Hogs Paving Way for Better Season
Junior Linebacker Jarrett Lake tackles Kentucky tailback Raymond Sanders III during Saturday’s 49-7 win over the Wildcats. (Photo by Logan Webster)
The Razorback’s football season hasn’t gone quite as well as was expected. Things have not been going right for the Hogs dating all the way back to Bobby Petrino’s motorcycle accident, but the Hogs are beginning to overcome that adversity with a Southeastern Conference two-game winning streak.
The Hogs started off the season with a 49-24 win over Jacksonville State. Little did the team know, that would be their last win for a while.
The team then went on to lose in overtime to Louisiana Monroe, 34-31 in a loss that stunned the nation. The Razorbacks went on to take one of the worst falls in the polls ever, dropping completely out of the poll from No. 8.
Quarterback Tyler Wilson suffered a concussion against Louisiana Monroe and would not play in the following week’s game against Alabama.
After the tough loss to Louisiana Monroe, the team then went on to lose the next three games. The next loss came from the No.1 Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama came to Fayetteville and shut out the Razorbacks for the first time since 2005 and the first time in Fayetteville since 1966.
The Razorbacks then suffered a home loss to Rutgers in a close game, 35-26. The Hogs then went on the road to take a huge loss to Texas A&M in College Station, 58-10.
At that point in the season, Razorback fans were feeling as though nothing, absolutely nothing, could go right for the team.
But the team never gave up. The Hogs were on a four-game losing streak going to Auburn to play the Tigers. The team came out and played like a whole new team that no one had seen yet this season.
This was a huge road win for the Hogs. The Razorbacks caused five turnovers along with five sacks and had their best defensive performance of the year to lead the team to a 24-7 victory. This marked the first SEC win for the Razorbacks.
The Razorbacks then welcomed the Kentucky Wildcats to Fayetteville. The Hogs started out with two unanswered touchdowns when the game was delayed in the first quarter due to lightning. Play was resumed around an hour later and the Hogs kept the pace going.
The game was called with five minutes remaining in the third quarter and the Hogs took home a 49-7 victory. This accounted for the second SEC win of the season for the Razorbacks.
The last two SEC games against Auburn and Kentucky have become a turning point for the Razorbacks. The Razorbacks are now showing why they were ranked preseason No. 8.
The Razorbacks’ bye week is this weekend so they will be taking the week off from play and using it to hopefully improve for their upcoming schedule.
After their bye week, the Hogs will face Ole Miss in Little Rock. Ole Miss is standing in the middle of the pack in the conference with a current winning record of 4-3 with losses coming from Texas, Alabama and Texas A&M. If the Hogs can pick up a win against the Rebels, it will be huge.
The next week the Razorbacks are hosting a nonconference game against Tulsa in Fayetteville for homecoming. The Golden Hurricanes are currently 6-1 with a loss coming from Iowa State. Although Tulsa’s competition is a lot different than that of the Hogs, it will still be a good win for the Hogs if they can pull out the victory.
The last three games of the regular season are big games for the Razorbacks. If Arkansas can pick up at least two wins out of the three games, it is much more likely that they will be bowl-eligible at the end of the season.
First, the Hogs will take on South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. The next weekend the Hogs will travel to Mississippi State to take on the Bulldogs and then finally back to Fayetteville to take on the LSU Tigers.
All three of these teams are currently ranked and will be tough competition for the Hogs. But if the Hogs can pull out a few wins and end the season with a winning record, there might be some hope for the Razorbacks to be eligible for a bowl game, which did not seem remotely possibly after the four-game losing streak.
