Like It Is

Hogs better, but how much still a question

Arkansas defensive end JaMichael Winston greets fans after Arkansas defeated Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014.

A colleague stuck his head in the door Monday afternoon and asked: "Made your reservations for the Sugar Bowl?"

At first I thought he was being serious but quickly realized that like most of the editorial staff that wanted to talk Arkansas Razorbacks football, he was jesting.

Newspaper folks tend to be skeptical, and while last Saturday's victory over Texas Tech was a feel-good road victory for the Razorbacks Nation, the UA football program finally may have arrived at the corner. It still isn't known whether it has turned that corner.

It's hard to tell just how much of a challenge Texas Tech really was.

And unless the Razorbacks still have their heads in the Lubbock clouds, it may be difficult to tell exactly how much they have improved when they face Northern Illinois on Saturday in Fayetteville.

It won't be known until then whether the Huskies are the second-toughest challenge, behind Auburn, that Arkansas has faced this season.

Northern Illinois is 3-0 and coming off a 17-point, fourth-quarter rally to beat UNLV 48-34.

Arkansas' three games after Northern Illinois are the gut-checks. The Hogs go to Arlington, Texas, to face No. 6 Texas A&M, return home to take on No. 3 Alabama and then face No. 13 Georgia in The Rock.

It is highly unlikely the Razorbacks will push those teams around like they did the Red Raiders, who maybe could get a victory over Vanderbilt. Otherwise, the Red Raiders probably would go winless in the SEC. It will be interesting to watch this season to see whether Texas Tech is in the bottom half of the Big 12 standings once it starts playing the likes of Oklahoma State and Kansas State, its next two opponents.

The Razorbacks thoroughly dominated the Red Raiders over the last three quarters, and it might have started sooner if Texas Tech's first punt hadn't taken an odd bounce and hit an Arkansas freshman, which allowed the Red Raiders to drive 31 yards for a touchdown.

For the Hogs to own the football 40:39 speaks volumes about how much bigger, stronger, faster and better-coached they were than Texas Tech.

It will be difficult for the Hogs to do that against SEC opponents.

The Razorbacks scored on all but five possessions Saturday, and the end of the first half and the game was what killed two drives. Two more ended after fumbles, including the weird first one, and just once did Sam Irwin-Hill have to punt, and that was a 42-yarder that left Tech at its 13.

It also was Arkansas' first real drive of the game. The Razorbacks had only two more fourth downs the entire game, and they converted both.

The Razorbacks stopped what most likely would have been another touchdown with their second fumble, which came with the Hogs at the Tech 11 with a first down, but some razzle-dazzle -- a handoff to Alex Collins, who tried to pitch the ball to Keon Hatcher -- was stopped when Collins was wrapped up before he could make the pitch.

Take away those fumbles and Arkansas would most likely have led 35-14 at halftime, but even though the score was 28-21, it was becoming clear that Tech had no answers for the running Razorbacks' offense.

On every down, every person in the stands, on the sidelines and on the field knew Arkansas was going to run. Tech still couldn't stop it. The Razorbacks averaged 6.4 yards per carry, and that produces a lot of first downs (32) and rushing yards (438).

No doubt the Razorbacks probably couldn't have done that last season, so they have improved.

Soon, very soon, we'll know how much better they are.

Sports on 09/17/2014