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Is Top 25 Status Just More Disappointment for Razorbacks?

Explosive offense helps Arkansas to winning season, third straight bowl victory but that's not enough to get ranked
Bob Stephens|
Arkansas senior defensive lineman Keivie Rose (93) holds up a sign to celebrate the Razorbacks' 39-26 Liberty Bowl win against the Texas Tech Red Raiders Friday in Memphis, Tenn.
Arkansas senior defensive lineman Keivie Rose (93) holds up a sign to celebrate the Razorbacks' 39-26 Liberty Bowl win against the Texas Tech Red Raiders Friday in Memphis, Tenn. | Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Arkansas Razorbacks

Hope is better than expectation. So, Razorback fans, here's a suggestion for the 2025 football season: Hope for a top 25 team. Expect to be mildly disappointed. But hope for the best.

Watching Arkansas manhandle Texas Tech to the tune of a 20-point fourth-quarter lead was a late Christmas present to Razorback fans on Friday night. The 39-26 Liberty Bowl victory in Memphis capped a so-so 7-6 season for the Hogs, although it was so close to what could've been a wondrous 9-4 or even 10-3 joyride.

It was such a fun game for Hog fans to watch it surely even exceeded a trip to the Rendezvous, Memphis' famous dry rub rib joint in a basement with an alley entrance half a block from the iconic Peabody Hotel.

Eating those ribs and hearing music on Beale Street, birthplace of the blues, was likely the way Arkansas fans at the game topped off the night. Regardless of where you watched, it capped the season with the enjoyable taste of a terrific win and performance by the Hogs.

Arkansas' bowl victory also provided hope for next season in many ways:
* Quarterback Taylen Green's outstanding performance.
* Freshman Dazmin James looked like an LSU receiver.
* Young defenders appear ready to blossom.
* Offensive line was good and reinforcements are already signed.
* Presumed continuity of Sam Pittman's coaching staff.

Coordinators Bobby Petrino and Travis Williams are seemingly coming back for another season. Petrino engineered a rebirth of the Hogs' offense and T-Will inspired an occasionally stingy defense that still needs to get better through the portal.

Arkansas' offense ranked No. 2 nationally and tops in the SEC with 231 plays of 10-plus yards during the 12-game regular season. All they did against Texas Tech was gain 559 yards, with a bunch of chunk plays.

In the first quarter alone, the Hogs gained 260 yards on just nine plays, a startling average of 28.9 yards per play. That included a 96-yard pass — and mostly run after the catch — by James on a slant pattern. The 6-foot-2, 196-pound speedster outraced any potential Tech tacklers to paydirt.

James caught three passes for 137 yards. The 94-yard TD was his first catch as a Razorback and set the bowl record for longest TD pass. It's also the longest scoring catch in Arkansas history. All of that enabled James to win the bowl game's Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors.

Of course, there's no ignoring all those yards came against a typically porous Big 12 defense. Some of that league's defenses give up nearly as many points as their basketball teams. Still, how Arkansas executed offensively was spectacular.

Yes, the Hogs' defense surrendered 497 yards, thus the suggestion for hope and not expectation, especially with a rugged schedule on tap for next fall. Arkansas did win the turnover battle -- the bugaboo that kept this year's team from winning three games: Texas A&M, Missouri and Oklahoma State.

Razorback fans were surely thrilled by watching the fast start, the third-quarter recovery that also featured domination by the defense, and overall impressive performance by their team.

It was a special night for coach Sam Pittman, less than a month removed from hip replacement surgery and a season fraught with on-field disappointments and off-field criticism. The likeable Pittman stood tall throughout the negative barbs, billboards and breakdowns on game day.

The win makes Pittman 3-0 in bowl games, including a 24-10 win against Penn State in the 2022 Outback Bowl, and the 53-50 triple-overtime thriller against Kansas in the 2022 Liberty Bowl.

Here's hoping Hog fans stand by the coach, players and program and Pittman is able to finish with a flourish in signing quality game-changers from the portal.

That scenario might yield a Razorback team better than top 25 and justify the hope and faith of loyal Arkansas fans while leaving even mild disappointment to other SEC squads.

HOGS FEED:

• Hogs Fans Wanted Cam Little, Don't Realize That's What They Got

• Hogs' hidden gems have breakout in Liberty Bowl

• Razorbacks use hot start to down Texas Tech

• Calipari's three wishes for Monday's non-conference closer

• Arkansas prepares to say goodbye to what might be last beginning to end seniors

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Bob Stephens
BOB STEPHENS

Bob Stephens won more than a dozen awards as a sportswriter and columnist in Northwest Arkansas from 1980 to 2003. He started as a senior for the 1975 Fayetteville Bulldogs’ state championship basketball team, and was drafted that summer in the 19th round by the St. Louis Cardinals but signed instead with Norm DeBriyn's Razorbacks, playing shortstop and third base. Bob has written for the Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, New Jersey Star-Ledger, and many more. He covered the Razorbacks in three Final Fours, three College World Series, six New Year’s Day bowl games, and witnessed many track national championships. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife, Pati. Follow on X: @BobHogs56

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