In the SEC, finding a way to win multiple conference games in a row is the key to a team finding itself in championship contention.
Sustained success is hard to come by in college football, but incredibly rewarding for programs who manage to become consistent winners.
Unfortunately for Sam Pittman and the Arkansas Razorbacks, that crucial sustained success in SEC play hasn’t quite made its way to Fayetteville yet. Only once in Pittman’s five seasons at Arkansas has he won two conference games in a row. That happened in November of 2021, when Arkansas held off Mississippi State 31-28 before beating LSU in a 16-13 thriller on the Bayou.
In 2020, 2022 and 2023, Arkansas wasn’t able to beat SEC opponents in two consecutive conference matchups, despite being given multiple golden opportunities to do so.
In 2020, Pittman won his first game as Arkansas’ head coach against Mississippi State, only to fall short in heartbreaking fashion to Auburn the next week in a game most fans still haven’t recovered from.
In 2021, Arkansas capped a 4-0 start to the season with a 20-10 win over Texas A&M. The monumental victory pushed Arkansas all the way up the No. 8 in the polls - until eventual national champion Georgia brought the Hogs back down to earth with a 37-0 beatdown in Athens.
2022 may be the season in which the lack of sustained success hurts the most. After a rough three-game stretch that saw Arkansas fall to 3-3, strong showings against BYU and Auburn injected new life into a previously stagnant Razorback team. Not only did Arkansas lay an egg against Liberty, losing 21-19, they also fell short in their next SEC game against LSU, falling 13-10 on an icy day in Fayetteville. Arkansas rebounded by pummeling Ole Miss to clinch bowl eligibility, but once more fell short of notching two straight conference victories after losing 29-27 to Missouri.
Most Arkansas fans rightfully want to wash away any memories of the Razorbacks’ moribund 2023 campaign, but it’s easy to forget that Arkansas had momentum late in the year. Following an overtime win over Florida in the Swamp, hopes were high that the 3-6 Razorbacks could somehow forge a path to bowl eligibility, as a home date with Auburn in front of a rejuvenated home crowd awaited them.
Arkansas proceeded to put forth its worst effort of the Pittman era, losing 48-10 to an Auburn team that perfectly defined mediocrity.
Nobody can deny that 2024 has been a resurgence for Pittman, who now boasts a 3-2 record in SEC play this season after whipping lowly Mississippi State on the road, but the lack of sustained success has been just as prevalent this year as in years past.
Arkansas managed to beat Auburn on the road in their first SEC contest of the year, only to fall once more to Texas A&M in AT&T Stadium the following week.
Then came Arkansas’ home matchup against then-No. 4 Tennessee, in which Arkansas - led by heroic efforts by backups in Malachi Singleton and Braylen Russell - stunned the Vols, winning 19-14 and sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy that spilled onto the playing surface and far into the Fayetteville night.
As fans celebrated on Dickson Street, hopes were high that Arkansas would come out of its bye week with the same fire in their belly against No. 8 LSU.
Alas, that wasn’t the case, as Arkansas was thoroughly dominated by the Tigers in a 34-10 drubbing that sucked away all the positive energy present inside Razorback Stadium two weeks prior.
Arkansas responded with a 58-25 victory over Mississippi State, and while the win was a very positive sign that things are trending in the right direction, Saturday’s matchup against Ole Miss (11 a.m. CT, ESPN) might just be the biggest game of the Sam Pittman era at Arkansas.
Arkansas seems to be bowl bound whether or not they take down the Rebels - a product of Louisiana Tech coming to town on Nov. 23 - but six victories would be disappointing for a team that has shown so much potential.
Pittman and Arkansas have an opportunity most teams would kill for - a College Football Playoff contender - and SEC rival at that - in No. 19 Ole Miss coming into their house in front of what’s sure to be a raucous crowd with bowl eligibility on the line.
There will come a time where simply putting off his seemingly inevitable firing will no longer be enough for Pittman to keep his job. If Pittman wants to prove that he’s the man that can truly elevate Arkansas to contender status, winning back-to-back SEC games for the first time in three seasons would be an excellent start.