Looking back at just completed regular season

By Jerry Meadows

FAYETTEVILLE — Now that the 2024 season is over, I decided to go back and reassess my pre-season conclusions. What did I miss that caused me to be so overly optimistic concerning the 2024 football season?

I carefully observed each position, both offensively and defensively during spring ball. The offense would return its entire stable of receivers from 2023. Coach Bobby Petrino was returning to Arkansas as the new OC. Plus, he got his hand-picked future QB with Taylen Green from Boise State. Such assets should have made Arkansas a force to be reckoned with offensively for 2024.

Although Arkansas had lost Rocket Sanders to the portal, adding Ja’Quinden Jackson, Rodney Hill, and Braylen Russell to Rashod Dubinion seemed more than sufficient to replace Rocket.

However, Walter Payton couldn’t have run behind Arkansas’ makeshift offensive line for 2024. I missed how difficult it is to build an offensive line from a previous dumpster fire. It was like using spare parts to get a new motor running smoothly. The results were inconsistent performance and disastrous production under pressure. When Arkansas needed continuity in making a winning drive, this rebuilt Arkansas offensive line was misfiring and leaking oil. 

Still, Coach Petrino’s offensive mind was able to score. The problem that sunk the Razorback season was turnovers. Arkansas was 114th in the nation with 22 turnovers and tied for 14th in the SEC. Not counting their win over UAPB, Arkansas averaged two turnovers per game for the rest of the season. Then, the inability of the offensive line to protect the QB was the primary cause for drives ending with a punt instead of a touchdown. Arkansas was 109th in the nation in sacks allowed. Such statistics could never produce a winning football program.

Even though many sports agencies predicted a 5-6 win season, finishing with a 6-6 regular season with the players Arkansas had now looks like a failed season. Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and Missouri were all games that good coaching should have easily won. In each game, Arkansas’ offense got the lead in the 4th quarter, but the defense failed every time to seal the victory. This was the same defense that stopped the #1 offensive team in the nation, (Tennessee) in the final minutes of the game. Nevertheless, beating a ranked team must no longer become a field-rushing event for Arkansas. Winners expect this kind of result every year.

I can hear some saying, “Arkansas is not Alabama or Georgia!” And you are right, Arkansas is not. Most of the SEC recruits are better players than those Arkansas recruits. Then how can Arkansas ever expect to compete in the SEC especially when most schools now have more money than Arkansas? Arkansas has to find the Diego Pavias of this year’s Vanderbilt team who hate losing who are maybe a no-star to a 3-star recruit and let their infectious winning attitude turn them into 4-star champions.

Winning begins with an attitude. The Razorbacks may need to focus on recruiting 2-3 star players who are winners if they cannot successfully recruit 4 & 5-star players. Then, coach them like they are champions, and their winning attitude might transfer to their play on the field and the rest of the team. Otherwise, Arkansas may have to get used to being the doormat of the SEC. If you think this won’t work, then, who beat Alabama this year with a no-star QB? Vanderbilt did.

One aspect of football that does not require a 5-star rating is playing with discipline. Discipline is best reflected in the number of penalties a team commits. Arkansas ranked 105th in fewest penalties with 83 penalties for 732 yards for the season. These numbers show that Arkansas averaged 7 penalties per game. Iowa was #1 with 36 penalties for 342 yards in 12 games. Obviously, Arkansas was one of the most penalized teams in college football in 2024. Yet, what did the fans hear each week? Coach Pittman would say something like, “Yeah, we will be working on fixing that this week big time.“ In the Missouri game, the last game of the regular season, Arkansas had 10 penalties for 72 yards. This is just one part of game management that fell through the cracks the entire season.

If Coach Pittman wants to coach the Razorbacks he needs to understand that winning begins with a winning attitude from the head coach. Start recruiting players who are winners regardless of how many stars are after their name. A winning program never has the goal to compete. They play expecting to win. The ability to compete does not always result in winning a game. A winning program has a winning mindset and learns how to win. A winning program does not fix problems that have existed all season. A winning program fine-tunes and upgrades all three aspects of the game in the 10th week of the season as they prepare for the post-season. A team that continually has to fix season-long issues cannot become a winner. They can only be competitive.

