How good is the 2024 Arkansas Football team?

By Jerry Meadows

FAYETTEVILLE — Five years ago, in the search for a new football coach, Hunter Yurachek wanted a man who wanted to be the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

He found that man in Sam Pittman. Known as the best offensive line coach in America, Yurachek took a chance by hiring Pittman, knowing he had no head coaching experience. However, in Pittman, Yurachek had a head coach who loved the Razorbacks and wanted the job. In his second year, Pittman led the Hogs to a 9-4 season and beat Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, and Missouri.

In his third year, Sam lost two primary coaches, Barry Odom, DC, and Kendall Brilles, OC. This coaching change, in hindsight, appears to be the initial events that sent last season’s disappointment in motion. The offense rarely had rhythm. The best offensive output would be at Florida. There were two areas where the Razorbacks functioned the best: in the kicking game and defense. Last year, Arkansas lost five games by 24 total points. In 2022, Arkansas lost four games by nine total points. Such statistics indicate that Arkansas was not far from being a contender primarily because of its defense. Losing ‘NINE’ games in 22′ & 23′ by 33 total points.

In 2022, Alabama had five one-score games. They won three by 11 points. while losing two by four points.

In 2023, Alabama had five more one-score games. They won four by 15 points and lost one by seven in OT. Alabama went 7-3 in one-score games with the GOAT of college football coaches, while Arkansas went 0-9.

After last year’s season ended, fans and sports writers predicted that Arkansas should fire Coach Pittman. The impatience by some fans and the overreaction by some in the sports media were causing an unnecessary cloud of discontentment to descend over Pittman’s future as the head coach of Arkansas. Fortunately, Arkansas has the best AD in college football, and he was not going to be influenced by the voices calling for Pittman’s job. Yurachek is a big-picture AD. He had all the information he needed in deciding to keep Coach Pittman. No doubt Pittman was thrilled to keep his job. During the off-season, Sam learned that Bobby Petrino might be interested in being OC at Arkansas. Sam made all the right moves for the university to give him the go-ahead to hire Petrino. Suddenly, the potential of a tumultuous off-season was beginning to turn into a cautious optimism.

There were many prognosticators, armed with all their negative statistics, who began to belittle the potential for the Razorbacks to win more than five or six games this fall. Many were picking Arkansas to finish 14th in the SEC. Still, such predictions did not account for all Pittman had done in the off-season. Keeping Travis Williams was a no-brainer. With Landon Jackson returning with Nico Davillier, Cameron Ball, and Eric Gregory, teams may find it difficult to run the ball against Arkansas. The only concern coming out of spring ball was at the linebacker position. However, Xavian Sorey and Brad Spence saw most of the action in the spring game. Still, Arkansas had Carson Dean and Alex Sanford entering their second season, with Wyatt Simmons, Bradley Shaw and Justin Logan challenging for playing time. Sam added two more linebackers, Larry Worth (Jacksonville State) and Stephen Dix Jr. (Marshall). These two will bring experience and depth to the linebacker position. With experience in the defensive backfield, Arkansas should be a much better defensive team. 

The glaring problem Arkansas had last year was on the offensive line. Adding to Coach Petrino, Sam hired Eric Mateos, Ronnie Fouch, and Kolby Smith on offense. Coach Mateos has been working on revamping the offensive line. Coach Fouch has overseen the wide receivers in a Petrino-style offense, and Coach Smith has worked with the running backs.

Next would be the players Pittman needed to overcome last year’s challenges facing the football team. Pittman learned that Coach Petrino recruited Taylen Green (QB) when he coached at Missouri State. In getting Taylen Green to run the offense, Petrino had his QB. He also had two athletic backups in Malachi Singleton and left-handed freshman KJ Jackson. Remarkably, the wide receivers and tight ends from last season would remain at Arkansas. Having someone who had already worked under Coach Petrino (Coach Fouch) would help the wide receivers understand this new offensive scheme.

Pittman then looked to the portal to address the loss of Rocket Sanders, AJ Green, Dominique Johnson, and Isaiah Augustave in rebuilding his stable of running backs. He looked no further than signing Ja’Quinden Jackson from Utah and Braylen Russell from Benton High School to go with Rashad Dubinion. In acclimating the new running backs, he hired Coach Smith, who, like Coach Fouch, had previously worked with Coach Petrino.

With all the skilled positions accounted for, Pittman turned to the offensive line to create opportunities for the running backs to run the ball and work on blocking to provide Green and his receivers the time to produce a one-two punch in successfully getting the ball into the end zone. Coach Mateos has proven to be an excellent fit. With the addition of Fernando Carmona (San Jose St.) Keyshawn Blackstock (Mich. St.) and Joshua Braun (Florida) joining Patrick Kutas, Ty’Kieast Crawford, and 12 other linemen, fans should see real improvement with the offensive line. Coach Pittman has said he is the oldest GA in college football because he has turned his attention toward the position he knows best by helping Coach Mateos with the offensive line. 

The question in most minds was, “Has Pittman done enough to win in the SEC?” As always, Arkansas’ schedule is one of the toughest in college football. So, how will next season pan out? Here is my non-homer prediction:

Arkansas vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff  52 – 10  win

Arkansas vs Oklahoma State  31 – 34  loss

Arkansas vs UAB  41 – 17  win

Arkansas vs Auburn  28 – 23  win

Arkansas vs Texas A&M  31  – 24  win

Arkansas vs Tennessee  21 – 38  loss

Arkansas vs LSU  21 – 17  win

Arkansas vs Miss. State  27 – 25  win 

Arkansas vs Ole Miss  35 – 45  loss

Arkansas vs Texas  45 – 51  loss

Arkansas vs Louisiana Tech  48 – 17 win

Arkansas vs Missouri  38 – 49  loss       Season record: 7 – 5

HOWEVER! If Arkansas is as good as I believe we are, my prediction is the Razorbacks will be the surprise team in the SEC for 2024.

Arkansas vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff  55 – 14  win

Arkansas vs Oklahoma State  41 – 31  win

Arkansas vs UAB  48 – 10  win

Arkansas vs Auburn  35 – 17  win

Arkansas vs Texas A&M  45  – 20  win

Arkansas vs Tennessee  33 – 38  loss

Arkansas vs LSU  31 – 23  win

Arkansas vs Miss. State  40 – 12  win 

Arkansas vs Ole Miss  45 – 48  loss

Arkansas vs Texas  45 – 31  win

Arkansas vs Louisiana Tech  51 – 20 win

Arkansas vs Missouri  56 – 28  win       Season record: 10 – 2

Final observations. A 7-5 season for Pittman would be a real disappointment for him, but will probably save his job. He knows he has a much better team this year. Hopefully, the kicking game will not cost Arkansas any games. If Arkansas avoids critical personnel losses due to injuries, a 10-2 season is possible. I am hopeful this year will be the turnaround year for Pittman, the Razorbacks, and the fans. We all are pulling for the Razorbacks this year to do something special.