Instead of succumbing to the weight of expectation, as it often has, Arkansas’s football team did something novel and downright amazing Saturday. It handled the hype with aplomb, made every decisive play in a game that frankly didn’t have many, and acted like a top-flight program should when it gets a chance to impress a broader audience.
Arkansas isn’t simply playing its first January game in six years Saturday in Tampa. It’s vying for a national identity again, and that’s why this bowl game matters so much.
Coach Sam Pittman's presence so far has been one that reassures the agitated folks among us. When the Hogs would have these midseason swoons in the past, my needle always hovered somewhere between “this guy can’t hack it” and “we’ll never be any good.” I don’t have those feelings at all at this juncture.