Michigan football gets its first chance to rebound from last week’s crushing rout by Texas as Arkansas State, led by former CMU coach Butch Jones, visits the Big House at noon Saturday.

Five Free Press sports writers make their picks between the Wolverines, who are favored by more than three touchdowns, and the Red Wolves.

Tony Garcia

Arkansas State is expected to compete for the Sun Belt this year and can throw the ball. Michigan gets the perfect opponent against which to fix its run game — the Red Wolves’ defense is No. 114 in the nation, allowing 199 yards per game. This is the week Michigan’s offense gets back to basics and Kalel Mullings goes over the 100-yard mark with two scores. The pick: U-M 30, Arkansas State 7.

SCOUTING THE RED WOLVES: Michigan vs. Arkansas State football prediction and scouting report

Carlos Monarrez

With a fat new contract in hand, head coach Sherrone Moore needs to prove he’s worth it with a resounding bounce-back game against the 2-0 Red Wolves. That shouldn’t be a problem, considering Arkansas State’s weak run defense. The Wolverines will have such an easy time they’ll be able to start planning for USC at halftime. The pick: U-M 38, Arkansas State 13.

Rainer Sabin

Arkansas State’s unblemished record should probably have a loss pinned to it after a controversial call at the end of its opener against Central Arkansas went in its favor. This isn’t a great team, and it shouldn’t pose much of a threat to Michigan. But the Wolverines, with a languishing offense and underperforming defense, are a bit of a mess at the moment.

The shellacking administered by Texas last weekend removed Michigan’s aura of invincibility, and it may take a while for the Wolverines to recover from the beatdown. It’s why this game could be uncomfortably close in the early stages before the reigning national champs assert their supremacy and pull away. The pick: U-M 33, Arkansas State 14.

Jeff Seidel

The Wolverines are gonna win this game, I have little doubt. But I’m so interested to see how Michigan looks against a team like this. Because it will put the Texas debacle into some perspective. Was Texas so dominant because it’s headed for an appearance in the national championship game? (Probably.) Or did Michigan look so bad because they lost so much talent? This game will give us a clue. The pick: U-M 31 Arkansas State 10.

Shawn Windsor

Hey, we have no idea who the Wolverines are. Is Fresno State really good? Will Texas be the national champs? I bet Michigan is somewhere between its first and second performances. Though that could be a scary place, too. The pick: U-M 27, Arkansas State 16.

No. 22 Arkansas volleyball split two matches at the Tulsa Volleyball Invitational, falling to Tulsa 3-2 (21-25, 18-25, 25-17, 25-22, 8-15) on Thursday and beating Stephen F. Austin 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-13) on Friday.

Arkansas will face Miami, Florida International and Texas Tech in the Canes Classic in Miami beginning Sept. 19.

“The weekend in general showed us the need to be clean,” coach Jason Watson said. “We struggled Thursday night. Tonight, Friday, we had some nice production out of our left sides and so, different result.”

The Razorbacks struggled with outside scoring on Thursday and were better in Friday’s win, but that will be an emphasis heading into the Canes Classic at Miami.

Friday’s contest against Stephen F. Austin was a rematch of last season’s NCAA Tournament opener, which Arkansas also won in a 3-0 sweep.

The Razorbacks had a strong defensive outing, only allowing 13 points in each set, and had a balanced scoring effort. Olivia Ruy and Romani Thurman tied for a match-high 14 kills while Aniya Madkin had 13 kills.

The attack, particularly on the left side, was much improved over Thursday’s defeat. That will be an emphasis as Arkansas prepares for its nonconference-closing Miami trip.

“To come back out the next night, with a limited amount of prep, to be able to play the manner in which you try to play every match, I think that was a pretty significant moment for us,” Watson said. “For some young kids in some key spots, they’ve got to learn and they’ve got to grow.”

The Razorbacks fell behind 2-0 against the Golden Hurricane on Thursday before coming back to force a fifth set. Tulsa, Watson said, is a team that plays clean and can make it difficult to rebound from an early deficit.

Tulsa, led by Lauren Eitler’s 21-dig, 10-kill double-double, beat Arkansas 15-8 in the tie-breaking set to give the Razorbacks their first loss of the season.

