was never in doubt. Don't ever gripe about an easy victory, even if it's over an FCS team like Eastern Illinois.
Yes, I still remember losing to The Citadel in 1992, the first game of the Hawgs Illustrated era. Jack Crowe returned to the scene of the crime last week for his speech at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club.
There was a huge positive in the turnover margin, 5 to 0. That will win lots of games.
The passing game was slick, especially when Ty Storey was in at quarterback for the middle two quarters. He helped the Hogs total 353 passing yards. Not one throw by Storey or starter Cole Kelley was thrown into coverage.
The bad was watching two of the best players on the sideline. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw made 10 tackles in one quarter before exiting with an ankle sprain. Defensive end Randy Ramsey didn't dress for the game. He's missed most of August camp with a hamstring issue.
Morris addressed both injuries Monday at his weekly media briefing. He called their availability “day-to-day,” meaning they could play this week when the Hogs face Colorado State for a 6:30 p.m., Central on Saturday in Fort Collins, Colo.
Now for the ugly: the running game. The central theme of the gnashing of teeth around Razorback Nation for the last two days is that if there is no rush against the Panthers, what will happen against the strong SEC West.
Arkansas made just 80 yards rushing on 37 tries against EIU. And, there's no good way to slice it. There weren't a lot of lost yardage plays that reduced the total. Yes, there was only one sack, when third teamer Daulton Hyatt went down on 4-yard loss in the fourth quarter.
It's just that there were zero big plays. None. The longest runs were a pair of 10-yard plays by T. J. Hammonds and Storey.
The average running play was 2.2 yards. Heck, EIU did better, averaging 3.1. In fact, both Morris and John Chavis, the new defensive coordinator, bemoaned the alignment errors in the front that provided some creases for the Panthers to scoot through.
That brings up the obvious question: Did the Panthers not make a single alignment error the Hogs could expose? Surely, the line blocking wasn't that bad.
Apparently, therein lies the answer. Yes, there were some creases, but backs missed them. Yes, there were some checks to take advantage of EIU mistakes, but quarterbacks didn't get to them.
And, of course, there was the plain ugly truth, the Hogs didn't block well, either. I think everyone figured that one out, but it's fair to say the other parts of the offense didn't do anything to help the offensive line.
“There were times we had them hatted up,” Morris said, “but we didn't get anything because our backs ran into one of our linemen.
“And, there were times we had a double team block and didn't get a push.”
Then, here is the most hurtful thing I heard from the head coach about anything to do with the first Arkansas game.
“We were too high, too soft,” Morris said.
Wow. That's not what you want to be said about your offensive line, tight ends or any part of your football team.
But that's calling it like it was Saturday against EIU. Morris said they'll go to work this week to get it fixed.
“When we did have a crease, we were ineffective,” Morris said. “We had a big play blocked outside where our tight end had his man hatted up, but the running back hit the wrong spot.”
It was mostly poor execution on first down. That put the Hogs behind the stakes a little and effected play calling.
“We had a lot of second and longs,” Morris said.
The passing game met its goals in many areas, but not the run game.
“We call a big play in the running game when we were over 15 yards,” Morris said. “We had zero. We'd like to have four.”
So they were short against probably one of the weakest teams on the schedule. How can it improve?
“We will go to work on some specific areas,” Morris said. “We'll work on pad level. We'll get work on our double teams, try to get more push.”
And, there might be some personnel moves. There aren't a lot of possible changes because offensive line is the thin area on the team. Another player was removed from the picture Monday when Morris revealed that junior tackle/guard Jalen Merrick will take a medical redshirt. He missed camp with headaches.
There was good news on the injury front. Morris said left tackle Colton Jackson, a starter at least some in each of the last two seasons, might be ready next week against North Texas. He underwent back surgery in the middle of July. He's ahead of schedule. The outlook for his return had been after seven games.
Dalton Wagner might be available, too. He was slated to be Jackson's backup starting camp, but he went out after the first two days with an appendectomy. He's practiced the last two weeks.
Redshirt freshman Shane Clenin started at left tackle against EIU. Kirby Adcock, another redshirt freshman, was first in at left guard, but was replaced at halftime by Ty Clary. Clary opened last season as the starter at right guard, but was replaced by the Texas A&M game by Johnny Gibson.
Hjalte Froholdt started and apparently played well at center. He had two shotgun snaps roll to the quarterback, but might be more than adequate at that spot. Dylan Hays, his backup and the projected starter, did not dress out for the first game. He's missed time with a back strain.
Morris said Clary is likely to play more at left guard. The coach also said Austin Capps, converted from defensive tackle in August camp, is rounding into form as an offensive lineman. He's more versed in the playbook.
“We want to continue to bring Ty along and we'd like to see Capps get in,” Morris said. “We are going to press to get those two in.”
Morris does believe the running game will improve. The running game had produced in scrimmages both in the spring and in August camp. Seeing new fronts and changing schemes produced some rough edges in the efficiency.
“When you get in a game, you find things out,” Morris said, noting the tape produced lots of good teaching moments to fix some mistakes.
Just a quick glance of the stat sheet was ugly for the college math major. He didn't like the look of the numbers. Eastern Illinois ran 81 plays, the Hogs just 66.
Morris would like those numbers to be flipped, although there was a bit of an explanation. Arkansas got a defensive touchdown and also scored on offensive possessions of three, four, one and two plays in building a 38-6 lead. They also had a penalty for playing two No. 1s on a punt.
“Our tempo was just OK,” Morris said. “We really wanted to push (tempo) more than we did. But when I watched the film, it wasn't as bad as I thought.
“I just didn't like the first half with only 37 plays. Three times we were three and out, but there were some other times that we scored so quick and had the defensive score. We just don't want our defense out there for 46 plays (in the first half).”
None of that addresses the first question out of everyone's mouth late Saturday: Who is the quarterback now?
Kelley started and gave way to Storey on the fourth series, per the plan. Storey's outstanding play in the second quarter earned him the start after halftime. And, his overall play will get him first shot in practice this week.
But don't expect Morris to announce a starter before the Hogs leave for Fort Collins. He said they will grade practice work as both get time with the ones this week. And, expect both to play this week. In fact, I'd speculate that until someone slumps badly, expect both to play every week.
I wouldn't worry so much about quarterback play. From what I saw, either one of them can be effective with what Morris wants in this spread scheme – if the entire offense comes together in the running game.