Back in August it was hot and maybe everyone just needed a pool.
Expectations for the Arkansas Razorbacks football team were mostly fairy-tale high.
Some national TV analyst were mentioning the Hogs in the same breath with the college football playoffs, pumping more sunshine into the hearts of much of the Razorbacks Nation.
The Razorbacks had nine starters back on offense and six on defense, so it seemed natural to expect them to take a huge step forward.
It hasn't worked out that way.
Granted, they are coming off perhaps their best game of the season, a 28-21 loss to Texas A&M in overtime, but this is the same team that put 12 points on the board against Toledo.
Obviously Texas Tech was better than expected, getting beat by TCU on a fluke tipped pass in the end zone over the weekend, but both of those teams also need to play better defense.
The problem for Arkansas so far this season has been pass coverage. What has become obvious is the Hogs are missing some key players on defense, and not just Trey Flowers, Darius Philon on Martrell Spaight, all of whom made NFL rosters. They miss safety Alan Turner and Tevin Mitchel, who blossomed in the nickel package.
Arkansas has never been like Alabama, LSU, Georgia or Florida (not as much right now) where it could just yell "next" and some four- or five-star recruit steps in and there is no drop-off.
The Razorbacks have to develop players, and the five losses on defense from last year were lost amid the nine starters returning on offense.
It was predicted here the Razorbacks would be undefeated when they headed to Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers in a battle of programs that mirrored each other last season as programs on the rise. The Hogs were predicted here to lose 33-30 in overtime to the Vols en route to an 8-4 regular season and a decent bowl.
That overall prediction has not been mathematically eliminated, but the Hogs are 1-3 with eight games to play. Obviously they have painted themselves into a deep corner as far as playing in a bowl game.
Winning five of the final eight might not be mission impossible, but it isn't a day at the lake either.
Three of those eight games are on the road against ranked teams -- No. 13 Alabama, No. 9 LSU and No. 3 Ole Miss. Arkansas plays host to Mississippi State, which was picked to finish last in the SEC West but won at Auburn last weekend and is currently No. 21. The Bulldogs' only loss was a heartbreaker, 21-19, to a very good LSU team.
The other opponents are Auburn, Tennessee-Martin and Missouri, all currently unranked. All of those games are in Fayetteville, where the fans are ready to make a difference. It is not just a tailgate anymore.
No one can predict with any degree of certainty how the Hogs will finish.
However, if they build off the A&M game and improve, they can play with anyone on any Saturday. That improvement starts with looking ahead, not behind.
They have to be like Pat Bradley was when he was setting the school record for three-pointers on the basketball court. Forget the bad shots and keep firing.
Some of that type of thinking will be up to the coaches, but some of it will be up to the captains and leaders on the team.
The Razorbacks played well enough last Saturday to win but they didn't, and that's been an ongoing problem that was believed to have been solved when they won three of their last four games last season.
Saturday's Tennessee game has become the single most important game on the Razorbacks' schedule. Next week it will be Alabama, but not this week. All the focus has to be on the Volunteers, who are 2-2 after blowing two-touchdown leads in the fourth quarter in losses to No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 25 Florida.
The Vols are not where they expected to be at this point in the season either.
Sports on 09/30/2015