Arkansas football is overachieving with high midseason grades

Coaching: B

Coaching can be a sore subject with Arkansas fans. The small yet loud subsection that amplifies every bad decision but ignores the good. There's another smaller group that does the opposite (if you recall the earlier point about confirmation bias).

The coaching has been a mix of bad and good, with some classic Sam Pittman-isms like bad time management and questionable fourth-down calls rearing their ugly heads.

But for the most part, the coaching has been excellent. On offense, the play-calling has largely been acceptable, with a few weird calls. On the other side of the ball, Travis Williams has implemented one genius game plan after another, resulting in the 30th-best scoring defense in the country.

But the biggest difference between last season's team and this season's is their attitude. In the past two years, we've seen a locker culture that turned sour after adversity. The 2024 team has faced a lot, especially in the game against Tennessee. But instead of lying down, they've fought back each time, even after losing a couple of games.

They're very reminiscent of the 2021 team that won nine games. Part of that has to do with the players themselves, but a significant portion of the praise should go to the culture that Pittman and his staff have fostered.