FAYETTEVILLE — No SEC game, or any other college football game today, rivals nationally No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Georgia tonight on CBS.
But in the SEC, Arkansas vs. Ole Miss at 2:30 p.m. today on the SEC Network at Reynolds Razorback Stadium places a surprising second.
Not second by default. Even as today’s LSU Tigers vs. Florida Gators game postpones because of an outbreak among Gators tested covid-19 positive.
Florida and LSU would have arrived at their game today nationally tarnished.
The Gators dropped from AP No. 5 to 10th losing last Saturday at Texas A&M.
Reigning national champion LSU, now 1-2 and voted out of the AP Top 25, lost at Missouri.
Arkansas and Ole Miss each lost last Saturday yet gained.
Unlike the Gators, upset by the Aggies, and LSU, upset by Mizzou, unranked Arkansas and unranked Ole Miss nearly engineered upsets. Their reputations won despite their ledgers losing.
Arkansas won at 13th-ranked Auburn in most everyone’s eyes but the officials. What should have been called an Auburn lateral recovered by Arkansas in an Auburn botched backward attempt to spike the ball was whistled an intentionally grounded, clock-stopping incomplete pass. That allowed Auburn retaining possession and the next play surpassing Arkansas’ 28-27 lead, 30-28 with a game-winning field goal.
First-year Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin expressed a prevailing opinion regarding the Auburn outcome officiated upon first-year Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman’s Razorbacks.
“I’m sure Auburn is counting their blessings,” Kiffin said. “The ball is backward. Knox (his 10-year-old son) knew that when he saw it. It’s really a shame for Arkansas to play that well and should have won the game.”
These three games under Pittman, leading Georgia midway through the third quarter before losing, upsetting, 21-14 the then 16th-ranked red-hot Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, Miss. and at Auburn all but officially avenging last year’s 51-10 blowout loss in Fayetteville, the Razorbacks don’t resemble those horrendous Hogs repeatedly wallowed 2-10 overall/0-8 in the SEC the previous two years.
“You know I kind of wished they were like last year,” Kiffin quipped. “They have a really good team. Sam is doing a great job.”
A great job including getting his Razorbacks entirely focused on Ole Miss and not dwelling on last Saturday’s officiating at Auburn, Ala.
“The outcome was the outcome and we can’t change it,” Pittman said. “I never spoke to our team one time about officiating. We have to go play a heck of an Ole Miss team.”
An Ole Miss team sporting quarterback Matt Corral, the nation’s individual leader in total offense. The Rebels total 125 points in three games. Last Saturday they tied No. 2 Alabama, 42-42 during the fourth quarter and amassed 647 stunning total offensive yards finally outlasted, 63-48.
“I’m telling you they’re incredible,” Pittman said.
Seems incredible both these floundering programs of 2019 could rise to be this week’s matched SEC second bananas most appealing.