Welcome to college football. Virtually every team plays games with backup or injured quarterbacks.IvanBear said:Also 3 of those 4 games were with back up or injured QBs who are universally bad unless you listen to the loons on this board that think that Malik Hornsby was a power five level QB. That Arkansas offense was great when healthy last year. Arkansas was just rarely healthy last season. Lebby I'm not sold on, Kendal Briles clearly is a quality OC though.bear2be2 said:Anyone who runs this offense will have pretty total and scoring offense numbers because it leads to a bunch of empty numbers against overmatched defenses.Golden Helmet said:
Briles, 40, has been the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach the past three seasons at Arkansas, which experienced an offensive upheaval under Briles. The Hogs finished 15th nationally in total offense this past season while averaging 32.5 points per game and 30.9 points in 2021, which was the most at Arkansas since the 2015 season. The Hogs averaged just 21.4 points per game in 2019, the year before Briles arrived.
Arkansas was seventh nationally in rushing offense in 2022 (236.5 yards per game). The Hogs' 3,075 rushing yards were their most since the 2003 season. Briles also enhanced Arkansas' passing game and its balance on offense. The Hogs were one of three FBS teams in 2022 (Ole Miss and UCLA the others) to average more than 230 rushing yards and 230 passing yards per game.
But when you take a deeper look, you see that Arkansas scored 21 points in a loss to A&M, 17 in a loss to Mississippi State, 19 in a loss to Liberty and 10 in a loss to LSU. Running that offense, because of the strain it puts on your defense, you might as well chalk up a loss every time you score under 30, which (not coincidentally) the 7-6 Razorbacks did. Those are facts.
Kendal Briles and Jeff Lebby are good for three to five absolute stinkers a year. You're not winning a championship with that level of inconsistency, regardless of how pretty your offense in your wins.
Any team that can slow the running game against either of those coaches can befuddle them pretty quickly. Lebby's game plan against Texas this year was embarrassing.
