COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Arkansas must reclaim the Battle Line Trophy today at Missouri's Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium to avoid an historic dumping ground.
The Razorbacks (2-9, 0-7 SEC) have never lost 10 games in a season.
Missouri (7-4, 3-4) is aiming to win its third in a row over the Razorbacks and send record-breaking quarterback Drew Lock and its seniors out on a winning note in the 1:30 p.m. game.
The current chasm between the Thanksgiving weekend border rivals -- with a large geographic distance separating the programs in the far northwestern edge of the SEC footprint from the rest of their conference rivals -- looks vast.
Missouri is a 23-point favorite for the game, which is forecast to be played in lingering rain and temperatures in the mid 40s.
Third-year Missouri Coach Barry Odom appears to have the Tigers on an upward arc with eight consecutive November victories and a middle-tier bowl berth in sight.
First-year Arkansas Coach Chad Morris inherited a 4-8 team from Bret Bielema and has struggled with injuries, buy in, cohesiveness and, at times, discipline as the Hogs' season unravelled in little bursts following back-to-back losses to Colorado State and North Texas in September.
While the Razorbacks have put together solid near misses in losses to Texas A&M, Ole Miss and LSU and played well offensively against No. 1 Alabama with 405 yards and an opponent-high 31 points, they have also stunk up the stadium in losses to North Texas and just last week in a 52-6 loss at Mississippi State.
Morris called the performance and effort from his coaching staff and players "unacceptable" over and over last Saturday.
"We're not doing what it takes to play winning football," Morris said. "That's the attention to the small little details in everything that you do. I'm not going to compromise. I've been here before and I know what it looks like and I know what it looks like moving forward."
Morris suspended starting defensive backs Ryan Pulley and Kamren Curl, busted for socializing with Mississippi State spirit squad members, leaving a secondary consisting of seniors Santos Ramirez and Kevin Richardson and freshmen Jarques McClellion, Montaric Brown and Joe Foucha to deal with Lock and the nation's No. 26 passing attack today.
Pinpointing the date -- even the exact moment -- of Arkansas' rapid decline is easy. It happened at Faurot Field two years ago.
Arkansas, sporting a 7-4 record as a big favorite, was leading the Tigers 24-14 late in the third quarter and had forced Missouri into a fourth and 7 at its own 7-yard line. On the previous play, Pulley broke up a pass on Missouri's right edge and nearly made a diving interception on the loose ball.
The Razorbacks, three weeks removed from a 31-10 blowout victory over No. 11 Florida, were ready to field a punt in advantageous position and possibly clinch a victory over the 3-8 Tigers in Odom's first season before a sparse crowd.
They never got the chance.
Odom called a fake punt, with blocking back Anthony Sherrils taking the snap and running 14 yards for a first down. Two plays later, Lock connected with Johnathan Johnson for a 67-yard touchdown as the Tigers rallied from a 24-7 halftime deficit to eventually shock Arkansas 28-24.
"The situation at that point really didn't matter," Odom said of the gamble deep in his own end. "We got the look we thought was advantageous to connecting on it. It was there and we felt confident in our kids executing it. We made the call and let them go play."
Missouri has gone 15-9 since that stirring comeback victory.
"The fourth down call was just Coach Odom trusting the guys out there on the field, knowing that we were capable of doing hard things during a time of adversity," said Missouri tailback Damarea Crockett, a Little Rock Christian graduate. "Winning that game shifted our program's momentum in a good way. ... It gave us a lot of motivation to be where we are now."
Arkansas turned the other way. The Razorbacks have gone 6-18 beginning with that loss, including a 48-45 defeat at Reynolds Razorback Stadium last season on Tucker McCann's field goal with five seconds left. Bielema, with an SEC record of 11-29, was fired minutes after the loss.
The Razorbacks have one victory over a Power 5 school since the 2016 Missouri loss and two wins over FCS schools.
