Like It Is

Things shaping up for Bielema, Razorbacks

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema works with his team before the start of a football scrimmage Saturday, April 12, 2014 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema works with his team before the start of a football scrimmage Saturday, April 12, 2014 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

HOOVER, Ala. -- Bret Bielema appears to have lost some weight.

No, he's not buying bigger suits. He looked a little thinner. He isn't svelte like a distance runner. Former nose guards don't have the bone structure for that.

After last season, his first in the SEC, it might be surprising that the Arkansas head football coach's biggest loss wasn't on top of his head. He could have pulled all his hair out after going 0-8 in league play.

Yet, to be frank, he seems totally upbeat going into his second season with primarily the same players.

The glass isn't half-full for Bielema. It seems to be eternally overflowing.

The way he now sees the heartbreaking 99-yard drive by LSU in the season finale to beat the Razorbacks as a positive. According to Bielema, it left the players knowing they were good enough to win and still hungry to prove it.

Improvement was a very common thread, of course, and that started in an informal pre-SEC media days meeting with the local media and we saw immediate change. This year's local media didn't include ESPN, ESPNU, CBSsports.com, USA Today and Sports Illustrated.

That might go back to that 0-8 thing.

Yet, that 0-8 was a direct reflection on the year before when apparently discipline was difficult to attain. It was as if when Bobby Petrino -- who could be like a Marine drill sergeant -- left, everyone let out too deep a breath of relief.

Bielema talked Wednesday about being more familiar with the players, and that now the players are more acclimated to him.

He addressed staff changes, which were mostly be design. All three changes were on defense. Last season, the Hogs ranked 76th in the nation in total defense, allowing an average of 413.4 yards and about four touchdowns per game. Allowing opponents to average 5.58 yards per carry is not winning football.

So Bielema started his official talk with this: "I'll take a minute to talk about last year, that should be enough."

Probably what jumped out during his news conference was that he has let go of the public debate about the notion that defensive players sustain more injuries when playing against teams that use the hurry-up, no-huddle offense.

When asked about his relationship with Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn, the guru of the hurry-up, no-huddle offense, Bielema said without hesitation that he knew the media had a job to do but that basically it wasn't anything personal, just a difference of philosophies.

When told that Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel had said the claim about such injuries was fiction, Bielema said he was more of a reality-based movie guy than a fiction guy.

That defused the issue, just as it should have. Bielema stepped in it with some comments on that subject last spring before a Razorback Club meeting, but since then he's changed shoes, or at least tactics. He even said he enjoys watching and coaching against no-huddle teams.

He spent most of his time at the podium promoting his players, his staff and Razorbacks football. He said he didn't come to Arkansas to lose, and that he didn't expect to go 3-9 his first season.

Bielema even saw opening this season against Auburn, which played for the BCS national championship last season, as "a definite positive." He said it was something that kept the players focused on football all year.

Which brings up the point that one of the most consistent aspects of Bielema is his optimism and confidence. If 18 months of his influence means much, the Razorbacks have probably put last year's book on a back shelf and are ready to start a new chapter, one with more discipline and apparently a leaner coach.

The Hogs are going to be better in a conference that will be, too.

Sports on 07/17/2014

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