Well then. No doubt motivated by my gloomy predictions in last week's postgame thread, the Razorbacks responded with their best game of the season, thumping South Carolina 44-28 and laying to rest any lingering doubts about their fitness for the top 10.
Plus, thanks to LSU's 9-6 blowout of Alabama, the Hogs are potentially on course (repeat after me: must not overlook Tennessee and Mississippi State...must not overlook Tennessee and Mississippi State) for a verrrrrrrrrrry interesting showdown against the Tigers on Thanksgiving weekend. So yeah, it was a good day for Arkansas.
The effort certainly wasn't perfect - in the first half alone Ronnie Wingo and Cobi Hamilton each dropped wide open TD passes, the defense handed the Gamecocks a touchdown thanks to multiple penalties, Tyler Wilson threw a pick six and Zach Hocker missed a couple of field goals - but the Hogs managed to rebound after pretty much every bad play with something better. And, credit is due to the often-maligned defense for a strong night: they were constantly in South Carolina's backfield, and forced some very huge turnovers.
Other standout moments included:
* Dennis Johnson's 98 yard kickoff return for a TD in the 1st quarter.
* Actually, pretty much everything DJ did was a standout moment...he was a one man offensive show at times.
* Jarius Wright carving up yet another defense with two TD catches and 103 yards receiving.
* Jake Bequette, an absolute beast all evening, capping his big night with a crushing sack (pictured above) of Connor Shaw for a fumble deep in Gamecock territory.
Oh, and by the way, with five wins in their last six meetings, Arkansas officially owns South Carolina. Jeff Long is signing the paperwork on Monday.
That's enough from me...what do you guys think about the game? How are you feeling about the Hogs at this point in the season?