HawgBeat - Hogs ascend in ESPN Football Power Index despite loss to LSU
The Arkansas Razorbacks football team ascended in ESPN's Football Power Index despite its loss to LSU.
arkansas.rivals.com
For the fourth straight year, the final score for Arkansas and LSU was decided by three points.
Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson and LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels threw punches back and forth, but the 12th-ranks Tigers came out on top, 34-31.
An impressive first-half defensive performance by the Hogs didn't last, as LSU gashed Arkansas for 292 total yards in the second half. Eleven penalties and more questionable in-game coaching decisions didn't help, either.
One of those decisions came at the very end of the game. With under two minutes to go and no timeouts left, Arkansas had the opportunity to allow LSU to score a touchdown instead of letting them bleed the clock to kick a game-winning field goal. Sam Pittman opted to let his defense play, and LSU kicker Damian Ramos won the game as a result.
Following the defeat, the Hogs rose in the rankings for the time this season in one of ESPN's top predictive metrics for college football.
After suffering a six-point drop to No. 42 after a 38-31 loss to BYU in Week 3, the Razorbacks went up eight spots to No. 34 off the back of the hard-fought loss to LSU in ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) this week.
Head coach Sam Pittman’s squad now has a 5.7-6.3 projected win total with a 54% chance of obtaining six wins during the season. On top of that, Arkansas has just a 0.2% (0.2% decrease from last week) chance of winning the SEC West and a 0.1% chance of the entire SEC, according to the FPI.
After four weeks of football, Arkansas ascended to No. 52 in the country in efficiency rankings after being as high as No. 40 in Week 2, according to ESPN. This includes a 53.4 (No. 55) offensive rating.
The defensive rating fell from 68.1 (No. 44) last week to 62.7 (No. 49) this week. Special teams was the only unit to increase its rating, rising from 51.2 (No. 71) in Week 3 to 56.9 (No. 52) after the LSU game.
Compared to the rest of the SEC, the Razorbacks come in at No. 10 (No. 13 last week) in the FPI just above Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. The Hogs don't look worse in the efficiency department, slotting in at No. 12 (No. 11 last week) in the SEC above Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.
While Arkansas likely played its toughest opponent of the season in LSU on Saturday, the Razorbacks still have a daunting three-game stretch away from home coming up with Texas A&M (Arlington, Texas), Ole Miss and Alabama.
Going into a Week 5 matchup against the Texas A&M Aggies — a team that ranks No. 16 in the FPI and No. 18 in efficiency rating (80.4) — the Razorbacks will be facing a high-quality opponent for the second straight week.
Arkansas and Texas A&M are set for an 11:00 a.m. CT kickoff Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The game will be televised on ESPN or SEC Network.
