Hogs treat Arkansas Missouri rivalry like any other SEC game this week

No. 23 Missouri comes to Fayetteville on Saturday for a 6:45 p.m. kickoff on SEC Network.

The Halloween night game comes with a name and a trophy.

It even gets called a rivalry.

Most Arkansas fans have never bought that last part.

That Battle Line Rivalry label has always felt like a slogan somebody dreamed up in a conference office. Folks around here save their real bad blood for other teams.

Ryan Silverfield isn’t trying to sell it to his players either.

“We don’t harp on it too much as a program, as a team,” Silverfield said during his Monday news conference. “We talk about it, but I think they’re just excited to go back out on the field this Saturday.”

He said the program respects the trophy. He just sees Missouri as the next game on the schedule.

Missouri wasted no time

The Tigers came into the SEC in 2012 with plenty of doubters. A lot of media folks figured they’d need about a decade to compete in the league.

Missouri won back-to-back division titles in 2013 and 2014 instead.

So much for the 10-year projections on talk radio.

Since then, the Hogs have only two wins over Missouri as conference foes. One win came in 2015. The other came in 2021.

The all-time record sits at 4-12 with nine losses in the last 10 meetings. Saturday will be the 17th game between the schools and the 13th since Missouri joined the league.

Missouri’s 28-24 win in 2016 was later vacated after the NCAA uncovered an academic fraud case tied to Tigers players. It still went down as a loss on the field.

The 2021 game was a 34-17 Arkansas win in Fayetteville. The 2015 meeting was a lopsided 28-3 result.

Fourth quarters keep going wrong

Arkansas has found some creative ways to lose this game.

Lately, Missouri hasn’t needed much luck. These games just haven’t stayed competitive for four quarters.

Silverfield sees part of the reason on film. Missouri’s ground game tends to get better as the clock runs down.

“And as you watch Missouri’s run game this year, it actually gets stronger in the fourth quarter, which is one of those deals where they just keep relying on it, relying on it, relying on it,” Silverfield said.

Jamal Roberts drives that attack. He leads the SEC with 123.9 rushing yards per game and ranks third in the league with eight rushing touchdowns.

Against SEC teams, Missouri averages 4.43 yards per carry, fourth-best in the league. Ahmad Hardy just got back to practice after an offseason gunshot wound and probably won’t play.

Silverfield doesn’t think that changes much.

“Whether Hardy can play or not, it doesn’t matter who the running back is, their offensive line, their tight ends have done a nice job with it,” he said.

A tough test for the Hogs’ ground game

Quarterback Austin Simmons gives Missouri another problem. Silverfield called the lefty “extremely efficient” and added, “He can make every throw on the field.”

The Razorbacks finally ran the ball well at Vanderbilt. They piled up a season-high 189 rushing yards with three scores on the ground, and that win was also their first in SEC play.

Missouri won’t hand out yards that easily. The Tigers’ run defense ranks third in the league and allows 103.9 rushing yards per game.

They’ve also got six interceptions, eight forced fumbles, 18 sacks and 44 tackles for loss.

“They’re very gap-sound, they’re really good with their hands,” Silverfield said. “Their linebackers come downhill, make plays.”

Both teams had last weekend off. Arkansas rolls in after a win, while Missouri lost to Ole Miss before its bye.

What the off week was for

Silverfield’s new staff has only seven games under its belt. The off week gave coaches a chance to self-scout.

That meant sorting out what’s worked, what hasn’t and what’s worth tossing.

“There’s some things we have been efficient at, some things we haven’t been,” Silverfield said.

He said the staff looked at all three phases and found spots to lean into. Nobody’s tearing up the playbook.

Honestly, that’s the right way to play it. This team has enough to clean up without worrying about a trophy that’s mostly stayed with Missouri.

Call it a rivalry if you want. For Arkansas, it’s a shot at a second straight SEC win against a ranked team that’s owned this series for years.

Beat Missouri, and folks might finally talk about this game for a reason other than the score.