Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Hogs establish hope of better days
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas football program, with a 19-game SEC losing streak, was staring at a 10-game SEC-only schedule when the season started in late September.
Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek deemed it the toughest schedule in college football history after the SEC saw fit to add top10 teams Georgia and Florida to the slate in late July. Many analysts were on record predicting an 0-10 season for the rebuilding Razorbacks.
But Coach Sam Pittman and company nixed that notion in Week 2 and proved they were a program on the rise with two other wins and by displaying plenty of pluck throughout their 3-7 season
A steppingstone season would be the best way to describe Year 1 of the Pittman era of Arkansas football, which ended abruptly Tuesday with the cancellation of the Texas Bowl.
The Razorbacks were 3-3 after a come- from- behind 24-13 victory over Tennessee in which the Volunteers dominated the first half. They lost four in a row to close out the campaign, two of them against LSU and Missouri featuring late- game drama that could have gone either way.
The Razorbacks were eager to take on TCU in the Texas Bowl, and they showed it by coming back from the Christmas break with no positive covid-19 tests Saturday and Monday. The roster issues within TCU’s program due to the coronavirus and other factors led to the cancellation.
Instead of jumping into winter conditioning with the possibility of an uplifting bowl win, the Razorbacks will have to stew on the fourgame losing skid that ended the season.
In his final news conference of the season Monday, Pittman was asked about his message to Arkansas fans.
“We obviously didn’t win enough games this year, but we have a way to close out the season with a good note and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Pittman said. “We want to win for the fans and we want to win for us as well. But winning a bowl game gives you six, seven months of good feeling. That’s what we’d like. We’d like to give back to the fans and give that to the Razorback nation.”
If the 2020 college football season taught fans anything, it was to not set plans in stone.
The Razorbacks were preparing to leave the Smith Football Center and board buses for the airport and on to Houston on Tuesday when they were given notice that TCU’s roster numbers weren’t looking good.
Otherwise, Arkansas played all 10 of its scheduled games in their proper order with only the last two — at Missouri and home against Alabama — moved from their originally scheduled dates.
That was better than most of their SEC brethren, many of whom had multiple postponements and adjustments. Missouri might have been the leader in that department, as the Tigers had eight schedule adjustments capped by the cancellation Sunday of the Music City Bowl against Iowa due to “a significant increase in positive covid-19 tests” for the Tigers.
The Razorbacks had waves of positive covid-19 tests from preseason camp through the season’s end, but they created a major impact in only two games: a 27-24 loss to LSU in which six top defensive linemen, a couple of key defensive backs and tailback Rakeem Boyd were unavailable; and the postponement of the road game at Missouri for one week.
Asked for a season summary in light of all the coronavirus problems and limited attendance, Pittman said, “Well, it’s a two-way street on that because our kids, they want the fans in the stadium, as well.
“It’s sort of like what we tell our kids. We have to deal with the situation. We’re proud of them, how hard they’ve played with the limited fans in the stadium. It’s the same way with the fans. We’re proud that they’ve supported us and have followed the Razorbacks.
“Hopefully they’re a little more excited about Arkansas football. I said it after the Mississippi State game, we finally gave our fans something to throw their chest out and we want to do that more often.”
The Razorbacks’ new resolve was apparent out of the gate, with a 7-5 lead at halftime in the season opener over No. 4 Georgia and a 10-5 lead midway through the third quarter.
Arkansas fell 37-10 in that game due to a rugged stretch late in the third period that included a punt block that led to a short touchdown drive and a pick-six, sending their SEC losing streak to 20 games over a stretch that dated to late 2017.
The streak would be stopped the next week at No. 16 Mississippi State, when the Razorbacks’ heady “drop 8” zone defense frustrated the pass-happy Bulldogs in a 21-14 decision in Starkville, Miss.
Pittman’s post-game revelry, after receiving the game ball from Yurachek, included the iconic line “Turn that damn jukebox on!” that became his catchphrase that was repeated after a 33-21 homecoming triumph over high-powered Ole Miss and the the 24-13 decision against Tennessee at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas’ statistics were not impressive, though this year’s numbers come with the caveat they were skewed due to competing against an SEC-only slate.
