While merry revelers on Beale Street toasted into the night one of the greatest days in Memphis sports history, the mood was right in Fayetteville for a wake to Razorback football.
People drink for different reasons, but any shots of whiskey downed in the city’s taverns Saturday night were not to celebrate a victory in the University of Arkansas’ homecoming game.
No one carried any goal posts from Reynolds Razorback Stadium down Dickson Street after the 54-24 Arkansas shellacking. And if someone did so, a Mississippi State kicker probably was kicking extra points through the uprights.
Mississippi State fans who traveled to the Ozarks were among the only ones around at the finish. They announced the crowd at 52,556, which at that estimate meant some 18,000 seats went unused. On a glorious fall afternoon in Northwest Arkansas, it was a perfect occasion to take someone to his first Razorback game, one that generally went a-begging.
Mississippi State kicked off 10 times, which should tell you enough. A 3-5 team, though favored by more than a touchdown at kickoff, the Bulldogs totaled 640 yards from 76 plays, 8.4 yards per snap.
Mississippi State gained 180 yards through the air, two quarterbacks going 13-of-19, but downright punished Arkansas on the ground. Like a threshing machine, the Bulldogs ran for 460 yards, 8.1 per play, and four touchdowns.
Kylin Hill tore through the Razorbacks like he was Earl Campbell, padding his Southeastern Conference-leading total with 234 yards. First-half pops of 62, 37 and 58 yards by Hill, who scored three touchdowns from short yardage, helped State lead 31-10.
The halftime score became 38-10 when Marcus Murphy read Ben Hicks’ sideline pass and took it 32 yards for a pick-six touchdown, something I missed while switching back and fourth between football and the Breeders’ Cup races.
Who would have guessed that Mississippi State would hang more points on Arkansas than Auburn (51-10 over the Hogs) or Alabama (48-7)?
Still, don’t be surprised if SEC Network announcers in town for Saturday’s game against Western Kentucky mention early that the legendary John Chavis is UA’s defensive coordinator. If anything, Chavis’ Arkansas tenure has besmirched the 40-year veteran’s reputation as a coaching genius.
Chavis, whose suitcase is covered with stickers from other SEC schools, holds a once-prominent job formerly manned by such as Monte Kiffin and Joe Kines. For any number of reasons — are the athletes not good enough or not being trained properly, or both? — Chavis’ Razorback defense cratered against Mississippi State.
Better teams than Mississippi State have gashed Arkansas this year, but something about the first quarter Saturday, in which the Bulldogs outgained the Hogs 226-27, made one wonder why Chavis is on staff making $1.5 million a year.
With 12 tackles, middle linebacker De’Jon Harris received the Crip Hall Award from the media for the outstanding performance by a Razorback senior in the UA homecoming game. He was blunt in the postgame presser.
“I don’t think we showed up today. I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “This was probably one of our worst tackling games we’ve had. And we’ve been poor basically all year, really.”
If only Chad Morris could be so concise. The head man called it “a collection of things,” sounding more like a politician than an SEC football coach. Whatever it was, the Hogs dropped to 2-7, and Morris to 4-17 (0-14 SEC) at Arkansas with three games left.
Morris appeared to lose his 2018 team, the first in program history with 10 losses, in late-season routs to Mississippi State and Missouri by a combined 90-6. If these Hogs have gone in the tank, Morris’ prospects for a third season become iffy. The potential for disaster is great, and not just in Week 10 at LSU. Western Kentucky, with an Arkansas-born former Razorback (Ty Storey) at quarterback, could deal the program a devastating defeat Saturday.
“If he beats Western Kentucky, he probably gets a third year,” said a Little Rock man. “If not, all bets are off.”
Morris appears especially traumatized in handling quarterbacks. Fans are puzzled why he needed nine games to plug in KJ Jefferson, a freshman who sparked the team and scored a second-half touchdown. Yet, Morris said he did not regret “not playing him early in the season.”
Of John Stephen Jones, who relieved Nick Starkel against Alabama and Ben Hicks on Saturday, “He has grit and toughness. … I’m really proud of him.” (Jones’ grandfather, who owns the Dallas Cowboys and is familiar with the coach’s work at SMU, has been considered a Morris fan. Wonder how Jerry feels now?)
Morris seems unable to grasp that this season went off the rails in Week 4 against San Jose State and plunged deeper into the abyss in Week 6 against Kentucky. Losing to Mississippi State may have sapped the last vestige of support for the Razorback coach. No one wants to hear postgame bromides that “we’re close to something” and that conditions just weren’t right to play the kids.
Morris coaches like someone who feels sure of returning in 2020, though history tells us that the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees (acting through Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek) could have the final say on that.
Meanwhile, the party continues in Memphis over a football team coached by Mike Norvell, reportedly second on the list (after Gus Malzahn) to replace the fired Bret Bielema as the Razorbacks’ coach. Memphis won a wild one Saturday night, 54-48, against Morris’ former team, SMU, the first loss for the Mustangs, creating a frenzy over football in a basketball-loving city.
ESPN’s "College GameDay" goes now from Beale Street to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for an even bigger game, Alabama vs. LSU, with the whole nation watching. That’s at 2:30 p.m., right after Arkansas vs. Western Kentucky, which airs at 11 a.m.
An SEC Network logo in the corner of your TV screen will let you know it’s football and not another morning cartoon.