Arkansas Football: Missing a bowl is unacceptable for Razorbacks

Arkansas football earned a post-season eliminating loss at the hands of Mississippi State in Week 12. Has Bret Bielema run out of chances?

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Arkansas will be sitting on their couch this offseason and watching every other eligible team in their division play in a bowl. Only Ole Miss, who is serving a self-imposed bowl ban, won’t be bowling. That’s embarrassing.

The Razorbacks have wins over Ole Miss, Florida A&M, New Mexico State and Coastal Carolina. If they can’t find a way to beat Missouri this weekend they will finish the season without a victory over a .500 or better Power-5 team. There have been coaches with much better track records that are already out of their jobs, Jim McElwain, Butch Jones and Jim Mora, for example.

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Bret Bielema was brought in from Wisconsin with much higher expectations than that. His bread and butter was running the football and winning the battle in the trenches. The Razorbacks are seventh in the SEC in rushing offense, averaging 171.2 yards per game. Not wonderful, but not egregious.

Arkansas has surrendered a SEC-worst 33 sacks this season. They’ve recorded a SEC-worst 16 sacks. That sums up the play of both sides of the Arkansas front. Bielema’s prowess with the big guys is what made him attractive to Arkansas in the first place. He’s not living up to his billing, and that should cause Arkansas fans some concern.

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One bad season does not define a coach. Mark Dantonio at Michigan State is closing in on following up a 3-9 season with a 9-3 season. The problem is, Bielema has never had a nine win season at Arkansas. After five full seasons as the head man of the Razorbacks he might be out of time.