ARKANSAS FORECAST: Buckle up as Hogs drive for another 8-5

Arkansas defensive back Santos Ramirez (9) slips away from Alabama running back Derrick Henry (2) after intercepting a pass in the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

FAYETTEVILLE — All right, another year with the crystal ball at hand and the Forecast is determined to bounce back after a drastic up-and-down year of Razorback picking.

The Forecast said Arkansas would wind up 9-4 last year, only one game off the Hogs’ actual 8-5 finish. But man, did we discombobulate the order of wins and losses.

We said Arkansas would start out 5-0 before facing Alabama but in reality the Hogs had a 2-3 start. Our best pick of that stretch was the correct prediction of an upset of Tennessee on the road. Worst pick? Take your pick of projected wins over Toledo, Texas Tech and Texas A&M. The Forecast saw a 45-21 victory over the Red Raiders with touchdowns scored by Keon Hatcher, Jeremy Sprinkle, Cody Hollister, Kendrick Edwards and Kody Walker. How would we know that three of those five players would be out with injury for that game, and that another would be off the team a couple of weeks later?

After three correct picks in a row — a loss at Alabama followed by victories over Auburn and Tennessee-Martin — we failed to foresee the Razorbacks’ road victories at Ole Miss and LSU, then whiffed by predicting a home victory against Mississippi State. Correctly projecting a victory over Missouri in the finale made the Forecast 6-6 in the regular season.

We also incorrectly paired Arkansas against Wisconsin in the Citrus Bowl, and also missed by predicting a loss, so while the overall record projection was off by just one, the Forecast’s record was 6-7 in actual outcomes.

With so much offensive upheaval, predicting this season promises to be even more difficult, but we’re hopeful this Forecast more closely resembles reality, even if the “quotes” and the quirky circumstances do not.

Sept. 3

Arkansas 37, Louisiana Tech 20

FAYETTEVILLE — Jared Cornelius returns the opening kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown and the Razorbacks are off and running.

Henre Toliver and Santos Ramirez post interceptions and Dwayne Eugene forces a fumble as many of Arkansas’ Louisiana-based players stand out. Austin Allen throws a pair of touchdown passes and Kody Walker and Rawleigh Williams III rush for one score each.

Louisiana Tech Coach Skip Holtz is curiously absent during pre-game warmups and is seen rushing into the stadium just before kickoff. He explains later that he was driving around town marveling at Fayetteville’s growth since the days of his youth and he lost track of time.

Sept. 10

TCU 30, Arkansas 24

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Horned Frogs celebrate against their former Southwest Conference rival after a fourth quarter rally.

Deatrich Wise Jr. posts a pair of sacks and Taiwan Johnson recovers a fumble for the Hogs defense. Rawleigh Williams III rushes for 78 yards and a touchdown and Devwah Whaley scores his first college touchdown.

Sept. 17

Arkansas 45, Texas State 9

FAYETTEVILLE — D.J. Dean returns a fumble 45 yards for a touchdown on the opening series and the Bobcats are unable to threaten at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Austin Allen passes for 250 yards and throws touchdowns to Keon Hatcher and Jeremy Sprinkle, while Drew Morgan takes an end around 55 yards for a score.

Devwah Whaley runs for 60 yards and joins Kody Walker and Damon Mitchell with rushing touchdowns. Cole Hedlund blasts a career-long 48-yard field goal at the halftime horn.

Sept. 24

Arkansas 31, Texas A&M 24

ARLINGTON, TEXAS — The Razorbacks rally from a 24-17 fourth quarter deficit, tying the game on Rawleigh Williams’ 30-yard touchdown run, then winning in overtime on Devwah Whaley’s 15-yard screen pass score and Deatrich Wise’s fourth-down sack of Trevor Knight.

“I don’t know what to say,” Bret Bielema tells his buddy Kevin Sumlin in their post-game handshake.

“Don’t say anything, or I might punch you,” Sumlin replies, grinning, borrowing Bielema’s line from this game last season.

The Aggies come in short handed from a coaching standpoint after Sumlin is forced to send several full-time assistants and graduate assistants to mandatory sensitivity training for various infractions involving inappropriate Tweeting and botched community outreach.

Oct. 1

Arkansas 52, Alcorn State 6

LITTLE ROCK — Seven different Razorbacks score touchdowns, including defensive tallies by Jared Collins and Brooks Ellis, as Arkansas wins at War Memorial for the first time since 2013.

Austin Allen completes 15 of 18 passes for 210 yards and throws TD strikes to Keon Hatcher, Dominique Reed and Cody Hollister. Will Gragg and Cheyenne O’Grady post their first college scores.

Oct. 8

Alabama 17, Arkansas 13

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 1 Alabama holds Arkansas on downs inside the 10-yard line in the game’s waning moments as the No. 22 Razorbacks fall to the Crimson Tide for the 10th consecutive year.

The Crimson Tide fails to travel with its Nick Saban statue for the first time in four trips to Fayetteville, with Saban responding to questions about the incident by saying “Talk to the statue.”

