Back in 2003, when Sam Pittman was offensive line coach in the Mid-American Conference at Northern Illinois, his Huskies beat three power-five conference teams, two of them ranked.
Flash-forward 20 years and Pittman is now the power-five coach hoping to avoid a similar fate when MAC opponent Kent State visits Fayetteville on Saturday.
Arkansas wasn’t ranked in the preseason polls, though the Razorbacks did pick up several votes, and likely won’t be Tuesday when the first of the season’s is released. The Hogs are the sort of team who can crack the Top 25, though, and a Kent State win would qualify as a massive upset.
So the head Hog knows better than to look beyond.
“That year (2003) we beat Alabama, beat Maryland, beat Iowa State, went 10-2 and didn’t get a bowl invite,” Pittman said. “That’s how things have changed. They’ll be tough. They’ll play hard.”
The Golden Flashes are rebuilding under second-year coach Kenni Burns. They were predicted to finish at the bottom of the MAC’s East Division. In their opener against Central Florida, the Golden Knights dominated, 56-6.
But between Pittman’s readiness and Arkansas fans’ dark memories about Toledo, another MAC team that entered Little Rock as underdogs, in the 2010s, the Razorbacks will be ready, the coach said.
“They’ll come in here believing they can win. That’s how it was when I was at Western Michigan. That’s how it was when I was at Northern Illinois,” Pittman said. “They’ll be ready to play.”
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