Hogs quarterback’s improved accuracy over the course of the season has put Arkansas in strong position at end of year.
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Hogs manage to cling to being ranked in AP poll
This is going to be an interesting couple of weeks to finish the college football season.
Arkansas is still hanging on in the Associated Press poll released Sunday, falling four spots to No. 25 after a 42-35 loss to Alabama on Saturday.
The Razorbacks are the only team with four losses to be ranked this week.
The Crimson Tide fell one spot to third in the AP while staying No. 2 in the coaches’ poll that saw the Hogs fall out.
While Georgia remained at the top in both polls all the interesting moves are in the spots below them as teams start to fight for one of the four spots to have a shot at a national championship.
Ohio State took Michigan State to the woodshed Saturday, 56-7, and jumped to second in the AP poll while staying third with the coaches.
Cincinnati, trying to be the first team from a non-Power 5 conference to make the cut for the College Football Playoff, is hanging in at No. 4 in both polls.
The important ranking, the CFP, will come out Tuesday. The Hogs were ranked 21st there last week, but could hang in near the bottom of those rankings after staying close to Alabama.
The Bearcats could get into the all-important fourth spot unless the committee jumps them with Michigan this week after No. 3 Oregon was manhandled by Utah on Saturday.
Get ready because it could be interesting.
Huddle Up Episode 12: Respect earned in Tuscaloosa
Tye & JD on the tough loss to Alabama, Thanksgiving plans, looking to Mizzou and more!
Hog Reaction: Razorbacks fall short at #2 Alabama 42-35
Drew Barrett and Zach Arns take your calls and text after the Hogs fall short to the number 2 team in the country Alabama Crimson Tide.
Hogs coach Sam Pittman: Didn’t go to Tuscaloosa to get beat
Arkansas coach not claiming any moral victories but admitted they came up just short against No. 2 Alabama.
Hogs LB Grant Morgan: Recapping loss to second-ranked Crimson Tide
“Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” super senior linebacker said after 42-35 loss.
Hogs KJ Jefferson: Relationship with Treylon Burks, looking at loss to Tide
Arkansas quarterback roomed with the wide receiver as freshmen, have stayed close over three seasons.
GAMEDAY LIVE: Hogs stay within sight of Alabama, but can’t get enough plays
In the end, No. 2 Alabama made more big plays than No. 21 Arkansas to come away with a hard-fought 42-35 win in Tuscaloosa.
Arkansas (7-3 overall, 3-3 SEC) looks to build on a magical season in Tuscaloosa against the Crimson Tide (9-1, 5-1) by doing something they haven’t done since 2006.
That was the last time the Razorbacks beat Alabama. For younger folks, the iPhone didn’t come around until a year or so later.
The Crimson Tide come in as a 20.5-point favorite at SISportsBook.
HitThatLine will have live updates throughout the game here in order.
GAME INFORMATION
No. 21 Arkansas Razorbacks vs. No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide
Current Records: Arkansas (7-3, 3-3 SEC) vs. Alabama (9-1, 5-1 SEC)
Date/Time: Saturday, Nov. 20 at 2:30 p.m.
