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.
FAYETTEVILLE — The biggest mystery surrounding Arkansas’ game Saturday is not the outcome, but rather by how wide of a margin it will beat UAPB.
Although point spreads for games between FBS and FCS schools can be hard to find, the Razorbacks are a 51.5-point favorite over the Golden Lions at War Memorial Stadium, according to OddsShark.com.
Considering UAPB is 1-6 with its lone victory coming over a Division II team, there appears to be very little risk of something happening like The Citadel in 1992 or even Appalachian State in 2007.
Instead, the question is how quickly Arkansas can build a big enough lead that head coach Sam Pittman feels comfortable enough to take out his starters and give backups some reps.
“Lord willing we will,” Pittman said. “That's not the plan. The plan is go play as good as we can. Certainly if something happened it would be good for the guys who haven't had opportunities, but we're going in like it's going to be a barn burner.”
As the coach, of course Pittman can’t come out and reveal plans to play his second- and third-string players Saturday. However, HawgBeat can.
Here’s a list of some young guys we hope get an extended look against UAPB…
QB Malik Hornsby
This is the most obvious player on the list and not because we think he should be the starter. KJ Jefferson has proven to be one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC, but it is still very important to have a backup quarterback ready to go in case he goes down.
Arkansas got a taste of that earlier this season when Malik Hornsby had to play for about a quarter as the Razorbacks hung on against Texas A&M. It wasn’t pretty. The offense struggled to move the ball and Hornsby never looked comfortable.
Since then, Jefferson has been healthy, but his backup did get one play against Ole Miss and it was a disaster. Hornsby tried to reverse field and ended up losing 7 yards, severely hindering the possession.
Pittman has said it’s important for his backup quarterback to run the offense when he gets in the game, not just execute a special package, and Saturday’s game should give him ample time to do just that. If something happens to Jefferson down the stretch, building some confidence against the likes of UAPB could do wonders for Hornsby in the future.
