Arkansas was picked seventh in the SEC West for the 2018 college football season at the SEC Media Days. 

The preseason magazines were about the same with very little respect given to this year’s Arkansas team. That is to be expected following not just a 4-8 season, but from a program that has seen its SEC mark at 13-35 the past six seasons. John L. Smith was the interim head coach in 2012 and followed the next five by Bret Bielema.

That followed up Bobby Petrino that saw the Razorbacks win 17 SEC games in only four years. The Hogs won 42 SEC games in 10 years under Houston Nutt. Danny Ford’s teams won 16 SEC games in five years. So the past six years have been the worst extended stretch of football since the Razorbacks started SEC play in 1992.

So it has been proven the Razorbacks can be much more competitive in the SEC than they have been since Petrino’s exit following the 2011 season. Arkansas was 11-2 that season and finished the polls at No. 5 in the nation. 

Chad Morris is set to begin his first season at Arkansas. He has the fans excited for football again. The Razorbacks open the season on Saturday, Sept. 1, when they host Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. in Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Here’s five reasons for optimism despite the gloomy predictions for the 2018 season.

1. New Coach, New Excitement 

With a new coach comes new excitement and the players have really bought into Morris’ program. Morris has done an outstanding job getting not just the players, but the fans to buy in. To be honest, many fans were hoping for a bigger name when Morris was hired. However, Morris came in and quickly not just said the right things, but started doing the right things to get people to buy in again. He recognized the need for speed in the SEC and also the recruiting footprint needed to be Arkansas, Texas and the surrounding states then branch out from there. It seemed not enough emphasis was put on recruiting Texas in recent years and that has returned with Morris. He has the state of Arkansas, Memphis, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Louisiana and Missouri with Texas as the footprint then also hit the other SEC states as well as some national recruiting. That was a winning formula for Frank Broyles at Arkansas and Morris made note of that this week. The program needed an injection of excitement and got that with Morris.

2. Lots of Experience Returning

The team was hit hard by the injury bug in 2017, but if there was a silver lining to that it helped provide many of the returning players some experience they might not have gotten otherwise. Arkansas is lacking in experience at quarterback, but most other positions have some veterans returning. Cole Kelley started four games last season in Austin Allen’s absence, going 2-2, but that is the extent of all the starting experience among the five scholarship quarterbacks on campus. The defense should be better this season and the new quarterback will have some talented running backs to give the ball to as well as a deep group of wide receivers.

3. The Schedule is Manageable

It’s not an easy schedule, but it’s one that is manageable all things considered. Gone from the non-conference schedule is TCU. Arkansas does have a tough game at Colorado State on Sept. 8, but getting rid of TCU is a plus. Arkansas does have a murderous start to SEC play going to Auburn, playing Texas A&M at a neutral site and then hosting Alabama. But after that the SEC schedule levels out some. As noted it’s not an easy schedule, but should be one that allows the Hogs to manage it. There’s only three true SEC road games.

4. New Offense, New Defense

The pro-style offense used by Bielema’s teams wasn’t a bad one. The team managed to put up some points particularly in 2015 when the Hogs scored a combined 134 points in wins over Ole Miss and LSU before losing to Mississippi State. But the new offense used by Morris is the style used by many high schools with recruits sought by the Hogs and the players love to play in that style. John Chavis is generally considered one of the best defensive coordinators in college football. He will bring an aggressive style of defense to Arkansas. That is something fans have pleaded for after watching a more conservative defense in recent years. The combination of Arkansas’ new offense and the Chief’s defense should pay off big in recruiting.

5. Better Conditioned Team

The Hogs have been dismal in the second half of many games in recent years. That includes winning only one SEC game after trailing at halftime under Bielema. In addition, they have also blown some big halftime leads fading in the fourth quarter. A much better conditioned team may help fix some of this. Under Morris and Tru Carroll, the players who needed to lose weight have done so and then the ones who needed to add some have likewise been able to do it. Overall, it just makes sense if the team is in better shape physically it should be able to play for 60 minutes better than one that included many who were overweight.