The Razorbacks ranked 67th in total offense with 391.5 yards per game and 105th in total defense with 451.7 yards per game allowed. They were 86th in scoring (25.7 ppg) and 98th in scoring defense (34.9); 78th in rushing (151.3) and 92nd against the run (192.1); and 52nd in passing (240.2) and 102nd in passing yards allowed (259.6).
Team passing efficiency was an asset, as the Razorbacks’ ranking of 24th reflected a high pass completion rate (64.4%) and a strong touchdown-to-interception figure (20-4). Pass efficiency defense ranked 53rd, much better than yards allowed, which reflected a big interception count (13) that ranked ninth in the nation, balanced against 18 touchdown passes allowed and 66.3% completions.
Feleipe Franks gave the new coaching staff the much-needed maturity it needed at quarterback, a deep-ball master and an efficient passer. Franks completed 68.5% of his passes (163 of 238) for 2,107 yards in nine games, with 17 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. His completion percentage broke the 41-year-old Arkansas single-season record formerly owned by Kevin Scanlon (66.2%), who publicly rooted for Franks to set the new standard.
Senior linebacker Grant Morgan led the NCAA with 12.3 tackles per game, racking up 111 in the first nine games before a knee injury kept him out of the finale.
Morgan earned first-team All-SEC honors, while freshman safety Jalen Catalon, junior linebacker Bumper Pool and sophomore wide receiver Treylon Burks made All-SEC second team as chosen by coaches.
Pool surpassed the 100-tackle mark with 101, while Catalon led all FBS freshmen with 99 stops in what amounted to nine games due to two targeting ejections. He also had three interceptions along with classmate Hudson Clark, who got all three of his against Ole Miss to earn SEC and national player of the week awards.
Junior safety Joe Foucha and sophomore nickel back Greg Brooks Jr. wound up with two interceptions each, while Morgan, junior cornerback Montaric Brown and freshman end Eric Gregory notched the other picks.
Burks, a sophomore, had one of the best receiving seasons for a Razorback in recent years with 51 catches for 820 yards and 7 touchdowns. Junior Mike Woods (32 catches, 619 yards, 5 touchdowns) had a huge stretch of big plays in the middle of the season and averaged a whopping 19.3 yards per catch. Senior De’Vion Warren was on track for a solid season with 15 catches for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns through seven games before a knee injury ended his year.
Junior tailback Trelon Smith took over lead tailback duties from senior Rakeem Boyd and wound up with 710 rushing yards, 5 touchdowns and 5.3 yards per carry.
Razorback fans got bonus holiday season gifts when Morgan, Warren, tailback T.J. Hammonds, tight end Blake Kern, offensive linemen Ty Clary and Myron Cunningham, and defensive end Dorian Gerald all announced they planned to return for another run at their senior seasons in 2021.
Arkansas coaches are planning to have a short break through the first week in January before welcoming a crop of 10 early signees to campus for the spring semester, followed by winter conditioning and hopefully spring practices, which the Razorbacks lost out on last year.
Pittman said it was a big deal to have 10 early enrollees.
“To get those guys to have a spring — assuming [it is allowed] — it’ll be bigger if we have spring ball,” Pittman said. “But it’s going to be big either way. The way of the early enrollees keeps getting bigger and bigger each year. Before, you’d be lucky to get one or two, and now to get to 10, it can’t help but make us a lot better on special teams.
“Hopefully we’ll have some young guys that can press some of the starters we have now to make them better players as well.”
The new enrollees are scheduled to come in Jan. 10 for a covid-19 test. If those go well, the newcomers can have physicals and fall in with offseason workouts for the veterans, which start Jan. 11.
“Hopefully we can get those guys oriented and get in no later than Wednesday [Jan. 13],” Pittman said. “Hopefully by Tuesday they’ll be able to start lifting with the team.”