LITTLE ROCK — Keeping a promise to look ahead at Arkansas’ four consecutive SEC opponents must begin with a look back.
If Texas A&M had won Saturday like a 23-point favorite is expected to do, the game in Arlington could be dismissed with a single sentence about the Aggies’ superiority. Instead, the Razorbacks demonstrated the sort of game-long grit and gumption that gives an underdog a chance to win.
Rallying from 14-3 to take the lead only to give up a go-ahead 22-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds remaining in the half is the sort of development that can short-circuit confidence and deflate the willingness to compete.
Instead, Arkansas had a legitimate chance to win at the end and replication of the attitude that contributed to a go-ahead touchdown despite adverse field position in the third quarter. A final drive to the A&M 22 can produce a “W” vs. one or two of the Razorbacks’ next four conference foes.
Kentucky on Oct. 12 and Mississippi State on Nov. 2 are the teams most likely to lose to Arkansas and head coaches Chad Morris, Mark Stoops and Joe Moorhead are in a similar predicament, trying to convince their players they are on the right track despite discouraging results in September. During the A&M postgame, Morris told the players he didn’t have any answers, but that they must continue to believe.
Coming close against the Aggies, including holding their ball carriers to an average of 2.7 yards per try, Morris has more ammunition for a sound argument than Stoops in Lexington or Moorhead in Starkville.
Behind 17-0 barely a minute deep in the second half, Kentucky lost to a South Carolina that started 0-2 in the SEC. Meanwhile, Mississippi State was never in contention against nationally-ranked Auburn and lost by 33 points in a game that wasn’t that close.
Mississippi State beat Kentucky a couple of weeks ago and, in effect, Arkansas vs. the Bulldogs and the Wildcats completes a three-team round robin in which any 0-2 team is pretty much eliminated from bowl consideration.
Simply because of high expectations following Kentucky’s first 10-win season since 1977, Stoops might have the most difficult assignment, persuading his players that success is still possible. Much of the anticipation about the season was based on quarterback Terry Wilson doing more than in 2018 when he had double-digit carries in 10 games, but only threw more than 25 passes in three games.
However, Wilson suffered a season-ending injury early on and the Wildcats are 0-3 in the SEC.
Without running back Benny Snell, picked in the fourth round of the NFL draft, Kentucky must have production from the quarterback and Troy transfer Sawyer Smith completed less than 40 percent of his passes in the last two games and did not throw a TD pass in either outing. Smith is battling an injury and the Wildcats’ best quarterback option might be receiver Lynn Bowden Jr.
Whether the quarterback is Nick Starkel or Ben Hicks, the Razorbacks’ one tangible advantage over whoever starts for UK and MSU is experience at the position. Starkel has thrown 358 passes at Texas A&M and Arkansas, and Hicks attempted 1,266 at SMU alone while Smith threw only 254 times in 19 games at Troy.
Supposedly Mississippi State’s answer when he transferred from Penn State, Tommy Stevens was No. 1 when the season began, played sparingly the next two games, started last week vs. Auburn, but threw only three times before he was injured again. Even at Penn State, Stevens was more runner than passer and threw only 41 times in 20 games.
Moorhead’s other quarterback is freshman Garrett Shrader.
Obviously, Morris believes Starkel would have equaled or bettered Hicks’ performance vs. A&M if he had not been injured helping tackle the defensive lineman who intercepted his pass. The head coach said Saturday night that Starkel is Arkansas’ starter.
Hicks was productive off the bench, leading the Razorbacks to a touchdown and 17-14 lead, guiding them 84 yards to the TD worth a 24-21 advantage, 53 yards to a field goal that narrowed the deficit to 28-27, and 56 yards to the A&M 22 with less than a minute to play.
More than once, he demonstrated nice touch and his 17-yard third-down scramble resulted in a doable fourth-and-5 on what turned out to be the Razorbacks’ final play.
Hicks’ response to his coach’s proclamation about the starter exudes class.
“I don’t make those decisions,” he said. “We’ll go back to work and just keep chugging along.”