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Arkansas hasn’t done anything spectacular this season, but has done everything they needed to be in line for an NCAA Tournament bid. Then they lost to Mississippi State at home. Now Ben Howland has improved the Bulldogs a lot this season, but it is still a huge blow to the RPI in a league where Arkansas doesn’t have many chances to improve their standing. Now with their backs against the wall the players have all talked about how urgency is higher than its been all season. Time will tell if that urgency brings about positive results.
How bad of a loss was it for Arkansas’ tournament hopes? With 15 games left on the schedule it by no means is fatal, but any loss that drops your RPI 17 spots is really bad. The issue is that climbing back to where they were is going to be difficult. Arkansas only has one more ranked team on their schedule, a road game at Florida, and only three games against RPI Top-40 teams.
ESPN released some 2016 superlatives with the football season completely over and the Hogs find themselves on the positive and negative side. Frank Ragnow was the unsung hero of the SEC this year. Drew Morgan and Jeremy Sprinkle share the facepalm award for the way their college careers ended.
If you’re curious if you’re opinion of how the football season went compared to others you can vote in this poll to grade the year. 7-6 with a bowl loss is considered a success or a failure based on where your preseason expectations might have been, and the last two collapses undoubtedly soured the opinions of several Hog fans.
Some spots on the depth chart for 2017 are absolutely set in stone, some are much less so. There are five spots here that could be up for grabs in the spring and even into the start of fall practice. If you are wondering where the most newcomers will get playing time or someone that makes you ask, “who?” makes a play, they will likely come from one of these spots.