Arkansas football: As season nears close, Hogs have plenty of reason to be excited for future
One would expect nothing less than for an Arkansas game to come down to the final seconds in 2020.
As they have so many times this season, the Hogs treated fans to an entertaining afternoon in the Battle Line Rivalry against Missouri on Saturday.
They were playing without starting quarterback Feleipe Franks and running back Rakeem Boyd. Grant Morgan, one of the SEC’s leading tacklers, went down with an injury in the game. Yet they still found a way to stay competitive.
Defense went out the window in this one, and Arkansas trailed 47-40 with a little less than 5 minutes remaining.
Starting in place of Franks, redshirt freshman KJ Jefferson led the Hogs down the field. He threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Mike Woods, only Woods’ 2nd catch all afternoon. Arkansas appeared to be prepared to tie the score, but Sam Pittman didn’t want to settle.
The Razorbacks opted to attempt a 2-point conversion and go for the win, perhaps the gutsiest call of the day.
It didn’t look like it was going to pay off. Jefferson looked around but didn’t find any open receivers. He finally let the ball fly in desperation, and it appeared to be an easy interception. But the defender bobbled it, and Woods stepped in from behind to catch it and, for a moment, save the day.
It was one of the craziest plays we’ve seen all year from the Razorbacks, which is saying a lot.
https://twitter.com/TheJuiceBetting/status/1335327460108496896?s=20
There was still time for Missouri, though. The Tigers got the ball back with 43 seconds remaining.
Connor Bazelak sliced the defense methodically, completing 4 of 5 passes for 54 yards on the drive to get Missouri to the Razorbacks 15 and set up the game-winning field goal.
Pittman called back-to-back timeouts in an attempt to ice the kicker, but to no avail. Harrison Mevis nailed the 32-yard field goal for the 50-48 win, squashing the Razorbacks’ hopes of ending their losing streak in the rivalry. They haven’t beaten the Tigers since 2015.
The loss likely means the Razorbacks will finish the season at 3-7, barring a major upset of undefeated Alabama. Not bad considering where they started the year.
As tough of a loss as this was, it doesn’t come without its positive takeaways.
The Razorbacks’ future looks to be in good hands with Jefferson at quarterback. He didn’t play like a freshman, finishing with 274 yards (206 of which went to Treylon Burks) and 3 touchdowns. He also rushed for a score. Franks technically has another year of eligibility, but there is uncertainty about how that will work next season.
If Franks’ stay in Fayetteville lasts only 1 year, Jefferson doesn’t look like a bad successor at all.
Junior running back Trelon Smith also had a good game, minus 2 fumbles. He rushed 172 yards and 3 touchdowns of his own. He looks in line to be the Hogs’ lead back for the foreseeable future.
The only gripe would be the defense, but that has been one of Arkansas’ strong points this year. You can forgive a bad game, especially after losing a leader like Morgan.
As the season nears its end, it’s a good time to reflect on how this year played out.
If you told anyone at the beginning of the season that the Hogs would finish with 3 wins, they would have considered that a great year. Pittman likely isn’t as strong of a Coach of the Year candidate as he was to start the season, but he is still in the running. It’s clear Arkansas has found its man for the long haul.
After years of suffering, the outlook is bright. It’s uncertain whether the Razorbacks will make a bowl game, but one has to think they have a solid shot, even being 3-7. All teams are bowl-eligible this year, and someone may want to take a chance on them for entertainment value alone.
Whether they make a bowl or not, Arkansas has plenty to be proud of. They shouldn’t let Saturday’s loss put a damper on all they have accomplished. The future is bright, and they’re likely to see more than 3 wins in the coming seasons.
Arkansas did better this year. I was pulling for them to beat Missouri, but they’re definitely a better team than what their record shows.
That deflection for an interception looked almost identical to the one Auburn deflected to Wydermyer. Good to see some luck finally going the way of the previously downtrodden teams. It’s a great feeling when you see your team turning the corner. We all need that kind of feeling occasionally – especially with all that’s gone on this year.
Jefferson looked good. He has 3 more years and I am sure he will improve alot..Same to be said for Bazelak.
Yea I was pretty impressed with bazelak, we made it pretty easy for him but he carved them up.
That was a great game. Mizzou in past years almost always found ways to lose this type of game. Also, Pittman is a great coach and Jefferson is a stud. Good things coming for Arkansas.
It’s a shame 4 horrible calls has cost us 3 games this season, that’s got to be a gut punch for the kids. Hopefully it makes them hungrier so games aren’t decided by singular moments.
We’re very proud of this team and the coaching staff, good times are on the horizon!
