College Football 2015 Preview No. 15: Arkansas Razorbacks

Regular Season Records: 6-6, 3-9, 4-8, 10-2

SRS Rankings: 12, 72, 61, 11

Talking Point: How good are they? Arkansas were the best 6-6 regular season team in the country last year. They were the only SEC West team to acquit themselves well in bowl play. It was “borderline erotic.” Vegas seems bearish about their prospects. Will the Razorbacks take another step forward? Will that step forward show up in the win column?

Why To Like Them: This team is ready to Bielema on offense. Two 1,000-yard rushers, Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins, return. So do four offensive line starters. Brandon Allen is a third-year starter, albeit under his fourth offensive coordinator.

Why Not To Like Them: The Razorbacks lose a lot up front on defense. Trey Flowers, Martell Spaight and Darius Philon combined for 37 TFL last season, and were a major reason Arkansas jumped from 100th to 19th in FEI defense. The Razorbacks have depth and young players who could fill the gaps. But, we’re still in the theory stage there. It’s not clear Arkansas has the wide receivers necessary to make teams pay for loading the box.

Schedule: The Razorbacks still play in the SEC West. Back to back road trips in October (Tennessee and Alabama) and November (Ole Miss and LSU) could get dicey. Their easiest conference game is either Missouri or Mississippi State at home. They play seven of our preseason Top 25. One can see why 2-6 in the SEC in 2014 with close losses got everyone fired up.

Throwing Darts: Arkansas should be very good. How far that takes them in the SEC West is uncertain. Maybe they make a full-on erotic run at the division with fortune, but 7-8 wins seems more attainable.

Random Alum: Nic Pizzolatto

[Photo via USAT]