College football has turned into a weekly flip of the cards, and Arkansas has suddenly found itself with a sliver of life.
The Razorbacks snapped a 14-game SEC losing streak with a win over Vanderbilt on Saturday, and that result came on the heels of noticeable improvement over the last two weeks. They also get a bye before returning to face No. 22 Missouri on Oct. 31 at Razorback Stadium, a matchup that figures to draw a loud crowd in Fayetteville.
That’s the setup in a season where almost nothing has stayed fixed. Texas was No. 1 nine days ago and is now No. 19 after losses to Oklahoma and No.
20 Florida. Florida, in turn, beat Auburn on the road and hammered No.
7 Ole Miss before getting blown out by Missouri and South Carolina. Missouri handled Florida and Texas A&M, then got crushed by Ole Miss 31-3 in Oxford.
South Carolina, after an 0-3 start that had Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks looking shaky, rebounded with a 38-19 win over Florida and now heads into a huge home game against Tennessee with some momentum.
The chaos kept spreading. Auburn struggled through wins over Baylor and Vanderbilt, then got routed by Tennessee two weeks ago before going on the road and beating Georgia, which had just beaten No.
13 Alabama. Alabama then went to Knoxville and was smoked by No.
11 Tennessee, a team that nearly lost to Arkansas in Fayetteville last week.
Even beyond the SEC, the season keeps throwing curveballs. BYU beat Notre Dame and climbed to No.
- Miami escaped Florida State and is No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since 2002.
Ohio State went to Bloomington and beat Indiana in a Big 10 battle, and first-year coach Bob Chesney has UCLA sitting at No. 9 after a 6-0 start, making the Bruins the only undefeated team in either the SEC or the Big 10.
So where does Arkansas fit into all of this? Maybe nowhere. Or maybe a little bit of everywhere.
The question now is whether the Razorbacks can use this strange season to their advantage. Missouri looks like the next big obstacle, and there’s no reason to assume Arkansas will be favored. It would be surprising if the Tigers weren’t at least 3.5-point favorites.
Still, this is the kind of year where upsets keep piling up. Arkansas still has a path, however narrow, if it can keep making steady progress. That path would likely require three straight wins, or a much shakier Arch Manning than the one Texas has been getting lately.
The final stretch isn’t friendly. Beyond Missouri, Arkansas would need to navigate an inconsistent Auburn team, a South Carolina group that could have an interim head coach by Nov.
14, Texas in Austin, and No. 18 LSU, which took care of business against a Kamario Taylor-less Mississippi State team on Saturday.
Even so, the Tigers could stumble on a frigid day in the Ozarks on Nov. 28.
For now, the best answer is simple: Arkansas still has work to do, and it hasn’t shown enough yet to make anyone comfortable predicting a bowl game. But in a college football season like this one, it’s also impossible to shut the door completely. If the Hogs keep trending up, they may find themselves right in the middle of the next upset.
In Other News...
Arkansas Has Three Bright Spots Fans Should Be Watching Closely
Amid a season that has put a premium on finding positives wherever they appear, three Arkansas players have started to separate themselves in ways that matter beyond the box score. Smith has emerged as the teams tackling leader and has piled up defensive stops, while Oke has given the interior of the defensive line a steadier presence. On the other side of the ball, Lockwood has grown into a dependable option in the passing game, giving the offense another target it can lean on.
What makes those individual gains even more notable is the development behind them, particularly the work being done by tight ends coach Morgan Turner. For a program still sorting through bigger-picture issues, these are the kinds of progress points that can shape how the rest of the season feels, and Arkansas fans will have reasons to keep a close eye on whether these trends hold. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Bye Week Puts One Razorbacks Question Front And Center
Arkansas has spent the last stretch of the season looking more competitive after the kind of rough start that can swallow a team whole, and now the bye week arrives with a chance to reset before Missouri comes to Fayetteville. For Ryan Silverfield, it is also a chance to keep pushing a bigger message, because the on-field progress matters not just for the standings but for everything that follows around the program.
Silverfield has been working through the realities of inherited issues and budget constraints, two pressures that tend to linger far beyond one bad month in the fall. If the Razorbacks can keep showing real improvement against a Missouri team known for its offense and notable playmakers, it could strengthen the case for more support moving forward, which is why this pause in the schedule feels bigger than a simple breather. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Finally Has Something To Build On Under Ryan Silverfield
Ryan Silverfield had a few good reasons to feel better about Arkansas after the Razorbacks 31-21 win over Vanderbilt, and he made that clear during an appearance on SEC Network. The victory was the programs first SEC win under Silverfield, and it came with some encouraging signs beyond the final score, including a steadier running game and a positive turnover margin. After a rough stretch in conference play, Arkansas finally had a result it could point to as evidence the rebuild is taking hold.
The bigger significance is what the win did for the mood around the program. Arkansas moved to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the SEC, and perhaps more importantly, it snapped a 14-game losing streak in league play. For a team that has spent so long waiting for something to go right against conference competition, this was the kind of breakthrough that can make the rest of the season feel a little more manageable. [Read more 🡒]