Time to be frank about reality...

[Armo Wood]

After several years of watching Ouachita not get it done come PO time, here are my thoughts as to why Ouachita Baptist is 1-5 in the POs and will not likely have success in the playoffs anytime soon...

1) Portrayed Mentality/Outlook. Todd Knight said in an interview on Inside D2 Football show earlier this season that he believes National Championships come by winning Conference Championships first. That is demonstrably untrue because TAMUC in '17 & UWF in '19 won national titles, but did not win conference titles. Frankly, that kind of talk sounds like a team that in more interested in conference titles than national titles, or in other words is just happy to be in the playoffs as opposed to wanting to be a serious contender. Not a good look. HC shouldn't be talking about GAC titles when asked about what his team needs to do to improve their PO performance. He should be talking about what he's going to do to take that next step towards being a PO contender.

2) De facto Defensive Philosophy. The whole Bend-but-don't-break + Opportunistic style D doesn't work well in the POs, especially SR3, when combined with a Power Running O. Those kinds of defenses only work well in POs if a team is running a Spread, RPO, Air Raid+, etc., type offense. Also, during the regular season these kinds of defenses when used in a silo schedule can look like a dominating D when it is playing familiar weaker teams in conference play. Either Ouachita needs to change how they approach D or they need to change how they approach O.

3) Familiarity/Lack of Familiarity with opponents. As for regular season, because the GAC plays in a silo-schedule, i.e., the same 11 teams every year, Ouachita knows those teams tendencies very well. However, after compiling a 1-5 record, it is pretty clear that the Tigers struggle to prepare for teams they don’t see year-in & year-out. A couple of non-conference games against quality opponents every year would probably go a good ways towards helping to fix that problem.

4) Recruitment. Two-thirds (2/3rds) to Three-fourths (3/4ths) of every signing class for Ouachita comes from Arkansas. Arkansas has some great high school talent, but it doesn’t have enough talent to field a D2 PO-caliber D by using mostly Arkansas recruits, it just doesn't. I realize there may be a financial reason behind why Ouachita recruits this way, but at some point you either have to find a way to get it done or admit defeat and stop pretending to be a PO contender.


Okay, melt down by certain Ouachita fans is about to commence in T-minus 10 and counting...

P.S. feel free to agree/disagree in a civil manner.

P.S.S. if you act like a snowflake or cupcake, I'm gonna treat you like one.

[NattyStateFan]

Armor, first off, great post.
I kind of feel this way about the entire GAC as a whole. While I love the GAC, we as a conference are not successful in the playoffs. Harding, being the lone exception, has shown that they are the only team that can win games in the playoffs. I did not know that Todd Knight, as you stated, is 1-5 in playoff games. The same could be said for other coaches in the conference who have made the playoffs. Maxfield at HSU has one post season win in his entire career at HSU. Combine Maxfield and Knight’s total years at their schools (35+ years combined), they total 2 playoff wins. For a conference that regularly places a rotation of three teams in the top 25, to see them get dismantled in the playoffs year after year is frustrating. I will disagree with your stance regarding offensive/defensive systems. I do not believe that coaches are devising their systems based on what they will see in the playoffs. They have to win to make the playoffs, by that point the system isn’t changing. I think point #3 you made is excellent, and I would attribute that to more of the lack of success in the playoffs than anything. But to claim this, the same could be said for the opponent. By stating this, would this be an omission that the GAC is getting out coached by the MIAA, GLIAC? History, based on wins and losses, would say yes.
To address point #4, the recruiting. There was a clear difference in the caliber of players that NW had on the field compared to what OBU had. I was at the game, NW had defensive backs that looked like defensive ends and ran like wide receivers. I know OBU is not a passing team because they can run teams to death in the GAC, but their lack of ability to have success through the air showed. I cannot dispute anything you stated within point #4. Great post Armor, enjoy the attacks!

P.S. Look back at recent bowl opportunities for teams in the past two seasons. OBU/HSU turned down bowl games last year. Harding/HSU turned down bowl games this year. I would recommend to those coaches who routinely get routed in the playoffs to take those bowl games and gain experience for your teams to compete outside the GAC schedule. For the lack of winning success in the playoffs from the GAC, teams shouldn’t be turning down post season opportunities to face the MIAA/LSC. Yes, I know, the expectation is playoffs or bust. But even when we make the playoffs we don’t win!!

