Ranking Arkansas Opponents by How Much Impact Their Previous Game Will Have

When splitting hairs in tight games, high emotion or particularly difficult games the week before can have a lot to do with the ultimate outcome

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Aug 14, 2023 2:40 PM EDT
Original:
Aug 14, 2023

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When it comes to determining whether a team will come out on top each Saturday in the hair-splitting world of SEC football, the game the week prior often plays a major role in how a game will play out. A high emotion game or a particularly physical opponent greatly affects teams the following week.

With that in mind, the Arkansas schedule was analyzed with whom each team plays the week before in mind. What came out is a ranking of each opponent based on how impactful the game the week prior to facing the Razorbacks will be. Here are those results from least impactful to most.

#12
WESTERN CAROLINA

This one is a no-brainer. The Catamounts have no one but themselves to face heading into the game against Arkansas and that preparation is even done under the most ideal summer conditions possible with what teams in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas would consider cool, fall-like weather in their part of North Carolina.

Injuries can obviously happen at any time under any conditions, but this is as about as light and fluffy of a lead-in as any team can have heading into a game against Arkansas.

#11
MISSISSIPPI STATE

Not only do the Bulldogs have an off week before Arkansas, Zach Arnett's team plays Western Michigan the week before going idle. That's bad news for Arkansas. If Mike Leach were still at the helm, Vegas would lean hard on the Bulldogs to come into Fayetteville with fresh legs and out with the win. Arnett is a huge question mark coming into the season as the close win over Illinois was done so under the most dire of circumstances in his coaching debut. However, with Arkansas at Alabama the week before, nothing could set up better for the rookie head coach.

#10
BYU

BYU opens the season with home games against Sam Houston St. and Southern Utah, with the latter serving as the lead-in for the Arkansas game. A team that got beat by Utah 73-7 last season isn't exactly a giant boulder standing in the way before a trip to Fayetteville, but at least it technically is a game, so that counts for something. Just not much. Expect a healthy and undefeated Cougar team with plenty of time to watch whatever game tape Arkansas puts out in the first couple of weeks.

#9
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL

The Panthers head to Middle Tennessee, which is a much tougher game than a lot of people realize. The Blue Raiders took down No. 25 Miami last season and knocked off San Diego State in the Hawaii Bowl to end the season. There are much easier games on this list than a trip to Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Panthers aren't going against an elite SEC school, so the damage is minimized to an extent, but Middle Tennessee can do a bit of softening up on its own.

#8
MISSOURI

The Tigers' game against Florida the week before Arkansas isn't ranked as high as it might be in most years simply because there's no way to know which Gators team Missouri will play. Missouri gets a banged up Florida team that will have spent the better part of over a month on the road minus the home game against Arkansas before what's left of the Gators drags its exhausted carcass into Columbia. With Florida playing LSU the week before, it's unlikely Missouri gets Florida's best shot. If anything, this has the opportunity to be a confidence boost before heading to Arkansas to close the season.

#7
AUBURN

After playing a brutal stretch of five games, Hugh Freeze's team gets a chance to regroup with its softest game since the middle of September. The Tigers head to what could be a salty Vanderbilt team. It's hard for Arkansas fans to remember that had the Commodores held on against Missouri, Vandy would have headed into the bowl season with the same record as Arkansas. Thus, this isn't an automatic win. It just looks more appealing after a stretch that includes Mississippi State, Georgia, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.

#6
KENT STATE

This may raise eyebrows, but at some point people are going to have to recognize what Gus Malzahn has done down in Central Florida. The Golden Eagles open the season in the heat and humidity in Orlando. Anyone who has spent a summer day standing in line at Disney World knows how exhausting that can be. Then factor in a Malzahn team that put up nine wins last season before being able to recruit for the first time as a Big 12 team and there is a recipe for this game to have a huge impact on Kent State's physical condition as the team heads to Fayetteville the second weekend in September.

#5
TEXAS A&M

The Aggies take on Auburn in Kyle Field for the SEC opener, which was a coin toss with the Golden Flashes going to Central Florida. However, time of year matters. The talent wasn't quite SEC level for the Tigers last season and head coach Hugh Freeze hasn't been afraid to say just that. It's unlikely that's changed a whole lot in a few months, but Freeze and his Tigers will at least give a fighting effort to prove to their fans they're worth getting behind. A&M will likely get the win, but an Auburn team with a chip on its shoulder early in the year will at least offer a fight.

#4
LSU

The Tigers will likely be a Top 10 team when Arkansas heads to Baton Rouge, but that will require a trip into Starkville to face Mississippi State in Arnett's SEC debut. A fresh Bulldogs team should create physical issues for LSU. While Mississippi State won't be running the Air Raid offense, which dramatically increases the number of plays a defense has to face, and, in turn, creates more opportunity for injury as exhaustion sets in.

The bulldozer style run blocking Mississippi State is expected to employ can be equally damaging with the right linemen in place. With it being the first SEC game of the season, the Bulldogs should be able to offer their optimum punch with all their best players still available and motivated.

#3
ALABAMA

It doesn't matter how bad or dysfunctional things are at Texas A&M, the Aggies always seem to find a way to be an annoyance to Alabama. Heading into Kyle Field the first weekend in October could be brutal for Nick Saban's team. Not to mention Texas A&M eats up a lot of mental space in Alabama's heads. Other than Georgia, the Razorbacks couldn't ask for a better opponent and location to roll across the schedule the week before tangling with the Crimson Tide.

#2
OLE MISS

Not only does Ole Miss face LSU prior hosting Arkansas, the Rebels do so following what should be a brutal and emotional game against Alabama. There's a good chance Lane Kiffin's team is both physically and mentally beaten up by the time the Razorbacks get a crack at a team Arkansas dominated while Kiffin was mentally absent last season. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman couldn't ask for a better lead-in outside of stacking a game against Georgia prior to Alabama and tacking Mississippi State as the opponent after the Hogs. Under the actual circumstances, this is the best possible conference game scenario with which to follow what will be an emotional game for Arkansas with Texas A&M the week before.

#1
FLORIDA

The Gators take on Georgia the week before in a rivalry game. The Razorbacks provide the only true home game in the dead middle of a stretch of 48 days without a home game in Gainesville. A lot of injuries thought to have healed during the off week leading into the battle with the Bulldogs stand a high chance of being aggravated. The extra adrenaline surrounding a rivalry game against Georgia means more powerful collisions and harder cuts. Things will still be aching at best when Arkansas comes to town.