Arkansas Football: 5 Takeaways from 2017 season

2. Arkansas can’t win in the trenches

This team, at least under Bret Bielema, was once known for their physicality and their toughness in the trenches. In 2017 they were beat on both sides of the ball. Arkansas averaged 4.4 yards per carry, seventh best in the SEC. They allowed. 5.0 yards per carry, 12th best in the SEC. Not a single Arkansas running back reached 700 yards rushing. David Williams was closest, reaching 656 yards with eight touchdowns on the ground.

Bret Bielema was brought to Arkansas because of his commitment to the trenches. His Wisconsin teams strung together massive bodies up front and backed them up with a powerful punch at tailback. That’s the strategy he tried to employ at Arkansas, it just didn’t work long term.

Arkansas doesn’t have a revolving door of blue chip prospects like Alabama or Auburn. That limits how much dominance they can assert on either line of scrimmage. The Razorbacks just can’t out-talent or out-size the rest of their conference foes which makes smash mount football a hard thing to accomplish.

The Razorbacks allowed 35 sacks, the second most in the SEC while registering just 19 sacks of their own, the fewest in the conference.