Where: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
TV/Streaming: CBS
Radio: HitThatLine.com, ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and central Arkansas, 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
Sportsbook Info (via SI Sportsbook)
Moneyline: Arkansas +900, Mississippi State -1613
Spread: Arkansas +20.5, Alabama -20.5
Total: 57.5 – Over: (-110), Under: (-105)
First Quarter
1Q 8:34: Hayden Henry blows up a block and Alabama’s Brian Robinson slips, but wasn’t going to pick up a fourth-and-1 in Arkansas territory after an 11-play, 45-yard drive that stalled out on the Arkansas 30. Hogs 0, Alabama 0
1Q 7:41: Big stop by Hogs’ defense to avoid going down big as KJ Jefferson drops what appeared to be an early snap from center but they can’t get a first down and have to settle for a 48-yard field goal from Will Reichard. Alabama 3, Hogs 0
End Halftime Alabama leading, 3-0
2Q 14:54: Alabama starts at it’s own 2-yard line and drives 98 yards in just nine players with Bryce Young throwing to John Metchie for a 20-yard scoring pass. The Tide’s offense got things straightened out in that drive and the Hogs’ defense couldn’t do a whole lot to stop them. Alabama 10, Hogs 0
2Q 6:06: Maybe the key is get backed up to your own goal and take off on a drive. Arkansas was backed up to its own 4-yard line, then ripped off a 96-yard drive in 14 plays with KJ Jefferson passing to Treylon Burks, who broke a tackle and scored from 15 yards out. Alabama 10, Hogs 7
2Q 5:21: It didn’t take Alabama long to answer. After the Hogs’ scoring play, Bryce Young throws 79 yards down the middle of the field to Jameson Williams (who broke past double coverage) and Alabama pulls away again. Alabama 17, Hogs 7
2Q 3:12: Arkansas comes right back as a couple of big runs by Trelon Smith set up the passing game and Jefferson threw a 40-yard scoring play to Warren Thompson where a touchdown was called, but replay put the ball inside the 1. Dominique Johnson carried the next play and got into the end zone, but replay had to overturn the obvious fact he was in. Alabama 17, Hogs 14
2Q 1:44: This one has quickly turned into a scoring festival and nobody can stop anybody. Alabama whips 75 yards down the field in six plays with Young finding Williams crossing the field and he out-runs the Hogs’ secondary for another score. Alabama 24, Hogs 14
End Half with Alabama leading, 24-14
Halftime Stats Leaders
Total offense: Alabama 345, Arkansas 244
Passing yards: Alabama 287, Arkansas 163
Alabama’s offense is almost unstoppable when they are hooked up and everything is working. Arkansas’ offense is more workmanlike and can get bogged down quicker.
You wonder how much depth is going to come into play in the second half.
Third quarter
3Q 11:31: Alabama took the second-half kickoff and drove down the field with Young scrambling, then throwing a sidearm pass to Christian Leary just short of the line of scrimmage for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Alabama 31, Hogs 14
3Q 10:09: On a key third-and-1, Jefferson throws a back-shoulder pass to Burks, who catches it, then out-runs the entire Alabama secondary to complete a 75-yard scoring play to answer Tide’s touchdown. Alabama 31, Hogs 21
3Q 1:09: After missing a 48-yard field on the previous possession, Reichard makes good one a 30-yarder to open the lead as the Crimson Tide’s defense is starting to come up with solutions to Hogs’ offense. Alabama 34, Hogs 21
End Third Quarter, Alabama leads 34-21
4Q 11:21: As Reid Bauer went up for a jump pass on a fake field goal, a lot of Razorback fans probably had flashbacks to miserable failures of such attempts but this time it worked. He finds Blake Kern, who made another one-handed catch and ran into the end zone for a 32-yard score. They can work. Alabama 34, Hogs 28
4Q 5:39: On a third-and-10, Young finds Williams wide open down the middle for a 40-yard scoring strike that put Alabama at 673 yards of offense for the game. Young has passed for 561 yards and the Hogs have a problem. The Tide gets a 2-point conversion as Young runs up the middle. Alabama 42, Hogs 28
4Q 1:02: Arkansas doesn’t give up as a 12-play, 75-yard drive ends with a 17-yard pass from Jefferson to Rocket Sanders in the corner of the end zone. Now it’s left to an onsides kick. Alabama 42, Hogs 35
ANDY’S PICKS: Hog fans didn’t need Saban calling out his players AND fans
Arkansas really didn’t need Alabama to get any extra motivation or the “rat poison” thing to come up again.
But it did Thursday night on Nick Saban’s weekly radio show, the Crimson Tide players and the fans about a feeling of what he called entitlement.
Earlier this week Saban wasn’t doing anything to motivate Arkansas, but apparently he decided to try and light a fire under his players.
