Arkansas Razorbacks football (1-0, 0-0 SEC) faces the Arkansas State Red Wolves (1-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) on Saturday in Little Rock at War Memorial Stadium. Although not many good reasons exist for the Hogs to play a "home" game on the road in Little Rock, it will provide them with their first game away from campus and their actual home stadium, Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. This game on the road will help the Hogs experience how it feels to play on a field other than the one on their campus.
Such experience on the road, though not confronting a hostile crowd, will give the Razorbacks some preparation for a road trip to Oxford, Mississippi, to challenge Lane Kiffin's No. 20 Ole Miss Rebels (1-0, 0-0 SEC). While for college student-athletes the tendency to look ahead to the more challenging opponent is a human one, Arkansas head football coach Sam Pittman will have an opportunity to demonstrate he can keep his team focused on the current challenge: taking care of business against an Arkansas State team that would like nothing more than to pull off a massive upset.
However, such an upset is more than highly unlikely. According to ESPN Analytics, the Arkansas State Red Wolves only have a 10.5% chance of defeating the Hogs. That slim chance to win the game should keep the Hogs focused and motivated to beat the Red Wolves and not dismiss them. If the Hogs overlook the Red Wolves, they will lose the game, and such a devastating loss would likely ruin their season, given that it would significantly diminish the team's confidence heading into the truly fierce SEC and non-conference competition.
Arkansas' players have some things to prove to everyone after a performance where they didn't deliver their best performance against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs. Therefore, expect the Hogs to have the focus and motivation necessary to meet expectations.
This article offers three keys to the game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and Arkansas State Red Wolves.
Arkansas Razorbacks football vs. Arkansas State: 3 keys to the game
Razorbacks must dominate offensively
The Arkansas Razorbacks have a decisive edge against the Arkansas State Red Wolves on offense. However, Bobby Petrino must resist the urge to employ a "vanilla offense" ahead of the team's game against Lane Kiffin's No. 20 Ole Miss Rebels. His offensive schemes are sophisticated. Therefore, they allow for critical wrinkles to be added to them, even when opposing defensive coordinators have witnessed them in the past and during this young college football season.
Even though this game does not mean much to Arkansas' players, it's the most important game on the Red Wolves' schedule in their institution's history. Therefore, Arkansas State is coming to Little Rock to play their Super Bowl, and the Hogs cannot underestimate the type of motivation that can bring to a team with some talent on it, which can lead to a historic upset in a historic game between the two largest universities in the state.
Petrino has the opportunity to eliminate much of the energy the Red Wolves will bring to the field by giving Arkansas State a steady diet of both the run and pass, a balanced offensive attack that will permit the Razorbacks to demonstrate their speed, talent, power, and athleticism superiority over them. Even if the rushing game doesn't work early, Petrino needs to remain committed to it, considering the Hogs must be able to run the football to be successful in all future games on the schedule. A team doesn't usually start running the football all of a sudden; it usually occurs as a result of a prior and genuine commitment to it.
Arkansas' offensive line must perform well
Although Petrino can devise the most innovative schemes, and he already has them in his arsenal, if the offensive line doesn't block well, those schemes will be wasted. Therefore, the Hogs' offensive line must show its SEC power against the overmatched Arkansas State defensive line. The offensive line needs to prove to itself that it can dominate, given that far greater challenges are ahead beginning next week.
The offensive line must give Petrino the confidence to call plays without the burden of wondering if the protection will be good enough to support his schemes. If Arkansas starting quarterback Taylen Green has to run for his life as he did against Alabama A&M, the Razorbacks will be in trouble in this game and definitely in all future games.
Hogs must play SEC defense
Travis Williams must use this game to prove that the Arkansas Razorbacks are ready to present SEC offenses with the challenge of battling a Hogs' defense that's truly an SEC defense. If his defense cannot play excellently against Arkansas State, one cannot place much faith in it to play well enough to aid the team in winning any of the remaining games on the team's schedule.
While Williams has proven that he can meet the challenge of limiting what even some of the best offenses in the country can present, he must produce a product on the field that evinces a more consistent ability to perform well against such offenses. If the defense is to perform well today and in the future, the defense line must play significantly better than it did against Alabama A&M.