Simply when most Arkansas soccer followers thought this system had turned the nook on its decades-long quest to turn out to be a real perennial SEC energy with a strong teaching employees, no off-the-field conditions and what appeared like group unity for 2 full seasons, all of it nonetheless discovered a option to come to a screeching halt this yr. 

Can the season be saved? Not likely. It’s extremely unlikely the Razorbacks will probably be ranked on the finish of the season irrespective of who, or by which bowl recreation we play.

Nevertheless, the long run will be salvaged within the type of a win over the Sooners. A bowl victory over Oklahoma would go a great distance towards recovering from a disappointing season and provides this system a lift in recruiting.  

Will we play Oklahoma? Your guess is pretty much as good as ours and we don’t even know which gamers will play in no matter bowl the Razorbacks are invited to, however that is the group that the Arkansas soccer program *wants* to play.

The precise bowling vacation spot – whether or not of the Liberty, Texas, Las Vegas or Music Metropolis selection – issues lower than who the Hogs play. The philosophy that drives me towards that conclusion is that you just’d a lot reasonably beat a big-name program in its worst yr than some small-time directional faculty in its greatest. Particularly when mentioned big-name program is a future SEC rival. Beating Texas and Oklahoma in back-to-back years, irrespective of the states of these applications, can be an enormous coup for Arkansas. 

As a result of, ultimately, it’s about optics.  

Oklahoma is the largest name-brand program on the market that has underperformed just like the Hogs. We each recruit Texas…..duh. And, as all the time, Arkansas’ capability to steer a variety of athletes to climb over any imaginary recruiting wall round that state and drop into ours makes an enormous distinction within the Hogs’ future success.

Loads of Arkansas-Oklahoma Connections

In the case of the Arkansas/Oklahoma soccer connection, Jadon Haselwood is the primary or second man who involves thoughts relying on how deep you have got buried the Mike Woods defection into your unconscious. 

Haselwood is initially from Georgia, however joined the Hogs by way of the switch portal from OU. He notched 701 yards and three touchdowns on 59 receptions for the Hogs this yr — the latter of which cracked the UA’s all-time top-10 checklist for a single season.

We’ve already seen his final motion as a Hog who, regardless of good, however not nice numbers, has elected to enter the NFL Draft early. He received’t be almost as exhausting to switch as Treylon Burks was. Haselwood will not be the one man on the market who can put up 600-700 yards in an offense that threw for almost 2,800 yards and he’s not even one of the best receiver on the group.

Exterior of that, AJ Inexperienced (74 carries, 313 yards) is from Tulsa. Freshman Bryce Stephens is from Oklahoma Metropolis and, whereas having simply 92 receiving yards, he gained huge confidence by scoring on an 82-yard punt return in opposition to Missouri State. Longtime offensive line starters Brady Latham and Ricky Stromberg are from Jenks and Tulsa, respectively, however the latter has additionally declared for the NFL Draft and received’t play within the bowl.

And we clearly can’t miss, or reside with out, Cam Little from Moore. In two seasons, he’s put 186 factors on the board for the Hogs by hitting 32 of 39 area targets (82%) and never lacking any of his 100 PATs. Defensive again Keuan Parker can also be from Tulsa, however recorded just one assisted deal with in his redshirt freshman yr.  

Lastly, there’s defensive again Myles Slusher from Damaged Arrow. He not solely opted out of no matter bowl we play in, however known as it quits after a strong recreation in opposition to Ole Miss.

An Eerily Related 2022 for Arkansas, Oklahoma

Oklahoma and Arkansas had remarkably – some would say eerily – comparable seasons. The truth is, each colleges are constitution members of the 2022 “Shut, however no Cigar Membership.”  

Examine this out. Each groups:

• Are 6-6
• Began 3-0
• Then misplaced three straight
• Responded with back-to-back wins
• Then had back-to-back losses by a area purpose or much less
• Gained their eleventh recreation
• Misplaced their regular-season finale by 3 or much less

Not as surprisingly, the Achilles’ heel for each groups this yr was lack of success punching it in from deep contained in the crimson zone. The Sooners ranked 63rd nationally in crimson zone offense, which was really higher than the Razorbacks at No. 76.

That is, partially, a mirrored image of two new head coaches nonetheless getting their bearings with play-calling/managing their offensive coordinators down across the finish zone. Brent Venables is in 12 months 1 at Oklahoma whereas Sam PIttman, in fact, is wrapping 12 months 3 in Arkansas. 

The similarities don’t finish there. Oklahoma’s quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, accomplished 63% of his passes for two,925 yards, 24 touchdowns and 6 interceptions whereas working for 300 yards. KJ accomplished 68.3% of his passes for two,361 yards, 22 touchdowns and 4 interceptions with an extra 510 yards on the bottom.

The Sooners’ featured again, Eric Grey, ran for 1,364 yards on 213 carries (6.4 ypc). Rocket Sanders ran for 1,426 on 219 carries (6.5 ypc) for the Razorbacks.

Oklahoma’s greatest receiver, Marvin Mims, broke the 1,000-yard mark on simply 52 receptions and has a few teammates who went for 350 yards or higher.  Arkansas’ No. 1 receiver, Matt Landers, gained 780 yards on 44 catches with 7 touchdowns.   

Potential Affect of Arkansas Beating Oklahoma

In the case of recruiting, on the finish of the day the Sooners will nonetheless rule in Oklahoma, however Arkansas and its Oklahoma-born coach have established a foothold there.

Simply enjoying the Sooners is nice publicity for the Razorbacks with excessive schoolers in Oklahoma, and naturally beating the Sooners would go even additional in serving to Arkansas win on a number of fronts.

Plus, who is aware of? Possibly their recruits will see that fairly actually the grass is greener on our aspect of the state line.

***

Extra protection of Arkansas soccer from BoAS…