For the 2nd time this season the Arkansas Razorbacks will hit the road to meet the No. 2-ranked team in the country. The Hogs (7-3, 3-3) will take on the Alabama Crimson Tide (9-1, 5-1) Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa. It’s the SEC Game of the Week, scheduled for the familiar 2:30 p.m. local time kick.

Arkansas will certainly take the field with the intentions of improving upon the last time they faced No. 2. The first trip to then-No. 2 Georgia didn’t turn out so good. The Bulldogs won 37-0 on their way to a No. 1 ranking that they’ve held onto ever since. So, the Razorbacks enter Saturday’s contest wiser and more prepared, at least from a mental aspect.

But the Razorbacks have not backed down to the nation’s best competition, the Georgia game notwithstanding. Arkansas is 2-2 vs. Top 20 teams this year, having defeated No. 15 Texas (40-21) and No. 7 Texas A&M (20-10). So, the big stage won’t be a stumbling block for the Razorbacks on Saturday.

Plus, the Hogs are looking for their 8th win this season; a victory total the program has accomplished just 1 time in the past decade. So there’s some extra incentive as if they need any more motivation than seeing Alabama on the other sideline. Win or lose the Razorbacks will give Alabama their best shot, to be sure.

That’s something we’ve been able to count on since Sam Pittman took over as head coach. Even in the Georgia debacle, the Razorbacks gave their best effort to the final whistle. Regardless of what the scoreboard showed, Arkansas played with pride and conviction.

Expect a similar effort once again on Saturday as Arkansas hits the road where they are 1-2 in true away games after the 16-13 overtime victory on Saturday in Baton Rouge. Winning SEC games on the road, another box checked under the direction of Pittman and his coaching staff.

The victory over Texas A&M was accomplished at a neutral site — Jerry World in Arlington.

What another supreme effort out of the Hogs results in remains to be seen. Vegas has installed the Razorbacks as 3-touchdown underdogs to the mighty Tide. That’s a lot of points. The Hogs could keep things respectable with an error-less performance and that would have value.

A program still on the rise can find the positive in a moral victory. Keeping things close on the road at the No. 2 team in the nation would do just that. It would continue the upward trajectory in which the Razorbacks are trending. Play the Tide close on their home field and the Razorbacks can leave Bryant-Denny with their heads held high.

Arkansas doesn’t have to necessarily win the game on Saturday to keep things going in a positive direction. What they do have to accomplish is putting another solid effort on the field like they have all season. There’s no reason to believe they’ll do otherwise.

There’s too much pride within the program now not to expect the very best from this team. The leadership is in place. The linebacking corps of Bumper Pool, Grant Morgan and Hayden Henry haw as big a collective heart and is as active on the field defensively as any.

What Pittman has done in a short time with the Arkansas program continues to be the feel-good story of the 2021 SEC season. To get his team to believe in itself after 4 consecutive seasons of averaging less than 3 wins in each is nothing short of amazing.

One day, if everything remains on course and continues to go in the direction that Pittman has set this program on, Arkansas will win these types of games.

Whether that someday is Saturday, well we’ll soon find out.