Arkansas Razorbacks Football: Five most important games for Hogs in 2015

Apr 18, 2015; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Marlon Humphrey (26) celebrates after making an interception in the annual A-day game at Bryant Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

2. Arkansas at Alabama – Oct. 10

The first year under Bret Bielema the Razorbacks got run out of Bryant-Denny Stadium 52-0 and out gained 532-256 yards of total offense. That was the worse loss by the Razorbacks to Alabama, again, as the Razorbacks lost to the Crimson Tide 52-0 the previous year while being guided by the John L. Smith train wreck.

Related: Alabama Season Preview and Prediction

Since Saban has been the head coach at Alabama the Razorbacks have not been able to pull out a win. That’s seven straight years minus the vacated win in 2008 for those keeping track at home.

To add to the festering wound known as Alabama, the Razorbacks lost a nail biter 14-13 in front of the 1964 championship team that was honored at half-time due to a missed field goal and a fumble at the goal line by RB Kody Walker.

Despite the mistakes, Arkansas managed to hold Alabama scoreless in two quarters and hold Alabama to its lowest total offensive performance(227 yards) in the 2014 season. As it stands today the Razorbacks have dropped ten straight SEC away or neutral site games and hasn’t beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa since 2003(34-31) hence why this game is key to Arkansas making its way out of the cellar in the SEC west.

A win for Arkansas in Tuscaloosa versus what will likely be a top five team in the country will put Arkansas in the driver’s seat in the western division early on with games versus Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State still on the horizon. To get a win in Bryant-Denny won’t be easy though since Alabama is currently tied with Baylor for the nation’s longest home win streak at 16 games.

To add to that Alabama is on a seven game SEC win streak and with games versus Ole Miss at home and Georgia on the road so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Alabama bumps that number to nine before playing the Razorbacks.

That said, playing Georgia between the hedges the week before playing Arkansas could favor the Razorbacks similar to the game in 2014 where the Crimson Tide went on the road to play at Ole Miss the week before playing Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Next: Tennessee