After a 9-4 record inside Razorback Stadium in 2021 and 2022, any home-field advantage Arkansas had vanished in 2023. Despite many raucous crowds filling the seats of one of the nicest facilities in the country, Arkansas only won two of their six home games last fall, with the wins coming against Kent State and Florida International, respectively.
In their four games against Power Five competition in Fayetteville, the Razorbacks went 0-4 and were outscored 141-58. In their three home games against SEC foes, Arkansas scored a total of 27 points.
Those numbers don’t include an uninspiring 28-6 victory over Kent State in Week 2 of the season, in which Arkansas struggled to do much of anything against a weak Golden Flashes team for much of the game.
Last season’s Kent State matchup is probably the best comparison to Saturday’s game against UAB for the Razorbacks, who trailed by scores of 10-0 and 17-3 in the first half on Saturday.
In front of a crowd of 75,021 — the eighth-largest crowd in the history of the Arkansas football program — Sam Pittman’s team looked flat, uninspired and lackadaisical against a mediocre Blazers squad, leading many fans to have flashbacks of the Chad Morris era, when Arkansas routinely lost to inferior Group of 5 opponents.
To give Pittman and Co. credit, the Razorbacks overcame the early setbacks to earn their second win of 2024, but something needs to change when the Hogs are playing at home.
Arkansas boasts a fantastic facility and a rabid fan base. Fayetteville offers one of the nicest atmospheres in the SEC and former Alabama and Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts even said that Razorback Stadium was the loudest environment he played in during his collegiate career.
If you want an indicator of how rowdy Razorback fans can be, look at — or rather, listen to — Arkansas’ nail-biting win over Ole Miss in 2016 or their decimation of Texas in 2021.
Arkansas doesn’t have an environment or fan engagement problem, but for whatever reason, the team comes out flat in front of their home crowd.
In a conference where protecting home field can make or break your season, that’s an unacceptable problem for Pittman to have.
If Arkansas performs as poorly against in their SEC home games as they did against UAB, there’s a chance the Hogs could go 0-4 against the likes of Tennessee, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas.
If that happens, Arkansas almost certainly misses a bowl game and Pittman may well be forced to his Hot Springs retirement home earlier than he wants to be.
