COLUMN: Arkansas, Pittman prove they belong with win over A&M

College students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95! Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to andrewhutchinson413@gmail.com.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Hello, college football world, meet the Arkansas Razorbacks.

No longer the laughingstock of the SEC, Sam Pittman has not only restored pride in Arkansas football, but he’s turned the program into one of the best in the country in less than two years on the job.

If there was any doubt after a dominant win over No. 15 Texas vaulted them into the rankings, the Razorbacks erased them by knocking off - and vanquishing some demons along the way - No. 7 Texas A&M 20-10 at AT&T Stadium on Saturday.

“Somebody will say well, Texas A&M ain't any good just because Arkansas beat them, and some will say Texas ain't any good because Arkansas beat them,” Pittman said. “But I believe both of them's really good. And I think the Razorbacks have a good football team.”

That they do.

For the first time since some of the current players were in diapers, Arkansas is 4-0. The Razorbacks won their SEC opener for the first time since 2010 and - when the polls come out Sunday - they could crack the top 10 for the first time since Bobby Petrino drove the program into a ditch.

Despite having already matched its win total from the two-year Chad Morris era, it hasn’t dawned on a few players just how significant of a turnaround they’ve been a part of.

“I'm not going to lie to you - it really doesn't feel like we're 4-0,” wide receiver Treylon Burks said. “It feels like we're playing our ball, having fun with it.”

For others, though, snapping the nine-game losing streak to Texas A&M and proving to a national television audience that Arkansas - as they like to say in Texas - “is back” was a sweet moment.

It was particularly sweet for the 11 “super seniors” who took advantage of the NCAA’s pandemic-related eligibility relief to come back for another go-around even though many of them, like linebacker Grant Morgan, had experienced the worst stretch of football in UA history.

“Wins like this are why you come back,” Morgan said. “Like, this is why I came back. … We saw what this could have been. We saw this was a possibility from last year's team with Pittman and the crew.”

However, the game wasn’t always a coronation for the Razorbacks. After racing out to a 17-0 lead and knocking on the door of an even bigger margin, Arkansas was stuffed on fourth-and-1 and gave up a field goal late in the half.

Starting quarterback KJ Jefferson hurt his knee on the first play after halftime and the offense struggled to move the ball with backup Malik Hornsby in the game. The Aggies pulled within a touchdown and had the ball with a chance to tie it up early in the fourth.

It looked like a replay of so many heartbreaking losses in the same building that sidetracked or derailed the Razorbacks’ previous seasons. Until it didn’t.

Montaric Brown came up with a tipped-ball interception and the offense did just enough to get a field goal that pushed Arkansas’ lead back to two possessions.

“Well, I’m really happy with the football team’s toughness,” Pittman said. “I think our toughness showed tonight. … I mean, we've got a tough football team. I'm proud of that fact.”

Pittman deserves a lot of credit for that toughness.

He didn’t overhaul the roster when he was hired as Arkansas’ 34th head coach in December 2019. Sure, there have been a few strategic additions from the transfer portal and some key signees, but for the most part, he changed the mentality of players recruited by his predecessors.

In fact, the Razorbacks’ 22 starters Saturday featured only three players - the trio of transfer defensive linemen - brought in by Pittman and his staff.

“Listen, it’s the same guys since I’ve been here,” Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher said. “They have a veteran group of guys who knew how to play. They played well. They played to understand their schemes, what they’re doing. They’re coached very well.”

The season is still young and more big games loom, beginning with next week at No. 2 Georgia, but the trajectory of Arkansas’ program is firmly in a positive direction.

“I'm excited to be able to be a part of this group that's changing the history or changing how the momentum was going in Arkansas football and how we're starting a new path,” Morgan said. “I'm excited to be able to be in that spot to say (to) younger guys, ‘This is how you win. This is how you continue to win.’”

For the long-time offensive line coach who’s living his dream as the head coach at Arkansas, the school he grew up cheering for in northeast Oklahoma, Pittman is thrilled to be the man at the helm as the program begins its ascension.

“I'm really, really happy,” Pittman said. “But I'm hoping that the whole state and everybody that follows Arkansas is ecstatic about the Hogs’ win. And again, I think this is what should happen at Arkansas. Now, I'm not saying we ought to win every game, but we're the University of Arkansas.”