Can Arkansas Make A Bowl Game? In This Wild Season Of College Football, Never Say Never – Sports Illustrated

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FAYETTEVILLE — Welcome to college football in the year of our Lord 2026, where everything is made up and the rules don't matter.
Texas, which was No. 1 nine days ago, is now No. 19 after a pair of losses to Oklahoma and No. 20 Florida — the same Florida team that beat Auburn on the road and walloped No. 7 Ole Miss before getting its doors blown off by Missouri and South Carolina, respectively.
Missouri, which had its way with Florida and Texas A&M, was smoked by Ole Miss 31-3 in Oxford on Saturday. South Carolina, which appeared to be letting go of the rope under Shane Beamer after an 0-3 start, beat Florida 38-19 last week, and both Beamer and the Gamecocks as a whole have life going into a huge home game against Tennessee.
Auburn, which struggled its way to wins over Baylor and Vanderbilt and was dog-walked by Tennessee two weeks ago, went on the road and beat Georgia, which was coming off a road win against No. 13 Alabama — which oh-by-the-way, went to Knoxville and got smoked by the No. 11 Volunteers who were nearly bested by Arkansas in Fayetteville last week.
Even outside the SEC, chaos reigned this weekend. BYU knocked off Notre Dame and rose to No. 2, while Miami held on to beat Florida State and is No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since 2002. In a classic Big 10 slugfest, Ohio State went to Bloomington and took down Indiana, while first-year head coach Bob Chesney and UCLA are up to No. 9 after a 6-0 start that leaves them as the only undefeated team in either the SEC or the Big 10.
What does any of that have to do with Arkansas? Nothing, really. But also, maybe everything?
The point is this: The Razorbacks, who snapped a 14-game SEC losing streak against Vanderbilt on Saturday, have clearly improved over the last two weeks and have a bye before they host No. 22 Missouri on Oct. 31 in what is likely to be a rocking Razorback Stadium — and in what has been a crazy season of college football, there are exactly zero guarantees of anyone beating anyone.
Can the Hogs beat the Tigers? I have my doubts, and Vegas likely will too. It'd be surprising if Missouri isn't favored by at least half a touchdown.
Still, in this wacky, 2007-esque season where no team has truly established itself as a bona fide favorite in either the SEC or nationally, who's to say Arkansas can't shock Mizzou, go on the road and beat an inconsistent Auburn team or take down a South Carolina squad in Fayetteville that may or may not have an interim head coach by Nov. 14?
While we're at it, why can't Arkansas go down to Austin and knock off Texas, which has suffered two consecutive inexplicable losses that have put their CFP hopes in jeopardy, thanks in large part to the struggles of Arch Manning? Why can't No. 18 LSU, which decided to be boring and take care of business against a Kamario Taylor-less Mississippi State squad on Saturday, slip up and let Arkansas play a 60-minute game against it on what is sure to be a frigid day in the Ozarks on Nov. 28?
I'm still not convinced I've seen enough from Arkansas to suggest that they can beat any of the five teams left on their schedule this season, much less three. Their best opportunity to get to a bowl game is to rattle off three consecutive victories or hope Manning stays as turnover-prone as he currently is.
But you can't rule anything out in college football or the SEC this season, and if the Razorbacks keep improving at a steady clip, they have a shot to be at the forefront of some upsets in the coming weeks.
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Sam Stubbs is a student at the University of Arkansas pursuing a degree in journalism. He has worked at the UA’s student newspaper, the Arkansas Traveler, since October 2025, becoming the assistant sports editor in December 2025. When he's not writing about the Razorbacks, Sam can be found covering NASCAR for Yardbarker and is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), winning an award for race coverage from the association in February 2025. He's previously worked for Heavy, Field Level Media, Frontstretch and FanSided.
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