By the Numbers: 22 days until Arkansas football
The Arkansas Razorbacks will take the field for the 2023 college football season in 22 days when Western Carolina visits War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Saturday, September 2 for a 3 p.m. CT kickoff.
Here at HawgBeat, we will count down the days until head coach Sam Pittman and his team run through the “A” for the first time.
With 22 days remaining, we will take a look at a current player, former player, some interesting scores, highlights and other miscellaneous things in Razorback history tied to the number 22.
Highlights:
Current Player: #22 Brad Spence
A Houston, Texas, native, Spence enrolled early into Arkansas and participated in spring practice. The former three-star prospect totaled 85 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and eight sacks as a senior in high school.
Spence has been playing well so far through fall camp and has stood out to head coach Sam Pittman.
"I think the weight room has a done a nice job for him, first and foremost," Pittman said. "He’s built his confidence through there, and now he knows what he’s doing and all that, but I’ll tell you he makes plays all the time and he can really run. He made a play today, it’s not sideline to sideline, but one hash all the way to out of bounds on the other hash."
"That’s hard to do for anybody, but he did it. What’s that tell you? He's got all the ability, but he’s using his ability. A lot of guys have ability, they don’t use it. He’s one of those guys that does. I think the future is really bright for him, and the future is now."
Former Player: #22 Tony Bua
A linebacker out of Liberty, Texas, Bua is one of the all-time great linebackers to play for the Razorbacks. His 408 career tackles were the most in program history until Bumper Pool surpassed him in 2022 with his career 441 tackles.
Bua was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the fifth round of the 2004 NFL Draft. After switching to the safety position, the Dolphins waived Bua on Sept. 4th. He was then signed by the Cincinnati Bengals but was waived again in 2006.
1974: Arkansas 22 - USC 7
In a retrospectively shocking upset, the then-No. 20 Razorbacks bested the No. 5 Trojans 22-7 in the opening game of the 1974 season.
The Arkansas defense recorded four interceptions versus USC quarterback Pat Haden while linebacker Dennis Winston totaled 19 tackles in the game.
The Frank Broyles-led Razorbacks finished the season 6-4-1 overall while the Trojans went on to finish 10-1-1 overall.
Darren McFadden's 22 career 100-yard rushing games
The All-American running back for the Razorbacks finished his three-year collegiate career with 22 100-yard rushing games, the best in program history.
During his freshman season, McFadden ran for 100+ yards in four straight games against Louisiana-Monroe (125 yards), Auburn (108 yards), Georgia (190 yards) and South Carolina (187 yards). His fifth 100+ yard game was versus Mississippi State (165 yards).
He followed that up with seven more 100+ yard games in his sophomore year. This time, it was against Utah State (184 yards), Alabama (112 yards), Auburn (145 yards), Louisiana-Monroe (129 yards), South Carolina (219 yards), Tennessee (181 yards) and LSU (182 yards).
The Heisman runner-up had a whopping 10 games of 100+ yards in his final season in 2007 — Troy (151 yards), Alabama (195 yards), Kentucky (173 yards), North Texas (138 yards), Chattanooga (122 yards), Ole Miss (110 yards), South Carolina (321 yards), Tennessee (117 yards), LSU (206 yards) and Missouri (105 yards).