FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – It’s hard to find a single person who isn’t a card-carrying member of the Razorbacks Lunatic Fringe predicting an Arkansas victory over Texas on Saturday. Maybe even worse is talking about it a lot.

Long story short, Pig Trail Nation’s Mike Irwin simply explained it to all these people, referring to the 40-21 win over the Longhorns in 2021, to justify projecting a Hogs win. Really, it’s like people thinking that the way college football worked a decade ago still works today.

Aside from the uniforms, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything about that disorganized Texas team that ran past Razorbacks fans down the field after the win.

We will now hear from the Arkansas players on Tuesday night, which will give us a hopeful plan heading into this game. Don’t ask the media what they think of this week because we can’t see any of the practices. They could be playing a card game on the practice field and we wouldn’t know it.

The only ray of hope the Hogs faithful have is for the Longhorns to come in and try to sleepwalk to a victory. That may be the only way Arkansas can find a way to win and that’s not a good plan of attack heading into the game.

Oh, it’s going to be a pretty big crowd that’s going to be fired up at first because the old-timers have told them they’re supposed to hate Texas. Some of us have said for over 40 years that many fans hate Texas more than they love the Hogs.

Lou Holtz said it in 1977, his first year as coach of the Razorbacks. He wanted people to care about some of the other teams they had to face in the old SWC, which at the time was one of the top three conferences in all of college football. The speed in the league then was incredible.

Moving the game to mid-November from the traditional mid-October it was for decades hasn’t given Arkansas any respite. The only thing that’s probably happened is that the Longhorns will come in with a lot more on the line now.

Texas is playing for seeding and positioning in the College Football Playoff. The Razorbacks are simply trying to find a way to play a bowl game somewhere other than Birmingham or Memphis in late December.

Right now, the Longhorns are favored by about two touchdowns. Perhaps the best option for Razorback fans is to get over the spread and stop worrying about the secondary. That’s hardly the problem people like to complain about.

This Arkansas team hasn’t been able to get to opposing quarterbacks after the UAPB opener. That didn’t help the Hogs at all because the cheerleaders could have pressured the Golden Lions’ quarterback in that game.

What that means, simply, is that defensive backs are in an impossible situation. No secondary can cover wide receivers all afternoon if the quarterback has a lot of time. Go back to playing in the backyard. If the quarterback doesn’t have a pass rush, sooner or later someone will be left open. Defensive backs will run out of gas or lose interest.

Considering the way the Ole Miss offensive line gave Jaxson Dart enough time to order takeout and receive the order, people should be concerned. Aside from Landon Jackson, the Hogs have some good guys who are playing as hard as they can, but they just can’t outplay better players.

If that turns out to be the case on Saturday, it will be a very, very long afternoon for Razorback fans. But don’t be too quick to blame the defensive backs.

• Razorback listed as a first-round pick in ESPN’s latest mock draft

• Three programs emerge as leaders for top 10 prospects

• Razorback’s kicking security blanket evaporates and becomes SEC rival

• Razorbacks’ nightmare: Hogs secondary taking on Texas offense

• Pittman tries to use the Longhorns’ rivalry to the Razorbacks’ advantage

• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube
• Follow HogsSI on unknown and Facebook