[walnut100]

A problem I have noticed with Ouachita sports in general over the years is mentality. We always play scared against what we perceive to be a superior opponent. I don't understand why it's so pervasive, but I have noticed it in several sports in big games. It wasn't a problem with my years on the swim team when we were flat out mad that TCU was scared to schedule us (Yes TCU I am calling you out!!! We would have won that duel and you know it) but I've seen the basketball team fold on national television against Oklahoma State, and the football team come out timid against NW Missouri (who is still a Division II team!!), just to name a few. Mentality has to improve if we are going to win.

Second off, we were manhandled in the trenches today. We have gotten bigger and stronger on the lines, but we have a ways to go. If the O-Line would have protected the QB more, we would have forced them to respect the pass, and thus opened up the run game. Our D-Line also got absolutely no pressure. To be frank, I don't think we are as bad as we looked today, it comes back to the mentality problem. We play scared.

With regards to recruiting, I have no idea why it's so regional in football. Ouachita doesn't have a ton of money, (if we did, we would likely be an FCS school to be frank. The drive is there to be competitive at sports) however our swim team used to recruit from all over the world and the entire country. We had guys from France, Romania, Egypt, Germany, California, Florida, Texas, you name it. If the non-money sports can convince players to come from all over, there's no reason football can't. Having said that, I think a piece of the puzzle here is probably the regional nature of the GAC in general. We only have schools from Oklahoma and Arkansas, and many young players outside of our market haven't heard of us. Oklahoma has a ton of schools that dilute the talent pool by the time we get to D2 guys (there are schools in the MIAA and NAIA that are taking players), so that leaves Arkansas as our best bet to secure talent. The lack of exposure in other states can't help with recruiting either. We need to get out of SILO scheduling even if it costs more, for exposure to places like Texas which have a ton of players who would be likely to come to school in Arkansas.

To any current/former players reading this: I have a lot of respect for you all and all of the effort you put in. You have been doing great things to represent our university and get our name out there. I am not trying to insult you. You have to face reality: we got shellacked on the big stage. And it keeps happening. Frankly it's embarrassing as an alumni to see it. I could still be too competitive, but I have a strong desire to see you guys succeed in a big way and bring a title home in my lifetime. We *all* need to demand better. And as an alumni I am accountable too. It's the job of alumni to help get the school the financial backing it needs to give you guys all of the tools you need to succeed.

There is a lot of work to be done. I hope that somebody is listening and takes this to heart. We need to get better.

[Armo Wood]

NattyStateFan my comment on systems is more about POs, but I get your point. I think a really good combo of systems, i.e., ones that compliment one another well come playoff time, tend to work well during regular season too--that's been my experience. Having said that, silo schedules tend to make point #3 an outsized problem and the GAC, Harding excepted, has seen that play out too much by the conference PO flag bearer. Hence, quality non-con games every year are so crucial.

You could be right about the GAC getting outcoached come PO time, or it could be more Ouachita is getting outcoached. After all, they have been the GAC PO flag bearer the most. Based upon what I've seen over the years, I don't think Harding is getting outcoached, nor am I certain that Henderson was outcoached their last time in the POs. In fact, the Reddies did respectable their last time in the POs, they just haven't been back since 2015 and their PO appearances in 2012 and 2013 appeared to be more about lack of PO-caliber talent, execution, and PO experience than anything else.

[NattyStateFan]

NattyStateFan my comment on systems is more about POs, but I get your point. I think a really good combo of systems, i.e., ones that compliment one another well come playoff time, tend to work well during regular season too--that's been my experience. Having said that, silo schedules tend to make point #3 an outsized problem and the GAC, Harding excepted, has seen that play out too much by the conference PO flag bearer. Hence, quality non-con games every year are so crucial.

You could be right about the GAC getting outcoached come PO time, or it could be more Ouachita is getting outcoached. After all, they have been the GAC PO flag bearer the most. Based upon what I've seen over the years, I don't think Harding is getting outcoached, nor am I certain that Henderson was outcoached their last time in the POs. In fact, the Reddies did respectable their last time in the POs, they just haven't been back since 2015 and their PO appearances in 2012 and 2013 appeared to be more about lack of PO-caliber talent, execution, and PO experience than anything else.

Understandable regarding the system. Overall, you would hope that each system would allow for success within the season AND the playoffs. Something better that wouldn’t allow 40 plus points and score more than 17 points.

I think the GAC as a whole is getting out coached in the post season. As you stated, OBU is 1-5 in playoff games and they have been the GAC Flag Bearer of recent. I believe that what Harding runs is so unique offensively that it gives them the advantage. But why when they play NW they get beat and have their worst offensive showing on the year. Just like what happened to OBU today. They, the GAC, gets beat every single year, and early. HSU, they have won one playoff game under Maxfield (checked the schedule history to verify). As prolific as they were in 12, 13, 14, it took until 15 to get their first post season win, and only win. The same could be said about the teams who also accept bowl games. SEOK is the only team to win a bowl game in how many recent years?

