FAYETTEVILLE — Two days removed from the seventh 30-point loss of his tenure at Arkansas, Chad Morris clung to standard coach speak Monday in regards to the importance of the Razorbacks' next game against Western Kentucky.
Asked pointedly if he felt Arkansas' final showing in Fayetteville this year was a must-win game for him, he deflected and eventually landed on the old line that the Razorbacks carry a must-win attitude into every weekend.
Western Kentucky, he said, is no different.
"Well I think each game is a must-win. I think it has been a must-win," Morris added. "We’re going, for every game, going in to be a, you know ... Our approach this week is to go in and put a plan together that our players can execute in front of our crowd and Senior Day and perform at our standard, which is best."
The fact of the matter is the Western Kentucky game is different for Morris and the Razorbacks.
A loss to the Hilltoppers, who opened as a two-point underdog, would give Arkansas four nonconference losses to programs in Group of 5 leagues in Morris' tenure, and three in Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
It would also push the Razorbacks' losing streak to seven games after beginning the year 2-1 with too-close-for-comfort victories over Portland State and Colorado State.
A loss Saturday might also swiftly cost Morris his job. It would be difficult to justify to followers of the program keeping a head coach with as many egregious losses within the first two years of a tenure.
Little, if any, progress has been made on the offensive side of the ball from Year 1 to Year 2 in terms of explosiveness and tempo, and that is supposed to be Morris' and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock's forte. Two graduate-transfer quarterbacks they handpicked have not panned out this fall and have been replaced on the depth chart in the final month of the season by a redshirt freshman and true freshman.
When John Stephen Jones runs onto the field with the first-team offense Saturday, he will be the sixth different starting quarterback used by Morris in 20 games. And perhaps the future of the program at the position will still be standing on the sideline in KJ Jefferson, the most physically equipped option for the job.
Morris and Craddock both added Monday that Jefferson will play against Western Kentucky and lead the huddle earlier than last weekend, when he didn't enter until the fourth quarter. But the question remains: Why not start Jefferson now?
Hope for the future at this stage lies in Jefferson having the opportunity, without looking over his shoulder, to showcase his arm talent - spreading the ball to Treylon Burks, Trey Knox and Mike Woods - and natural ability to operate the RPO game effectively.
In his first drive against Mississippi State, Jefferson led a 75-yard scoring drive that brought about a roar from the home crowd that has no parallel this season and, in a limited sample size, the offense averaged 12.3 yards per play.
And then there is the Ty Storey factor that adds more intrigue to Saturday's meeting with the Hilltoppers. A season ago, Storey started nine games for Morris, losing each, and opted following the season to enter the transfer portal less than one week prior to former SMU quarterback Ben Hicks committing to the Razorbacks.
"Ty and I met with his family and we did not want Ty to leave," Morris said Monday. "But Ty wanted to go to a place that he wanted to go in and have an opportunity to be the starter and was going to look around and see what was best for him moving forward. He wants to coach. We had a lot of talks on that.
"We’re just excited for Ty, and he’s playing really well."
In seven games played for Western Kentucky, Storey has totaled 1,477 yards passing and seven touchdowns against five interceptions. Scoring has been a challenge for the Hilltoppers this season (22.6 points per game), but they feature a quick passing game similar to what gave Arkansas fits in its most recent nonconference game against San Jose State, a 31-24 loss.
"They throw a lot of short stuff, sticks and inside routes that doesn't require him to hold on to the ball very long, and they do a very good job of that," defensive coordinator John Chavis said. "We're going to do what we do. We've cut back so we can try to do what we do better, and we're going to do what we do."
If Chavis' unit does what it tends to do, Western Kentucky could find traction offensively then go to what it does best: eat the clock. The Hilltoppers rank in the top 25 nationally in time of possession, and that could doom the Razorbacks - and their coaching staff.