Looking for some reason
Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel is one of the best college football writers out there. His articles and columns are usually insightful and nuanced. But it appears Mandel suffered from a mild bout of schizophrenia on Monday. In a blog post, he criticizes Arkansas’ offense for being woefully imbalanced.
Which it is is.
Then he goes ahead and slots the Razorbacks No. 21 in his power rankings. Arkansas (1-2) is the only school in Mandel’s Top 25 that has a below-.500 record. That rating would make sense if Mandel really believed the Razorbacks were dealt some unlucky breaks in their two defeats. But that’s not the case. Instead, Mandel thinks Arkansas’ offense is fundamentally flawed — so much so that the Razorbacks could never seriously be considered a contender because of it. Here is his assessment of Arkansas’ one-dimensional attack:
As has been the case for three years now, Arkansas lacks any semblance of a passing game, and it showed. Ultimately, the best teams will strike a balance between the run and the pass, and it must be music to Davie’s ears that the nation’s consensus top-five teams (USC, LSU, Oklahoma, Florida and West Virginia) all rank among the top 11 in the country in rushing offense. Of those five, however, only the Trojans run his preferred two-back offense the majority of the game.
If Mandel thinks Arkansas’ offense is bad, what does he think of its defense? The Razorbacks are allowing 36.3 points per game, and the secondary has been shredded by Troy, Alabama and Kentucky. Right now, the Razorbacks are more likely to produce points than keep their opponents from scoring. That’s why it’s hard to reconcile Mandel’s blog post and his power rankings. Capisce.
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