Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

News and notes from Monday’s Arkansas State football media availability …

I. Moving Forward
Don't judge the 2012 season on one game at No. 5 Oregon.

That was ASU Coach Gus Malzahn's message on Monday as he looked back at Saturday's 57-34 loss. Malzahn wasn't happy his team trailed the No. 5 Ducks 50-3 at one point, but he said the outcome wasn't totally unexpected.

That's not a performance to judge the entire season on, he said.

“I knew there was going to be some growing pains,” Malzahn said (video is available on KAIT8.com). “Are we going to push the panic button? No. Not at all. Are we going to try to improve on the mistakes we made? No doubt. We aren’t coming back feeling sorry for ourselves.”

ASU doesn’t have much time for either. Players, staff and coaches arrived back in Jonesboro about 9:30 a.m. Sunday after traveling all night. Coaches worked to break down film and got into their normal routine, but did give players a break Sunday.

Despite the quick turnaround, Malzahn said he doesn’t expect to use the long trip as an excuse. ASU has to be ready for Memphis regardless.

“That was one game. Obviously we didn’t play very well,” Malzahn said. “We can’t let that affect us in a negative way moving forward. It doesn’t’ make any difference if we got back at 9:30 yesterday morning and got out of our normal routine, there’s no excuse.

“We’ve got to put that behind us and move forward.”

II. Personnel Update
Arkansas State played much of Saturday’s game at Oregon without wide receiver Taylor Stockemer. The extent of his injury against the Ducks was not immediately known, but he’s expected to be back for Saturday’s game against Memphis.

Malzahn noted no other significant injuries occurred and the team should be healthy and ready for the Tigers.

“We did get banged up. It was a physical game  like I knew it would be,” Malzahn said. “But at this time we feel like everybody will have a good chance of playing.”