Well, the Houston Nutt era has come to an end. I have to say, the former Boss Hog juked me out pretty good with Sunday’s press conference. After reading the news reports, I was convinced that Nutt wanted to stay and likely would stay. If his offense had shown such unpredictability more often, perhaps he would still be around.

There’s plenty of good stuff out there about today’s big news:

* The Hog Blogger has a particularly thoughtful post about Nutt’s resignation. Also, check out the Razorbloggers’ post and discussion thread.

* You can read a partial transcript of tonight’s press conference at Hogwired.com.

* ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel says, in the end, Arkansas fans simply grew tired of Nutt.

* You can read wholehogsports.com’s resignation story by clicking here and be sure to check out Max Brantley’s post-press-conference take over at the Arkansas Times Web site, complete with lively and entertaining discussion thread.

We’ll have more thoughts in the days ahead, but just quickly: Given the growing fan discontent and the various controversies surrounding the Mustain/Malzahn soap opera, I think it’s probably best that Nutt move on. But it’s all too easy to forgot the sorry condition of the program when Houston came onboard a decade ago. He improved the health of Razorback football dramatically - and provided some unforgettable memories along the way. For that, we extend HDN a hearty thanks and wish him the best of luck.

He turned down an offer to stay. Story here.

The photo below is from Nutt’s 1997 introductory press conference. Who will be calling the Hogs this time? Whoever it is, hopefully he doesn’t find the ritual as frightening as Dana Altman did. Also, for whatever it’s worth, my cousin’s barber’s dog walker saw Jimmy Johnson at the Fayetteville airport this morning. Pass it on.

ESPN.com has a good article on Houston Nutt’s Sunday afternoon press conference. (Thanks to razorbloggers.net for the link.)

Check out this part of the article: “Chancellor White and [athletic director Frank] Broyles, they want me here. They want me to stay,’” Nutt told reporters Sunday at his weekly news conference. “That’s a good feeling, and I’m excited about that.”

 The next few days should be very interesting.

Living in different cities (the whole expats thing) means Stephen and I often get in touch with our inner teenagers and communicate via text message during Razorback games. So, in honor of text messaging hall-of-famer Houston Nutt and his biggest win ever, I now present to you our complete and unabridged text correspondence during yesterday’s historic victory:

John (after two D-Mac fumbles and two 3-and-out’s): could be a long day for the hogs

Steve (seconds later): Indeed

John (after McFadden capped the epic 97-yd drive with a TD run): 97 yds!

Steve (in reply): Boo-Yah!

Steve (after D-Mac’s long TD run in the 3rd quarter): Wow!

John (after Peyton Hillis’ long TD on the next possession): double wow!

Steve (during the Hogs’ posessession in the 1st OT): I cannot breathe.

John (after the 2nd OT ended with both teams still tied): freaking out

John (after the Hogs closed out the game in the 3rd OT): holy shit!!

With most of our staff scattered to the seven winds for the Thanksgiving holiday, we are operating with a skeleton crew here at RazorbackExpats. To help us keep things up and running, we have turned to one of our regular readers and commenters, the always entertaining Tab Prewett, who has graciously agreed to provide his analysis of yesterday’s epic win against No. 1 LSU. Here now is his take: 

Pre-Game Notes:

LSU looks fired up and confident prior to coming onto the field. How well Dick and Monk play are touted as keys to the game. For me, it’s our defense – can they stop LSU, ever? Nutt’s inspirational “Mamas, Granmamas, and aunts” speech doesn’t do much for me, but maybe it’s what players need. I hope we don’t get booted by Les Miles. He can’t even pronounce Arkansas.

After-Game Thoughts:

We stopped the slant pass!! We stopped the slant pass!! 50-48, 50-48, 50-48!!!!!! The boot is back where it belongs - and maybe Les Miles can pronounce Arkansas now.

Nutt must have asked also for some heroes because many stepped forward. In our best game of the year, the heroes weren’t just McFadden and Jones, but included Peyton Hillis, Casey Dick, Michael Grant, Materrial Richardson and the entire offensive line.

And did I mention Texas lost?

In the first half the defense saved us. Looking back, LSU should have been up by a few touchdowns after the first quarter. I have to give Herring and the defense credit. They shut LSU down enough that we were able to stay in the game and begin to wear LSU down. Consider how we turned the game around: We had only one first down in the first quarter and ended up with around 500 yards of offense.

