State of the Hogs: Magnificent 7 provide continuity

Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman reacts to a play during the Razorbacks' season opener against No. 4 Georgia on Sept. 26, 2020 in Fayetteville.

One of the best things for a college football program is continuity. Finally, there is a glimpse of that at Arkansas.

There were great gifts delivered over the Christmas holiday with announcements from linebacker Grant Morgan, left tackle Myron Cunningham, guard/center Ty Clary, tight end Blake Kern, wide receiver De’Vion Warren, running back T.J. Hammonds and defensive end Dorian Gerald. They will play their senior seasons again.

In a year when “opted out” was a much dreaded phrase, that group opted in. Dub them the “magnificent seven.”

It reminds of the movie the Magnificent Seven, both the 1960 hit with Yul Brynner playing the lead and the 2016 remake with Denzel Washington. They recruited six heroes to stand up to the bad guys tormenting a Mexican town.

The star this time is Sam Pittman, fighting those who torment the Razorbacks, the SEC’s teams and referees.

Pittman — now graduating to second-year coach for the Hogs — couldn’t have received a better Christmas present, along with the signing of 23 newcomers to the program just one week before the holiday break.

So far Pittman’s staff – they key to all of those announcements – remains intact. That adds to the idea that 2021 should be a good year for the football team. Continuity is important.

And, it’s exactly what the Hogs have been missing since the last time they played in the Texas Bowl. It’s incredible — and almost beyond belief — what has happened since they mauled Texas, 31-7, in Houston.

There are so many unbelievable things that happened at or soon after that game. I should have sensed misery was headed for the Arkansas football program in the first few minutes after the game.

On the field to conduct post-game interviews, I found myself standing between Jim Chaney and his close friend Pittman. Chaney had made his way from the press box where he called plays as offensive coordinator.

I had thought I was about to visit with Pittman about the way a superb offensive line blocked the Longhorns. I admired the way Pittman had meshed the group of Sebastian Tretola, Mitch Smothers, Brey Cook, Dan Skipper and Denver Kirkland.

There was even a hint of things to come with a few plays here and there for true freshman Frank Ragnow. He relieved Smothers at center to suggest that he was going to be a great player.

That conversation with Pittman did not happen. But what did was stunning. It was obvious that rumors of Chaney’s departure to Pittsburgh were true. Both men were crying as they embraced in a hug and rocked side to side.

From five yards away, most of the words were tough to understand, except for the first few. Both men said, “I love you.”

That was the beginning of the end for Bret Bielema. Losing Chaney also meant he would eventually lose Pittman. There were other losses and every time, the next hire was not on the same level.

The Hogs began on a downward spiral in every way. Oh, it wasn’t obvious. They went from a 7-6 season in 2014 to 8-5 in 2015 before they fell back to 7-6 in 2016.

Eventually, it was a free fall into the abyss and to make things worse, that Texas victory was the impetus for Jeff Long, the athletic director who fired Bobby Petrino, to give Bielema a new contract that is now hard to fathom.

If there were screams about the Bielema contract in the spring of 2015, I didn’t hear them. Everyone seemed content that Long had locked up a solid coach for the future.

It’s incredible to look back and think about how things have changed. Consider:

• Bielema has worked for the New England Patriots, New York Giants and is now head coach at Illinois.

• Ryan Mallett is out of pro football. He is coaching quarterbacks at Mountain Home High School. He was with the Houston Texans that week in 2014 when the Hogs played in NRG Stadium.

• The Razorback quarterback that night against the Longhorns, Brandon Allen, is now the quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals. Allen passed for 371 yards in a 37-31 victory over the Texans at NRG Stadium last week, the first road win for the Bengals since 2018.

Obviously, the biggest news is that Pittman has finished his first season as Arkansas head coach. He has united Razorback Nation in a bizarre year dominated by the covid-19 pandemic, winning three SEC games after the Hogs lost 20 straight in the conference dating back to the final days of the Bielema era.

So who would have believed you in Houston on that night in 2014 if you predicted that Pittman would some day be the Arkansas head coach and Allen, the MVP of the Texas Bowl, would be winning games in the NFL?

It’s far fetched to think the Razorbacks could have played in a bowl game this year. After all, they won only three of 10 games this season. Again, it’s all about who you beat. They were deprived of chances at nonconference triumphs when the SEC ordered a 10-game league schedule.

The Hogs went 3-7 against the toughest schedule in school history. They beat Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee and came close in three other games. Easily, they could have gone 6-4.

They did everything but win on the final scoreboard in Week 3 at Auburn. They had a 28-27 lead when they recovered a backward pass in the final seconds only to have a befuddled replay crew decide it didn’t happen in a continuous play.

Auburn was given the ball back and kicked a field goal for a 30-28 victory that no one across the country believed was just. Even Auburn fans were upset, worrying that Gus Malzahn’s career might be saved. Alas, he was fired after a 6-4 season.

The Hogs could have beaten LSU and Missouri, too. The regular season finale at Columbia ended with a Missouri field goal. The Hogs had gone ahead with a bizarre two-point conversion with 43 seconds left.

That was a heartbreaking end and it might be too much for some teams to absorb before playing again.

Not for this bunch of Razorbacks, maybe better equipped to handle wild emotional swings than any I can recall. They just play the next down. They fight. They claw.

When you talk to old Razorbacks, they nod their head in approval. They are proud.

The goal should be to win games. The Hogs will do that under Pittman. But first, the fight had to return. He’s done that.

Pittman was correct when he’s said over and over the last 12 months, Arkansas is a “proud damn state,” a place where grit, fight and determination earn admiration.

Pride is important. So is continuity.