FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Bitter Arkansas fans are desperate to blame someone or something after a 63-31 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday. This one isn’t on the coaches, despite what so many people want to see.

Although the Razorbacks have some very good players, they simply don’t have enough. The Rebels had more and they didn’t take responsibility for anything they did against Kentucky. Apparently, their loss to LSU focused them.

None of that is the problem. Going through the autopsy after that beating Saturday, Hogs fans stuck to their traditional mindset. This has been going on since they started playing football over 100 years ago. Considering they finish with a likely win (Louisiana Tech) and two questionable games (Texas and Missouri), all fans can do is hope these two don’t play with focus and intensity from Ole Miss.

First you blame the head coach, then the quarterback is responsible and finally the athletic director. To this day, no one has explained to me how he was responsible for a football team losing on Saturday, but it was there under Frank Broyles and now it’s Hunter Yurachek’s turn.

Despite all that, it falls on the players. It’s not for lack of effort. This wasn’t a game in which they gave up at any point, they just weren’t fast enough, big enough, or strong enough in numbers to do anything with the Rebels.

It’s kind of like the time Bear Bryant grabbed a backup lineman and told him to go block a player that the guy on the field couldn’t accomplish at all.

“I will do my best,” said the young man.

“Go back and sit down,” Bryant said. “Johnny (I don’t know if that was the player’s name) is doing his best.”

That’s probably how Sam Pittman and defensive coordinator Travis Williams felt as Ole Miss continued to hit pass after pass. They suspected their wide receivers were fast enough to outrun anything the Hogs could put on the field. This turned out to be completely correct.

Lost in all the talk about the Rebels finally starting to look exactly like what everyone expected before the season, Arkansas is now being mentioned as lucky to be in a bowl game. In all probability, they will achieve six or seven victories. This will likely be resolved after Thanksgiving against Missouri.

Razorback fans will always be trying to figure out who is responsible for the lack of success they began to expect after a win against a Tennessee team that had an off night. LSU started it, then Ole Miss probably kicked it into high gear.

The win over Mississippi State probably showed more of the Bulldogs’ problems than what the Hogs had accomplished. No one wanted to think about this possibility.

It’s the same way that Saturday’s loss may have taught us more about the Razorbacks than it did about Ole Miss. Some will try to point to the 31 points without realizing that Rebels coach Lane Kiffin was still in crisis Monday during his news conference about which backup defensemen gave up the most. of these points.

The only takeaway is that Arkansas’ offense could score against the defense of Ole Miss’ second and third teams. The Rebels’ No. 2 offense moved down the field with the same ease as the No. 1 team.

The Razorbacks’ only way out of this mess is like Steve Spurrier told Bret Bielema in 2013 when his South Carolina team trampled them in Fayetteville. He had to recruit to get by.

Bielema never could, getting shaved after a .500 season and rolling for five years before being canned by the backup athletic director. Pittman now has to find a way to attract players. This opens up conversations that will take some time.

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