“I actually got onto the players pretty good yesterday about that because you want to try to build and finish and players have to understand what it takes to finish,” Saban said. “This very thing that I talked about, when all you read and hear is the unimportance of the game you’re playing and the lack of respect for the team you’re playing from other people outside.”
Okay, that got the players’ attention. Again, the Razorbacks really didn’t need the Crimson Tide to have Saban getting them fired up.
The results of that usually aren’t great for teams coming into Tuscaloosa.
Players and fans have cell phones and access to social media, too. Saban can’t control that and what gets put there drives him crazy.
“Because amazing to me, everybody believes what they read,” Saban said. “You all can put whatever you want on your phone and run into the wall looking at it, but they believe it. That’s not a good thing. That’s very, very difficult and you have to have a lot of maturity and a lot of good leadership on your team because it creates this culture of what I just talked about — we’ll just show up and win.
“We’re just going to show up and win and it doesn’t work that way. I challenged the players and I challenged the leadership on the team to make sure that we go about and do things the right way.”
For the Hogs they better have more than a belief they can win coming into Tuscaloosa. If there was a chance the Tide are taking this one as a breather that all came to an end Thursday night.
Saban doesn’t want a repeat at home of what happened to them in College Station against Texas A&M (a 41-38 loss).
“Arkansas has got a good team,” Saban said. “I don’t know why anybody would think they don’t have a good team. They’re 7-3, they beat Texas, they beat Texas A&M — who beat us — so I don’t get it.
“And they lost 52-51 to Ole Miss because they went for two at the end of the game — which I’m not blaming the coach for doing that, they didn’t make it. On a two-point conversion, it all came down to that. So I don’t understand it.”
For good measure he’s not happy with the Alabama fans, who have basically felt entitled for most of the last 60 years.
““Maybe that speech about entitlement also applies to fans,” Saban said. “Not just players. We have great fans, don’t get me wrong.
“But sometimes I think that fans don’t understand how what they do can impact the psychological disposition of young people and what they need to be doing so that they can play the way they need to play.”
If Hog fans thought this was going to be an Alabama team looking ahead to Auburn next week that probably isn’t going to happen now.
That may have been their best shot, whether they believe they can win the game or not.
Alabama 49, Arkansas 21
Pete Morgan was right in his picks about nobody having a clue who’s got the most right. The guess here is he’s leading and that probably won’t change this week as there aren’t a lot of obvious upset specials.
Charleston Southern at Georgia: This is, more or less, a scrimmage for the Bulldogs with a band, some fans and television. It won’t be close. Georgia 62, Charleston Southern 0
Prairie View at Texas A&M: Again, the score will be whatever Jimbo Fisher wants it to be, but the guess is no starters will still be playing in the second half for A&M. Texas A&M 63, Prairie View 0.
Tennessee State at Mississippi State: Mike Leach will still find something to complain about after this one. Mississippi State 42, Tennessee State 6.
New Mexico State at Kentucky (-36): This one won’t be close, either. Kentucky 38, New Mexico State 7.
Florida (-9) at Missouri: There is some sort of serious dysfunction going on in Gainesville and Dan Mullen seems to be playing the Wizard’s roll in Oz. How long he lasts is anybody’s guess … and a loss means he may not be there next week. Bye. Missouri 35, Florida 21.
Auburn (-7.5) at South Carolina: The Tigers will not have Bo Nix at quarterback and for a team that’s been a little wobbly at times on offense, the Gamecocks may have a better shot than you’d think. But that’s not enough. Auburn 28, South Carolina 24.
Vanderbilt at Ole Miss (-36): Historically, the Commodores have given the Rebels fits in situations just like this. Well, Vandy hasn’t been this bad in a long, long time, though. Never mind. Ole Miss 52, Vandy 10.
South Alabama at Tennessee (-28): Oh, good grief. This week is pretty much some bad games. Tennessee 54, South Alabama 14.
Louisiana-Monroe at LSU (-29): If this game is even close by the second half, Ed Orgeron should be told to go home and watch the second half on TV. LSU 48, ULM 6.
