Ah, cowbells. Everybody loves them, especially when you have 58,000 fans ringing them in unchoreographed unison. Love Mississippi State or hate them, Arkansas must make its way into Starkville Saturday to face their SEC West foe, the Bulldogs.
Before I go further, please permit me to extend prayers to Arkansas fanatic “Eddie from Clarksville” and his family. Sometimes we forget what is truly important upon this Earth, and all of our thoughts are with them at this time.
Back to business. The Razorbacks see this as a winnable game despite the fact that they are going up against one of the top defenses in the nation.
Mississippi State sees it as a trap game.
I see it as a reason to point out three aspects as to why the Hogs need to leave Davis Wade Stadium with a “W.”
• Arkansas has never lost 10 games in a single season. Winning one of the last two would eliminate this possibility. Of course, the Razorbacks have never lost nine in a single season before either, so a winning streak at the end prevents this new low.
• Recruiting. No matter what one says to rebuttal my beliefs, SEC losses always damper recruiting even in the smallest amount. This game can only assist with any future targets east of our friendly borders.
• Let’s be honest, Mississippi State is not on the same level of our hatred with Alabama, Auburn, and Ole Miss, however, we despise losing to the maroon clad university that fully eliminated our dwindling hopes of national achievement in 1998.
Arkansas can win this Saturday, yet I feel we must treat it as though the future of the program is at stake.
Ty Storey needs to start and play the entire game, and we do not need to finish this season in spring practice mode. A 4–8 season will feel and look leaps and bounds better than 2–10.
To top it off, Bulldogs coach Joe Moorhead made the generalized statement of Arkansas being better than their record. Let’s prove to him the accuracy of his statement.
Finally, despite my being mathematically all but eliminated from defeating Andy Hodges in this season’s “HitThatLine.com SEC Picks” contest, the conference rolls on, and pride is still on the line.
But I’ll roll with the Hogs pulling off the upset to win it, 34-17.
- The Citadel at (1) Alabama – Tide by… Good night, do I even really have to put this prediction in writing. Only Jack Crowe would pick Alabama to lose.
- Idaho at (13) Florida – The Gators vandalize Idaho by 31.
- Middle Tennessee at (17) Kentucky – Wildcats by 21.
- Missouri at Tennessee – Vols by 6, but only because they are at home.
- UMass at (5) Georgia – Bulldogs are happy to dominate by 24.
- Liberty at Auburn – What is this, Homecoming Week in the SEC? Tigers by 34.
- University of Alabama – Birmingham at Texas A&M – Easy win by 30 for the Aggies.
- Rice at (7) LSU – The Owls will lose by a rough 22.
- Ole Miss at Vanderbilt – The only other pure SEC match-up sees the Rebels defeat the Commodores by 7.
- Chattanooga at South Carolina – Gamecocks by 27.
Go HOGS!!!
Find me on ‘Twitter’: @PeterMorganWPS
