Sam Pittman expects Treylon Burks to be “fine” this week for the Missouri game on Friday after the star wide receiver was “beat up” last week against Alabama.

Burks caught 8 passes for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns in the 42-35 loss to the Crimson Tide, and was able to practice on Sunday, Pittman told reporters on Monday.

About the rivalry, Pittman said Arkansas needs to win more of the matchups in order to add some juice to it.

“I like the fact that we’re trying to get this to be a rivalry game,” Pittman said. “Obviously, rivalry games aren’t any good if you don’t have to separate winners every now & then… It’s probably a little bit more of a rivalry for us since we haven’t been able to beat ‘em.”

Missouri has won 5 straight in the series, and Arkansas hasn’t won since the coaches were Bret Bielema and Gary Pinkel.

Asked about the turnaround for the Razorbacks, Pittman said it took the coaching staff buying into the players and taking them in.

“I knew we had really good coaches,” he said. “… I really didn’t know a lot about what we had on the team… What we did when he came in.. they weren’t Coach Morris or Coach Bielema’s kids… they were our kids and we tried to treat them all the same ”

H/T Steve Sullivan.