It is no secret the Arkansas Razorbacks face an uphill battle with an all-SEC schedule this season. Not only is it the toughest schedule in the nation this season, it is arguably one of the hardest schedules in college football history.
Plenty of outlets have Arkansas atop their schedule-difficulty rankings, including Phil Steele, who slotted the Hogs at number one in his updated list. Seven of the 10 opponents are ranked in the AP preseason Top 25, six being top 15 and four being top 10. Even with the odds far out of their favor, the Razorbacks refuse to back down from the challenge.
“I think the 10-game SEC schedule is awesome,” senior quarterback Feleipe Franks said. “I love the competition, me personally. These guys here, they love competition, so I think it’s a chance for Arkansas to get their name out there.”
The confidence is encouraging for some Razorback fans, but skepticism is still there for plenty. The truth is that Arkansas has lost 19 straight SEC games by a points margin of 747-353. The last SEC win came on Oct. 28, 2017, with a 38-37 victory over Ole Miss.
Gone is the Chad Morris era, enter the Sam Pittman era. Hope is not lost for this Arkansas team. A new and improved offense, thanks to new OC Kendal Briles should help with the lack of points. The hiring of former Missouri head coach Barry Odom should bolster a defense that surrendered over 30 points on nine occasions last season.
“Well, you look around the league, and I think it’s undeniable it’s the best football conference in America. You’re a competitor, you want to be a part of that,” Odom said.
The team retains a lot of its talent from last year, but that does not say much. The good news is, the quarterback situation will improve. Franks, who has a career 38-17 TD to INT ratio, has been running with the first-team offense. The Florida transfer has a career 63% completion rating on a team that produced four NFL wide receiver draft picks over his three-year span.
Arkansas will need to put up points to hang in games this season. The offensive talent returning will benefit from new coaching and more steady quarterback play, but it needs to drastically improve for the Hogs to be competitive. More importantly, the defense must hold opponents to less scoring. The addition of Odom and players like JUCO defensive end transfer Julius Coates and Oklahoma grad transfer linebacker Levi Draper will help.
“The thing with tackling is it’s eliminating explosive plays,” Odom said. “There’s a number of trademarks on playing good defense and one of them that’s towards the top of the list is ‘eliminate explosive plays’. It’s okay if they catch a hitch for seven yards, but get them down and don’t let it go for 70.”
Currently, Arkansas is only favored to win one game on the year; week two versus Mississippi State. The Hogs have a 50.5% chance to win the game, according to the ESPN Football Power Index (FPI). Though they are expected to be more competitive this season, it will be a struggle to get over the two-win hump.
Arkansas is a 24.5 point underdog to its week one opponent Georgia. The last time a Razorback head coach recorded a victory in his first SEC game was Houston Nutt with a 42-6 victory over Alabama on Sept. 26, 1998.
“Everything is different in the SEC,” Pittman said. “There's really not any on-the-job training. It's hard, because you don't understand how good the players are you're getting ready to have and play against. If you've been in the league, you certainly have a much better understanding of how hard it is to recruit and how hard it is to get the best players and coach those players, and the demands that it has to be to have success in this league.”
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September 05, 2020 at 10:00PM
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Arkansas not backing down from difficult schedule - 247Sports
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