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College football: Week 9

Some of you have complained about next year’s University of Arkansas football schedule since it has Toledo coming to the capital city for the only Little Rock game.

Frankly, I may be ready to say “bring on Toledo” just so Arkansas can win a game again at War Memorial Stadium.

The Hogs are 1-4 in Little Rock in the PMA (Post Motorcycle Accident) era.

The most recent Southeastern Conference win at Little Rock was 44-17 over Mississippi State in 2011. The overall record is still sterling: 149-56-2 in games played at War Memorial Stadium and 167-69-4 in all games played at Little Rock through the decades.

Arkansas had the dubious distinction Saturday of being the first SEC West team to lose to a squad from outside the division. The West had been 26-0 going into the game against Georgia. So we’re at 16 consecutive conference losses for Arkansas. It has been more than two years now since the most recent SEC victory. It was Oct. 13, 2012, to be exact, and the opponent that rainy night in Fayetteville was Kentucky.

I guess that means it’s time to go to the record books. The school record for conference losses is 20 from 1940-43. That may be a record that’s broken. Arkansas will tie it by the end of this season if it can’t upset one of these teams — Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU or Missouri.

Brandon Allen did set career bests for completions, attempts and yards. He was 28 of 45 passing for 292 yards and three touchdowns. But Georgia running back Nick Chubb countered with 202 yards rushing on 30 carries, averaging 6.7 yards per carry. The Bulldogs haven’t missed Todd Gurley yet.

We now have an SEC West with four of the top five teams in college football. Obviously, that is unprecedented.

And two of the top three teams are from Mississippi.

What a season.

It seemed we were one of the few people to actually pick Georgia last week rather than following the herd and going with the “boutique pick” of Arkansas.

We were 5-1 for the week, making the record 55-5 for the season.

Here are the picks for Week 9:

Arkansas 42, UAB 22 — It’s a needed break from SEC play for the Razorbacks in front of what likely will be a lot of empty seats in Fayetteville on Saturday morning. The Blazers are decent at 4-3. Their wins have come by scores of 48-10 over Troy, 41-14 over Alabama A&M, 42-39 over Western Kentucky and 56-21 over North Texas. The losses have been by scores of 47-34 to Mississippi State (not bad at all), 34-20 to Florida International and 34-22 to Middle Tennessee.

Louisiana-Lafayette 35, Arkansas State 33 — We’re having to get the picks posted early this week because the Red Wolves have one of those strange Tuesday night games. I detest the thought of college football on a Tuesday, but you do what you have to do when you’re not in one of the Power Five conferences. Louisiana-Lafayette embarrassed ASU last year on a Tuesday night in Jonesboro by a score of 23-7. Louisiana-Lafayette is home this time for a game that will be seen nationally on ESPN 2. The Ragin’ Cajuns are 3-3 overall and 2-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. They have won four of the past six games in this series. This season’s wins have been by scores of 45-6 over Southern University, 34-31 over Georgia State and 34-10 over Texas State. The losses have come by scores of 48-20 to Louisiana Tech, 56-15 to Ole Miss and 34-9 to Boise State. ASU is 4-2 overall and also 2-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. In their last outing, the Red Wolves had a dominating 52-10 win at Georgia State. This should be a close game. We’ll give a slight edge to the Cajuns since they’re playing at home.

UCA 27, Northwestern State 24 — It was a disappointing trip to Hammond, La., for the Bears as they fell Saturday to Southeastern Louisiana, 41-24. Southeastern outrushed UCA 289-113. The Bears are 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the Southland Conference. They must beat Northwestern State of Louisiana in Conway on Saturday night to stay alive in the conference race. Northwestern is 4-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play. The Demons started the season with losses of 34-27 to Missouri State and 70-6 to Baylor. That was followed by victories of 51-27 over Southern University and 30-27 over Louisiana Tech. After a 30-22 loss to Southeastern Louisiana, the Demons have won two consecutive games, 49-12 over Incarnate Word and 31-27 over Sam Houston State. The two teams appear evenly matched. Again, we’ll give a slight edge to the home team.

Texas Southern 30, UAPB 20 — It’s shaping up to be a year to forget for the Golden Lions. UAPB is 1-5 overall and 0-4 in the SWAC after a 63-39 loss to Grambling on Saturday. Golden Lion quarterback Ben Anderson did have a good day statistically, passing for 467 yards. UAPB outgained Grambling, 570-503, but had three costly turnovers. Texas Southern is 5-2. The season started with victories of 37-35 over Prairie View A&M, 52-14 over Texas College, 30-16 over Central State and 45-23 over Alabama A&M. Losses of 38-3 to Alabama State and 40-25 to Alcorn State have since been sandwiched around a 20-16 victory over Mississippi Valley State. It’s the homecoming game in Houston this Saturday for Texas Southern.

Harding 31, Henderson 29 — It’s hard to pick against a team that has won 30 consecutive regular-season games — especially a team playing its homecoming game — but we’re going to go out on a limb and do it. Henderson has been less than impressive (by lofty Reddie standards) the past two weeks. The Reddies went to 7-0 on Saturday with a 24-3 victory at 3-4 Arkansas Tech. Henderson scored just three points in the second half. Reddie quarterback Kevin Rodgers was 21 of 36 passing for 325 yards, his 23rd game to pass for more than 300 yards. Darius Davis had touchdown receptions of 56, 68 and 58 yards in the first half. Henderson is No. 4 nationally in NCAA Division II. Its opponent, 5-1 Harding, is No. 23. This is a senior-laden Harding team that should be able to bounce back from Saturday night’s heartbreaking overtime loss to Ouachita in Searcy. It should be quite a game Saturday afternoon in Arkadelphia. Harding still has the top rushing attack in Division II and one of the top defenses against the run. The Bisons will try to control the clock with their run-based offense and limit the number of possessions for Rodgers, Davis & Co.

Ouachita 25, Arkansas Tech 13 — The 6-0 Tigers, now ranked 18th in Division II, must quickly come down off the high of Saturday night’s miracle victory in Searcy (a game that saw Ouachita score a touchdown on the final play of regulation and then convert a two-point conversion just to get the contest to overtime) and return to business against a Tech team that has a stingy defense. The Wonder Boy offense has struggled, however, meaning that points might be at a premium in Arkadelphia on Saturday afternoon unless Tiger quarterback Kiehl Frazier gets hot.

UAM 44, Southern Nazarene 18 — It has been a hard-luck season for the 1-5 Boll Weevils. Four of the five losses have been close — by four points to East Central Oklahoma, by three points to Southeastern Oklahoma, by six points to Northwestern Oklahoma and by five points to Arkansas Tech. The only team to blow the Weevils out was Harding, 55-15. UAM will have had two weeks to prepare for this week’s game against an 0-7 Southern Nazarene team that lost 62-7 to Southern Arkansas on Saturday. SAU outgained its opponent 605-88. UAM should be able to take out some frustration in Bethany, Okla.

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