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Bulldogs whip Razorbacks about every way possible

Razorbacks needing a bye week badly, but that’s going to have to wait until after BYU road matchup.

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For the first time in a three-game losing streak, Arkansas got physically manhandled by a team not known for that.

Mississippi State hasn’t been a physical team in a decade or so, but they were Saturday in a 40-17 win over the Razorbacks in Starkville.

The beat the Hogs about every way you can except in the kicking game but unlike last year it didn’t come back to haunt Mike Leach.

“We need a bye week,” Hogs coach Sam Pittman said later. “But we don’t have one coming for a couple of weeks.”

First they have to go to Provo, Utah, to play a BYU team looking to play back into the national rankings (at least we’re assuming they’ll fall out Sunday) after coming up short in Las Vegas against Notre Dame, 28-20.

The Hogs have to travel for a second straight week and right now Pittman doesn’t have any answer for a defense that has mysteriously struggled with injuries and everything else the past few weeks.

The Cougars throw the ball. Arkansas’ biggest problem before Saturday was stopping a passing game. The Bulldogs may have exposed some big issues stopping a running game, too.

MSU running back Dillon Johnson had 173 yards on the ground … out of a one-back offensive formation.

“It surprised me they could do it without using two backs,” Pittman said. “We knew they ran hard, but they ran over us. We couldn’t get (Dillon Johnson) on the ground.

“That’s been a little bit of a problem this year … or a lot of a problem.”

In other words, he admitted what we’ve seen through six games. This defense has problems all over the place … with the exception of linebacker where Bumper Sanders (who passed Tony Bua for the all-time team tackles record) and Drew Sanders forming a tandem that is playing the best.

Part of that is they’re good. Another part of it is nobody can make a tackle in front of them and if you’ve got guys in the secondary leading the team in tackles it’s an entirely different (and bigger) problem.

With Myles Slusher and LaDarrius Bishop out for the game, they lost Jayden Johnson. There’s no telling right now who will be available against BYU and we probably won’t find out a whole lot this week.

For a team struggling on defense, getting more people hurt is the last thing they need.

Pittman won’t use injuries as an excuse. It may be a contributing cause, but this team out-scored people until they got to Texas A&M and the Hogs couldn’t put more on the board in the last three games.

Now they have a three-game losing streak in the works for the 10th time in the last 11 years. The only reason they didn’t have one in 2016 was because they ran out of games and, if you remember, that’s when things began to completely come unraveled in the Bret Bielema years.

Pittman had a four-game losing streak in 2020, which was such a goofball year it throws off all comparisons. His task now is to keep the wheels on things and try to set up a run in the final five games.

It worked last year.

Right now, though, it’s hard to find a lot of Razorback fans holding out much hope.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
Sat, Oct 19vs LSUL, 34-10
Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
Sat, Nov 2vs Ole MissL, 63-31
Sat, Nov 16vs Texas11:00 AM
Sat, Nov 23vs Louisiana TechTBD
ESPN+/SECN+
Sat, Nov 30@ MissouriTBD
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (19)9-02711
2.Conway (7)9-02522
3.Greenwood (2)9-02213
4.Little Rock Parkview8-11804
5.Bentonville6-31575
6.Benton8-11386
7.Fayetteville7-21057
8.Pulaski Academy7-2978
9.Rogers6-3389
10.Mountain Home8-129
Others receiving votes: Joe T Robinson 12, Elkins 7, LR Catholic 7, Shiloh Christian 7, Valley View 7, Cabot 6, Marion 4, LR Christian 1.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (21)9-01331
2.Conway (7)9-01192
3.Bentonville6-3783
4.Fayetteville7-2504
5.Pulaski Academy7-2335
Others receiving votes: Rogers 7.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (28)9-01401
2.Benton8-11122
3.Mountain Home8-1775
4.Shiloh Christian6-3353
5.Little Rock Catholic8-128
Others receiving votes: Marion 24.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (27)8-11391
2.Joe T. Robinson8-11022
3.Valley View (1)9-0943
4.Farmington8-1435
5.Hot Springs Lakeside7-2214
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 8, Harding Academy 8, Morrilton 3, Vilonia 1.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (18)9-01291
2.Little Rock Mills (4)9-0753
3.Arkadelphia (3)7-2712
4.Warren7-2594
5.Malvern (3)9-0485
Others receiving votes: Dardanelle 18, Southside Batesville 13, Mena 6, Highland 1.
CLASS 3A
1.Bismarck (11)9-01081
Fordyce (11)9-01082
3.Osceola (3)7-1654
4.Prescott (2)8-1603
5.Booneville (1)8-1275
Others receiving votes: Mansfield 20, Rivercrest 20, Charleston 4, Rison 9, Mayflower 3.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (24)9-01351
2.Conway Christian (3)9-01102
3.Bigelow (1)7-2724
4.Murfreesboro7-2535
5.Des Arc7-2283
Others receiving votes: East Poinsett County 8, Marked Tree 4, Cross County 3, Poyen 3, Junction City 2, Mount Ida 2.
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (27)5-0831
2.Midland (1)8-0542
3.Cedar Ridge8-1273
Others receiving votes: Woodlawn 4.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.