On defense, it makes you wonder what Arkansas was trying to do this year. The Razorbacks were ranked 11th in the SEC with only 25 sacks for the year. In tackles for loss, Arkansas was ranked 15th in the SEC and 102nd in the nation with 4.8 tackles for loss per game. As to the secondary, the loss of Jaylon Braxton cannot be over-emphasized. At times, the Razorback secondary couldn’t have covered a toddler on a tricycle. The Hogs’ secondary was embarrassed by Ole Miss. Jaxson Dart turned the Hogs secondary into a “video game” for 63 points.

Last year as Arkansas went into the off-season, the main concern was the lack of depth at linebacker. The addition of Xavian Sorey, Stephen Dix Jr, Bradley Shaw, and Larry Worth III helped turn a weak linebacker group into a strength. Arkansas’ rushing defense was 33rd in the nation, allowing 122 yards per game. However, in passing yards allowed, this was the prime contributor for every loss Arkansas had this year. Their allowing 244 yards a game placed Arkansas last in the SEC and 106th in the nation in pass defense.

This position that Arkansas is presently in brings me to the question that has been nagging me for several weeks. Who is Arkansas’ rival in college football? Who in the SEC sees Arkansas as their rival? Auburn has Alabama. Tennessee has Florida. South Carolina has Clemson. Michigan has Ohio State. Texas has Oklahoma. Alabama has Georgia. A rival is where both sides want to win that game so much, they get emotional about it. As of today, Arkansas has three trophy games in which the Razorbacks have a combined record of 6-31 in the past 13 years. Does anyone think that fans from Texas A&M, LSU, or Missouri see a game against the Hogs as a rival game? A rival game is not an invention. It is a game in which fans become emotionally invested. It is a game that causes the losers to cry. The only Razorback fans who would know what I am talking about are those who remember December 6th, 1969, in Fayetteville. And yes, back then, Arkansas was a rival to the Texas Longhorns, but this is not the case today. Ever since Arkansas left the Southwest Conference for the SEC in 1991, Oklahoma became the new rival for Texas, and Arkansas became a forgotten memory for most Texas fans who were 45 years old or younger. Just look at the past 13 years (2012-2024) and ask which of these teams consider Arkansas a rival to their football program.

                                                            Won    Lost      one-score game

Arkansas vs Alabama                            0        12                  3

Arkansas vs Auburn                               4          9                  2

Arkansas vs Florida                               2          2                  1

Arkansas vs Georgia                             0          3                  0

Arkansas vs Kentucky                           1          1                  1

                                                            Won    Lost      one-score game

Arkansas vs LSU                                   3        10                  7

Arkansas vs Miss State                         4          9                  7

Arkansas vs Missouri                             2         9                   6

Arkansas vs Oklahoma                          0         0                   0

Arkansas vs Ole Miss                            5          7                   7

                                                           Won      Lost      one-score game

Arkansas vs South Carolina                  1          3                  0

Arkansas vs Tennessee                         3          0                  2

Arkansas vs Texas                                 2          1                  0

Arkansas vs Texas A&M                        1         12                  7

Arkansas vs Vanderbilt                          0           1                  0

            TOTAL                                     Won      Lost      one-score game

                                                              29         79              43

Arkansas’ [one-score game] record in the SEC— 7 – 36 (2012-2024)

Pittman record in [one-score games in the SEC] – 5 – 14 (2020-2024)

Until Arkansas decides to build a winning program, no one in the SEC will ever see Arkansas as a rival. That leaves Arkansas each year with three opportunities to win meaningless participation trophies to give their players and fans something to hope for each season. It also becomes a powerful anti-recruiting tool against Arkansas to explain to a 4 or 5-star recruit why he would ever want to play for a team whose only hope each season is three participation trophies.

Since joining the SEC in 1992, (33 years) Arkansas has won 5 or more SEC games in a season 7 times. In the past 12 seasons, the Razorbacks have won 1 SEC game or none 5 times. Recent years have proven to most SEC fans that Arkansas is a rival to no one. At best, Arkansas is more of a Vanderbilt-west type of team than a rival to anyone in the SEC. Arkansas has not been relevant in the SEC since the Houston Nutt and Petrino years. Most SEC teams see Arkansas as their easiest game to pad their season record. With records like these, Arkansas has become irrelevant in the SEC and will remain that way until someone gets sick and tired of being sick and tired. There can be no more excuses for results that are not fitting for the University of Arkansas.