Hogs facing tall mountain in Utah against good BYU team

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — At the halfway point of the season, Arkansas finds itself right back where it started.

Sitting at 3-3 with fans’ highest hopes dashed, the Razorbacks have to hit the road now to get things headed back into a positive direction.

Just like last year, only the record was 4-3 before a 4-1 finish to the regular season that ignited everybody’s excitement level.

A lot of fans just look at the offense. That’s a time-honored tradition for Hog fans, by the way, that goes back decades.

Whether anybody wants to admit it or not, last week’s game was probably going to happen regardless of quarterback KJ Jefferson’s status.

Against a pretty good offensive-minded coach in Mike Leach and a quarterback in Will Rogers that’s considered one of the best passers in the country, the Hogs were in trouble with a patchwork secondary.

It got worse when they lost a couple of defensive backs against Mississippi State early, then went downhill at a rapid rate.

This week they got a team in BYU that has a long history of wild passing attacks. They even won a national championship in a 1984 season not really playing anybody. I didn’t vote for them.

But it’s the only time a non-Power 5 team won a national title.

This year’s Cougars aren’t that good.

But they are capable of beating this Razorback team.

Somehow, some way, defensive coordinator Barry Odom is going to have to get some stops against the BYU passing game.

It will be a hostile crowd and a whiteout. The Cougars are 7-7 all time against the SEC, so they have won games before.

The Hogs have to get their running game to shorten everything and keep the BYU offense on the sidelines. Nobody has ever scored a lot of points while standing out of bounds.

All the running backs are healthy and that worked out well through the first three games. Last week in a loss to Notre Dame in one of those showcase-type games in Las Vegas, the Cougars held their own physically.

If you think the Hogs are just going to be able to line up and run all afternoon, that’s probably not going to happen.

This game is probably going to come down to Arkansas’ defense and getting off the field enough to get a win.

BYU on the schedule was a trap from the time they showed up.

The other part of this equation is the mental state of the Razorbacks. All we’ve heard this week has been positive from Sam Pittman and the players.

What did you expect? Nobody was going to step up to the microphone and express doom-and-gloom. That’s not how football teams work.

We won’t know until late Saturday evening.

The guess here is the Hogs are running into an electric atmosphere that is going to be difficult at best. The mountain simply may be too high to cross.

BYU 31, Hogs 21

The rest of the SEC is playing league opponents. It should make for an interesting week picking these things. Pete Morgan and I are probably around even in the picks contest.

But however far I am in front this is a week he may get a little closer.

Auburn at 9 Ole Miss (-15): Somehow Bryan Harsin is still the coach of the Tigers, but that could end this week with a bye week coming up. Arkansas has to face whoever is coaching the Tigers just a couple of days before Halloween and that game is too interesting with too many questions to even begin handicapping now. In this one, the Rebels should have a win behind their running game. Ole Miss 34, Auburn 20

Vanderbilt at 1 Georgia (-38): There aren’t many teams taking the Commodores in this one, even getting that many points. If the Bulldogs don’t have the predicted romp, they may switch places with Alabama in the rankings again. Georgia 52, Vanderbilt 7

3 Alabama (-7) at 6 Tennessee: If you think the environment at BYU is big, this one is bigger. The Vol Nation will be out in full force. This game is big-time tradition that is heavily weighted towards the Crimson Tide, but the Vols are playing the best they’ve done in years. For some reason, there may actually be a chance Alabama may be in trouble, but it’s really hard to pick against a Nick Saban team and I’m not ready to go there yet. Alabama 34, Tennessee 31

LSU at Florida (-2.5): Don’t expect a game that’s particularly pretty here. It will probably a grinder, but I keep thinking the Gators are better than what they keep doing and too many questions around LSU right now. Don’t look for it to be a wild shootout, though. Florida 27, LSU 24

16 Mississippi State (-4) at 22 Kentucky: Another close game for a Bulldogs’ team that has been drawing praise all week after a beatdown of Arkansas last week. Traditionally, road teams with a night game a week after a big emotional win have a letdown. That likely will be the case in this one, but this may be a magical season in Starkville. Mississippi State 28, Kentucky 17