Another loss today would mean the Hogs' rivalry trophy case would remain empty for a third consecutive season:
No Southwest Classic Trophy wins over Texas A&M. No Golden Boot Trophy wins over LSU. No Battle Line Trophy wins over Missouri.
Arkansas has lost three of four games in the series since the Tigers joined the SEC. None of the games had a more lasting impact than the 28-24 game two years ago when the Razorbacks drove past the Missouri 30 five times in the second half and wound up with a field goal, a missed field goal, two interceptions and one turnover on downs.
"Honestly, I think it was huge for Coach Odom," Missouri senior lineman Paul Adams said. "It just flipped the switch for us."
Lock said he thought that victory, when the Tigers had long been eliminated from bowl contention, was more important that last year's rally from two 14-point deficits.
"We needed to go out on a high note to be able to propel us into the next season," Lock said. "Losing that game, it would have been a weird couple of weeks."
The Razorbacks could have secured back-to-back eight-win seasons under Bielema and shown they were on the way up had they stopped that fateful fake punt.
"I know it was a big momentum swing," Arkansas senior Santos Ramirez said. "I remember that man. We couldn't get the momentum back on our side."
Sixth-year Arkansas defensive back Kevin Richardson, out with a torn pectoral muscle for the 2016 game, was watching from his family's house in Jacksonville.
"I might have gone to the bathroom when it happened and I came back out and my dad told me about it," Richardson said. "It was a play that changed the game. You know that, we all know that.
"It was something they had to move forward from at the time. It's in the past. We're trying to beat them this year."
Morris, told of the successful fake punt on Monday, said he had not heard of it yet.
"Don't know what point of the game it was in, but any time you pull some type of fake punt out, especially deep in your own territory, you've got to be pretty confident in your call."
The Tigers grew over the following off season.
"It definitely carried some momentum going into the offseason," Missouri defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said. "Any time you win your last game, you don't have to dwell on failure.
"We've talked about that to our guys. I'm sure they're going to cut it loose and they have nothing to lose right now."
Arkansas has lost 14 games in which they led by 10 or more points since the start of the 2012 season. Two of those losses have come against Missouri the last two years, including the shootout 48-45 decision last season.
The teams swapped five lead changes and had three ties before Missouri eked out the victory.
The Razorbacks, who led by 14 points twice in the first half, drove 47 yards and tied the game 45-45 on Connor Limpert's 42-yard field goal with 5:00 remaining.
Lock was the catalyst on Missouri's final, time-eating possession. He completed 3 of 3 passes for 43 yards and had a 9-yard scramble during the series. Once the Tigers got in field goal range on Ish Witter's 22-yard run, the Tigers gave the ball to Witter seven more times before McCann came on to boot a 19-yard field goal.
The Razorbacks, seemingly reeling after last week's rout on a Sunday day in central Mississippi, have plenty of motivation to pull off a big upset in what is likely to be adverse weather conditions.
They are on the brink of their second winless SEC season, joining Bielema's debut year of 2013.
"Human nature is to feel down and frustrated about it," said Arkansas senior Armon Watts, a native of St. Louis. "But we harp on our guys about staying together. It's a brotherhood at the end of the day. Yeah, it's a rough patch, but you've got to keep getting up and keep going at it."
Said Ramirez, "I'm going out there and I want to be remembered for not giving up man, and just putting my best foot forward every time I step on the field."
An Arkansas upset today would probably be bigger than the Tigers' rally two years ago.
"The past two years we've lost to Missouri," Arkansas tight end Cheyenne O'Grady said. "That's another reason for us to play our best and play as hard we can to get the W.
"There's still great emotion and everybody's excited to be out there."
Today’s game
ARKANSAS AT MISSOURI
WHEN 1:30 p.m. Central
RECORDS Arkansas 2-9, 0-7 SEC; Missouri 7-4, 3-4
WHERE Faurot Field, Columbia, Mo.
TV CBS
Sports on 11/23/2018