[Armo Wood]

NattyStateFan to attempt to answer a couple of your questions.

1) Why does HU have their worst game against NW everytime? Simply put, NW is very good at defending what HU does offensively. I think HU needs to develop a supplemental pass game to go along with that rushing attack of theirs, if they are ever going to get past NW. In fairness to the Bisons, their Ds have been PO-caliber, they have outplayed FSU both times they played (though the series stands at 1-1) and in recent times have beat just about anybody they play not named NW--and even then, the last two games were no picnic for the Bearcats.

2) SEOK is the only team to win a bowl game in how many recent years? Actually, OKBU won last year too. But, I agree that the GAC's bowl record hasn't exactly been stellar either.

To be fair to Henderson, all 3 GAC teams that have been to the POs, took the third time being a charm to get a win.

[OBUGrad]

Ok, let’s be frank about reality.

1. Armo, you’re a Harding guy, so yes, don’t expect you to say much nice about Ouachita. Knew you were coming with this post. Something to be said for consistency.
2. Playoffs are about matchups, and Ouachita, drew the worst possible matchup for them. We all knew that from the jump. Could they beat over half of the teams in the playoffs, probably yes. But we’re in SR3 and life is extremely difficult, it’s part of it. The fact that Ouachita is the smallest school in the GAC and one of the smallest in the nation and even in the PO is a heck of an accomplishment. Let’s remember this isn’t a fully funded program scholarship wise, no matter they will still work around that and be successful.
3. An 11-0 regular season is a heck of a year, don’t care how you slice it. Tigers were the best team in the GAC, but still need work in playoffs. They’ll get there, I have no doubt. Until then I’ll still celebrate what they have done.

[OldBison]

Armor, first off, great post.
I kind of feel this way about the entire GAC as a whole. While I love the GAC, we as a conference are not successful in the playoffs. Harding, being the lone exception, has shown that they are the only team that can win games in the playoffs. I did not know that Todd Knight, as you stated, is 1-5 in playoff games. The same could be said for other coaches in the conference who have made the playoffs. Maxfield at HSU has one post season win in his entire career at HSU. Combine Maxfield and Knight’s total years at their schools (35+ years combined), they total 2 playoff wins. For a conference that regularly places a rotation of three teams in the top 25, to see them get dismantled in the playoffs year after year is frustrating. I will disagree with your stance regarding offensive/defensive systems. I do not believe that coaches are devising their systems based on what they will see in the playoffs. They have to win to make the playoffs, by that point the system isn’t changing. I think point #3 you made is excellent, and I would attribute that to more of the lack of success in the playoffs than anything. But to claim this, the same could be said for the opponent. By stating this, would this be an omission that the GAC is getting out coached by the MIAA, GLIAC? History, based on wins and losses, would say yes.
To address point #4, the recruiting. There was a clear difference in the caliber of players that NW had on the field compared to what OBU had. I was at the game, NW had defensive backs that looked like defensive ends and ran like wide receivers. I know OBU is not a passing team because they can run teams to death in the GAC, but their lack of ability to have success through the air showed. I cannot dispute anything you stated within point #4. Great post Armor, enjoy the attacks!

P.S. Look back at recent bowl opportunities for teams in the past two seasons. OBU/HSU turned down bowl games last year. Harding/HSU turned down bowl games this year. I would recommend to those coaches who routinely get routed in the playoffs to take those bowl games and gain experience for your teams to compete outside the GAC schedule. For the lack of winning success in the playoffs from the GAC, teams shouldn’t be turning down post season opportunities to face the MIAA/LSC. Yes, I know, the expectation is playoffs or bust. But even when we make the playoffs we don’t win!!

Good point about about Harding playing some MIAA teams in post-season bowl games when not making PO. I never thought of it that way. This year Harding could have benefitted from playing Emporia State in Texarkana. Maybe if we don’t make the playoffs again next year if give more serious consideration to the post-season invitations.

[Armo Wood]

OBUGrad,

First, thank you for proving my meltdown point. I knew I could count on you!

Second, everybody that has been on the board, or lurking, since 2018 can see what's going on here. Ever since I pointed out in 2018 why Ouachita didn't have a PO-caliber D you have always had a compulsion to personally attack and dismiss my analyses whenever you need a pick-me-up. When I warned you again in 2019 about Ouachita's D, once again analysis included, you just ramped up your anger and meltdowns. Clearly it has continued to fester.

