Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Smile?

Laugh to keep from crying?

What now?

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to take an optimistic view on this Arkansas football season. Rutgers leaves Fayetteville with a 35-26 victory and leaves the Razorbacks with another devastating loss.

There was reason to believe the Razorbacks might be able to turn things around against the Scarlet Knights (4-0) and end a two-game skid that included a pair of the worst losses in school history.

Quarterback Tyler Wilson was back with his leadership and NFL potential. Personnel moves on defense provided reason to believe that things could be worked out there.

All the changes got the Razorbacks "closer" to a win. But the loss dropped them further and further away from their season goals. Not only that, but dropping a third consecutive game leaves Arkansas (1-3) in jeopardy of missing out on the postseason.

As contributor Doc Harper pointed out in the press box last night: keeping the season alive after the regular season finale will require a .500 record in conference, plus a victory against Tulsa. Those 500-1 Vegas odds set last week on the Razorbacks winning the BCS title now seem like they could apply to playing a bowl game. Any bowl game. Even a Liberty Bowl.

An unimaginable week continued for Coach John L. Smith, who buried his younger brother in Idaho on Friday, reported $25.7 million in debt on Wednesday and got clobbered for his bizarre “SMILE!” rant in a Monday press conference. Arkansas dropped to 1-3 to start the season for the first time since 2005 and lost three consecutive games for the first time since losing to Alabama, Texas and Florida in 2008.

“Am I surprised? A little bit. Yeah,” Smith said when asked if he could believe the team had fallen this far this fast.

There’s little surprise in how Arkansas lost when you look at the game with Rutgers, though. All the issues that surfaced against Jacksonville State, Louisiana-Monroe and Alabama were there again.

Once again the Razorbacks gave up big plays on defense. They allowed a team that entered with the nation’s 103^rd ranked passing offense to put up 397 yards through the air. Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova could only pass for 288 combined yards in the Scarlet Knight’s first two games against Tulane and Howard.