Razorbacks Have Enough Problems Other Than Debating Texas, OU's Impact
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Don't worry about all this yammering about how Texas and Oklahoma are going to do handling the SEC. Arkansas has to worry about how it does instead.
Although the early wave of specualtion about newcomers has begun, don't get caught up in it. Razorbacks' coach Sam Pittman will almost assuredly be thinking more about how his team does this year.
He knows he's got problems and questions. Probably as many as the fans do.
The answers to those may turn out to be wonderful because it's happened before, but not enough to be considered any sort of trend. I'm old enough to remember expectations for a mediocre 1977 season when it was clear to anybody that could read a roster that team was unbelievably talented and deep.
Rest assured there will be nothing but positives for another couple of months. Everybody looks good in practices and anybody can talk themselves into anything they want to hope happens.
In Arkansas that has exceedingly led to expectations that cause folks to jump up and down when it falls a little short. It's happened more than a couple of times, too.
Longhorns' fans have expectations of being in the college football playoff. The Sooners are trying to reach that level.
Don't necessarily use their annual October coming together as an indicator because that game as much as any other rival game drains the emotion bucket dry. The Hogs have to figure out the Sooners' little brother up the road in Stillwater first.
That's going to be a monumental challenge on its own and could set the tone for the entire remainder of the season after the second week of the season. Most people aren't talking about the other sports because, well, they don't really matter that much to fans in July.
Texas and OU will have a huge impact in every single one of those. That's not speculation, but get ready to deal with it because it will happen.
No point in guessing how the Hogs will handle the football season. Fans will likely see a different Longhorns' team Nov. 16 than they saw in 2021.
Barring a complete collapse that will have already have shown itself for Texas a few weeks before that, it's going to be a team more motivated and focused this time. They have considerably better players and more of them than the Razorbacks.
That may hurt folks' feelings in Arkansas, some of them deeply. Sorry, but feelings aren't facts, which may be tough to handle this year.
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ANDY HODGES
Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.