However they got it, Arkansas’ 38-37 win over Ole Miss on Saturday was still a desperately-needed victory.
There will be those that nitpick every aspect of it, but they won a game they probably had absolutely no right to win.
That counts, too. Despite the fact both teams appeared at times to be auditioning for a Keystone Kops football movie.
And, despite what Bret Bielema said later, it only proved the Razorbacks aren’t the worst team in the SEC West.
That’s it.
“I know you guys get your panties in a wad with me talking about being close,” he said. “But we have been. We were close against A&M. We were close in the fourth quarter against TCU.”
All that can really be said about that is the Hogs were close in 2014 to Alabama and still finished 6-6 in the regular season.
They were close to Mississippi State in 2015 and had a field goal blocked at the end and finished 7-5 in the regular season.
Last season, they were close to beating Missouri and lost to finish the regular season at 7-5.
Bielema may not like it, and he even admitted close only counts in dancing and hand grenades, but that’s just excuses for being mediocre in the past.
The jury is still out on this season. Mathematically, they can still finish with seven wins. If they do it will create a whole slew of other questions, but we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.
The question for fans — and people making bigger decisions — is if the comeback (the largest in school history) outweighs the disastrous start they had.
The only thing they were close to Saturday in Oxford was avoiding a complete disaster.
Yes, the Rebels are that big of a mess.
Teams in their position usually fold up the tent at the first hint of adversity. The Rebels pretty much did that when Hogs safety Santos Ramirez knocked the ball out of tight end Octavius Cooley’s grasp to kill what was looking like another quick Ole Miss scoring drive.
Arkansas took advantage of one of the worst defenses in the history of the SEC and got a couple of quick scores before halftime to cut the lead to 31-21.
Then the Hogs got the ball first in the third quarter and cut the lead to 31-28 and the game was on.
It came down to Connor Limpert kicking a 34-yard field goal at the end for a one-point win over a team that has the worst defense in college football, particularly against the run.
Opponents have averaged 260 yards a game running the ball on the Rebels this season.
Arkansas’ total?
That same 260 yards. Which is the average.
Whey they kept doing goofy stuff with formations and quarterback Cole Kelley faking dribbling while dropping back on a fourth-down play are mystifying, they somehow found a way to win.
So there is that.
But there are still more questions than good answers with this team.
Yes, they did get a win after trailing at halftime, a first under Bielema. They did finally beat a Power 5 opponent for the first time in nearly a year. They were able to kick a field goal at the end to win a game.
You would probably feel better if it was against an SEC team that wasn’t in the depths of misery of the Ole Miss program.
Bielema, tired of all the problems in the second half, changed things up this week.
“it wasn’t anything magical,” he said later. “It was about making plays.”
It was also having the Rebels as the opponent.
With Coastal Carolina coming up next week, they will be 4-5 headed into the final quarter of the season.
Whether you think they’ll make a bowl from that spot or not depends on how you answer the question: Was the comeback bigger than allowing the hole to be dug requiring it?
