Next up in our quest to correctly pick all the SEC games this fall is Arkansas. It is always tougher to predict a team under a first-year coach, and Arkansas – with Chad Morris taking over from Brett Bielema after a dumpster fire of a 4-8 season – continues that trend. The Hogs don’t yet have a quarterback decision as Morris looks to install an up-tempo offense that he might not have the players to run correctly.
By Steve Wright
September
9/1/18 Eastern Illinois – The Panthers were a middle of the road FCS team in 2017. They shouldn’t challenge in Fayetteville in the season opener. Arkansas 38, Eastern Illinois 7.
9/8/18 @ Colorado State – The Rams are always a tricky proposition on the road because they play their games at 5,000 feet. Arkansas will have enough to win Morris’ first road game, but it won’t come easy. Arkansas 28, Colorado State 24.
9/15/18 North Texas – The Mean Green are a better team than most know. Morris took them down 54-32 last season with SMU and the Arkansas offense will begin to move through the gears in this contest. Arkansas 41, North Texas 21.
9/22/18 @ Auburn – Winning in the SEC West is going to require recruiting to the scheme Morris is trying to implement as Arkansas will never out recruit some of the other schools. Give this one a couple of years. Arkansas 21, Auburn 38.
9/29/18 @ Texas A&M (Arlington) – This might be the biggest game in of the 2018 season. A&M boasts a six-game winning streak over Arkansas and made the splash of the summer by spending $70 million on Jimbo Fisher. A&M also comes into the one the week after playing Alabama on the road. They will be ripe for an upset, especially with their former DC on the Arkansas sideline. Arkansas 34, Texas A&M 24.
October
10/6/18 Alabama – With 10 straight wins in the series, Saban and Alabama have owned Arkansas for a decade. New head coach Chad Morris doesn’t fully have the pieces to make his up-tempo offense work as intended. Arkansas 13, Alabama 45.
10/13/18 Ole Miss (Little Rock) – It will be important to get the momentum back rolling against a Rebels team that Bielema was very successful against. Don’t be at all shocked if this is a wild shootout. Arkansas 45, Ole Miss 38.
10/20/18 Tulsa – If Arkansas is where Morris expects by this point in the season then Tulsa should pose little threat. Arkansas 42, Tulsa 13.
10/27/18 Vanderbilt – The upset win over A&M and holding serve against Ole Miss would mean Arkansas has a bowl secured by this point. If those results don’t happen, then this becomes a must win game against a Vanderbilt team coming off the back of a rough stretch of their schedule (Georgia, Florida, Kentucky). Arkansas 31, Vanderbilt 21.
November
11/3/18 BYE
11/10/18 LSU – A toss up of a game that would be huge as a recruiting tool and big to take down a traditional SEC West power. This game comes at the right time – after the bye – but it is late enough in the season that LSU might have fixed its quarterback/offensive line/defensive line problems. Arkansas 31, LSU 20.
11/17/18 @ Mississippi State – A lot here depends how well the Bulldogs have played to this point in the season. It is the third time in 2018 that Arkansas will play a team right after they have played Alabama, so a trap game style win isn’t out of the question. Arkansas 21, Mississippi State 27.
11/23/18 @ Missouri – The final regular season game sees Arkansas face a Drew Lock led Missouri team that bombed away on them last year in a 48-45 win. Both should have bowls secured by this point, so we will go with the home side in Columbia. Arkansas 35, Missouri 42.
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