Also, before the game I worried about Nutt’s play-calling. I thought we would move the ball but stop ourselves and maybe not score. Nutt went quickly to the WildHog and stayed with it for what seemed like 75 percent of the game. Only once did I question a call, and that was punting on 4th and 2 from about the 40 of LSU. Yet, that even worked out okay. I don’t think anyone could question Nutt’s play-calling yesterday.To imagine how dominant our offense was yesterday is difficult. We were on the road at a number-one ranked team known for its run defense and home field intimidation factor, a team playing for a national championship. But not only did we run some, we just pounded and pounded and pounded them.

How many LSU players were laid out from hits by our players? At the same time, I don’t recall any Hogs being helped off the field. McFadden blew up 27 once. Early Doucet had trouble getting up several times. Even Casey Dick got a pancake block on DMac’s 73-yard run. It’s called bringing the wood, now, after the “bat” motivational technique, and it sure worked. We owned the line of scrimmage, and LSU never stopped us. When they did, Casey Dick hit Hillis or Monk or Lucas Miller or Davies for crucial third-down conversions. Heroes were everywhere, and they were bashing Cajuns all game.

(Read on …)

 I seem to remember reading somewhere that we were scheduled to play LSU this afternoon, but I’m not certain. Anybody have any details?

 Ha, ha, ha. Wow. What an incredible and insane game. Nearly three hours after, my head is still spinning. The whole thing feels like one crazy blur. Some random thoughts as I attempt to regain my bearings:

* I was but eight years old and had not been fully converted to Razorback fanaticism when Arkansas last beat a No. 1 team in football. I therefore have only the vaguest memories of that 42-11 stomping of Texas. This is easily the biggest Arkansas football victory since I joined the cause, and along with the basketball team’s 1984 upset of No. 1 North Carolina and the 1994 national championship, it’s at the top of my list of favorite Razorback moments. 

* Being a true Arkansan, I watched the fourth quarter and the overtimes with an almost overwhelming sense of dread. I could hardly look at the television screen. I just knew we were going to get our hearts broken - the only question was how. My pessimism faded somewhat when Felix Jones scored the two-point conversion in the third overtime; at that moment, I began to wonder if the football gods were on our side.

* There were times during today’s game when I wondered if the Hogs were capable of not drawing a penalty during a crucial play.

* Most surprising moment of the day: On fourth and 10 in the first overtime, when Casey Dick threw to Peyton Hillis for a 13-yard gain to keep the game alive. I hate to admit it, but I had given up at that point.

(Read on …)

With most of our staff scattered to the seven winds for the Thanksgiving holiday, we are operating with a skeleton crew here at RazorbackExpats. To help us keep things up and running, we have turned to one of our regular readers and commenters, the always entertaining Tab Prewett. Tab has graciously agreed to provide both pre- and post-game analysis of tomorrow’s battle against No. 1 LSU. Here now is his pre-game take:

While drinking at the ESPN Zone last year in Times Square and watching Darren McFadden annihilate South Carolina, I, somewhat inebriated, struck up a conversation with some other SEC fans watching LSU on another screen. Inevitably, the future resting place of the Boot arose, and I was shouted down by a drunken belligerent Cajun, who was more wasted than me, much louder than me, and, hard to believe, more impassioned than I was about his team, those damned talented Bayou Bengals, who have been breaking Razorback hearts since the 1966 Cotton Bowl, when our long 22-game win streak was broken and our chance to be Numero Uno went down by the score of 14-7.

Cajun Boy shouted and shouted and shouted, “That Boot’s gonna be up yor ass. That Boot’s gonna be up yor ass. That Boot’s gonna be up yor ass.” His enthusiasm and insistence ultimately won me over, and I had to agree, that Boot was gonna be up my ass. And it was a month later when LSU ended our dreams of not only a National Championship, but an undefeated SEC season, and began a real depressing period of Hawgdom, where, as we all know, we lost five straight SEC games. Thank God for Ole Miss.

We all anticipate the LSU game every year knowing they set the bar in the SEC West, if not the entire nation. This year we have two reasons to watch with even greater interest. We want to see if McFadden can have a miracle game that can salvage a Heisman Trophy that he alone in this country deserves, and would have had, were it not for the miscues of a coaching staff early in the season. We also want to see if Houston Nutt, who was in charge of those early season coaching mistakes, can somehow artfully dodge the hook that is alleged to snag him as soon as the LSU game ends.

