Might be time for Arkansas football to take different approach

Pittman, staff need public backing from several sources to compete at high level in SEC again

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman on the sidelines against the Tennessee Volunteers at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Michael Morrison-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It's been a while since Arkansas won more than nine games in a season.

A person would have to flip their history book back a decade to enjoy reading about the magical 2011 season which featured the Razorbacks reaching its highest AP Top 25 poll ranking (No. 3) since 1978.

While it seems Arkansas has fallen far away from that stretch of competitiveness, the program sits in the same category with two other SEC teams and one from the Big Ten that can be considered a blue blood.

How Long It’s Been Since Each CFB Power 5 Program Has Gotten 10+ Wins in a Season 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xsIenZDz1j

— College Football Report (@CFBRep) June 24, 2025

It comes as no shock by how consistently mediocre Arkansas has become given how its athletics department wants to use caution before adapting to an ever-changing landscape in college sports.

When NIL took college football by storm, the Razorbacks had an opportunity to take that next step by capitalizing on its nine-win season in 2021 and seemed to do so by bringing in Dwight McGlothern, Drew Sanders, Jadon Haselwood and Landon Jackson as transfers.

Then, injuries took a toll on the season at seemingly every position and coach Sam Pittman hasn't quite regained his footing.

What could have been a special 2022 season turned out to be one that featured ups and downs, twists and turns that Dramamine wasn't going to help get over the nausea.

The Razorbacks started 3-0 with exciting wins against No. 23 Cincinnati and South Carolina, but their secondary seemed to get torched week after week.

At one point, former defensive coordinator Barry Odom saw his secondary rank toward the bottom in passing defense in all of NCAA, NAIA and JUCO ranks with 316 yards per game.

Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Ben Bryant (6) passes in the first quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

By midseason, coaches were so desperate to have any depth at all in the secondary that they pulled wide receivers, notably Quincy McAdoo, to shore things up and it worked.

Arkansas has become a standard 6-6 regular season team which has drawn ire from a fanbase desperate for the days of old.

Injuries totaled a special 2022 season which led to 2023 being anything but serious.

That's part of life as a coach, but college football has changed.

The Razorbacks were consistently knocking on the door of the upper echelon in the SEC from 1998-2011, but need a little boost to be competitive again.

Razorback FB from 1998-2011:

109-65 overall
60-53 vs. SEC
Six 9+ win seasons
One BCS bowl
Eight NY bowl
Five AP Top 25 finishes
4-4 or better in SEC 9 times

Since 2012:

67-91 overall
32-79 vs SEC
One 9-win seasons
Seven bowl games
One AP top 25 finish
4-4 SEC or better twice

— Jacob Davis (@JacobScottDavis) June 26, 2025

Houston Nutt built a program on sustainability which allowed Bobby Petrino to take it to heights unseen since Lou Holtz roamed the sidelines.

It seemed with the hiring of Bret Bielema from Wisconsin that Arkansas would remain on course for 10+ win seasons and a physical brand of football.

On paper, Bielema looked like a home run hire who would keep the Razorbacks in contention for SEC relevance, but that didn't hold true as his team couldn't quite get over the hump.

What he did have though was a way to keep guys holding onto the rope every single year, fighting to the bitter end of his tenure.

That winless streak against SEC teams will wear on anyone trying to give a jumpstart to a program which went through trauma just years prior.

After 17 straight SEC losses to start his tenure, including seven by one possession, the damage was already done from the outside looking in as the newly discovered "Battered Hog Syndrome" was already in place.

Anything that can go wrong will and that line of thinking from Arkansas' fanbase has trickled down to men's basketball and baseball.

Farmer's Insurance may get credit for coining the phrase "we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two," but Arkansas fans can stake claim to that saying since they have lived it.

The 6-6 threshold isn't the worst place to be, but it sure isn't the best either.

Perhaps, what Arkansas fan should do is have Pittman's back, let his coaching staff do the coaching and back the Brinks truck to the football program and let them work.

That might be the only thing boosters, donors and fans haven't really tried besides bellyache about it on social media.

The only way to breathe new life into a program at this point is sign a generational recruiting class like 2008 and pursue the transfer market with bad intentions.