If Razorbacks Survive Long Weekend, National Title Becomes Strong Possibility

There's a lot of talk about SEC dominance. For instance, men's basketball drew attention last season for landing a record-breaking number of teams in the NCAA Tournament before Florida eventually won it all.

SEC softball is also viewed as a borderline impossible conference with which to compete, especially with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma. Since 2012, a team currently in the SEC has won the national championship 11 times, and that's with 2020 getting cancelled.

Only once has the national championship game not featured an SEC team in that span and Texas currently reigns as the national title holder. Still, there may be a more dominant sport in the league.

See, in the world of gymnastics, it's currently the SEC and that's about it. As of last week (Week 4), only one team in the nation's Top 8, UCLA, didn't reside in the SEC.

Arkansas joined seven other SEC schools carrying the top ratings by sliding in at No. 6.

And keep in mind these aren't football or basketball national rankings. This isn't the opinion of reporters or coaches (sports information directors) who haven't truly paid attention to all of the teams.

This is a true national ranking. That means the scores from each meet is averaged to determine which teams currently have the best average score week to week.

It's essentially a giant national meet that keeps playing out each week, Fridays in the case of the media savvy SEC. That's been a huge contributing factor in the growth of the sport not only in attendance and hype, but in the recruitment of elite athletes.

The prospect of having a designated night to be featured nationally is a huge feather in the cap of a program like the one at Arkansas. No matter where a recruit comes from, mom, dad and anyone else from the list of friends and family can watch her perform against the best in front of thousands, in many cases over 10,000, on national television.

Throw in the Razorbacks being coached by famed Olympic gold medalist Jordyn Wieber in addition to having fellow Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross on an elite assistant coaching staff, and it's easy to understand why Arkansas has not only moved up in arena capacity with the move to Bud Walton Arena a couple of years ago, but up the average national rankings also.

The Razorbacks also have their own Olympian on the roster, which is quite commonplace of late in the SEC, in Texarkana's Joscelyn Roberson. She qualified for the All-Around at the national championships and was an All-American on beam her freshman year.

She will lead the Razorbacks into a huge weekend as far as eventually qualifying for nationals. No. 10 Arkansas faces No. 6 Georgia in Bud Walton Friday where the Hogs are going to want to hit 197.500 or higher to keep raising their national qualifying score.

Because the NQS requires a certain amount of meets calculated into its final number to come away from home, the Metroplex Challenge two days later will not only be a great test run for nationals, it provides an opportunity to eventually knock off their current low road score of 195.975 tallied against No. 2 Florida in Gainesville last Friday after a highly atypical performance on floor caused an unexpected drop.

The Metroplex Challenge takes place in Fort Worth, the annual hope of the women's gymnastics national championships, an event Wieber's Razorbacks advanced to in 2024. This year, Arkansas will get an early look at No. 1 Oklahoma while also facing Arizona and Texas Woman's University.

It's a huge opportunity to climb back up the rankings with a lot of points in a few days for prime position later in the year when seedings are solidified.

Down the final stretch Wieber's gymnasts will face three of the top four teams that includes hosting No. 1 Oklahoma and road trips to No. 3 LSU and No. 4 Alabama. Additionally, Arkansas will throw in a trip to No. 7 Missouri just to soften up the schedule a little bit.

Per tradition, the Razorbacks are weakest on uneven bars, although that's relative. Weakest means having to count a high 9.7 or two.

Meanwhile, floor is super strong, as is often the case with Wieber's teams, with the box filling up with high 9.9s. Balance beam, anchored by Roberson, is also drawing multiple high 9.9s to keep it a close second.

If Arkansas can avoid injuries, it could finally be the year the Razorbacks push Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama and LSU for the national championship in Fort Worth. However, that starts with raising scores this weekend in a double-shot of gymnastics that can wear on the body rather quickly.

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