Arkansas Razorbacks Internet Chatter - Predictions, Awards, What Ifs, and Ratings

Right now the College Football Playoff selection seems relatively straight forward for Jeff Long and the Committee. Barring a huge upset from either North Carolina or Florida, the four teams will likely be Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and the winner of the Big 10 title game. However, in an alternate universe, the football playoff is in chaos thanks to the Razorbacks. Chris Low of ESPN contemplates a fun scenario: what if 4th and 25 didn't work against Ole Miss? If the Rebels win that game then they are playing for the SEC Championship thanks to their tie-breaker over the Tide. Would Alabama be in without a conference title? Would the SEC be left out? Thankfully for Jeff Long, his Razorbacks made his decision a lot easier.

It's about that time too for individual awards. Hunter Henry is up for the Mackey award given to the best tight end. The entire offensive line is up for hardware, now its Brandon Allen's turn. Allen has been named one of the 12 finalists for the Manning Award, given to the top QB in the nation. Allen is going to face some stiff competition for the award though, Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield and Clemson's Deshaun Watson are also up for the prize.

At the end of the season, its fun to look back at all the preseason predictions gone horribly wrong. Rick Fires has done that to his own preseason predictions. Like most people did, the overall season record prediction was way off. But that's what happens when you lose to Toledo and win at LSU in the same season. One thing he nailed though was Drew Morgan becoming a breakout player for the Hogs.

Will Arkansas-Missouri ever grow into a real rivalry? Not if nobody watches it. This year's Battle Line handed CBS their worst college football ratings of the season last week. The 1.3 rating is half what watched last year's game, when Missouri was going for an SEC East title, which was still worse than the last Black Friday game between Arkansas and LSU. You have to wonder if that 1.3 number will scare off CBS from putting Arkansas-Missouri in the Black Friday slot in the future.