Arkansas football finished the 2021 season with nine wins and had some contenders on the ropes. The 2022 Razorbacks may push for a playoff spot.
Sam Pittman has brought Arkansas football back from the dead and now the Razorbacks are heading into the 2022 season as a potential SEC title contender.
Three years ago, this seemed like a place that Arkansas wouldn’t be for decades, but Pittman has done an impressive job and now that he’s recruiting at a high level and coming off a nine-win season, it’s not crazy to think that the Razorbacks could push for a playoff spot.
Here’s why I believe Arkansas could make a surprise playoff push in 2022.
3. Favorable schedule
It’s tough to say that a schedule with Cincinnati, Texas A&M, Alabama, BYU, LSU, and Ole Miss is considered favorable, but when you play in the SEC and all of those tough conference games are at home or at neutral sites — the non-conference matchup with BYU is the only road bout in that group — then, yes, it is fairly favorable.
Arkansas begins the season against a Cincinnati team that has to start a new quarterback and won’t be quite as good as last year’s playoff team. They then host a tough South Carolina team which should be a nice win and then two games later, the Razorbacks will face Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium with a chance to pick up a huge top-10 win.
Alabama on Oct. 1 in Fayetteville is the toughest matchup on the schedule, but even with a loss there, the Razorbacks could be in firm control of their own destiny.
With all of the toughest battles at home or at a neutral site, Arkansas could realistically go 11-1.