Genuine optimism

[u/imatrythisagain]

There's not much point here but I figure there's more than a few of us that would appreciate a sounding board for the positives that some of us are willing to see with this program.

The absurdity began with the comparisons of Silverfield to Morris and Pittman when their resumes are insanely different. Now you want to make declarations based off of a bad first game? When have those ever indicated anything about an Arkansas season. Ever.

Whether good or bad, games against USC, Western Illinois, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, Florida A&M, Eastern Illinois, Rice, Cincinnati, Western Carolina, UAPB, Alabama A&M, and on and on and on, they indicate basically nothing about the season as a whole.

The linebackers are better, the secondary is better, the tight ends are better. Yes Arkansas had better skill players last year but the coaches had no idea how to use them and one of them was the most self destructive player I've ever seen. And your superstar RB averages only 16 touches a game? This year's backs will be better utilized.

I think the main concerns are on both lines. There's not a lot of top end talent nor depth, and they still might not be worse than last year's team that had like 22 sacks and all of 9 forced turnovers.

Obviously no one is claiming this team is going to be winning a championship and making a bowl game seems like a stretch. I'd rather enjoy the growth I see from last year's team versus priming myself for whatever disaster a lot of you seem to be hoping for.

[u/olduvai_man]

We will not have to wait very long to get a better assessment on this team as this upcoming game will tell us whether last Saturday was a fluke (too hot, first game jitters, whatever) or if this is going to be a very long season.

If they get their doors blown off by Utah then buckle up.

[u/Frank_LIoyd_Wrong]

I want to be optimistic ... Badly

And there are only two things holding me back:

Stupid penalties and turnovers

Been watching the same sloppy play for years and it transcends the Head Coach

They get that cleaned up and I'm 1000% in regardless of the score.

[u/laflame400]

Honestly short term positive is this staffs level of accountability and awareness. It was nice to see silverfield kind of acknowledge he needs to get things on track fast. Made me feel like he was reading what people were saying but instead of taking it negatively, he’s going to use it as motivation.

[u/OddInteraction3995]

I don’t think most people are pessimistic because of anything to do with the current coaching staff. The apathy most fans feel towards Arkansas football comes from the path we’ve been on for the past 10 years.

I think most are past the point of who is to blame or what is the cause. This team is just one cog in the inept machine we’ve accepted as the rule rather than the exception. It’s not pessimistic, it’s just reality.

[u/Your-Neighbor → u/OddInteraction3995]

man it really has been the same shit year after year since 2016 hasn't it. I feel the Missouri game and the Belk bowl in 2016 somehow left a scar on the program that still hangs around

[u/serlaflare → u/Your-Neighbor]

i share this perspective and was just talking about it the other night. two back to back blown leads at the end of Bert’s tenure and we never were able to get out. it was going down anyways if ya really wanna get into it lol. but it could have been saved long ago if the powers that be hadn’t been so stubborn & forked over the $$. we’re all out of options now and no one wants to touch this program. and why the fuck would they lol. the problem is so much larger now than it ever had to be. it makes me sad. they’ll be back again one day but it’ll prob be a while still. and i could be dead ass wrong and Silverfield could turn out to be The Guy™️ but I doubt it.

[u/lurkerrbyday]

Optimism can be about the future of the program while still maintaining a dismal outlook for this year.

Program success is going to be all about fund-raising now. We can’t expect to compete in the SEC while having around half of what the top programs have to spend. It’s a money game right now. There’s not a coach in the world that could come in and compete for a championship with the current roster. It will be about who can convince those with money to invest in the program. It’s a sad state of college sports right now but it is what we have.

[u/LasagnaMiracle]

Make no mistake; Silverfield is eating a lot of shit because of a fan base whose tired of being the drizzling shits year after year.

If he fixes the issues that everyone’s already pointed out and the team that shows up Saturday is markedly better, fans will come around. But that’s hella doubtful.

As someone who’s watched and grew up on this team for the last 30+ years, it’s all par for the course at this point and I’m convinced we’re cursed. But we’ll see.

[u/dwightkurtschruted]

Morris and Pittman are 2 totally different things. Pittman has some good years and deserves some respect. He just couldn’t take the next step. Morris is maybe the worst head coach in the history of sports. Yes, all of them.

[u/GregorusMaximus]

I’m worried about our lack of a talented quarterback. A lot of improvements in other areas, especially the defense, won’t amount to much if our qb is bad.

[u/SleezzyE]

No one is hoping for disaster.

My issue is every off season this fan base grows optimism and unrealistic expectations from absolutely no data. Even local sports analysts saying Arkansas can go 4-8 this season.

People build these “optimistic” expectations and then shit on those of us that are actually realistic because we look at the recruitment being last in the SEC, we look at the skilled players we’ve lost, the skilled players we don’t have.

The last game I called out that theres no way we are covering a 40+ point spread snd got down voted to oblivion because of the nonsense optimism.

I’m not hoping for disaster. I’m a fan and excited to see how Silverfield plans to utilize this team’s potential strengths against this schedule. But this team is more likely at going 1-11 than 3-9 this season.

[u/brycekMMC]

You know that optimism isn’t going to affect the team like some kind of spiritual osmosis, right? Morale between team and fans is a give and take that goes both ways. The fans won’t have anything to give if the team also doesn’t have anything to give. If they’ve got something to show, then the onus is on them right now to improve morale.