Hogs have best shot at league win against Vanderbilt

When the late, great, Paul Eells came to Arkansas in 1978, the first game he broadcast was a matchup with Vanderbilt, the school where he had been doing games for a number of years.

“I’ll never have a better situation than that again,” Eells said during the summer before that opener.

The last time Eells broadcast an Arkansas-Vanderbilt matchup was 2005 as he was tragically killed the following summer.

Interestingly, that was the last time the Commodores beat the Razorbacks. It was a mediocre Vandy team with a good quarterback in Jay Cutler. That 28-24 loss jumpstarted the negativity towards then-Hogs coach Houston Nutt with one of his worst teams.

Fast-forward to this year where Chad Morris is trying to get this team turned around with an overhaul from the bottom up and it’s a team that needs another win after beating a rather unimpressive Tulsa team last week.

Morris won’t use the word “rebuilding,” but that’s exactly what Arkansas is slap in the middle of right now. Morris and his staff have had to deal with the usual things that happen after a 10-year tailspin in the program that may have finally crashed in a 44-17 loss to North Texas back in September.

Special teams cost this team against Auburn, then Texas A&M where the Hogs had a chance to win it late. Next was Alabama who is, well, maybe the most dominating team we’ve seen and the Hogs put up 31 points and over 400 yards of offense, both of which are season highs against the Crimson Tide.

Then came the injury-plagued game against Ole Miss where Arkansas should have won before injuries caused yet another fourth-quarter collapse.

Last week against the Golden Hurricane, the Hogs didn’t exactly put on an offensive masterpiece. But freshman Connor Noland played solid at quarterback and Rakeem Boyd got nearly 100 yards for the third straight game (he finished with a frustrating 99 yards) to put up 23.

It was the defense, though, that raised eyebrows. They pitched a shutout on a team that came into the game averaging over 24 points a game.

With Ty Storey back this week, along with a healthy Boyd, this team may have gotten the shot of confidence they needed with that win last week.

The oddsmakers have Vanderbilt as a slight favorite. That’s because the Commodores have played just well enough to look good in losing five games in the toughest part of their schedule. That includes, by the way, a five-point loss to Notre Dame in South Bend.

Don’t look for much of a home advantage for the Hogs. With some luck, this game might draw 45,000 people to the stadium. That includes the band and cheerleaders, by the way.

But I think the coaching staff is also getting things figured out with this group of players and we’ll find out how well they deal with some success.

Let’s go with the Hogs in a low-scoring game that might come down to another fourth-quarter game.

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Arkansas 20, Vanderbilt 16

It’s league games this week with four teams getting byes (notably Alabama and LSU in advance of their big game next week). For the season I’m 62-9 with another perfect week last week while Peter Morgan limps into the final stretch of the season at 56-15.

-1 Georgia vs. Florida

The Gators nearly got caught napping in their last game against Vanderbilt two weeks ago, but snapped back for a 37-27 win.

It may have been a case of looking too far down the road.

Georgia lost to LSU, 36-16, which I think proved what I’ve suspected about the Bulldogs — they have been over-rated.

Georgia doesn’t have the running game they had last season and now they have drama all over the place at the quarterback position.

Look for the Gators to jump in the driver’s seat over in the East.

Florida 27, Georgia 24

-7 Kentucky at Missouri

When will the Wildcats come down to earth? Probably not this week.

Mark Stoops has quietly put together a pretty team, having built the program up from about as low as one can get.

If you don’t believe it, Hog fans, just think back to that game in the driving rain in 2012 where they just called it off at halftime because of the huge lead and the Wildcats were just so awful.

They aren’t now and Missouri hasn’t exactly been impressive.

Kentucky 31, Missouri 21

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-1 Texas A&M at Mississippi State

No idea from here on what has happened with the Bulldogs’ offense, but it hasn’t been as good the last few weeks as it was early in the year.

We’ll see in this one.

The Aggies still have a path to win the West, but a lot of it is out of their hands and depends on what happens in Baton Rouge next week.

Too much uncertainty with the Bulldogs for me to go with them in this one.

Texas A&M 28, Mississippi State 20

Tennessee at -8.5 South Carolina

The Vols shocked Auburn, but then folded up like a 40-year-old lawn chair against Alabama.

The Gamecocks haven’t really been impressive, but I’m not real sure anybody expected them to be this year.

Still, though, they should be able to win this one at home.

South Carolina 28, Tennessee 17