(Read on …)

We here at RazorbackExpats would like to wish our readers a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday. Here’s hoping for a Hogs win tomorrow to make the weekend extra enjoyable.

In case you need any extra help getting fired up, we’ll be providing a handy pre-game cheat sheet detailing why you should hate each one of the Razorbacks’ opponents this fall. Some weeks will be easier than others…

1. They Screwed Up Our 2006 Mojo. Things were going swimmingly for the Razorbacks as they headed into last year’s Thanksgiving weekend match-up against LSU in Little Rock: Arkansas had won 10 games in a row, was ranked No. 5 in the country, had already claimed the outright SEC West title and was even in the national championship picture. But JaMarcus Russell passed for 210 yards and two touchdowns, and the No. 9 Tigers walked out of War Memorial Stadium with a wild 31-26 victory despite 182 rushing yards from Darren McFadden and 137 from Felix Jones. Poor Casey Dick completed only three of 17 passes for 29 yards. This heartbreaking and very winnable game kicked off a stretch of three similar Hog losses that closed out what had been a magical season.

2. LSU Fans Make Hating Easy. Yes, we have to say we admire the fact that, after a 1988 upset of Auburn, the LSU home crowd’s reaction was so mighty that it registered on a nearby seismograph. And our arms could be twisted into partaking of the famous Saturday afternoon Death Valley tailgating extravaganza. Still … anybody who has attended an LSU game can testify to the sheer, unrelenting and often frightening obnoxiousness of Tiger fans. Perhaps the “batshit crazy” tag is better applied to the fans of this SEC West team.

3. They’re Lucky. Make no mistake: We recognize LSU is good, occasionally even scary good. But, the Tigers have also led something of a charmed life this season. Against the Gators, LSU converted five fourth downs, one of which was a fourth-and-1 inside the Florida 10 with about 2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter – when a field goal would have tied the game. Against Auburn, the Tigers won on a last-second 22-yard TD pass to Demetrius Byrd. Had the pass been batted away, LSU likely wouldn’t have had the opportunity to kick a potential game-winning field goal. Maybe we’re just jealous – but, still, it drives us nuts.

4. They Have Our Number. Ever since the 2002 “Miracle on Markham St.” (which, to be honest, was more miraculous than it was a decisive win…it sure was great, though) the Tigers have completely owned the Hogs. Frankly, it’s hard for us to be a consistent threat to win the SEC West when these guys are standing in the way every year. Dammit, we want that silly Boot back!

5. Their Coaching Drama Is Stealing the Spotlight from Our Coaching Drama. Just when we were settling into the twisted madness that is the Houston Nutt Saga, along comes the Is Les Miles Going To Michigan Saga. All year long we’ve rested easy at night knowing that, if nothing else, the Hogs surely best all comers in the category of wacky, soap opera-esque craziness surrounding the program. Now, as Miles’ hypothetical career moves begin to overshadow the Tigers’ very real quest for the national championship, we don’t even own this category anymore. Is nothing sacred??

Will Houston Nutt resign? Will he get fired? Will he stick around? Has Reese finally found true love with Jake Gyllenhaal? Is Jennifer Anniston muscling her way back into Brad’s life? Has Houston Nutt texted any of the above people? Sorry, got a little carried away with my gossiping there.

Here’s some of the latest from the Web about Houston’s job status:

* Courtesy of The Slophouse blog, check out this column by Tom Dienhart that says Houston won’t quit. Dienhart also says that Nutt has done “a masterful job” of coaching this year. Gee, do you think anyone in Arkansas would disagree with that?

* Also from The Slophouse, Steve Spurrier offers some support for Nutt and puts down Butch Davis in classic Spurrier fashion.

* Jay Lupo of The Pine Bluff Commercial cautions the anti-Nutt crowd to be careful what they wish for.

* Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette gives us the lowdown on the financial implications of a Nutt resignation and a Nutt firing. Suffice to say, if Houston gets fired, we don’t think you’re going to see him standing in a bread line anytime soon. A resignation packs a little more of a punch, but we imagine he’ll still be able to afford basic cable.

* Finally, oh yeah, there’s a game on Friday, and, according to Rivals.com, it will feature the two top NFL prospects.