Big Chance for Hogs: Winning Eight This Season HUGE
With a bye week it's time for true confessions about Arkansas football.
In August there weren't a lot of people that gave the Razorbacks a chance to win eight games.
Oh, there were a couple of people now that claim they knew all along and most of the people you listened to picking that in the summer sounded like you wanted to try and get them help.
It's kind of like there were over 100,000 people that were invisible now claiming to be at Razorback Stadium for the Texas win.
Yet the Hogs find themselves staring at a finish to what could be a season nobody expected them to have.
Joe Foucha goes high while Grant Morgan wraps the legs against UAPB last week.
Ted McClenning
How good?
There is a realistic path to win more regular season games than they have won since 2011.
When looking back at seasons, don't count bowl games counting the regular-season totals. With players opting out of the extra game, general lack of interest or late suspensions can affect things.
Or, in some cases, it's like the Longhorns in Houston for the Texas Bowl in 2014. The players, coaches and even fans had little interest in playing that game and it showed.
No, the regular season total is what matters. Winning a bowl game can cause folks to make stupid decisions (like the Hogs in 2014) or provide a bleak look into the future (2016).
Winning five to seven games in the regular season puts you in the average category. For the Hogs over the last decade that's a serious step up in football.
Nobody could criticize Sam Pittman getting seven wins in his second season. That would equal the combined wins over the previous three seasons.
But eight before a bowl game?
Arkansas hasn't won that many regular-season games since 2011 when they won 10 for the second year in a row and, for the second straight year, finished third in the SEC West in the final rankings.
Now, sitting at 5-3 there is actually a path to 9-3. That's probably not going to happen, but there is a winding path with a HUGE hill in Tuscaloosa to climb.
There won't be predictions here for this final stretch. Too many things nobody can predict from week to week.
Mississippi State coach Mike Leach
Joe Ford
And unpredictable coaches.
Which Mike Leach has Mississippi State ready or taking a nap next weekend? That same question could hold up for the LSU game in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers beat Florida, then turned around and laid an egg against Ole Miss.
Tell me which teams show up for those games and you'll get a prediction, but you can't.
For Pittman, though, how November comes together could determine the direction of Pittman's program.
And have an impact on recruiting.
Winning 8 is just more impressive than winning 7.
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