From the Bench

BCS National Championship in Sight for Razorback Fans

Robert Shields

Arkansas’ win over South Carolina Saturday night coupled with LSU’s victory against Alabama leaves the Razorbacks in the hunt for a national title. Albeit a small chance, fans can still dream of possibilities, and that is a luxury most schools don’t have this late in the season.

The Razorbacks crushed South Carolina everywhere but the scoreboard. The Hogs kept South Carolina dangerously close with the lead at a perilous two points at 30-28 in the fourth quarter when the Hogs could have been up 41-7 at the half.

The defense has become masterful at giving up time-consuming drives. Yet, time and time again, it continues to come up with critical stops. At the end of the game against Texas A&M, the defense held on fourth down. After an on-side kick at the end of the game against Ole Miss, the defense got an interception. It stopped the Vanderbilt offense to force a kick that was missed. Even Saturday night, the defense came up with crucial turnovers to finally dash any hopes the Gamecocks had of an upset.

Arkansas enters November with two winnable games against Tennessee and Mississippi State -- both at home. This sets up the possibility of a 10-1 Razorback teams meeting No. 1 and undefeated LSU.

The Hogs needed LSU to beat Alabama to keep this dream alive. An Alabama win would have put a potential BCS national championship to rest with a trip to some bowl game with lesser significance. But now the Hogs are still in the discussion with a high BCS ranking, and if they keep winning they will start climbing.

If a team from the SEC West wins the SEC championship game, it will almost certainly be in the BCS national championship game.

The least complicated route for Arkansas is to win out and beat No.1 LSU on the Friday after Thanksgiving to finish the regular season at 11-1. The Razorbacks then need Auburn to upset Alabama the next day in the Iron Bowl. It’s a long shot, but possible.

Another route, which gets even stranger, is if Arkansas wins out and ends up with an 11-1 record tied with Alabama and LSU. The tiebreaker will come down to BCS rankings with the two highest-ranked teams then being subjected to another tiebreaker by head-to-head competition. This scenario does not favor the Hogs.

I agree with one ESPN analyst who said that the deciding factor if all three teams go 11-1 should be based on the strength of schedule. In his scenario, it goes to Arkansas because the Hogs had to play the two top teams in Alabama and LSU on the road. Alabama got to play the tough games at home. LSU got to play one on the road and one at home. It’s logical and it makes sense, but it won’t govern unless it enters the psyche of the pollsters.

You have to hope pollsters are more into what is happening now than what transpired months ago, and that is usually the case. Arkansas needs LSU to win out and remain No. 1. As Ric Flair always said, “To be the man, you have to beat the man.” LSU right now is the man. By beating the Tigers, the Razorbacks might become the man.

If LSU loses before playing the Hogs, and that scenario is unlikely with the teams it has remaining on its schedule, the LSU game loses its significance. It also puts Alabama and Arkansas in a two-way tie instead of a three-way dance, and in that two-way tie Alabama holds the tiebreaker having beaten Arkansas soundly back in September.

I like the chances against LSU. The Razorbacks are 3-1 against them during the last four years, and the one loss was questionable with the clock being stopped when it should have run out allowing LSU to tie the game. Arkansas lost in overtime mainly because all its receivers were injured. Bobby Petrino has fared well against Les Miles, which again makes this game an intriguing match-up. Hopefully for the Hogs, LSU won’t take the game seriously and will be looking forward to the next week’s SEC championship game.

Regardless, all this is to say that you can still dream for another week, Razorback fans.



Robert Shields is the bestselling author of “Scarlet Fever: A Razorback House Divided” and “The Economics of Sex” and has written the weekly “From the Bench” sports column for the last 14 years. His upcoming novel, “Daphne and Her No. 2 Ticonderoga,” will be part one in “The Mysterious Girls’ Secret Bathroom Society” series. He can be reached at fromthebench@yahoo.com

You can follow him on Twitter @rsfromthebench

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