The murky middle, they call it. It’s an area, in sports, where teams live when they’re not bad enough to be considered terrible and not good enough to be considered, well, good. No team wants to live there.
In professional sports, few teams linger long. Teardowns and rebuilds ensure long-term parity, even if dynasties are a very real thing. But in college sports, few teams know the zip code better than Arkansas. And after Saturday’s 21-17 loss to Texas A&M in Cowboys Stadium, the Razorbacks appear to have checked back into the proverbial two-star hotel.
Optimists can argue the destination as at least superior to last year’s roadside motel. Those bed bugs still itch. And that itching for an upgrade, even if it is better, still leaves bitter disappointment that this Howard Johnson ain’t much better.
Arkansas vs Texas A&M Rinse & Repeat Result
Funny – not funny ‘haha,’ funny ‘coincidental’ – the reason the Razorbacks lost for the 11th time in the last 12 years was the same reason Arkansas may actually be staying in an extended-stay place: exhausting inconsistency. The Hogs put up two 75-yard touchdown drives in their first three series then followed them with a maddening stretch of punt, fumble lost, punt, punt, interception, turnover-on-downs. A go-ahead field goal broke the stretch, capping a decent little 57-yard drive.
Then it was the defense’s turn. After allowing a three-play, 70-yard touchdown drive on Texas A&M’s second series of the game, Arkansas tightened on that side of the ball. The Aggies managed just 119 yards on their next nine drives. That’s fewer than an average of less than 15 yards per, though, granted, one of those drives resulted in a touchdown after Arkansas fumbled a hand-off inside its own red one and A&M recovered. The Aggies’ next two drives after that set? The game-winning touchdown and a total of 125 yards, practically sealing things.
Arkansas, now at 3-2 and 1-1 in the Southeastern Conference, has fallen to two Top-25 teams. Both in one-possession games. Not bad on paper. But the underlying statistics, not even the analytics, suggest a team that isn’t going to start turning close wins into close losses.
The Hogs entered Arkansas vs Texas A&M tied for 100th in the 134-team FBS in sacks allowed. They gave up three, which is below their per-game average entering, but did include a Nic Scourton strip of Taylen Green that sealed the game. Those sacks, combined with eight quarterback hurries, kept Green antsy most of the game. The problem is the same as last year. Arkansas allowed 47 sacks en route to its 4-8 record and saw the greatest statistical quarterback in school history leave in the offseason.
“What happens, especially if you start the game like that, your quarterback gets happy feet. Sometimes validated, sometimes probably not,” coach Sam Pittman said. “They (Texas A&M) were really good and I thought tonight they were probably as good as I thought they were coming in. I was hoping they might not be that way and that we’d play a little bit better.”
No Bail Outs for Arkansas Football This Time
Unlike the previous four games, Arkansas couldn’t rely on its running game to bail it out, either. Ja’Quinden Jackson entered the game as the SEC’s leading rusher but had just 37 yards on 10 carries Saturday. The Razorbacks also allowed another seven tackles for-loss, besides the three sacks. They entered the game 93rd in FBS in that total.
“I certainly felt like we had our chances to win, but we never could get anything consistently going offensively,” Pittman said. “It was all something big or a fake punt or whatever. Not a lot of consistency there. Couldn’t protect again. Kind of the same old story this week.”
Another one score loss. Same old story, indeed. When Arkansas isn’t terrible, they’re rarely any better than middling. Since Bobby Petrino left as head coach following the motorcycle wreck before the 2012 season, the Razorbacks have finished no better than one game above .500 during the regular season exactly one time. They’ve finished two games below .500 or worse seven times.
But poor seasons sometimes lend optimism, even if it’s ill-founded. Fans sometimes get the “Well, we can’t be worse than last year” saying going in their head. Such optimism existed this year, too, after last year’s debacle. Petrino’s return was a big part of it. Instead, Arkansas is what Arkansas has been under Sam Pittman. One 4-8 season, one 8-4 season. One 7-5 season, one (likely) 5-7 season. And the 3-7 season in 2020, well, it was in the murky middle, too, considering it was the COVID year and the Razorbacks were preparing to play in a bowl game that year, anyway.
Such a life is frustrating. I’m a big fan of the Dallas Mavericks and my least favorite season of theirs was when they went 41-41 in 2012-13, just around the same time that the Dallas Cowboys were reeling off three consecutive 8-8 seasons. That marked the first time the Mavericks hadn’t made the playoffs since I was in 10th grade. But that wasn’t the issue. The issue was the team felt directionless. And sure enough, the next year came a roster overhaul…followed by three straight first-round exits and then three straight seasons well outside the playoff picture. Those six didn’t bother me. A rebuild was clear.
College teams can’t do that. With or without Pittman in the future, nothing is on the horizon to show that Arkansas can rebuild to the point where the Razorbacks are regularly competing with the best the FBS has to offer. Bobby Petrino has already walked through that door. What’s left?
Checking in. Party of one.
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