Not much I can add to this, I’ll just let Mr. Faldon say what needs to be said!

We’re only halfway through Arkansas’ football season, but the theme for this season is already etched in stone. Call it “What Could Have Been” or “So Close … Again,” but the sentiment is the same: Houston Nutt bungled his way out of posting a legendary and historic season.

The sad part is it all could have been avoided. Don’t run off Mitch Mustain, the only SEC-quality quarterback on campus. Don’t replace Gus Malzahn, a brilliant offensive theorist, with David Lee, an option coach turned Cowboys film splicer on his third tour of duty in Fayetteville.

But now, with three cupcake wins and three SEC losses (Arkansas hasn’t beaten a BCS conference team since Nov. 18, 2006), Nutt has managed to put three bullets in his own foot …

• Ruined Darren McFadden’s Heisman Trophy campaign

Heisman voters are a busy group. Most are either beat writers or columnists who spend Saturdays in a press box somewhere. They might steal a few glances of other games on TV, but otherwise they’re focusing on the game they are attending. Or if their game was earlier in the day, they’re having dinner, spending time with their family or sitting in an airport en route home.

 

So when they see 17 carries, 43 yards and no touchdowns for McFadden in a 9-7 loss at home to Auburn, many voters will scratch him off their short list.

If they dig deeper into the statistics, McFadden will likely slip from the top of their ballots. He’s currently 10th in the nation in total rushing yardage, tied for 28th with just eight rushing TDs and is fourth in average rushing yards per game. Pair those stats with losses to the only real teams on the Arkansas schedule so far, and McFadden could very well wind up watching the Heisman ceremony on TV.

• Blown a chance at a No. 1 ranking

Well, that might be a little stretch.

Arkansas was the No. 21-ranked team in The Associated Press preseason poll. Of the 20 teams ranked in front of Arkansas, only Ohio State is still undefeated.

If Arkansas was undefeated right now (and it should be), at the very least Arkansas would be ranked just behind Ohio State and ahead of South Florida and Boston College. Given the peculiarities and foibles of the poll voters, the Razorbacks could easily be ranked No. 1 ahead of the Buckeyes.

As excited as fans were last season with a No. 5-ranking heading into the LSU game, euphoria and optimism would have been at an all-time high with the Razorbacks at 6-0 today and a top spot in the polls. Considering Arkansas’ three losses were all easily winnable, it’s not that difficult to imagine an undefeated Razorback team at this point of the season.

• Sealed his legacy as a mediocre coach

When the first dissatisfied fans began voicing their disappointment in Nutt, the radio show homers would often reply “Do you want to go back to the Danny Ford and Jack Crowe years!?!” Though they thought they were making a point in Nutt’s favor, actually it was a classic case of damning with faint praise. Yes, Nutt was an upgrade from those coaches. But that’s not saying much.

After the Auburn loss, Nutt’s coaching record at Arkansas is 70-47 (38-37 in the SEC) for a .598 winning percentage. Nutt needs 40 consecutive wins to rub elbows with Frank Broyles’ .700 winning percentage. And it would take a 60-game winning streak for Nutt to move into the company of Lou Holtz (.735) and Ken Hatfield (.760).

In construction, steelworkers will often hold a “topping out” ceremony when the highest beam is reached. They’ll hoist a tree and U.S. flag up to the top of the building to mark the highest point of the construction effort. It’s obvious that a topping out ceremony should have already been held for Nutt’s career at Arkansas. He’ll never go any higher than he did last season. He might get a couple more SEC Championship Game participation rings (aka SEC-West titles), but he’ll never win a true championship.

At this point, the only question remaining about Nutt’s career at Arkansas is how it will end. Does he get fired/bought out of his contract at the end of this season? Or does he scramble to find another Division I coaching job before the ax falls?

http://swtimes.com/articles/2007/10/16/commentary/scott_faldon/faldon01.txt