It’s time to look at key questions across the SEC involving Saturday’s Week 5 slate of games:

PERCEPTION: THIS SEASON IS A DOWN YEAR FOR WRS IN THE SEC

Where are the Amari Coopers of the 2015 season? The SEC is synonymous with elite wide receivers, guys who are home run threats every time they lay a glove on a pass. The names stretching back for a decade are instantaneously recognizable: Jordan Matthews, Alshon Jeffery, Julio Jones, A.J. Green, Robert Meachem, Brandon LaFell and Sidney Rice. This year’s second-leading receiver in the SEC is a guy named Sherfield from Vanderbilt and he’s only up there because he torched Austin Peay for 240 yards, otherwise, he averages 54 yards per game. How down of a year is it for wide receivers in the conference? Last year’s runner-up for most receiving yards, Pharoh Cooper of South Carolina, is on pace for 660 yards after four games, some 475 yards shy of his sophomore totals from the 2014 season.

REALITY: THIS YEAR’S WRS ARE ABOVE AVERAGE

Is this going to be another Alshon Jeffery and Julio Jones-type season in the SEC, or more of a Shay Hodge and Darvin Adams kind of year? The conference’s leading wideouts are Christian Kirk of Texas A&M (442 yards) and aforementioned Commodores wide receiver Trent Sherfield (402).

But how do Kirk and Sherfield stack up against the top two receivers from each of the last 10 seasons through the first four games of their respective years? The duo has combined for 844 yards through the season’s first four games. At the same mark last year, 2014’s leading SEC receivers Amari Cooper and Pharoh Cooper had combined for 899 yards.

In fact, the conference’s final leading receivers in each of the last 10 SEC seasons have combined for an average of 774.5 yards through the first third of the season. That means Kirk and Sherfield are about 70 yards above the average. By comparison, Jeffery of South Carolina and Alabama’s Jones only combined for 801 yards through the first four weeks of the 2010 season.

Obviously, these numbers and players will change. Laquon Treadwell of Ole Miss and Arkansas’ Cody Core are closing in on Sherfield fast. But the stats point to an indelible boom in production after the 2009 season. In the last half decade, the conference’s two leading receivers averaged a combined 906.6 yards through the season’s first four games. Prior to 2009, that number was 637.4 yards and remains in the 600s through the 2005 season.

Is it a down year for wide receivers in the SEC, considering a dearth of household names? That’s too early to say. Let’s see how the next four weeks play out. But for now, it looks like business as usual for the SEC’s pass catchers.

PERCEPTION: ARKANSAS TANKED AGAINST INFERIOR OPPONENTS

The Arkansas season died on the vine the day Toledo beat the Razorbacks in Week 2. The team that impressed so mightily on all facets a week earlier face-planted against the Rockets. Subsequent losses to Texas Tech and Texas A&M torpedoed what was a promising season less than a month ago. With the teeth of the SEC West schedule staring them in the face, you can stick a fork in the Hogs.

REALITY: YEAH, PROBABLY, BUT NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK

Everyone was quick to jump all over Arkansas for losing to the Toledo Rockets (myself included), and rightfully so. The Razorbacks have to win that game to be taken seriously in the SEC. But despite the fallout caused by the Week 2 loss, have we stopped to take a look at the Rockets’ team that begot the Hogs’ three-game spiral? After their win in Fayetteville, the Rockets knocked off Iowa State and Arkansas State to move to 3-0 on the year. Associated Press voters awarded Toledo 68 points, which essentially ranks them as the No. 26 team in the nation ahead of Oregon (64 votes), Arizona (48) and Boise State (38).

The Rockets win with defense, notably the No. 18-ranked rush defense, which is led by Orion Jones’ 6.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks. The unit has given up a meager 98.7 rushing ypg so far, and proved to be the perfect matchup against an Arkansas team that needs the run to set the tone for its offense. Toledo is the only team this year to hold Razorback leading rusher Alex Collins to under 100 yards. The junior has averaged 141.9 yards against the Hogs’ other three opponents, but the Rockets held him to 52.

Matchups weren’t the case in Arkansas’ Week 3 loss to Texas Tech, so much as the Hogs ran face-first into a buzz saw. Texas Tech can’t stop anyone’s run. But not many can stop the Red Raiders on offense, either. Tech, who doled Arkansas its second loss, routinely pastes opposing defenses this season with 594.5 ypg. The nation’s No. 4 team TCU discovered Tech’s offensive potency in Week 4. Texas Tech hung 607 total yards on the Horned Frogs. Arkansas, by comparison, actually held the Red Raiders below their season average at 486 yards of total offense. The difference is, TCU got the win over Texas Tech, where the Razorbacks did not.

Throw in an overtime loss to a No. 14-ranked Texas A&M in Week 4, and Arkansas appears to have a tougher schedule in the first third of the season than we’ve been giving them credit for. Perhaps we’re seeing the development of the new modus operandi for Arkansas under Bret Bielema — one where the Razorbacks struggle early in the season and come on strong in the final month, just like last year. We’ll see which team shows up in Week 5 when they travel to Knoxville to face the SEC East’s preseason dark-horse-turned-flop equivalent in Tennessee.