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Fans share concern after Hogs sputter

Arkansas fans cheer for their team before kickoff against Colorado State in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018, in Fort Collins, Colo. Colorado State won 34-27. (Austin Humphreys/The Coloradoan via AP)
Arkansas fans cheer for their team before kickoff against Colorado State in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018, in Fort Collins, Colo. Colorado State won 34-27. (Austin Humphreys/The Coloradoan via AP)

Within seconds of Colorado State's winning touchdown with eight seconds to play Saturday, social media in Arkansas blew up.

Can the Hogs win another game?

Can we even beat Tulsa?

We don't need a high school coach.

Can't believe we didn't go for it on fourth and short.

That's a random sampling seen on Twitter and Facebook, and the knee-jerk reactions continued through Sunday, which is a little understandable. The University of Arkansas, a member of the SEC (the most powerful football league in the land), had just lost to a winless Mountain West Conference team.

People are upset after a game in which victory was snatched away in the fourth quarter. This is the seventh year since the Razorbacks were a true contender for the SEC West title.

The Hogs next opponent, the North Texas Mean Green out of Conference USA, has beaten SMU -- Chad Morris' old team -- 46-23 and thumped Incarnate Word 58-16. It is a team that went 9-5 last season and has 17 starters back.

For those who get much of their exercise jumping off and on the bandwagon, this looks -- at least on paper -- like a loss.

It indeed could be a tough game if the Razorbacks are still without four starters, and if one of the quarterbacks can't take control of the offense.

The Mean Green are a pass-crazy team that leads the nation in passing offense, but that is a little deceiving because they are running an average of 92.5 plays in the first two games. They have thrown 100 passes and completed 73, but they have also run the ball 85 times.

Against the Mustangs -- and it is hard to compare anything to a game against a team that has Word in its name -- the Mean Green passed on first down 22 times, but they ran 21 times on first down.

Of their 46 points, 14 came from a pick-six and a 96-yard kickoff return, and former Razorback kicker Cole Hedlund added four field goals. No one was probably more surprised to read that than Bret Bielema, who said Hedlund would never kick for Arkansas again.

North Texas is glad because he's 7 of 7 this season. Against the Mustangs, he kicked field goals of 40, 18, 41 and 51 yards. We might find out Saturday if he just didn't like Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Anyway, that was 26 of the 46 points.

Plus, this game will not be played at an elevation of 5,003 feet. Fayetteville is 1,401 feet, and Denton, Texas -- a nice little town with a very nice university -- is 595 feet.

This game will not be played on paper, and if Ty Storey or Cole Kelley take control of the Razorbacks' offense, the Hogs will be better. If they don't, it might be time to give someone else a look before SEC play starts next week at Auburn.

***

Touchdown, Pigskin.

Chuck "The Pigskin Preacher" Monan, with the help of a lot of good folks like Tom Fowler, started Pinnacle Church of Christ in Little Rock in May. Almost immediately, the church outgrew the chapel it was renting, then outgrew the recreation room it rented.

So the third move will be this Sunday and the new address is 11801 Fairview Road. It is in the back of the Easter Seals campus off Fairview Road and looks a lot like a roller rink, because it started as one.

Now, it is a church with seating of more than 400.

Pigskin, of course, is the knowledgeable Friday guest on The Zone on 103.7-FM, The Buzz.

The singing, led by Randy Allison, is great, too. Bible class is 9 a.m. Sunday, worship services at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday, and Wednesday worship is 6:30 p.m.

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Sports on 09/13/2018

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