FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Only the most optimistic Arkansas fans even think the Razorbacks have a shot Saturday.
ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Hogs just a 14.5 percent chance to win the game. Even that is too high for a lot of people against No. 2 Texas.
History has shown the Longhorns win about 70 percent of the time. While the Hogs have won several in the most recent years, but most of that was in postseason bowl games where Texas had little to no interest in even playing the game.
At times, like 2021, the Longhorns were a complete mess. They are a completely different team now with better talent. The Hogs also had their best team of the Sam Pittman Era and got a 40-21 win fans still celebrate.
It will be surprising to see a repeat of that this year. Nobody, including many of the media that usually take any hope they can find to pick a win. There’s not really any way to do that this year.
But anything can happen. In over 60 years of watching these teams play, I’ve seen some weird things happen. But it’s impossible predict that this year.
Texas 42, Arkansas 24
Pete has gone completely out on his fan-boy limb in this week’s picks. Despite the fact of accusations involving psychics and psycho plus some other babble. Just like I have no idea where the picks contest stands, he doesn’t, either. I have the only trophy and I get to decide who wins.
Around the SEC this week, there are way too many “Good Grief” games that Pete loves. There are actually four this week.
UL-Monroe at Auburn: Good grief 1. The Tigers have to win every game they play the rest of the season for Hugh Freez’s nightarish season to come to an end. They will get their fourth win against the War Hawks, Maybe the biggest question in this game is if Auburn can manage to avoid the offense disappearing completely and one of these goofy upsets happens. Tigers 45, ULM 21
Murray State at Kentucky: Good grief 2. The Wildcats haven’t done anything except prove they had one lucky pass in them against Ole Miss and exposed Georgia’s offense as not being championship-ready. Other than that they’ve piled up one loss after another one. Now they have to win the rest of their games to make any kind of bowl game. There is no line on this one, which tells you everything you need to know. Wildcats 38, Murray State 10
Mercer at Alabama: Good grief 3. The Crimson Tide are positioning for the playoffs, which they’ve been consistently in the Top 10 all season long. A lot of folks didn’t plan on that after Nick Saban retired. This is the equivalent of an extra bye week unless a complete catastrophic failure happens. Losing to Vanderbilt is one thing, but they can’t afford to let Mercer stay within 35. Crimson Tide 49, Mercer 6
LSU at Florida: The Tigers were good, but not so much lately. Texas A&M exposed them badly and they just appear to be completely dysfunctional right now. At times, the Gators have looked good and there was a public announcement of coach Billy Napier going to return next year. The only thing is that may not be the case at the end of the season. If Florida can figure out a way to win this game, they could bring some sanity to the SEC race. Right now if LSU can win out they could be in the SEC Championship. But the Gators just aren’t good enough to stop them. LSU 31, Florida 27
Missouri at South Carolina: It’s really hard to guess which way this one goes because Missouri may be the most bi-polar teams this year in college football. South Carolina is good at times and then they got blasted by Ole Miss at home. It’s hard to ignore, though, the Gameocks are favored by two touchdowns. That might be won. South Carolina 28, Mizzouri 14
Tennessee at Georgia: This will be the game of the week as the Bulldogs getting dominated by Ole Miss last week will have them motivated to do better at home against the Vols. Tennessee had a stumble against Arkansas, but have methodically gone about the rest of the season. My pick is going with the crazy way the world is going this year in college football. Georgia 27, Tennessee 17
New Mexico State at (15) Texas A&M: Good grief 4. The only way this one is remotely news is if the Aggies can’t manage to score enough points to cover the 39-point spread. That probably won’t happen because they don’t want anybody get hurt before Texas comes to town in a couple of weeks. Aggies 42, New Mexico State 14
