Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Remember the days before we could buy individual songs online, and the general way to buy music was to buy an entire album even though you may have only heard one or two songs? Or maybe you bought it without having much of a clue what was on it, but the band’s last album was a hit so you felt pretty confident it would be good?

Then the music is turned on and you hear it for the first time and as you go through the first few songs, you think, “Uh oh. Please don’t be bad. This isn’t going to be awful, is it? Surely this band can’t … oh… this is terrible.”

But if you were lucky, you’d start finding some decent songs as the album plays on. They may not be chart-toppers, but they’re decent enough that you can justify paying the $15 you spent on the album. Hopefully, the upswing in quality only continued as the album plays on.

That’s where the Razorback football team is right now. The last two games were definitely an improvement over the games in September. Even though Auburn and Kentucky are not good teams, those victories shouldn’t be discounted because of the level of opposition. It’s clear the Razorbacks are better than they were. Going into the Auburn game, any sort of victory would be a gigantic relief, but in seeing how well Arkansas has played and how solidly the Razorbacks won both games, fans have reason to be optimistic as the season goes on.

In the opening game against Jacksonville State, Arkansas allowed 21 points in the first half. In the last two games, the Razorbacks have only surrendered two touchdowns. The Hogs accumulated eight sacks and five turnovers in forcing Auburn to its lowest point output of the season thus far. Kentucky was shut out at Florida, but the Wildcats were at least competitive in their other defeats this season, including leading South Carolina by 10 points at halftime two weeks ago.

If someone predicted a 49-7 score in the Kentucky game before the season started, no one would have questioned it. It’s the kind of score that happens when one of the teams is clearly far superior to its opponent. It’s the kind of score Arkansas saw at its peak last season when it beat Tennessee in Fayetteville by the same 49-7 score. But even in that game, Arkansas led just 21-7 at halftime. The Kentucky blowout was the type of game fans dream of during the offseason when they envision the season playing out like a video game.

The spread was only 17 points at kickoff, and some foolish prognosticators thought that was too many points to give the Wildcats when they’re facing a team struggling as much as Arkansas, even coming off a win. But the Razorbacks not only covered the large spread, they doubled it.

By halftime.

That doesn’t mean the Razorbacks are completely back to the level most fans hoped they would be. Arkansas’ rushing offense is still ranked next to last in the SEC, and the Razorbacks will need a more balanced attack if they’re going to win enough to become bowl eligible. Those young players forced into action as a result of season-ending injuries to older players will have to prove they are capable of playing above their age.  

Kentucky and Auburn are near the bottom of the SEC in both offense and defense, so Arkansas won’t be completely taken seriously by people outside the state unless it beats a better team. Ole Miss is fourth in the SEC in total offense, so the next game will be a big test for the Razorbacks defense. If they can perform similarly to how they have performed over the last two weeks, it will say a lot about how much improvement they have actually made. Unfortunately, Ole Miss doesn’t have the name recognition that would get Arkansas the kind of respect that would come with knocking off one of the three ranked teams it will face at the end of the year. But Arkansas finds itself back in some bowl projections, so some people must be expecting that from the Razorbacks.

Sometimes, the best part of an album is the B-side.

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Doc Harper is the editor of ArkansasExpats.com and is a regular contributor to ArkansasSports360.com. You can email him at heydocharper@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @doc_harper.