Like it is

Scribe soaks in a Saturday without the Hogs

Arkansas fans cheer before taking on Alabama Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. Visit nwadg.com/photos to see more photographs from the game.
Arkansas fans cheer before taking on Alabama Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. Visit nwadg.com/photos to see more photographs from the game.

What a beautiful morning it was Saturday.

For only the second time in 10 weeks, yours truly woke up in his own bed on a game day. Denver, Dallas, Alabama and several times in Northwest Arkansas -- all nice places -- have meant bad coffee, no newspaper and another long workday.

Saturday was sweet.

Found out 11 a.m. isn't necessarily the designated kickoff time for bad teams. No. 2 Clemson had the first kickoff of the day, which probably had more to do with Louisville than the Tigers. Clemson put a beat down on the Cardinals, 77-16, and one can only wonder if this will be Bobby Petrino's last year there. Going from contender to pretender in two years at a school that has suffered tremendous embarrassment may be enough to say bye-bye Bobby.

There had to be some red-faced Aggies down on The Plains after Texas A&M blew a 24-14 lead to lose to Auburn 28-24, which will get the wolves off Gus Malzahn's porch for at least a night -- the Tigers still face Georgia and Alabama. On a final note, was Jimbo Fisher getting help from Les Miles on clock management?

There was great football -- more on that later -- but Saturday also was the second day of the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs, which meant $21 million of purses. Thoroughbred racing may not be a ratings home run, but that kind of money attracts attention. Whitmore, Arkansas owned and trained, finished second in the $2 million sprint for 3-year-olds and up.

It was a good weekend to have off, and no doubt the University of Arkansas Razorbacks needed a break from playing -- and probably from themselves -- with three games left. They host LSU, then finish out with road games to Mississippi State (bring your earplugs) and Missouri (bring a heavy coat).

Coach Chad Morris used the time wisely, recruiting for the future. If Arkansas is going to become pertinent again, the Hogs need more good players. As someone asked the other day, how many Hogs could start for another SEC team?

By mid-afternoon, it was obvious the Razorbacks aren't on the same level as the SEC or a bunch of other teams, and how they have slipped this far so fast is a little baffling.

Perhaps it started with the departure of offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, followed a year later by Sam Pittman after a heated exchange with Brett Bielema. Both are with Georgia, which arguably has become a top-five program in the country. The Bulldogs seem on the verge of challenging Alabama on a yearly basis.

Maybe the only way other SEC programs can hope to have parity again is if Nick Saban retires or moves on. Even when the Crimson Tide lose once in a year -- and this was written before the Alabama-LSU game -- they still seem to win a national championship.

It was also fun Saturday to watch our man Bob Holt's Missouri Tigers taking it to Florida. In seasons like this -- the Tigers were 4-4 going into Saturday's game -- Bob assures everyone it is an academic school. When the Tigers were winning the SEC East Division, they were an academic school with a great football team.

On the national level, Michigan destroyed Penn State, which made my friend Chuck "The Pigskin Preacher" Monan very happy. His whole family gathers to cheer for the Wolverines now that Mom and Dad Monan have retired here from Michigan.

It may have been an "off" day for the Razorbacks, but it was a great day to watch football, and that was even before the day's main event of Alabama at LSU.

Sports on 11/04/2018

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