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FAYETTEVILLE — If the decision by a handful of ACC teams to turn down bowl game invitations becomes a trend in college football, it doesn’t appear Arkansas will follow suit.

Based on comments by head coach Sam Pittman and a few players after the Razorbacks’ regular-season finale Saturday, the Razorbacks are looking forward to a potential bowl and wouldn’t opt out of the postseason like Boston College, Pitt and Virginia already have.

“We love playing football here,” linebacker Bumper Pool said. “If we get another opportunity to play, we want to play, and I think Coach Pittman has kind of put that in our minds. His leadership is the reason that the culture is changing.”

With a 52-3 loss to No. 1 Alabama, Arkansas finished the regular season with a 3-7 record against a 10-game, all-SEC slate. However, the NCAA waived the bowl eligibility requirement of finishing .500 or better back in October.

(RELATED: Will Arkansas make a bowl game in 2020?)

“I wouldn't have any idea why the players wouldn't want to play,” Pittman said. “One game doesn't define the season. I mean, we got our butt kicked bad today, but that's the only game that we did.”

The Razorbacks have finals this week, but most of the team should wrap them up by the middle of the week. That will allow Pittman and the staff to focus on early National Signing Day on Wednesday.

For now, the plan is to return to the practice field Thursday and Friday, Pittman said, with the possibility of also practicing Saturday. Arkansas also hopes to practice three times next week, with a total of nine or 10 practices before the bowl - depending on the date of the game, with the 30th and 31st most likely.

Those practices are the main reason Pittman wants to play in a bowl game, as they are critical for a program that missed out on spring ball back in March because of the coronavirus pandemic and is still trying to build under a first-year head coach.

“I want to have a few days with the younger kids,” Pittman said. “Teams that don't go to bowl games lose a spring ball on everybody that does. Obviously if we don't think practice is important, we wouldn't want to go to a bowl game, but we do and we want to.”

The players are pumped about the idea of going to a bowl game because Arkansas hasn’t played in one since 2016. Running back T.J. Hammonds is the only player who appeared in the Belk Bowl that year and is still on the team and just seven other current Razorbacks were on that year’s team.

“Of course we're excited for a bowl game,” wide receiver Mike Woods said. “Not too many guys in that locker room have gone to a bowl game, so we're just excited for the next step. We've just got to go back to work and get ready for that game.”

That excitement was also reflected in comments by Pool, safety Jalen Catalon and running back Trelon Smith.

Having lost four straight games to end the regular season - including heartbreaking losses to LSU and Missouri - the Razorbacks are looking forward to a chance to finish strong, said Smith - who was part of bowl teams in 2017 and 2018 at Arizona State.

“Yeah, we lost four games in a row, but that doesn't define us as a team,” Smith said. “We're just planning on going back to practice, coming up with a game plan and being ready for the bowl game and playing against whoever that is.”

Aside from Hammonds, most of Arkansas’ seniors have never experienced a bowl game. Those who have spent their entire careers with the Razorbacks went through a 4-8 season in 2017, the firing of Bret Bielema, back-to-back 2-10 seasons under Chad Morris and finally the pandemic-altered 2020 seasons in which they went 3-7 with three of those losses decided by a total of seven points.

“I think it's a great experience, especially for the seniors who've been through so much in their years here,” Catalon said. “For them to end their senior year going to a bowl game, and competing in one, and winning one would be a great way to cap off everything for sure.”

On the surface, a 3-7 record might seem undeserving of a bowl invite, but Pittman has remained adamant that the Razorbacks belong in a bowl game.

Had the schedule not been altered, Arkansas would have played a full four-game non-conference slate that included three opponents - Nevada, ULM and Charleston Southern - it likely would have beaten and one probable loss - at Notre Dame.

Considering the Razorbacks’ three wins were against teams on the original schedule - Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee - Pittman said it’s safe to say they would have at least gone 6-6 this season.

“In the regular season, (if) you win three conference games, most of the time you get an opportunity to go to a bowl game and I want to,” Pittman said. “I don’t want the kids to end the season on this note because we’ve been in every game we’ve played except for today.”

Bowl assignments will be announced Sunday, the day after the SEC Championship Game and a few makeup games, according to a UA spokesperson.