Arkansas Razorbacks (2-3) Vs Alabama Crimson Tide (6-0)

When the Hogs hit the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday they’ll no doubt have last week’s gridiron debacle against the Gamecocks on their mind.  The Razorbacks lost 48-22 to a mediocre team continuing their descent into another aimless season. The Razorback Nation took to Twitter to roast Coach Bret Bielema.

@jefflongUA @BretBielema @OLINEPRIDE Year five, fellas. Year five. @PetitJeanMeats pic.twitter.com/42KSNmwxWQ

— Mason Lace (@mlace88) October 7, 2017

Hog fans: turn the TV off & go outside. It’s beautiful out. No need to sit through this. Just forget football exists until next year. #WPS

— Ben Schmuck (@benschmuck13) October 7, 2017

Just checking in to Twitter to measure the severity of #FireBielema tweets. I’ll show myself out.

— Jason Brown, APR (@JBrown935) October 7, 2017

How much longer will the Hogs faithful stand by and watch the dumpster fire that is Arkansas football?  Bielema is 27-29.  He’s 10 of 24 in league play and a pathetic 7-18 versus the SEC West.  His only winning records are against the equally pathetic Rebels and the Vols.

Anybody remember this stellar example of Razorback sportsmanship?  I do.

need more of this!!!! RT @heyyyle: And where were the refs when this was happening? #BAMAvsARK pic.twitter.com/qE7oqmylRz

— Best Forex Robot2017 (@FOREXEAASSARV10) October 9, 2016

Dan Wolken, national college football reporter for USA Today Sports released his Week 6 Misery Index.

“The Misery Index is trying hard, oh so very hard, to make a case for Arkansas giving Bret Bielema another year. Bielema is a good coach with an accomplished track record. Arkansas is a harder job than its fans want to admit. There have been some good signs along the way. And, realistically, who is Arkansas going to get that would obviously be better? Then there’s the matter of Bielema’s buyout, which stands at $15.4 million until Jan. 1, when it goes down to $11.7 million. (And by the way, most of the coaching carousel activity will already have taken place by Jan. 1, so waiting until then would be a bad move.) But man oh man, it’s getting hard to justify the direction things are going at Arkansas following a 48-22 loss at South Carolina.

The Misery Index has long said that in a league like the SEC, where everybody has great facilities, big budgets and pays the coach a lot of money, nobody expects to lose. But the reality is that somebody has to, and right now that somebody is Arkansas. Still, it’s impossible to excuse how bad the Hogs look. They turned it over four times against South Carolina (three of which were converted into defensive touchdowns) and now face the prospect of playing Alabama and Auburn in back-to-back weeks. That will drop Arkansas to 2-5 and Bielema to 10-26 in the SEC unless there’s a massive upset. Kind of makes you long for the Houston Nutt days, doesn’t it? Nutt, for the record, only had two losing seasons in a decade at Arkansas, finished first or tied for first in the division three times and third on four other occasions.

The SEC was different then, sure, but winning is possible at Arkansas. Bielema just isn’t doing it, and the further away the Razorbacks get from the smashmouth, offensive line-oriented identity he initially wanted to establish, it’s hard to see how he makes it happen. 

Before the Texas A&M game, the Crimson Tide looked like one of the best-ever assembled teams under Coach Saban. The games against Vanderbilt and Ole Miss were over before they even started.

Last Saturday in College Station, the Tide’s performance was marred by uncharacteristic mistakes.  During the second half, J. K. Scott shanked a punt early in the fourth quarter and had a punt blocked that went out of the end zone for a safety.

The biggest blunder came late in the third quarter when Tide wide receiver Robert Foster dropped a pass that should have been caught and later, on the same drive, fumbled a catch.  It was Bama’s first turnover dating back to 2016’s Iron Bowl─that’s 38 straight quarters.

During Coach Saban’s press conference following the A&M game, he railed against the media saying he “wants them to stop filling his players’ heads” with thoughts they’re invincible.

Saban to the media: "All the good stuff you write is rat poison."

— Cecil Hurt (@CecilHurt) October 8, 2017

In the series history between the Tide and the Hogs, the Tide has a nine-game winning streak having won 17 of the 25 games the two schools have played against one another.  Even without ESPN’s Matchup Predictor giving the Crimson Tide a 98.1% chance of winning against Arkansas, I’m certain the outcome of the game will be a thorough throttling of a Hogs team that clearly has no fight left in them. 

ROLL TIDE ROLL!