FAYETTEVILLE -- Whatever slim bowl hopes the Arkansas Razorbacks were clinging to got crushed by Vanderbilt.
The Commodores beat the University of Arkansas 45-31 on Saturday to mathematically eliminate the Razorbacks from bowl consideration.
After Arkansas (2-7, 0-5 SEC) lost to Ole Miss 37-33 on Oct. 13 in Little Rock, the Razorbacks had to beat their remaining five opponents to get to a 6-6 record required to qualify for a bowl.
Arkansas' chances of going to a bowl had seemed remote since a 34-27 loss at Colorado State in the second game of the season, but the Razorbacks at least kept hope alive by beating Tulsa 23-0 on Oct. 20.
But whatever momentum the Razorbacks seemed to gain from their first shutout since 2014 was taken away by Vanderbilt.
"We talked all week long about being the most physical football team in the stadium," Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said. "That was our message ... and I don't think that we were."
This is the second consecutive year the Razorbacks won't play in a bowl after finishing 4-8 last season.
"You've just got to stay positive," junior linebacker De'Jon Harris said. "You've got to make sure everybody's up and going.
"We've still got three games to play before the end of the season. We want to try to build something off of that going into the offseason for the future."
After an open date this Saturday, Arkansas will play its home finale against No. 4 LSU (7-1) on Nov. 10 and close on the road at No. 21 Mississippi State (5-3) and at Missouri (4-4).
"We've still got to get better and we've got to get some wins and get some positive things rolling," junior quarterback Ty Storey said. "Losing sucks and we've got to get over that and try to get some wins."
The Razorbacks need to win one of their final three games to avoid being the first Arkansas team ever to lose 10 games. Arkansas' most losses came in 2013 when the Razorbacks were 3-9 in Bret Bielema's first season as coach.
"If you like to play football, we have three more opportunities," sophomore running back Chase Hayden said. "You just have to come out and attack each week and try to get a win."
The Razorbacks fell to 1-14 in their last 15 SEC games since winning 58-42 at Mississippi State on Nov. 18, 2016. Their only SEC victory in that 15-game span was 38-37 at Ole Miss last season when they rallied from a 31-7 deficit.
"At some point we have to make a step," Morris said. "We've got to do something to get us out of that rut."
Morris said Arkansas won't alter its approach during the open date week.
"As I shared with our players, our culture is not going to change," Morris said. "I'm not changing. Our coaching staff's not going to change.
"We're going to continue to show up every day and coach hard. We're going to find out who's on board."
Sports on 10/29/2018