FAYETTEVILLE -- Somewhere in caliber between the nationally No. 5 defending SEC champion Auburn Tigers and the forlornly, futile Nicholls State Colonels range the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders, too, range somewhere between that worlds apart span.
Where the Razorbacks and Red Raiders directly compare we will discover Saturday. The former Southwest Conference rivals clash for the first time since 1991, Arkansas' final SWC football season.
ABC televises Arkansas, 1-1, of the SEC, and Tech, 2-0 of the Big 12, colliding at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Tech's Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock. The network airs what would have appeared a mismatch last year. The Razorbacks of then first-year Coach Bret Bielema closed their 3-9 season losing nine consecutively while then first-year Tech Coach Kliff Kingsbury's Red Raiders went 8-5 capped by beating Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.
Two 2014 games for each and it seems Arkansas has closed the gap.
Tech's 2-0 doesn't impress. The Red Raiders opened at home struggling to beat 42-35 the University of Central Arkansas Bears from the second tier Football Champion Subdivision compared to the Football Bowl Subdivision which includes the SEC and Big 12 among power conferences. UCA plays in the Southland Conference also housing Nicholls State of FCS. On Saturday in El Paso, Tech escaped 30-26 to a UTEP team that struggled to 2-10 last year.
Arkansas lost 45-21 two Saturdays ago at Auburn, Ala. The Hogs closed miserably with a down 24-0 second half but opened impressively tying the Tigers, 21-21 at intermission.
In Saturday's home opener at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, the Razorbacks exorcised the demons of their 10-game losing streak. They routed Nicholls State, 73-7 including a 56-0 first half. Five of Arkansas' eight first-half touchdowns were tallied off one-play "drives" commencing with flanker Keon Hatcher's 82-yard run off a pitch on Arkansas' first play from scrimmage.
Frosting by 66 a FCS cupcake that has lost eight consecutively on both levels may seem approaching the law of diminishing returns.
Not this time. Not when Arkansas' last memory of an FCS foe was escaping Samford, 31-21 last year. The next game starting Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen separated his shoulder during the 24-3 victory over hapless Southern Miss. Then the 10-game skid ensued starting minus Allen at Rutgers then with him playing hurt through the 2013 remainder.
"Just a great feeling to be able to win again." Allen said during Saturday's celebration. "It's something we want a lot more around here. I think we're getting on track to doing that."
Between the Hogs finally feeling impressively victorious with their starting quarterback healthy and their experience gained from opening at Auburn, Bielema has never felt better before an Arkansas road game than heading into Lubbock.
"I think this is a bonus of us playing at Auburn," Bielema said. "If we hadn't had that game, we wouldn't be as prepared as we are going to be for having been on the road already."
Sports on 09/08/2014