All Hogs

Burning questions: Wider look at SEC teams for Arkansas Razorback fans

What do Arkansas fans want to know about conference teams Hogs aren't playing?
Kent Smith|
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman during practice on the outdoor practice fields in Fayetteville, Ark.
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman during practice on the outdoor practice fields in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

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Arkansas RazorbacksAlabama Crimson TideSouth Carolina GamecocksOklahoma SoonersVanderbilt CommodoresKentucky Wildcats

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Most of the offseason has been focused on helping Razorbacks fans figure out who is on their team and whether anyone has SEC talent who might help the Hogs tip the scale.

A few days ago, that scope was widened to help Arkansas fans answer questions they have about the SEC teams the Hogs will face on their schedule this year. Now, it's time to pull back even further and help Razorbacks fans get an understanding of the remaining teams in the conference so they are ready for the season when it gets rolling full speed this Saturday.

As they take a moment to look across the SEC landscape heading into the season's opening weekend, some Razorbacks fans might be shocked to find the transfer portal was available at other schools and players also graduated or went to the pros, which led to changes elsewhere. As a result, there are plenty of questions about other schools.

So, here are some of those questions that will begin getting answered this weekend, in some cases in a big way.

Did Clark Lea put enough talent around Diego Pavia to truly make some noise?

Had this been one of the old school recruiting schedules, Lea would have been able to secure a bump off the hype and momentum surrounding his team last season. That would have elevated even more when it was announced Pavia was coming back to chunk the rock around to All-World tight end Eli Stowers.

However, there wasn't a lot of time to pull together a class with the December recruiting dates. He came away with 4-star linebacker Austin Howard and former Alabama edge rusher Keanu Koht, but not a lot else on the immediate impact front.

That will change as players watch Lea on the Netflix documentary as he easily stood out as the most charismatic coach on the whole show. Still, that doesn't help for this season.

That means Pavia will have to make an elaborate wedding cake out of Wonder bread once again without the benefit of surprise. These teams have already seen him in person, so they will be much better prepared.

Also, Pavia says he models himself after Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel. For those who don't know the story, Manziel lost himself in his fame the second season and led an Aggies team that should have competed for a national championship nowhere because he couldn't get himself together from a football standpoint.

It'd be a shame to see Pavia follow that exact path, but it's easy to see how that could happen given all the hype surrounding him. If that's the case, it may not matter who Lea put around him.

Can Beamer shine without a little Arkansas in his pocket?

South Carolina had a strong season last year and may have been the best team in the SEC down the final stretch. Unfortunately, they didn't get a chance to show how good they had become, which set the stage for a pair of important pieces to exit.

Former Arkansas assistant coach Dowell Loggains left to take the head coach position at Appalachian State after finally settling the Gamecocks down into his offense in a way that made them a legitimate SEC threat.

Also gone is Raheim "Rocket" Sanders. The former Razorbacks great got himself back into shape and became a fallback for newbie quarterback LaNorris Sellars in big SEC games.

Sanders ran for 143 yard and two touchdowns against LSU in a controversial game that ultimately kept the Gamecocks out of the playoffs, 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns in an upset of Texas A&M that kept the Aggies out of the SEC championship game, and a 126-yard, two touchdown performance in a win at Vanderbilt when the Commodores were ranked and at their hottest.

Beamer now must rely on Mike Shula, an NFL assistant coach journeyman who helped shape Sellars last season. Of course, Arkansas fans might remember him from some of the more tumultuous years in Alabama history, although he did pull out one 10-win season in the midst of multiple coaches coming and going in a short stint and a cloud of controversy.

Did DeBoer just have a coordinator problem?

Speaking of clouds in Alabama, they certainly are hanging over second-year coach Kalen DeBoer.

It seems to be a divided crowed down in Tuscaloosa. About half accredit the lack of on-field success, at least from a Crimson Tide perspective, to an inability to maintain the standards of culture set forth by former coach Nick Saban.

The others attribute it to DeBoer not being able to bring his offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, to Alabama last season. Fans will get to find out for sure which side is right at the end of this season.

Grubb is finally on campus running the Tide's offense and the DeBoer team culture is more firmly entrenched so that it's more his style. With Grubb and DeBoer together at Washington, the offense put up over 462 yards per game and averaged roughly 4.5 touchdowns per game.

At Alabama last season, the offense averaged 410 yards per game and also put up 4.5 touchdowns per game. However, at Washington, the passing touchdowns heavily outweighed rushing touchdowns, while it was the exact opposite at Alabama.

Much of this is because Jalen Milroe is a stronger running quarterback than he is passing threat. If DeBoer and Grubbs can get new quarterback Ty Simpson to be more productive in the passing game, it could be a banner season in Tuscaloosa.

He was the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the country coming out of high school. It now all depends on whether he's a dual-threat in the way Michael Penix was for DeBoer at Washington, or closer to what Milroe was at Alabama.

Who is John Mateer?

John Mateer was the No. 1 quarterback target in the transfer portal and supposedly the savior of college football as we know it in Oklahoma.

He comes from Washington State, where he put up good numbers under the guidance of Ben Arbuckle, an up and coming offensive mind who was in his late 20's who came as a package deal with Mateer.

Facing a schedule that no longer included a conference because of the Cougars were left out of realignment, Mateer blistered the teams left willing to play Washington State. He threw for 3,139 yards for 29 touchdowns and only seven interceptions while also rushing for 826 yards and 15 more touchdowns.

Quarterback John Mateer takes a snap at the University of Oklahoma first fall open football practice
Quarterback John Mateer takes a snap at the University of Oklahoma first fall open football practice in Norman, Okla. | DOUG HOKE/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There were a few decent teams on the schedule, highlighted by Texas Tech, Boise State, Washington and Syracuse. However, that is a far cry from facing a gauntlet of SEC teams week after week.

The good news in Norman is a lot of their receivers should be back and fully healthy. That also includes the addition of Isaiah Sategna, a former Razorback who has become one of Mateer's favorite targets.

Can Mark Stoops keep his job?

Mark Stoops has been following the Houston Nutt code of coaching football for quite some time at Kentucky. He's to put together seven or eight win seasons for several years in a row, then pop up with a 10-win season that really makes the fans happy and dare to imagine national level success.

Mix in flirting with another major school, coming close to leaving, only to stay much to the temporary appreciation of fans, and he's got it down perfect. A losing season can happen every now and then, so long as there's a good bounce back right behind it.

This may be the part that is difficult for Stoops. It's hard to tell how good or bad his teams actually are lately because last year they jumped up and snatched a bite out of Ole Miss, ending the Rebels' dreams of making the College Football Playoff.

Much like Arkansas, Kentucky struggled to adapt to the NIL/transfer portal world, at least on the football side. It's made Stoops look like a much worse coach than he is.

However, fans aren't going to recognize that. Also, much like Arkansas fans, they've also forgotten what life was like before Stoops arrived. Football season was a dark time in Lexington.

Getting seven or eight wins was a huge deal. However, that doesn't mean they don't break out the pitchforks is Stoops can't scrape together eight wins.

With the SEC looking at potentially four or five coaching vacancies at the end of this season, it could be difficult to find a fit as solid as Stoops has been at Kroger Field. Wildcats fans might want to wish for something else instead.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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