Betrayed again Thursday night by the state's two most visible athletic squads, Arkansas fans could take solace that neither Razorback team would disappoint them again in 2016.
A 35-24 Belk Bowl collapse against Virginia Tech in Charlotte, N.C., and an 81-72 Walton Arena setback to visiting Florida completed what historians might term annus horribilis ("horrible year") for football and men's basketball, respectively.
It's still early for the basketball team, 11-2 overall after losing its Southeastern Conference opener, but the Florida game unmasked some of the problems associated with Mike Anderson-coached teams. I stand behind a recent prediction here that Arkansas should be among the top five SEC teams and make the NCAA tournament. Otherwise, Anderson should expect intense pressure about job security after six Razorback seasons.
Bret Bielema has four Arkansas football seasons behind him and you'll excuse Razorback fans if they're not wildly excited about the prospects of a fifth.
If not five weeks earlier in a road loss to 3-8 Missouri, Bielema's honeymoon with Razorback Nation officially ended Thursday night with a come-from-ahead Arkansas loss in a backwater bowl. Both against Missouri -- one of two SEC teams not to qualify for a postseason game -- and Virginia Tech, Arkansas did not score in the second half after leading comfortably at the break.
Like an NFL quarterback under siege from Lawrence Taylor, who immortalized his jersey number, Arkansas kept running into 56 this season.
* Auburn embarrassed Arkansas 56-3 in a midseason game, reviving debate among the program's critics that the Razorbacks erred long ago in effect choosing Houston Nutt over a rising Gus Malzahn after they coached together in the 2006 season.
* Missouri and Virginia Tech collectively outscored Arkansas 56-0 in the second half of respective 28-24 and 35-24 comeback victories.
* Arkansas managed only 56 yards against Virginia Tech in a second half that the Razorbacks fumbled once, had three passes intercepted and punted four times.
Thus ended a 7-6 season that the Razorbacks beat only two teams (Louisiana Tech and Florida) that finished with winning records. And in which Arkansas went 3-5 against a beaten-down SEC, dropping Bielema's conference record to 10-22.
Consider that Bobby Petrino won 21 games in two years at Arkansas and Nutt had a 10-win year and four nine-win seasons. Petrino, as we know, effectively fired himself after an off-field scandal involving a female member of the Arkansas athletic department while despite his Arkansas roots and winning records, Nutt became a polarizing figure to Razorback fans.
About Bielema, with his Big Ten background (playing at Iowa, coaching at Wisconsin), "He's had a pretty nice little honeymoon," Nutt said in an interview on The Sports Animal in Knoxville, Tenn., with Jimmy Hyams. "I'm an Arkansan, born and raised there. They got after me pretty hard and we won three (SEC) Western titles and went to Atlanta twice. So it's, 'What have you done lately."'
Nutt lasted 10 years at Arkansas before taking a perceived step down to Ole Miss, which chased him after four seasons.
Back to Bielema, "He's 10-22 in the SEC," Nutt said, per Hyams' article on Gridiron Now. "So they're going to look at that hard. He's going to a bowl. That's a good thing. ... But they're going to get restless like everybody else.
"We're in a world where everybody wants to win. They pay you a great salary. All they want you to do is win yesterday. So you've got to win."
Bielema has done all right against Ole Miss (3-1) and LSU (2-2) but is 0-4 against both Texas A&M and Alabama, which accounted for Arkansas' early 0-2 SEC start this season. No one, inside or outside the SEC, is doing much against Alabama, which sought its 26th consecutive victory in the Peach Bowl Saturday against Washington, but Razorback fans understandably feel chagrined with the coach's 1-2 record against Missouri and 1-3 mark against Mississippi State.
Arkansas loses most of its receivers and top offensive lineman from a squad that relied early on Austin Allen's passing (400 yards against Alabama in a 49-30 Fayetteville defeat that Nick Saban's reserves finished) but cratered late under the junior quarterback's mistakes. Allen totaled three touchdown passes against five interceptions and 10 sacks in the Missouri and Virginia Tech games.
After clearly regressing in 2016, especially after leaving such a foul odor in the last two games, Bielema's fifth Razorback squad should be under greater urgency to win. Judging from comments on talk radio and social media, both coordinators, Dan Enos (offense) and especially Robb Smith (defense), should be on the spot.
On Friday, Bielema said, "If I need to make changes for myself or anything involved with our program, I'm not afraid to do those things. I'm going to take a couple of days to figure out; I kind of have an idea of what I want to do. Just want to make sure that the plan is going forward."
Crews can be changed. So can ship captains.
Sports on 01/01/2017