Third, I get it. I would be angry too if I shot my mouth off on the MB several times before claiming that my alma mater's D was so strong that they were going to make PO runs and win the region, to then have them blown out by Ferris at home in the playoffs and then the next year lose in a shootout at home in the first round of the playoffs against Lindenwood--a team that Massey's had Ouachita beating by a rather comfortable margin--and now they got blown out at home by a NW team that had one of the weakest Os they've ever had. It's easy to see why you have been quick to dismiss talk about the ability to play defense against teams on the national stage after those three embarrassing losses. It's totally understandable why you will keep claiming 6 conference championships make Ouachita relevant in SR3 and on the national stage, while conveniently ignoring the inconvenient truth that the Tigers PO record of 1-5 (around 17% winning percentage) says otherwise--even when five of those six PO games were played in Arkadelphia. However, it's time for you to face reality instead of continually running from it. The fact is, your issue isn't with me, it's with your team and its inability to win in the POs to date.

Fourth, trying to claim I hate Ouachita does nothing but show how weak and intellectually bankrupt you are.

Fifth and finally, I understand that it can be hard for diehards such as yourself to get over the anger and meltdowns you consistently have without counseling. I can understand that it is hard for you to confront reality. I hope that you get the help you clearly need to deal with your anger and meltdown issues that arise from Ouachita being so disappointing in the playoffs.

Best wishes to you in life outside of the message board.

[OBUGrad]

I’m not gonna read all that, but I’m not angry at all. That’s not how I intended that post. I’m incredibly proud of what this team has done.

More just tired of your “I’m a neutral observer, and above the fray act”. It’s so tired. Just tell us which team your a fan of and be a fan and I’d have no issue.

Respect the heck out of the new blogger because he doesn’t hid who he is and makes his bias clear. Do I agree on everything with him, no, but I can live with that.

[LeftSider]

Ok, let’s be frank about reality.

1. Armo, you’re a Harding guy, so yes, don’t expect you to say much nice about Ouachita. Knew you were coming with this post. Something to be said for consistency.
2. Playoffs are about matchups, and Ouachita, drew the worst possible matchup for them. We all knew that from the jump. Could they beat over half of the teams in the playoffs, probably yes. But we’re in SR3 and life is extremely difficult, it’s part of it. The fact that Ouachita is the smallest school in the GAC and one of the smallest in the nation and even in the PO is a heck of an accomplishment. Let’s remember this isn’t a fully funded program scholarship wise, no matter they will still work around that and be successful.
3. An 11-0 regular season is a heck of a year, don’t care how you slice it. Tigers were the best team in the GAC, but still need work in playoffs. They’ll get there, I have no doubt. Until then I’ll still celebrate what they have done.

That match up against linden wood was tough huh.. guess y’all need NSU to make it so you can have a favorable match up.

[OBUGrad]

That match up against linden wood was tough huh.. guess y’all need NSU to make it so you can have a favorable match up.

About as hard as the Tigers and Reddies were for the Bison this year. Haha

yeah, that was a bad one.

[UNALions]

Here’s the frank reality.

The Arkies broke away from the GSC when most of the schools were not very competitive in football. They formed a cupcake conference with several other non-competitive schools from the LSC.

Is it any surprise that, a decade later, the conference doesn’t do well in the playoffs especially in SR3 with the MIAA and GLIAC? No.

Should have stuck it out in the GSC and SR2.

[OBUGrad]

Here’s the frank reality.

The Arkies broke away from the GSC when most of the schools were not very competitive in football. They formed a cupcake conference with several other non-competitive schools from the LSC.

Is it any surprise that, a decade later, the conference doesn’t do well in the playoffs especially in SR3 with the MIAA and GLIAC? No.

Should have stuck it out in the GSC and SR2.

They were actually gettting competitive. I think Tigers beat Valdosta, Delta and North Al all in the last year or two. I think Harding may have done the same.

The real reason for the switch was travel costs and a commish that didn’t care about the AR schools at all.

[UNALions]

They were actually gettting competitive. I think Tigers beat Valdosta, Delta and North Al all in the last year or two. I think Harding may have done the same.

The real reason for the switch was travel costs and a commish that didn’t care about the AR schools at all.

They were getting competitive, especially UCA before they moved up, which is why the break away was even worse. Y’all basically stopped challenging yourself to become competitive with GSC teams each season and instead formed a conference with the bottom dwellers of the LSC.