“You can only do that so many times,” Watson said. “When you get into a fifth set like that, it’s a sprint, not a marathon. They jumped on us pretty good. You want to avoid that as much as you can.

“But there’s some good things. We didn’t roll over, we tried and we battled and we came up short there in the fifth. So there’s some positives from it.”

That improvement — “on-the-job training,” Watson called it — is the focus ahead of the weekend Miami trip and SEC play. The Razorbacks lost several key players from last season’s Elite Eight team and have been integrating newcomers into those spots.

“We’re just learning to be better volleyball players longer,” Watson said. “I think there’s opportunities for them there because they continue to be engaged in learning. I think they’re asking good questions. They’re certainly mindful in the gym, the practice environment.”

Arkansas’ economy in the second quarter of 2024 continued to see substantial gains in non-farm employment and the construction sector, while manufacturing and hospitality faced employment declines.

According to The Compass Report for the second quarter of 2024 (April-June), Arkansas’ nonfarm employment showed robust growth, with the state gaining 10,000 jobs between April and June, bringing the total to 1,374,000 nonfarm jobs in June 2024, compared to 1,364,000 in June 2023.

Employment remained steady throughout the quarter, with 1,370,000 jobs in April and 1,369,000 in May. This consistent job market growth earned Arkansas an A+ rating for nonfarm employment expansion, with the state continuing to set employment records each quarter.

“Arkansas’ economy continues to add jobs, with growth in nonfarm payroll employment statewide and in all four regions. The economy remains in an expansion, not a recession but rising unemployment rates suggest labor force growth is outpacing jobs creation. Still, no region recorded an unemployment rate greater than 3.9 percent,” said economist Greg Kaza, executive director of the Arkansas Policy Foundation.

However, the unemployment rate in Arkansas rose once again during the second quarter of 2024, following the upward trend from the first quarter. In June 2024, the unemployment rate stood at 3.3%, compared to 2.6% in June 2023.

“The rise in unemployment persisted throughout the quarter, with the rate increasing to 3.4% in April and May 2024. Despite the state’s job growth, the higher unemployment rate indicated continued challenges in the labor market, earning a D grade for the change in the unemployment rate,” according to analysis from The Compass Report.

The Compass Report is a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith (UAFS) and Talk Business & Politics. First National Bank of Fort Smith is a sponsor of the statewide report. Kendall Ross, UAFS associate vice chancellor of Economic and Workforce Development, and Troy Rodriguez, a data analyst in the UAFS Center for Economic Development who helps compile, manage and review the data, are responsible for data collection and written analysis for the report.

Kaza also noted that the construction sector continues to be bright spot.

“Strong growth in the construction sector noted earlier this year continued in the quarter, with significant gains in the Fort Smith region, Northwest Arkansas and the central part of the state. Arkansas construction sector jobs have expanded 31 percent since the last recession ended in April 2020, the highest growth rate in the 12-state southeast region,” Kaza wrote in his analysis.

Following are other Arkansas economy analysis from The Compass Report.
• June 2024 gross sales and use tax collections reached $358.615 million, up from $347.776 million in June 2023. Similarly, May 2024 collections rose to $357.365 million compared to $314.722 million in May 2023. April also increased to $360.013 million, up from $353.149 million in April 2023.

• Building permit valuations for housing in Arkansas presented a mixed picture during the second quarter. In April 2024, permit valuations jumped to $264.37 million from $191.07 million in April 2023, signaling robust construction activity. May 2024 showed a slight decline, with valuations falling to $246.073 million, compared to $248.99 million in May 2023. The downward trend continued into June, with valuations reaching $267.57 million, down from $306.216 million in June 2023.

• Manufacturing employment continued its downward trend throughout Q2 2024. In June 2024, Arkansas had 162,000 manufacturing jobs, down from 165,300 in June 2023.

• Employment in construction increased to 67,100 jobs in June 2024, up from 63,500 in June 2023. The sector consistently grew across the quarter, with 67,900 jobs in April and 67,600 in May 2024.

• Hospitality employment declined to 128,000 jobs in June 2024, down from 131,500 in June 2023. The industry also saw job losses in April and May 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Link here for the full The Compass Report for the second quarter.

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