Are the Arkansas Razorbacks in a no-win situation heading into the Liberty Bowl against Kansas State? A double-digit favorite, the Hogs are expected to come away with a relatively easy victory.

On a late-season roll even more impressive than last year’s and with five wins over their last six games, the Hogs take on a Wildcats team that needed a last-second win over West Virginia just to become bowl eligible.

In fact, it was an Arkansas-like rally at the end of the season, a three-game winning streak that enabled the Wildcats to overcome a 3-6 start.

After beating Ole Miss and LSU on consecutive weeks for the second year in a row, the Razorbacks have no excuse not to beat a Kansas State team that was no better than an also-ran in the top-heavy Big 12. The Wildcats finished eighth in the 10-team conference with a 3-6 ledger in league play.

If not for a disastrous 2-4 start, the Hogs surely would have garnered the attention of bowl representatives in Florida and maybe even New Orleans to face a much more accomplished opponent.

But it is what it is and the Razorbacks can ill afford to sleep-walk through their final game of the season, one that could and should be a springboard to 2016. A victory goes a long way toward making the start of the 2016 season seem a lot closer than it is. A loss would be devastating, to say the least. Not only losing to what appears on paper to be an inferior opponent, but also bringing to a screeching halt the runaway freight train that’s defined the last half of the 2015 season.

There’s no reason to believe that Arkansas will falter or take the Wildcats lightly. After last year’s end-of-the-season run, the Hogs bludgeoned Texas 31-7 in the Texas Bowl. But that was a renewal of a heated rivalry and certainly carried more motivational significance than this year’s bowl opponent.

Arkansas and Kansas State have only played five times. The Liberty Bowl game marks just the second time in 45 years that the Hogs and Wildcats have met on the gridiron. Kansas State holds a 3-2 edge in the all-time series, although a seventh-ranked Arkansas team won the last meeting 29-16 in the Jan. 6, 2012 Cotton Bowl over the No. 11 Wildcats.

That reflection of commitment to finishing the season on a high note, which the Hogs displayed in Houston last season, is the same drive they must muster up again, this time in Memphis.

It shouldn’t be that difficult to do, actually. The Hogs are still a team with a lot to prove if their goal is to be considered among the elite in the SEC. And they’re really not that far off. A one-point (51-50) overtime loss to Mississippi State prevented Arkansas from claiming a second-place finish in the SEC West. As it is, the Hogs settled for a third-place tie with LSU.

So motivation shouldn’t be a problem.

A lack of it would seem to be the only thing preventing Arkansas from an eight-win season, which would be its best since 11- and 10-win seasons in 2011 and 2010 respectively. It would be an improvement over last year’s 7-6 showing and would also be the best in three years under current head coach Bret Bielema.