Arkansas is now at the halfway point of the 2023 season.
This writer thought they would be 4-2 at this point. Instead, it is the inverse. The Razorbacks have lost four straight games, something they have not done under Sam Pittman since his Covid-19 SEC-only first year when they ended the year on a four-game losing streak.
There are six games remaining on the schedule. Arkansas has qualified for a bowl every year Pittman has been here (although it was COVID-aided in ’20) and he probably doesn’t want that to change this year.
The Razorbacks have to go 4-2 to get to .500. The games are at Alabama, Mississippi State at home, at Florida (a place Arkansas has never won), Auburn at home, FIU at home and Missouri at home.
If Arkansas wins out at home, which is not an easy task in the slightest, they will go bowling.
Anything better than that will just get them a better bowl.
Fans hoped for something much better than that in the summer and the preseason. There was talk of 9, maybe even 10 wins. KJ Jefferson and Rocket Sanders were touted as the best QB-RB duo returning in the conference.
Sanders missed three of the six games with an injury and hasn’t looked the same since.
Jefferson has looked out of sync most of the year, save for moments of brilliance against LSU.
If Arkansas could figure it out offensively, i.e. stop the silly penalties, win in the trenches more consistently and develop the running game, it’s playing well enough on defense to win the majority of its remaining contests.
That’s just way easier said than done.
Pittman is going to have to figure out how to make sure the players don’t let go of the rope. A lopsided loss to Alabama, and things may go sideways.