De’Vion Warren represents all of Arkansas.

Warren dashed to the sideline Saturday and leaped into the arms of receivers coach Justin Stepp to celebrate … a first down? His jubilation was absolutely justified, though a little premature. His 11-yard reception had given the Razorbacks a new set of downs with a 21-14 lead late in the fourth quarter.

We were 1:44 away from an Arkansas victory.

Not against Portland State. Or Colorado State. Or Tulsa. No, this win was coming against Mississippi State: a real, ranked SEC opponent. Warren had every reason to nearly tackle his coach.

But it had been 20 games since the Razorbacks had accomplished that, and fate wasn’t going to let them off that easily. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and the last Bulldogs timeout forced them to punt after seemingly having the game in hand.

Mississippi State got 25 seconds.

They would get little to nowhere, however. The Razorbacks defense that stymied the Air Raid offense all evening once again came up with a stop when it counted. The game was over. The streak was broken.

It was just a regular-season game, but it carried the emotional weight usually only seen in the postseason or rivalries.

“It’s huge for our team,” first-year coach Sam Pittman said. “It’s huge for the season. I think recruits will look at that and say, ‘Hey, I kinda wanted to go to Arkansas.’ Well, now we’ve given them a reason to come on. Hopefully it will help us with kids in state.

“It seems like winning tonight was a pretty big deal. It kinda feels that way.”

Arkansas football tweeted a video of Pittman delivering a postgame speech in which he tells his team, “This is only the beginning.” He is then awarded the game ball by athletic director Hunter Yurachek and lofts it high as he disappears into a mob of shouting ‘Hogs. It’s enough to give any sports fan chills upon watching.

It’s hard to watch that and not feel inspiration as an Arkansas fan. It’s also hard not to feel inspired by the circumstances under which the Razorbacks won Saturday. Starting running back Rakeem Boyd went down with injury. So did receiver Treylon Burks, who had a 100-yard effort against Georgia. They also lost starting cornerback Montaric Brown.

The injuries could have doomed Arkansas. Instead, they created opportunities for other players.  Warren led the receivers with 4 catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. Joe Foucha had 2 interceptions, and Greg Brooks Jr. returned another 69 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.

“I learned that they’re resilient,” Pittman said. “There was a lot of guys – I mean a lot of guys – that went down tonight. It was next man up, and they stepped in ready to play. They believe in us and we believe in them. That’s fun to watch. To see them grow and start believing in themselves.”

To earn their first conference victory since 2017, the Razorbacks leaned heavily on their defense. There was plenty of talk coming into the contest about the Bulldogs’ Air Raid offense. They upset LSU 44-34 in their first game of the season as K.J. Costello passed for 623 yards.

He didn’t find nearly as much success against Arkansas thanks to Barry Odom’s defensive strategy. Arkansas played most of the game with only three defensive linemen, dropping eight defenders back to defend the pass more adequately. Costello threw for just 313 yards, a touchdown and 3 interceptions.

“We were so prepared,” said linebacker Bumper Pool, who led the defense with 20 tackles. “Everyone knew going in that we were going to do what we did tonight. People outside the facilities didn’t, but we had such a great plan. Coach Odom did an unbelievable job. It’s so big for us to get this win.”

Grad transfer quarterback Feleipe Franks was the calm leader among it all. He provided veteran leadership to a young offense that needed it, finishing 20-of-28 for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Although many of the players are the same, this team is vastly different from the one that took the field last year. This one actually won an SEC game. The glory days aren’t going to be restored overnight, but Saturday was a small sliver of what the future might look like.

When Pittman was hired this offseason, there was optimism, but also a dose of skepticism and realism. He wasn’t a big name, and though he was charismatic, people were reluctant to get their hopes up. But it’s hard not to believe now.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Pittman said. “But we are the University of Arkansas and we’re supposed to win SEC games. How many will we win? I don’t know. I can’t look into the future. But I do know at the University of Arkansas you’re supposed to win. So that’s what we’re gonna try to go do. I’m so happy that we’re gonna get to go brag a little bit.

“They deserve it.”