UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOOTBALL

Yurachek, Pittman sign up to go bowling

Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said the Razorbacks are committed to playing in a bowl game if they are chosen for one. Yurachek said he “couldn’t be more pleased overall with how our football season played out.”
(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said the Razorbacks are committed to playing in a bowl game if they are chosen for one. Yurachek said he “couldn’t be more pleased overall with how our football season played out.” (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)

FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas Chancellor Joe Steinmetz, Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek and football Coach Sam Pittman were all in last week.

Presented with a bowl commitment paper, the UA trio was happy to hand over their signatures.

"Absolutely," Yurachek told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this week. "We had to sign a document last week ... committing to participate in a bowl game if selected.

"Our student-athletes want that opportunity, our coaching staff wants that opportunity, and the athletic director wants that opportunity. I think our kids, since they want to do this, I mean that's who we do it for. They wanted to play this season and now they want to play in a bowl game, and I want to provide them that opportunity if they're selected."

While the Razorbacks' 3-7 record isn't the data point bowl berths are typically made of, this is far from a typical college football season.

The NCAA has waived its six-win requirement for bowl eligibility due to the covid-19 crisis. The SEC played a conference-only 10-game schedule, a historic first.

And as Pittman has pointed out, the Razorbacks were likely to post a six-win season if their original schedule (which included nonconference games at Notre Dame and at home vs. Nevada, Charleston Southern and Louisiana-Monroe) had been realized. They came close to winning six anyway with three losses by a combined seven points, including an officiating gaffe at No. 13 Auburn that denied Arkansas a come-from-behind 28-27 victory.

Yurachek, whose tenure had opened with consecutive 2-10 seasons under Chad Morris, said he thinks a 3-7 season is a strong opening salvo from Pittman and company.

"I couldn't be more pleased overall with how our football season played out," said Yurachek, who declared Arkansas' schedule was the toughest in college football history after the SEC added Georgia and Florida to the Hogs' slate in July.

"Some people might say as an athletic director I'm sitting here with a 3-7 football program. ... [But] that easily could be, in my opinion, six wins and four losses, if the Auburn game goes our way, if we make that field goal late in the LSU game and send it into overtime to give us a chance to win, and of course, what happened at Missouri."

LSU blocked a potential game-tying field goal in the closing moments of a 27-24 decision. Missouri drove 60 yards in the final 43 seconds to win 50-48 on a 32-yard field goal at the buzzer.

"I'm not into moral victories," Yurachek said. "But you look at what this program did the previous three years against SEC competition [1-23], and the fact that we went 3-7 with a new coaching staff and had the opportunity to win three other games. And really other than this past Saturday against Alabama, I thought we competed and were in all of those games at some point in time."

Yurachek said an overwhelming amount of the feedback he's received from fans this fall has been positive.

"I would say 9 out of 10 emails, text messages and voice mail messages I've received this season have been positive about the direction of our football program, how hard our kids played game in and game out, the game plans that have put them in position to compete," Yurachek said. "I think everybody's very positive about the start of the Sam Pittman era as the head football coach here at the University of Arkansas."

To finish his signing day news conference Thursday, Pittman said the Razorbacks hope to play in a bowl game close enough for Arkansas fans to attend without much trouble.

"I would imagine it would be somewhere within Texas, the Armed Forces [Bowl], the Music City, possibly the Liberty Bowl," Pittman said. "Those bowls, probably in that category, anticipation wise."

The Liberty Bowl in Memphis is the closest to the Arkansas campus, while the Armed Forces Bowl in Forth Worth is not far behind, followed by the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., and the Texas Bowl in Houston.

A handful of programs have elected to opt out of the postseason. Virginia Tech (5-6) became the most notable Wednesday as it snapped the Hokies' streak of 27 consecutive bowl appearances, the longest active streak in the FBS.

Boston College (6-5) announced Dec. 10 it had elected not to play in a bowl. Since then, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Virginia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference, as well as Stanford and Kansas State, have followed suit.

The Razorbacks haven't been bowling since 2016, so Pittman and Yurachek said they want to reward the seniors for their dedication for enduring a difficult run and get in some valuable practice time, particularly for younger players as the year winds down.

The Razorbacks started bowl practices Thursday, and Pittman said he hopes to get in as many as 10 practices before the bowl game.

Arkansas is currently slotted in ninth place among the SEC's postseason-eligible clubs (LSU has self imposed a bowl ban). The Razorbacks are tied with Tennessee, which hosts Texas A&M on Saturday, but they own the tiebreaker over the Volunteers with a 24-13 win at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Nov. 7.

Ole Miss (4-4) will stay ahead of Arkansas in the bowl pecking order no matter the result of its road game at LSU on Saturday, but it's worth noting the Rebels lost 33-21 at Arkansas but have wins over Kentucky, Vanderbilt and South Carolina, the three SEC East teams the Razorbacks did not face.

Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek, shown speaking at a news conference in March, said he’s received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback about the football team from fans.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek, shown speaking at a news conference in March, said he’s received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback about the football team from fans. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)

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