Arkansas football hosts Vanderbilt in Week 9 battle of SEC futility
Arkansas football looks to build off the momentum from their first win since the season opener as they host Vanderbilt in a battle in the featherweight division of the SEC.
Arkansas earned just their second win of the season last week, a 23-0 decision over Tulsa, but there has been some obvious progress for Chad Morris’ team throughout this season despite the abysmal 2-6 record.
Over their last four games Arkansas has: lost by seven at a neutral site to Texas A&M; scored more points than any team has all season against Alabama; came up just short at home against Ole Miss; and then finally breaking through last week against Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane’s are far from a quality opponent, but the Razorbacks will take what they can get at this point.
Morris seems to have handed the reins to freshman quarterback Connor Noland in an attempt to build toward the future in what has been a lost season in 2018.
Vanderbilt is in desperate need of a win having lost five of their last six games following a 2-0 start to the season. The Commodores are following a familiar script under Derek Mason, where early season optimism is derailed by poor play down the stretch.
Vanderbilt has been more competitive this season, coming up just short in losses to highly ranked opponents in Notre Dame, Florida, and Kentucky.
At 3-5, the path to six wins and bowl eligibility seems murky at best, but it may only take five wins for the Commodores to get to a bowl game due to their second-best APR score among FBS schools. If enough teams come up short of bowl eligibility, then Vanderbilt would be one of the first in line to receive a bid.
Here’show you can watch Saturday afternoon’s match-up between Arkansas and Vanderbilt as both teams vie for their first conference win:
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Date: Saturday, October 27
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Fayetteville, AR
Venue: Razorback Stadium
TV: SEC Network
Live Stream: WatchESPN | FuboTV
Keys to Victory
Connor Noland will need to take care of the football if Arkansas is to get its first SEC win under Chad Morris. The freshman will be going up against an aggressive Derek Mason defense that will try and force the issue by getting pressure on Noland, hoping the young quarterback will make mistakes. Noland has to be content with throwaways and checkdowns instead of forcing throws into coverage. Arkansas running backs Rakeem Boyd and Devwah Whaley can shoulder the load for the Hogs offense. Boyd came just a yard shy last week of going over the century mark in rushing yards for the third game in a row.
No team in college football this season has been worse in the red zone than Vanderbilt, so if they want to earn their first conference victory, they will have to capitalize inside the 20. The ‘Dores have scored on just 19-of-29 trips to the red zone this season. Inconsistent placekicking and untimely turnovers have been costly for Mason’s bunch, and a couple close games could have been swung with better red zone efficiency. Just last week in a seven-point loss to Kentucky, Vanderbilt missed a 31 yard field goal and then later fumbled on a red zone trip in the fourth quarter. It is imperative that Kyle Shurmur and the Commodores get points, of any kind, when they get inside the 20 this week.
Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of oddsshark.com
Point Spread: Vanderbilt -1.5
Over/Under: 52
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Prediction
This spread opened with Arkansas favored by 2.5 before the public bet it all the way to Vanderbilt now being favored by 1.5. This feels like a true toss-up game to me, and that would typically mean I would bet on the home team. Here, however, I see Connor Noland making a couple of big mistakes that Vanderbilt is able to cash in on, and those will prove to be the difference in a close game.
Final Score: Vanderbilt 24, Arkansas 20