The Arkansas Razorbacks (6-5, 3-4 SEC) will try to earn their first ever win in Columbia, Missouri, when they face the No. 24 Missouri Tigers (8-3, 4-3 SEC) in the Battle Line Rivalry on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
Under fifth-year head coach Sam Pittman, Arkansas owns a 1-3 record against the Tigers and their sixth-year coach Eli Drinkwitz. The Razorbacks are 0-6 all-time in Columbia and they trail Missouri, 11-4, in the all-time series. Last season's matchup resulted in a 48-14 win for the Tigers at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
"We’re playing for a trophy," Pittman said. "We’re playing Missouri. They’re a rivalry game for us. They beat hell out of us last year. That should motivate us. The problem is a lot of the kids that are on the team and playing weren’t on the team last year too. So you have to find different ways to motivate. That’s my job. Instead of just going well, it’s Missouri. It’s a rival."
Missouri enters the matchup ranked top-15 nationally in both third down offense and defense. The Tigers' three losses this season were to Texas A&M, South Carolina and Alabama, and their top wins are over Vanderbilt, Auburn and Oklahoma.
"I think 7-5, 4-4 in the league and beating a top 25 team, a top five team, I think that would really help us in recruiting and recruiting through the portal," Pittman said regarding a potential win over Missouri. "Obviously, we're going to a bowl either way, but I think it would be big, big to get that win. And so we're gonna try like hell to get that done."
HawgBeat has also compared both teams' grades from Pro Football Focus, which is a football analytics website that provides grades for each individual player and full teams after analyzing each game for all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. Grades are given from 0-100, with the higher the grade signifying better performance.
Here's a look at how both teams stack up based on stats from this year and high school star ratings:
Season Stats - Missouri | Arkansas (FBS rank out of 134 teams)
Offense
Missouri || Arkansas
Scoring: 29.2 (57th) | 31.1 (46th)
Total yards: 393.4 (61st) | 457.9 (9th)
Passing: 224.6 (73rd) | 272.8 (25th)
Rushing: 168.7 (59th) | 185.1 (24th)
Third downs: 47.3% (15th) | 44.3% (32nd)
Sacks allowed/game: 2.1 (72nd) | 2.9 (112th)
Turnovers: 9 (15th) | 20 (114th)
Defense
Missouri || Arkansas
Scoring: 20.0 (22nd) | 24.6 (67th)
Total yards: 314.0 (21st) | 366.5 (66th)
Passing: 181.5 (18th) | 251.1 (113th)
Rushing: 132.5 (47th) | 115.4 (27th)
Third downs: 28.9% (6th) | 35.1% (39th)
Sacks/game: 2.2 (t-51st) | 2.2 (t-51st)
Turnovers forced: 14 (76th) | 13 (88th)
