Razorbacks Being Under-Achievers Expected in Move to SEC?

When Arkansas decided to join SEC, the smart folks knew it was going to be very different for football

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman at practice on outdoor fields in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A lot of people are acting surprised over ESPN putting Arkansas football in an under-achievers category. Most of that comes from people 30-and-under.

When the Razorbacks made the move from the Southwest Conference to the SEC in 1992, us folks that had been in the media for awhile knew the football glory was done. At least consistently.

As one guy covering the Hogs since the 1940's told me, "They'll win big every once in awhile, but they won't be able to keep up every year." That's pretty much been the case.

Even Frank Broyles knew it. After all, do you think the build-up in the basketball and baseball programs was an accident?

Nobody has ever known the complete picture around Arkansas athletics better than Broyles, who had the unique ability to view into the future and know what was coming. Now ESPN has the Razorbacks tied with Nebraska in the under-achieving category in a ranking.

It would be very hard to argue the logic of that. The two schools are very similar in their results and the revolving door around recent coaching hires.

For folks over the age of 30 or so, none of this is surprising. Some keep asking when the Hogs are going to get back to the days when the expectation every year was to compete for a conference and national title. Now they simply want to win enough games for a bowl trip somewhere other than Memphis or Shreveport.

It started after a 20-5 run by Bobby Petrino's last two teams in 2010 and 2011. An unanswerable question was whether that would have continued because we will never have a trace of evidence either way, but that roster wasn't deep enough or good enough for much over a 6-6 record in 2012, despite some lofty predictions.

After a knee-jerk decision led to a ridiculous hire of Bret Bielema, the course was set for the immediate future. It was never going to work with Bielema from the start and that was clear before he got to his office that first night.

He didn't have the multiple experience needed. That led to the Chad Morris deal when a completely unqualified person made the choice.

Morris recruited fairly well, but was terrible in too many ways to even start listing. Sam Pittman was hired to clean up the mess and smooth the waters.

He wasn't hired to win championships and wanted the job. Considering the state of affairs around Razorbacks' football program lately, that last part goes a long way.

But expectations? Even the most optimistic right now see a path to 7-8 wins for he Hogs this year.

While I don't particularly agree with their approach (too much assuming about other teams), the reality is somewhere hovering about .500. The ranking on ESPN's list is accurate, but rather obvious to anyone that's been paying attention the last 10 years or so.

Bringing in Texas and Oklahoma isn't going to help the Razorbacks at all, despite what a lot of the Lunatic Fringe think about the "soft" Big 12. In the last round of expansion, Texas A&M and Missouri came to the SEC and on Arkansas' schedule every year.

The Hogs have won 4 games combined against those two since 2012. Anybody want to come up with something better?

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