Alabama offensive tackle Cam Robinson seeks out Coach Bret Bielema for a pre-game handshake and hug to bury the hatchet after last year’s run-in in Tuscaloosa.

Oct. 15

Arkansas 30, Ole Miss 27 (OT)

FAYETTEVILLE — A replay review shows Austin Allen’s knee was an inch above the turf as he launched a desperation sidearm throw that results in a bizarre hook-and-lateral 40-yard touchdown on fourth down in overtime.

Tight end Jeremy Sprinkle catches Allen’s heave at the 26-yard line and laterals while falling to Dominique Reed, who outruns the Rebels secondary the final 28 yards for the sudden death touchdown.

Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze is caught raising his arms in apparent victory twice on the play, eerily reminiscent of his reaction during the Henry Heave last year in Oxford, Miss.

Arkansas wins the first “Otie,” the trophy created by former Razorback linebacker and award-winning award maker David Bazzel for the border series. The Otie is a play on overtime and features the hands of two players with five fingers raised in the air.

Oct. 22

Auburn 21, Arkansas 17

AUBURN, Ala. — The Razorbacks are distracted when an Auburn player falls to the turf momentarily after the Tigers line up in a swinging gate formation for a would-be tying field goal. The Tigers take advantage of the confusion with their holder Jeremy Johnson throwing a touchdown pass with 30 seconds remaining. The officials don’t catch Auburn with 12 men on the field during the play.

Arkansas pulls into a 17-14 lead late in the game when JaMichael Winston picks up a fumble by Kerryon Johnson on a Wildcat formation fake jet sweep pass and returns it 60 yards for a touchdown.

Nov. 5

Arkansas 24, Florida 17

FAYETTEVILLE — Josh Liddell returns Dan Skipper’s blocked field goal 85 yards for a touchdown with 25 seconds remaining to lift the Razorbacks in thrilling fashion, snapping Arkansas’ nine-game losing streak in the series.

Florida is in position to post a go-ahead score at the Arkansas 10-yard line in the final minute before sideline confusion leads to a delay of game penalty, setting up the doomed field goal attempt.

“Who is this guy? The guy who walked out of here with a W,” Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema says, playing on Florida Coach Jim McElwain’s remarks about him on national signing day.

Nov. 12

LSU 20, Arkansas 19

FAYETTEVILLE — Leonard Fournette wriggles into the end zone on a 2-yard touchdown run on fourth down in the final minute as the Tigers snap a two-game losing streak to Arkansas.

The Tigers, energized by pre-game speeches from Booger McFarland and Marcus Spears, who encourage the players to “run their asses” to the Golden Boot if they win the game, do just that as Coach Les Miles celebrates by munching on a mouthful of artificial turf.

Trailing 16-13 earlier in the fourth quarter, the Tigers pass up a chance for a chip-shot field goal when the kicking team confuses a series of Miles movements, wide-fingered claps interspersed with the tossing of handfuls of rubber pellets into his mouth, as the signal for a fake field goal, which gets stopped by De’Jon Harris.

Nov. 19

Miss. State 32, Arkansas 31

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Bulldogs extend their winning streak in the series to four games by kicking a field goal on the final snap of the game, which is rife with controversy.

Arkansas’ Dan Skipper blocks the first attempt at the game-winning field goal. But because a loud chorus of cowbells, illegally rung, distracts an official, he calls timeout, blows his whistle (which is not heard) and throws a flag. Mississippi State gets another shot at the winning kick and cashes in, despite a vociferous protest by Bret Bielema.

Austin Allen hits Kody Walker with a screen-pass touchdown, Allen’s third of the game, with 1:15 to play for Arkansas.

Austin Cantrell and Jared Cornelius catch the other touchdown passes, and Jared Collins, Josh Liddell and Ryan Pulley have three of Arkansas’ four takeaways.

Nov. 25

Arkansas 27, Missouri 15

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Hogs wrap up a second consecutive year with a 3-1 record in SEC away games by holding the Tigers to 178 yards on a chilly night.

Jeremiah Ledbetter racks up two sacks, the second a fumble-inducing hit that results in a 37-yard scoop and score for Dre Greenlaw. Taiwan Johnson, Karl Roesler and Deatrich Wise Jr. all add to the sack total.

Keon Hatcher scores on an end around and Drew Morgan adds a TD catch for the Hogs.

Dec. 28

Arkansas 41, Texas Tech 39

HOUSTON — Cole Hedlund boots a career-long 50-yard field goal on the final play and Bret Bielema is heard screaming “off the charts erotic!” as Arkansas outlasts the Red Raiders in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium.

Arkansas’ third bowl victory in a row comes at the site of its 31-7 triumph over Texas two years earlier and improves the Hogs to 3-2 against Big XII opponents under Bielema.

Texas-based seniors D.J. Dean, Taiwan Johnson, Deatrich Wise Jr., all contribute with takeaways and sacks.

“It didn’t cross over into the realm of an ass-kicking but it felt great all the same,” Bielema says.

“Don’t talk to me about off-the-charts erotic,” Texas Tech Coach Kliff Kingsbury says, staring into a compact in his post-game press conference.