Hogs disgruntled by narrow defeats
COLUMBIA, Mo. — In the 129th season of University of Arkansas football, the Razorbacks have lost four games by three or fewer points for the first time.
In Arkansas’ first five seasons from 1894-98 the Razorbacks didn’t play more than three games.
But since then they have played at least four games every season— and no fewer than seven since 1920 — without as many as four losses by three or fewer points until now.
Missouri’s 29-27 victory over Arkansas on Friday at Faurot Field had an all-too-familiar feel for the Razorbacks, who dropped to 0-4 in games in which a made field goal would have meant a victory or sent the game to overtime.
Arkansas (6-6, 3-5 SEC) previously lost to Texas A&M 23-21 in Arlington, Texas, and at home to Liberty 21-19 and LSU 13-10.
“They hurt,” said Coach Sam Pittman, who is 18-17 in his third season after taking over a program that was 8-28 from 2017-19.
“They actually hurt the worst because you’re sitting there and you’re thinking, ‘Well, maybe we could have done this. Could have done this on one play to change the outcome of the game.’ ”
The only years Arkansas had as many as three losses by three or fewer points was in 2008 in Bobby Petrino’s first season when they were 3-3 and in 2020 in Pittman’s first season when they were 0-3.
In 2008, the Razorbacks beat Louisiana-Monroe 28-27, Auburn 25-22 and LSU 31-30 and lost to Kentucky 21-20, Ole Miss 23-21 and Mississippi State 31-28.
The 2020 Razorbacks lost to Auburn 30-28, LSU 27-24 and Missouri 50-48.
There should be an asterisk by the Auburn loss, because the Tigers got a game-winning field goal from Anders Carlson with seven seconds left on the play after Arkansas safety Joe Foucha recovered what should have been ruled a fumble by quarterback Bo Nix.
Instead, Nix’s backwards spike intended to stop the clock was called intentional grounding and upheld after a video review, allowing the Tigers to retain possession.
The SEC released a statement after the game stating there was conclusive evidence Nix’s spike should have been ruled a fumble, but couldn’t be after the play was blown dead by the officials.
In contrast to the Auburn loss in 2020, the Razorbacks this season have suffered too many self-inflicted wounds in close losses, whether being unable to get a score or a stop when needed in the final minutes.
“It’s frustrating when you lose these close games,” junior linebacker Drew Sanders said. “We haven’t done a great job in them finishing as we should. We’ve just got to finish better.”
Arkansas is the only SEC team with more than three losses by three or fewer points this season.
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” sixth-year offensive tackle Dalton Wagner said. “No one wants to be on the losing side of that.
“And I assure you nobody cares more than this team that we’re on the losing side of that.”
The Razorbacks are 2-8 under Pittman in games decided by three or fewer points, including 2-1 last season. They hung on to beat Mississippi State 31-28 after the Bulldogs missed a field-goal try on the final play, beat LSU 16-13 in overtime and lost to Ole Miss 52-51 when they couldn’t score on a two-point conversion attempt on the game’s final play.
“We’ve had our ups and downs with close games,” junior safety Hudson Clark said. “But we try to keep going.”
The Razorbacks have a bowl game left on their schedule, though the matchup won’t be announced until next Sunday after the College Football Playoff pairings are set.
“Especially with a game that was close like this, you look forward to the next game,” Sanders said. “We’re blessed to have another one, and we’ve got to get that bad taste out of our mouth for sure.”
The Razorbacks will get some time off before resuming practice for their bowl opponent.
“It’s been a long season,” Wagner said. “We’re going to benefit from a week off, or whatever we’re going to have off. We’re going to get some guys back healthy, and just let the guys that have played a lot of snaps rest up, too.
“But regardless of how it has panned out this season, we’re still going bowling. We made the postseason. There were four years, three years that we couldn’t say that.”
Postseason possibilities mentioned by Pittman included the Las Vegas, Liberty, Music City and Texas Bowls.
“Any of those would be wonderful,” Pittman said. “But they’re only good when you win, so we have to get ready to do that.”