Arkansas football loss to Auburn shows how far Hogs have fallen

Auburn’s home crowd booed the Tigers on Saturday night. More than once.

Arkansas managed to lose to them anyway.

The final was 26-23. This Arkansas football loss to Auburn was the Hogs’ ninth one-score loss in a row. If you’ve watched this program since 2011, you could’ve called the ending before kickoff.

I’ve followed Razorback football long enough to remember when Arkansas expected to win games like this one. Those days feel like a rumor now.

There have been bad years before. Plenty of them.

What bothers me now is how they’ve stacked up.

One bad fall rolls right into the next, and nobody in charge seems to have a plan to stop it. You can make a case this program is sitting lower than it has in 70 years.

Kicks and calls that came back to bite

Max Gilbert has tried seven field goals from 50 yards or farther this year. He’s made one.

Two of those misses came Saturday. He missed a 53-yarder early and a 51-yarder right after halftime.

The play calling didn’t do him any favors. Facing third-and-6 near the Auburn red zone, Arkansas handed it up the middle like it was trying to kill the clock in the fourth quarter. Gilbert trotted out for a 38-yard kick instead of the offense punching it in.

The defense jarred the ball loose from Auburn and couldn’t get a body on it.

Quarterback KJ Jackson also tried to sneak one to Antonio Jordan, who’d slipped open downfield. Tigers safety AnQuon Fegans got there first and came down with it.

The lone touchdown of the half came from Braylen Russell on a 2-yard run. Sutton Smith’s 65-yard dash got him there.

So a 10-0 lead turned into a 10-3 halftime score. When the other team’s fans are booing, that’s a lead you’d better stretch.

Silverfield isn’t wrong

Credit Ryan Silverfield for not sugarcoating it.

“We are not playing good enough football to miss those opportunities,” he said.

I’d add one footnote. Swap in any Razorback coach from the last 15 years and that quote still fits.

Silverfield said the Hogs would’ve been “more aggressive” if they hadn’t kept facing long fourth downs. He also noted Auburn piled up eight tackles for loss and five sacks after the break.

Byrum Brown handled the rest. The Auburn quarterback ran for more than 120 yards and threw two touchdown passes.

The Arkansas defense carried this team for 30 minutes. After halftime, it looked like a group that had been on the field too long.

From Auburn’s field goal right before the half on, the Tigers came up empty just one time. Arkansas’ next two scores were both field goals.

Plenty of folks talked themselves into this team back in August. I don’t blame them. I just wonder how many are still talking.

Fans can’t support what they can’t see

Arkansas fans know how to handle a losing season. They’ve had plenty of practice.

What’s different is how little they get told now. News on players and coaches comes out in drips, if it comes out at all.

When a school stops talking except in their tightly-controlled situations, fans stop listening. Sooner or later they stop showing up.

Athletic director Hunter Yurachek gets more ink these days for his College Football Playoff work than for anything he’s done for the Hogs lately.

He’s quick to grab the credit when something goes right. When it goes wrong, fans hear the usual excuses. Some of them might be true. I’m not sure all of them are.

Then the school scratches its head over why folks won’t open their wallets.

Fans have stopped caring, and they’ll tell you why

I hear from a lot of them. Many say they just don’t care or even pay much attention anymore. Selling corporate blocks of tickets probably helps the bottom line but only fills seats in big games.

Ask why and you’ll get the same answer. They figure the UA stopped caring about them first.

Instead of answers, fans get pointed toward information they have to pay for and it comes from them which always puts cynics on alert. Is it straight down the middle? I don’t know, and nobody at the UA seems in a hurry to clear that up.

I don’t expect any of this to change by next Saturday. I’d love to be wrong.