Oklahoma State game next year will be a barometer reading

With no bowl game to prepare for, the Arkansas football program is stuck to looking towards the future.

2024 is upon us.

A few weeks ago, the schedule was released and of course it was a difficult schedule, because life in the Southeastern Conference always is.

The Arkansas football program, since vaulting back into the top 10 at the beginning of October 2022, has gone 8-14 since.

That includes losses to Liberty and BYU, two programs that are solid but shouldn’t be on par with Arkansas, especially on its home field.

If Arkansas is going to field a competitive team next fall, i.e. win more than 6 games, we will know based on how they do in Week 2.

Oklahoma State, while hardly a national power, has been a consistent Top 25 team over the last decade-plus under Mike Gundy.

They are usually in the mix for a New Year’s Day bowl game and have flirted with the College Football Playoff a couple of times.

The UA-Pine Bluff game the week before the Oklahoma State trip will tell us nothing about Arkansas, just like Western Carolina this past season told us nothing about the Razorbacks in 2023.

Let’s say Arkansas goes into Stillwater and wins by 2-3 touchdowns. That would be a convincing enough victory to convince me (and others) that the program has turned a corner and could compete for a New Year’s Day bowl game.

A loss or even worse, a blowout loss? We’re right back to square one.