NWADG College Football

2019

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10 NWA College Football Preview 2019 Sunday, August 25, 2019 losing streak that dates to a 31-10 upset of No. 11 Florida on Nov. 5, 2016. The only comparable stretch of Ar- kansas football came in the 16-year pe- riod between 1938 and 1953, when the Razorbacks had 10 losing seasons and went 24-67-3 (.271) in Southwest Confer- ence play with one winning conference season and two bowl berths. That stretch included back-to-back 0-6 SWC records in 1941 and 1942. Legendary Coach Frank Broyles would arrive five years after that run of lousy football ended. The Arkansas " brand" remains strong. The Razorbacks were rated as the No. 8 most valuable college football program by Forbes, with a current value of $89 million in the magazine's latest rankings this year. Fayetteville led the SEC and ranked fourth in the country by U.S. News & World Report in its annual "Best Places to Live" report in April. It's the fourth consecutive year Fayetteville has led the SEC in those rankings. The Razorbacks have 715 all-time victories to rank 23rd among FBS pro- grams, and they have spent 417 weeks in The Associated Press poll, good for 21st in the nation. Three years ago, the AP slotted Arkansas at No. 21 in its all- time rankings since making its first ap- pearance in the debut season of the AP poll in 1936. The AP noted Arkansas has been ranked in the top 3 of the poll 30 times, but only once since 1978, on Nov. 20, 2011. The Razorbacks were crowned cham- pions last summer by the website Foot- ball Scoop in its rankings of the best mascot names in college football, so they've got that going for them. But right now, the football program needs a lot of work. REBUILDING RESUME UA Athletic Director Hunter Yura- chek was at the University of Houston and in the same American Athletic Con- ference with Morris, the head coach at SMU from 2015-17, when he engineered a rebuild for the Mustangs. SMU also went 2-10 in his first season, then improved to 5-7 and 7-5. "They were in a much worse place, in my opinion, having been a part of that conference, than we are now," Yurachek said. "So he's seen it. He's fought through it before. "He understands what it takes to build a program and get it to where you can have success over the long term." Yurachek said Morris needs only time to turn the Razorbacks into challengers. "We need to be patient with this pro- cess," he said. "You look at the roster and there's 50-plus freshmen, redshirt fresh- men and transfers, 20-plus sophomores. The talent level is improving. "What you see from Coach Morris is he's not trying to make this a quick fix where we have one great year. He didn't go out and fill our needs with all Rebound v Continued from Page 8 Winless teams in SEC play since 1966 Year Team (SEC record) Next year 1966 Miss. State (0-6) 0-6 1966 Vanderbilt (0-6) 0-6 1967 Miss. State (0-6) 0-4-2 1967 Vanderbilt (0-6) 2-3-1 1968 Miss. State (0-4-2) 0-5 1968 Kentucky (0-7) 1-6 1969 Miss. State (0-5) 3-4 1970 Kentucky (0-7) 1-6 1972 Vanderbilt (0-6) 1-5 1974 Ole Miss (0-6) 5-1 1975 Kentucky (0-6) 5-1 1975 #Miss. State (0-6) 0-6 1976 #Miss. State (0-6) 0-6 1976 Vanderbilt (0-6) 0-6 1977 Miss. State (0-6) 2-4 1977 Vanderbilt (0-6) 0-6 1978 Vanderbilt (0-6) 0-6 1979 Vanderbilt (0-6) 0-6 1979 Florida (0-6) 4-2 1980 Auburn (0-6) 2-4 1980 Vanderbilt (0-6) 1-5 1982 Kentucky (0-6) 2-4 1982 Ole Miss (0-6) 4-2 1983 LSU (0-6) 4-1-1 1983 Vanderbilt (0-6) 2-4 1985 Miss. State (0-6) 2-4 1986 Vanderbilt (0-6) 1-5 1988 Miss. State (0-7) 1-6 1989 Vanderbilt (0-7) 1-6 1991 Kentucky (0-7) 2-6 1993 #Alabama (0-8) 8-0 1994 Kentucky (0-8) 2-6 1996 Vanderbilt (0-8) 0-8 1997 Vanderbilt (0-8) 1-7 1998 S. Carolina (0-8) 0-8 1999 S. Carolina (0-8) 5-3 2000 Kentucky (0-8) 1-7 2001 Vanderbilt (0-8) 0-8 2002 Miss. State (0-8) 1-7 2002 Vanderbilt (0-8) 1-7 2007 Ole Miss (0-8) 5-3 2009 Vanderbilt (0-8) 1-7 2011 Ole Miss (0-8) 3-5 2012 Auburn (0-8) 7-1 2013 Arkansas (0-8) 2-6 2013 Kentucky (0-8) 2-6 2014 Vanderbilt (0-8) 2-6 2017 Tennessee (0-8) 2-6 2018 Arkansas (0-8) TBD # - Includes forfeit(s) Source: SEC media guide 2019 NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Arkansas coach Chad Morris directs his players March 1 during practice in Fayetteville. v Continued on next page

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