Entering the Saturday’s game against Western Carolina, there’s some pressure on Arkansas head football coach [autotag]Sam Pittman[/autotag].
A lot of that stems from last season’s extremely disappointing results on the heels of a 9-win 2021. But a lot of that pressure isn’t really dominating the talk around Arkansas football entering this year.
Instead, there’s plenty of optimism about the team’s two new coordinators, [autotag]Travis Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Dan Enos[/autotag], and the collection of talent up and down the Razorback roster. As for this writer, I’ve actually gone on record as saying this is the most talented roster Pittman’s had since taking becoming head coach.
However, while that is all great, games aren’t played on paper and a majority of the fanbase won’t be satisfied if there aren’t results to back up some of the preseason optimism. The elephant in the room over the summer has been the pressure on Pittman to turn things around and remain in the good graces of Arkansas fans.
That elephant has largely been ignored, but it won’t be for long if things start to go south this season. The best way for Pittman to kickstart this important 2023 campaign is with an extremely convincing win and no theatrics.
Pittman himself admitted earlier this week that the Hogs have struggled with “non-logo” schools of late, and he’s not the only one that’s noticed. The Rice, Missouri State and Liberty games transported fans back to the dark ages of 2018 and 2019 – times they thought were long gone.
So, not only do the Razorbacks need to win on Saturday, but they need to leave absolutely zero doubt. Western Carolina is an inferior opponent, who should receive an extremely lopsided defeat to go along with their six-figure game check.
If that doesn’t happen and Arkansas stumbles out of the gates, the temperature on Pittman’s seat will begin to rise. Not by much but ever so slightly. That elephant in the room? It begins to draw a little more attention.
It’s just one game in an extremely long season, but it could represent a lot more later down the road.
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