The return of Gus?
The Tulsa World is reporting that Arkansas has agreed to play Tulsa in football in 2008.
That means Razorbacks former offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn will return to Fayetteville for the first time since resigning from Arkansas in January. Here’s more from the report:
Tulsa will play at Arkansas during the 2008 football season, sources said on Friday afternoon. The game is scheduled for Nov. 1 in Fayetteville.
The Golden Hurricane has completed its nonconference schedule for the upcoming year. Tulsa opens at North Texas on Sept. 6 before playing home games against New Mexico (Sept. 20) and Central Arkansas (Sept. 27) in the renovated Chapman Stadium.
Arkansas will replace Texas Tech on the TU football schedule. Army was supposed to return a home-and-home game to Tulsa, but Army canceled its return trip and paid Tulsa a buy-out fee to cancel the contract. TU officials didn’t release the amount Army paid.
The TU-Arkansas game will reunite Gus Malzahn and the Razorbacks. Malzahn spent one season as the Hogs offensive coordinator before leaving to take the same position at TU in 2007. His Golden Hurricane offense led the nation in total offense.
the tulsa offense was very potent this year, set a lot of records against conference usa talent, both times they played ucf (central florida/conference usa’s best and by far most physically talented team) they got handled. they can score lots of points, but they couldn’t stop ucf’s physically pounding running game.
it should be an interesting game with a lot of hype leading up to it. i am sure tulsa will show up ready to play, with something to prove, mainly that they can compete against the sec, for one game at least. it will mostly be a recruiting trip for tulsa.
it will also give us an idea of what our team would have looked like offensively if HD would have turned him loose.
Nobody in Arkansas cares about Springdale and the “quitters” that came from there. Ten miles from Fayetteville and it might as well be on the other side of the world. Most “Razorback” fans could care less what happens to Mitch and Damian at USC. If there is any compensation they will sit on the bench and be “upscaled” by real “high school” talent. What a bunch of “cry babies” from S##@@$$%%D##@@%%$$. Poor babies.
Oh and as I have said before in this column. Thank you Ben Cleveland and family for showing what it meens to be a Razorback. Gus Malzahn, you are where you need to be “TU”. You suck, unless you are a “high school coach”.
coloradohogfan, You my friend are a Nutt Hugger… and represent less than 5% of the people in Arkansas. With all your hatred you have, keep yourself in Colorado, and Arkansas will move on with Petrino after 10 years of torment under the previous coach.
This game should be a good one, and it just shows what Malzahn could of done at Arkansas, as Tulsa led the NCAA in total offense.
Amazing that the young athletes are labeled quitters when they transfer. The Springdale athletes came to Arkansas expecting a certain type of offensive program which matched their experience and skills. When that did not materialize they transferred. This is the smart thing for them to do, especially as freshmen. Imagine being hired by a company with promises made as to your duties only to find out the job was something much different and your boss doesn’t care. A smart person will find another job that matches their skills and expectations.
And speaking of transfers, I’ve just read where Ryan Mallett chose Arkansas after leaving Michigan. Is he a quitter? No, he is not, I think he made a smart decision, leaving a program where the incoming coach uses a system that focuses on a different set of QB skills and transferring into an offensive system that utilizes his passing skills.
Tulsa had an outstanding offense with Gus in conference USA—which had one of the worse power ratings in the country as well as defenses rated toward the bottom of the pile. Where was Gus’s offense when they played Oklahoma? Why did they lose twice to Central Florida, who lost to Mississippi State in their bowl game? Hawaii also had a remarkable record and amazing offense, til they met with Georgia.
Mitch and Damion both had their opportunities to perform. Mitch started out with sharp, crisp passes, but for some reason or another, after playing ‘dodge ball’ with Alabama’s defensive backs, his passes started to look like mortor shots. Damion couldn’t even get off the line when he first got to Arkansas, he admitted he was having trouble running precise routes and dropped as many balls as he caught. (Remember the one that hit him right in the chest then fell to the ground on Florida’s 12 yard line in the championship game?)
Houston Nutt chose to stake the season on a couple of other Arkansas boys who had proven they could perform at the collgege level in the SEC—DMac and Hillis, along with some guy from Tulsa named Jones.
Houston, Gus, Mitch, Damion all have their huggers and haters. The fact is, for whatever reason, right or wrong, they are no longer Razorbacks. It’s past time to let all this nonsense go and shout as loud as we can “GO HOGS!” with one united voice and root for, support and back the players and coaches that are now Razorbacks.
So, coloradohogfan, what would you consider Houston Nutt to be, in view of the fact that he left Arkansas when Holtz was coach and transferred to Oklahoma State?
If Gus Malzahn’s offense would work in the SEC or any real confrence somebody would have hired him after this season. Has West Virgina not hired him yet, hear they lost a real spread offense coach. This is a stupid game for Arkansas to play. No benifit to winning and huge down side to losing. Would be a lot more interesting if HN was still at Arkansas now it is just stupid.
[...] razorbloggers network - Last Updated - Thursday January 31 Request a Trackback The return of Gus? The Tulsa World is reporting that Arkansas has agreed to play Tulsa in football in 2008. That [...]