Another week of Arkansas football and another loss. After the 33-24 loss to Auburn, the Hogs have now lost six consecutive games, the latter three of which have come under interim Bobby Petrino. In these losses, we have seen a common denominator: turnovers. We at Last Word were perplexed when Sam Pittman was let go and asked the question, “Will anything change?”. Well, based on the slide, since the dismissal, the answer is a resounding “NO!” With that, we ask a deeper question: When does the bleeding stop for Arkansas?
When Does The Bleeding Stop For Arkansas?
Possession Is Optional
As we mentioned, the turnover issue continues for Arkansas. In the loss on Saturday, the Hogs coughed it up four times, with three coming off the arm of Taylen Green. Again, the defense is not the best, but continuing to hand the ball to the opposing team is a recipe for losses, and they keep happening.
These turnovers gave Auburn 14 additional points. This is the difference between winning and losing, and on Saturday, Arkansas lost. When will this issue get fixed? Going deeper, do Petrino and staff even see this as an issue? This is not new, as this has been an Achilles heel since Petrino rode back onto campus in 2024. With the schedule not getting any easier, there has to be more emphasis on keeping the ball and maintaining possession, no matter the weather.
Offense Stalls Again
Stop us if you have heard this one: Arkansas struggles to score in the second half. On Saturday, the Hogs, who led 21-10 at halftime, only scored three points in the second half. To make this statistic even worse, no points were scored in the fourth quarter. While many will immediately point to the defense, we have summed up why this program keeps losing.
We will get the details, since some seem to be continuing the lovefest for Petrino. In the third quarter, Arkansas netted 72 total yards. Of these, five came on the ground on five carries. The remaining came on the arm of Green and calls from Petrino, for 67 yards on 4-of-6 passing. In the fourth quarter, the offense totaled 61 yards. Arkansas ran on five occasions for 23 yards and slung the ball around the field for 38 yards on 4-of-8 passing. To put the final dagger in this offense, the four turnovers all took place in the final stanza.
Hugh Comes Into Fayetteville and Saves His Job
Speaking of coaches, Hugh Freeze has a knack for winning in Fayetteville. As the Liberty head coach, Freeze came to town and defeated the Razorbacks before taking the head position at Auburn. Now, in 2025, for Freeze to return and win again, it has to sting for Arkansas brass and fans. With the confidence put forward in the announcement of Pittman being fired, and Petrino promoted, these consecutive losses must burn the seat of Hunter Yurachek up.
After all, as we mentioned at the time, a reason for the firing was one score and close losses. Well, this is now another close loss from Petrino, and his offense is at the top of the list of blame. We asked the question in the title, “When will the bleeding stop?” and this is for the administration as well. To have Auburn and Freeze come in and possibly save his job versus you is a bad look and may hurt the optics of the program in the ever-spinning carousel.
In closing, the losses are becoming like “Groundhog Day”, same thing, different day. As we peek at the schedule, we are not sure where the losses will cease, to be completely transparent. What we do see is that any fans who wanted to keep Petrino at the helm after this season need to head to the local eye doctor immediately, because their vision is skewed. The loss to Auburn proved what we stated weeks ago: “We do not see where this change will make a difference,” and it hasn’t. Up next for Arkansas is Mississippi State as the Bulldogs visit Fayetteville for a 3 pm kickoff on November 1.
Main Photo: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
