For Randy Rainwater and many others at War Memorial Stadium on Sept. 12, there was deja vu. The same sinking feeling returned. Another Arkansas team going down to an opponent whose sole purpose was to collect a check and a thrashing. Instead, the tables were turned … again.
This time, it was a scrappy, physical bunch from the University of Toledo that shocked No. 18 Arkansas 16-12. Three years ago, it was Louisiana-Monroe that upset the then-No. 8 Razorbacks 34-31 and signaled the real trouble that was to continue with the debacle that was the mercifully short John L. Smith era.
Rainwater, who hosts Drivetime Sports weekdays on KABZ-FM, 103.7 The Buzz, as well as the 5th Quarter Razorback postgame show heard statewide and on The Buzz flagship, pointed out on Facebook the similarities he felt after the devastating loss.
No miracle on Markham! Feels like La Monroe, but hurts more!
The post was accompanied by a picture of the War Memorial Stadium scoreboard. I couldn’t attend Sept. 12’s game, but I’ll never forget the ULM loss. I had a bird’s-eye view of Smith and his assistants huddling on the sideline between the end of regulation and overtime. It looked something like the clown car at the circus. The Hogs were doomed, not just in that game but for the rest of the season. As thousands filed out of the stadium in silence (I have never seen anything like that in all of the games I have attended), there was a collective dread for what was to come.
That game might be what has caused Rainwater and others to feel uneasy about this most recent collapse — and the fear that 2015 includes more rebuilding than what some national pundits figured when they predicted Arkansas to win as many as 10 games, and in some cases more. Now, based on what happened Sept. 12, more are inclined to plan on 7-5 and a crummy bowl game instead of the dreams of playing on New Year’s Day.
My intention isn’t to sound like Rainwater’s ever-optimistic Drivetime co-host, Rick Schaeffer, but while these games both included ranked Hogs teams losing to midmajor opponents at the venerable stadium that is taking its lumps from disgruntled UA fans, that’s where the similarities end. This is not 2012, and Smith is nowhere to be found. Thank God for that. (It’s hard to believe Smith is still coaching, even if it is at NCAA Division II Fort Lewis College.)
The big reason (literally) that Hogs fans can still have faith that this season will end with a better bowl game and improvement over last year is Coach Bret Bielema. Not one team overcame greater adversity to turn its season around last year than Arkansas. The Razorbacks were riding a 17-game SEC losing streak, but all the while, Bielema kept the team on course and competing each week, narrowly losing to Alabama and Mississippi State. The end result was a final stretch that included winning three of four games, including back-to-back shutouts of nationally ranked LSU and Ole Miss.
Arkansas junior tight end Hunter Henry told me in May that Bielema’s positivity after the bye week entering the LSU game was what allowed for a hot finish and a blowout of traditional rival Texas in the Texas Bowl. He said the team bought into what Bielema was selling and never wavered. Bielema needs to pull out some of that rah-rah this week as Texas Tech awaits in Fayetteville. Finding a way to get the spark back and get his offensive line to play like one of the best units in the nation instead of the pushover it looked like the first two games, especially against the Rockets, is not only the key to beating Texas Tech but also to surviving the rugged SEC.
The loss to ULM in 2012 was a harbinger of things to come, the initial large crack in the levee that became a gaping hole in the next week’s loss to Alabama. Even though it looks like the loss of star running back Jonathan Williams is going to hurt more than some hoped, this season is still salvageable. Can the Hogs still win 10 games? That most likely will depend on how UA fares against Texas A&M and at Tennessee. A major bowl bid is dependent on winning both of those games. If they lose both of those games, 7-5 or worse is a real possibility, but still keep your plans for a bowl trip sometime at the end of December or early January.
It could be worse — and it was in 2012.
Read Nate’s sports blog at goingdeep.syncweekly.com.