2013-14 Preview (SEC) Arkansas
Last year was a disaster of a season for Arkansas. They followed up an offseason of upheaval with a season that included embarrassing performances against Alabama and Texas A&M – getting outscored 108-10 – as well as a loss to Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt.
Arkansas Razorbacks (Team Link)
Coach: Bret Bielema
2012 Record: 4-8
Odds of winning BCS Championship: +50000
The result was a shift to a new direction but it isn’t going to be easy to show a lot of improvement this season, especially with the schedule they have.
That new direction is former Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema, who despite what they are saying about him now, was a big winner in Madison leading them to three straight Rose Bowl appearances.
Bielema will definitely have a different approach than discarded coach Bobby Petrino, who had breathed new life into the program before leaving in disgrace.
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The Razorbacks have fallen hard and have another tough season ahead of them.
At Wisconsin the ground game ruled so it is hard to know what kind of offense we are going to see from the Razorbacks this season. Transition is part of the reason but also everyone who saw significant action is gone with only two starters returning, both on the offensive line.
According to a projected depth chart there will be 5 sophomores starting including QB Brandon Allen. He might just have a slight lead over senior QB Brandon Mitchell but it makes sense to go with the younger player for the future of the program.
Last year the Razorbacks averaged only 23ppg and that is with a prolific passing attack led by Tyler Wilson (3rd in the SEC). This year the offense could really take a step back from those meager numbers because they will be facing a string of great defenses in the conference without the personnel to compete.
With the Badgers, Bielema was all about lining up and being physical. That style travels well but you have to have the talent to make it work. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The defense has much more material returning in the form of 7 returning starters, though they are from a defense that gave up 30ppg last season. All members of the the SEC’s worst secondary return but it is hard to tell if that is a good thing or not.
The biggest bright spot for Arkansas is senior defensive end Chris Smith who had 9.5 sacks last season to lead the team. He and defensive tackle Bryan Jones both made pre-season all conference teams, Jones can be especially disruptive inside.
2013-14 Record Projection: 3-9
By my projections this is going to be one of the bleakest seasons For Arkansas in a while but before they have a riot down in Fayetteville please hear me out. In addition to them going through a transition and not having much of an identity on offense, they also have a very tough schedule that includes South Carolina and Florida in SEC crossover games.
Thats two losses right there plus they have games against the rest of their division of which they only beat Auburn last season (and Auburn should be much improved).
Throw in a road contest against Rutgers and even the three wins I am projecting seems optimistic as it would mean they beat UL Lafayette, who many think is the top team in the Sun Belt this season.
Bret Bielema is a good coach but this will be a better test of his worth as he will almost be building the Razorbacks from scratch rather than taking over a prime situation like he did at Wisconsin.
I just don’t see much for him to work with right now.
2013 Razorbacks Schedule:
AUG 31 – UL Lafayette
SEP 7 – Samford
SEP 14 – Southern Miss
SEP 21 – @Rutgers
SEP 28 – Texas A&M
OCT 5 – @Florida
OCT 12 – South Carolina
OCT 19 – @Alabama
NOV 2 – Auburn
NOV 9 – @Ole Miss
NOV 23 – Mississippi State
NOV 30 – @LSU
