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Everyone's known that Arkansas will be an underdog in every game this year until they beat somebody respectable, and here it is in black and white.
The Golden Nugget has released early point spreads for what they're calling the 200 Games of the Year, and among those 200 games are seven Arkansas games. The seven games are all of the Razorbacks' SEC games except for Mississippi State, which may say more about the Bulldogs than anything else.
And as expected, the Hogs are underdogs of varying degree in all seven games. Here's the rundown of games and how big of an underdog Arkansas is in each contest:
- Auburn - 24 points
- Texas A&M - 11 points
- Alabama - 24 points
- Georgia - 14.5 points
- LSU - 14 points
- Ole Miss - 5 points
- Missouri - 10 points
There you have it. It should be noted that each of those lines will move significantly by the time the actual games arrive as we learn more about each team. The Auburn line probably won't move too much though unless something significant happens between now and August 30th.
The biggest surprise to me is that Georgia is only favored by 14.5. I would've expected more considering how much people are praising the Bulldogs this offseason. That being said, if there's one really major upset Arkansas can pull off this season, I'd pick Georgia as one of the better chances just because it's in Little Rock. Strange things happen at War Memorial.
I'm also intrigued by that five-point Ole Miss line. Not enough people talk about that as a winnable game for Arkansas. If the Razorbacks are still playing hard in late November, that's certainly the team's most winnable SEC home game. For all the hype the Rebels have gotten the last couple of years, they really haven't done much with it. And Arkansas did play them pretty tough in Oxford last year.
The 14-point LSU spread doesn't surprise me considering it's been a decade since the Tigers traveled to Arkansas and won by more than a touchdown.
If The Golden Nugget had senses of humor they'd make Alabama a 52-point favorite. That's going to be such a horrible week. Not the game, the narrative leading to it. "Can Arkansas score?" "Can the Hogs hold Alabama to under 52 points?" Bleh.
