An SEC football program, Brigham Young is not.
But a power-conference bunch who can spoil a season with the flick of a pass or the speed of a back? Definitely.
The Arkansas football players who return from last year’s team are not doing what some in the fanbase are: there is no ignorance of what the Cougars bring to the table. BYU was a hair away from taking a lead in the final 15 minutes and pulling out win that had it gone the other way would have sent Arkansas’ season into ruin.
The Hogs’ defense, instead, picked up two straight stops of the BYU offense in the fourth quarter and countered back, ultimately winning, 52-35. Getting that result wasn’t nearly as easy as the 17-point margin would suggest.
“I don’t think there’s any concern that we’re going to underestimate BYU,” Arkansas offensive lineman Brady Latham said. “We’re playing them again, but we have a really new team. We’ve got a lot of new guys up front, we’ve got new guys at almost every position. We’ve got guys who this is their first year being Razorbacks.”
That might hurt, the lack of experience, but Latham didn’t mean it that way. He meant it more as Arkansas having players who want to keep Arkansas undefeated and don’t care who the opponent may be or who may be on the roster.
The reality is that BYU has been on a similar level, program-wise as Arkansas for most of the last 10 years. And while the Hogs are superior right now, pretending that the Cougars are Western Carolina or Kent State is a foolish idea.
“They’re a new team. They’re a really good team,” Latham said. “We’ve watched a lot of their film. They’ve won a lot of games. So we’re not underestimating them at all.”