I can agree that one or two game outcomes this season have arguably been decided by bad calls, but not all 4. Yes, bad calls were factors, but ultimately there were many of our own mistakes that helped decide those games, not just those calls.
Agree here, but ultimately we need to get to a level that calls become irrelevant. The bigger issue I see this year has been Depth. Lose Catalon and the game is over. Lose 3-4 players on a D-line it costs you an LSU win. I’d also so, if Arkansas played Auburn or LSU, there is no doubt who’d win and that makes you look forward to next year with recruiting, playbook knowledge etc.
That’s mostly because Pittman has only had 1 year to recruit, so he’s mostly just been working with the remains on the Morris offense. I’ve heard he’s a great recruiter though, so I’m hoping that next year will be even better.
A very nice turnaround under Pittman. I hope Franks comes back and Arkansas has a good year next year (other than if they play Florida).
I really wanted to win the game yesterday….Arkansas “woulda, shoulda, coulda” but didn’t so I congrat Mizzou and their fans…it was our game to lose & we did. In spite of all the positive press we received for our defensive play…we never really stopped Mizzou and IF we had a kicker, we should have won…we did improve, however we were cheated out of the Auburn game, should have beaten LSU and should have been beaten Mizzou. I am not counting AL if that game really happens,….perhaps St. Nick will call off the dogs after half-time. As a Arkansas fan, I am optimistic overall…but wished we would have played better at times…
Mizzou beat Arky fair and square. We lost our defensive leader as well to a questionable call. Saying you should have beaten Mizzou is false. Your team had a chance to win but didn’t stop the Tigers and Missouri won.
There’s a belief among some hog football fans that they think the Razorbacks are automatically better than Mizzou. It certainly hasn’t played out that way. We’ve been the better team for five straight years.
Arky was without theirs for the first half. But at any rate, neither teams was doing much to stop the other.
Arky SHOULD have beat Mizzou, but our Defense let us down. No one to blame but ourselves. It’s hard to claim either of us is the better team after that showing.
Mizzou got the W. We are the better team this year and the last 5.
Thanks for beating that drum ad nauseum, tony. I didn’t get it the first 49 times. Repeat it a few more, and who knows, you might start believing it yourself, even.
We had an opportunity to win and end the Mizzou run. But alas, we played a very soft D with next to zero pressure on Baz. And our kicking was putrid. Congrats on another W.
Swineflu, Just rubs me the wrong way when I feel Mizzou gets disrespected. Too many years of azzkickings by other teams and a torrent of insults by fans of those teams. Besides, this is supposed to be a rivalry right?
It really doesn’t feel that way though. I’m not sure I could ever hate Arkansas the way I hate Kansas.
The biggest problem for me is I like people from Arkansas. I’ve vacationed there and really enjoyed it. How can I hate you all?
Missouri and Kansas hatred goes back to the civil war. It’s easy to hate Kansas.
Probably not going to stop defending Mizzou so feel free to respond in kind.
Dang bro you are fixated, why don’t you just let us gripe about how close we were and you go over and get some more Drinkwitz koolaid. We will see which coach is still coaching in 5 years
That’s a good one. Its the Arky site here so let em vent. If you guys are over on the Missouri site, then tamp it down…its done.
Not sure if this was and SEC football game or a school play call The Big 12.
This was a fun game to watch. It definitely could have gone with way. Arkansas is going to be a lot better in the years to come.
“They haven’t beaten the Tigers since 2015.”
I just like hearing it.
“The loss likely means the Razorbacks will finish the season at 3-7,”
If 3-7 looks like light at the end of the tunnel then you may be a canary.
You gotta think about it though, 3-7 this year means we got 3 sec wins, something we haven’t experienced in a long time up until this point. All of our losses either came from top 10 teams, or had only been lost by a margin of 3 points or less (and everybody knows we should’ve won against Auburn, but I ain’t gonna beat that dead horse right now). And best of all, we’ve actually got something to look forward to next year.
Tigurrr sounds like he’s got to be going on 15 years old with these mature posts. Hope things are indeed trending up for the hogs.
My son in Arkansas says he is skeptical of the defense…and I guess he should be. But I reminded him that they have three loses by a total of one touchdown, six points. With some luck going the Hogs way instead of the other and a nonconference schedule in a normal year, this might have looked something like turning from 2-10 (0-8) to a 6-6 or even 7-5 (I dont know 4-4 in conference or 3-5). Really they should at least consider this..They werent even scheduled to play Georgia and Florida I dont believe before the virus took control. All in all, I’d say its clearly a move in the right direction. Its a tough row to hoe in the West.