Morris may need win more Saturday in battle of worst SEC coaches

Chad Morris has problems at Arkansas and, interestingly enough, Joe Moorhead may have a bigger one at Mississippi State … even as hard as that is to grasp.

At least Morris has a fan base that is rebuilding. Moorhead can’t say that, considering he had four of the first 44 players taken in the NFL Draft and managed just seven regular season wins last year.

Bulldogs’ fans are not happy with what some perceive as a carpetbagger coming in and some are hoping he takes the Rutgers job which Moorhead has been mentioned as the leading candidate for it.

But he does have an SEC win this year.

Morris is looking for his first over two and a half seasons into things in Fayetteville.

And he could at least throw a bucket of water on the flames that’s making his seat red-hot with a win. Shoot, he could help a little if he just figured out how to generate some offense on a consistent basis.

After two seasons of bumbling around with offense (which was supposed to be his specialty) and not being able to figure out how to get the ball in the hands of special freshmen playmakers, Morris has a big problem.

Now he’s running out of games because a large segment of the Hogs’ fan base has lost patience.

With four games left on the schedule, three of them (State, Western Kentucky and Missouri) appear to be games where Arkansas could actually pull out a win.

Or at least find out what he’s got at quarterback, which is a position that appears to many as something that’s been completely mismanaged the past two seasons.

The only person that has a clue who’s going to line up behind center is Morris and he isn’t telling anyone. If it’s either Ben Hicks or Nick Starkel, get ready for grumbling.

If redshirt freshman John Stephen Jones and true freshman K.J. Jefferson don’t see some playing time, well, the reaction may not be very pretty and the only way Morris can escape an ugly situation is to get a win.

The guess here is Morris has defied the law-of-averages about getting an SEC win this long. Sooner or later, you’d think the Hogs would win at least one league game by accident.

The guess here is they get it this week and it won’t be surprising if the Bulldogs lose it more than the Hogs do something special to win it.

Arkansas (+7) 31, Mississippi State 24

Advertisement

In our HitThatLine.com picks contest, Peter Morgan has gotten within a game of catching up. Picture a cat chasing a laser pointer.

Easy pickings

Texas A&M (-38.5) over Texas-San Antonio, Tennessee (-13) over Alabama-Birmingham.

Georgia (-6.5) vs. Florida

The World’s Largest Cocktail Party is seldom a blowout, so don’t even go there and the winner of this game will be the leader in the clubhouse of the SEC East, but the Bulldogs still have Auburn to deal while the Gators have, well, Missouri and Vanderbilt left in the league. It’s tempting to say Florida here, but Georgia will find a way to pull it out and keep hopes alive for a third straight trip to the SEC Championship Game … and another loss to Alabama.

Georgia 24, Florida 20

Ole Miss at Auburn (-19)

The Tigers dropped one in Baton Rouge last week, but nobody particularly noticed that neither team played very well. It’s the type situation Gus Malzahn usually bounces back with a big win against a Rebels’ team playing a freshman quarterback and struggling at times on offense.

Auburn 41, Ole Miss 20

Vanderbilt at South Carolina (-15)

Two weeks ago this game would have been in the Easy Pickings category, but the Gamecocks falling to Tennessee last week and the Commodores beating Missouri has changed that … a little. Never mind, South Carolina wins big.

South Carolina 45, Vanderbilt 14