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Vols and Hogs: Similar In A Different Kind Of Way

By Randy Sharber

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The Vols and Hogs are similar….in a different kind of way. Make sesnse?

These two proud Universities  football team’s and their fan bases have been through a lot lately. Tennessee is the much more storied program, but Arkansas is right there as well.

The Vols have the 10th most successful football program in the NCAA with 811 wins. The Hogs are 23rd on that list with 676 wins. They are both the big State school. They both have coaches in their third year. They both are struggling. They both need a win Saturday. That can’t happen.

After the Bobby Petrino disaster the Hogs had to turn to a national search. The Vols had to do the same thing after Derek Dooley was fired. The difference was that Petrino was successful. He just had a legendary off the field issue.

On the other hand, Dooley had little to no success on the football field. He set the personnel back for years at Tennessee by not recruiting top athletes. Heck, any athlete for that matter. He just did not like that all important aspect. The fall out is still haunting the Vols roster to this day.

So the Hogs turned to the Big 10 and brought in hard nosed Bret Bielema from Wisconsin. The Vols brought in a fast playing mid major coach from Cincinnati. Bielema is 11-18 with two conference wins since coming to Arkansas. Jones is a little better at 14-15.

Bielema built his Arkansas team in the mold of the Big 10. Big offensive lineman and big, strong running backs allow the Hogs to impose their will against opponents defenses. Jones built his offense around the no huddle, hurry up, spread type of offense. Two distinctly different philosophies.

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Butch has taken the recruiting world by storm. Bielema, not so much. Jones has put together back to back top five classes while Arkansas is a top twenty type of class. But Bielema is looking for players to fit his system. Jones is looking for the best athletes in America.

Both of these guys have done enough in their first two years of their rebuilds to invigorate their fan bases. Hogs fans were ready to run Bielema his first year, and early on last season. But things turned better for the Hogs. The run game started to work. Alabama squeaked out a 14-13 win over Arkansas, which gave fans hope. They finished the season with wins over LSU and Ole Miss. Both convincing.

Butch got his Vols back in the Bowl picture by winning out in November. Fans were starved to get back to a Bowl, any Bowl. The Vols went to Florida and destroyed a Iowa team that was supposed to be decent. It wasn’t even close. The Vols had momentum.

Both of these coaches impressed the voters with their late season surges to the point that several predicted that Arkansas would win the West, and Tennessee would win the East. Neither are living up to that expectation to this point. The Hogs are 1-3, the Vols are 2-2.

Arkansas has lost to a FBS team this season. The Hogs are coming off of a tough overtime loss to Texas A&M. The Hogs should have won. Tennessee has had two heartbreaking fourth quarter melt downs to lose to Oklahoma and Florida. The Gator loss came last weekend. The Vols should have won. They were the better team.

So here we are with two teams searching for who and what they are. This game may very well define the season for both. It could possibly define the coaching situation at each school. A loss here will make it tough for either to make a Bowl due to the schedules each will face.

The winner will be back on track with a respectable win over a respectable opponent. The loser will face gnashing of teeth and sackcloths over their heads. It will be that epic in my opinion for each fan base. It won’t be the end of the world, but it will feel like it for fans and coaching staff alike

The term “must win” is used way too many times in sports. That term is used very loosely. It should be kept for football games such as this. It is a “must win” game for both of these similar, but dissimilar teams.

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