FAYETTEVILLE — If you took the Arkansas Razorbacks against the betting line the past two games, they would have made you money.
If you were banking on a straight-up victory, they broke your heart.
The University of Arkansas easily covered as three-touchdown underdogs in a 31-27 loss to then-No. 23 Texas A&M on Sept. 28. The Razorbacks also covered as a seven-point underdog in Saturday’s 24-20 loss at Kentucky.
Since the debacle of a home loss as a big favorite against San Jose State on Sept. 21, the Razorbacks have put themselves on the brink of consecutive SEC upsets. But they failed to win either game.
That leaves the Razorbacks at 2-4 overall (0-3 SEC) and riding a three-game overall losing streak and a 14-game SEC losing streak heading into Saturday’s 11 a.m. home game against No. 11 Auburn.
The Razorbacks, the only team with the unenviable task of playing Alabama and Auburn in back-to-back weeks (LSU does it with an open date in between), are again left searching for answers after a bitter defeat.
In the losses to Texas A&M and Kentucky, the Razorbacks got the ball back down four points with time to drive for a winning touchdown. In both games, they drove methodically into the red zone before stalling.
Second-year coach Chad Morris was asked what the missing ingredient has been against SEC competition.
“That’s our job as coaches to go back and figure out,” he said. “You’re 20 yards away from winning the last two games. And you’ve put yourselves in position there at the end to win the majority of our games this season, all but one, right there on that last drive. Whether it’s a stop here or a conversion there, you know, we’re putting ourselves in position.”
There are key questions, Morris said.
“Are we in the right play call?” he asked. “Do we have the right check? Are we doing too much? Are we not doing enough?
“That’s really kind of what it comes down to. We’ve got to be able to find a way to get the ball in the end zone. We’re putting ourselves in that position, now we’ve got to finish the deal. We just haven’t done that.”
Offensively, Morris and coordinator Joe Craddock enter the week with the quarterback situation up in the air between junior Nick Starkel and senior Ben Hicks. Starkel has had a couple of rough outings against San Jose State and Kentucky since guiding the Hogs to a 55-34 victory over Colorado State in his first game after winning the starting job.
Hicks got off to a mild start the first two weeks, but he has looked sharp coming off the bench in the past two games.
Defensive coordinator John Chavis is looking at ways to tighten up the edges after Kentucky leveraged a strong quarterback run game, as well as tosses to the tailback, into a 330-yard rushing performance last week.
Chavis said Kentucky’s big runs in the fourth quarter were not a product of players tiring, and he got passionate when asked about what steps the coaches can take to keep the team from splintering.
“We have to grow together,” Chavis said. “Heck, we have to be a family, and we take a lot of pride in talking about that and being that. And if we’re what we talk about being, then we’re not going to have to worry about that.
“It’s not going to splinter. We’re going to stay together. I talk to my guys about it often. Let me just say this: There’s times in life that if you want to quit and give up, you’re not going to make it. You’re not going to make it. Our guys will not quit, and they will not give up.”
Craddock was nodding his head when asked about the potential game-winning drives that looked promising before fizzling in the red zone.
Arkansas had a first down at the Kentucky 17 with 3:44 remaining to set up its final set of downs, which opened with a 2-yard quarterback draw at right guard from Hicks that nearly broke for big yardage.
Craddock said left tackle Myron Cunningham was bumped off his pulling action into the hole, where he was going to kick out a linebacker, allowing Hicks to cut inside.
“That put him and Ben kind of on top of each other,” Craddock said. “We would have liked for Ben to be a little further back there, so that when Myron kicks that linebacker out, Ben hits it inside. I think Ben was just a little too fast or we probably get a first down on that quarterback draw.
“The second play, it was an RPO [run-pass option]. We had exactly what we wanted, we had Mike Woods on a slant, we just missed it.”
Hicks’ pass for Woods on that play was thrown incomplete behind him.
On third down, left guard Austin Capps was beaten by tackle Calvin Taylor, who sacked Hicks for a 7-yard loss.
“Not a good time to give up a sack there,” Craddock said. “We probably could have called a quicker play and tried to get it to a fourth and short or something, but we thought we had some guys coming open late that we could have done a better job getting the ball out of his hand a little quicker.
“Obviously, fourth down and long was tough. They dropped everybody at the chains and made it tough, and Ben got pressured.”
On fourth down, Hicks was hit while throwing by tackle T.J. Carter, who had rushed past right guard Ricky Stromberg. Taylor got a hand on the pass.
Morris also declared the Razorbacks would not splinter during this difficult stretch.
“You share with them, first of all, you hurt with them, you hurt for them,” he said. “We put in an enormous amount of time, 353 days a year, to prepare for 12 opportunities, so the time commitment that these players, these coaches put in is enormous.
“But as I shared with them in the locker room, it’s going to turn. It’s turned in the previous places that I’ve been a part of. It’s difficult being stuck in a corner. It’s not fun at times being stuck in a corner. The only way to get out is put your head down and keep swinging and keep working and assuring our players that they’ll continue to keep playing hard and giving the effort.”