Sam Pittman: Being ranked in the top ten is a 'big deal' for Arkansas

After handling business at home against South Carolina on Saturday combined with a couple of upsets in the top ten, the Arkansas Razorbacks are now ranked 10th in the country. Head coach Sam Pittman recently said being ranked in the top 10 is a ‘big deal’ for Arkansas. And as he explained in a recent press conference, the new ranking goes a long way in recruiting.

“Well, I think it’s a big deal; I do. Everybody always looks at the negative all the time. I tweeted out that we were number 10, and then I got some responses — well, it doesn’t matter,” said Pittman. “Well, I ain’t tweeting it out to you guys or a 50-year-old man; I’m trying to use it for recruiting. So, I really don’t care what the guy says. I’m trying to recruit, not him or them, a recruit.”

The Razorbacks were able to take care of the upstart Gamecocks on Saturday thanks to their ball control offense and their ability to win the turnover battle. Arkansas forced South Carolina to commit three turnovers, two fumbles and one interception.

Offensively the Razorbacks were just five yards shy of rushing for 300 yards in the game, led by sophomore running back Raheim Sanders. Sanders carried the ball 24 times for 156 yards with two touchdowns. His performance should tell incoming recruits at the running back position, if you have the skill set to do it, Pittman has no problem feeding you the ball frequently.

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“We’re proud of it; sure, we’re proud of it. And that doesn’t mean that that’s where we wanna stay. It’s hard to be in the top 10. We’ve done it two years in a row. The kids have done it. The coaches and assistant coaches have done it. Yeah, I’m proud of it, sure am. Whenever it came out, I was smiling ear to ear. Now, what that means right now; it means that we’re number ten today, and I tweeted it out. I’m proud of it.”

Last year after beating Texas and Texas A&M early in the season, the Razorbacks found themselves in the top 10 for the first since 2012, after starting the season unranked. This season Arkansas started out as the no. 19 team in the country and has quickly climbed into the upper echelon of college football. Given the way that the Razorbacks are playing early on, it is not out of the realm of question that they could find themselves representing the SEC West in the SEC championship game and quite possibly punch a ticket to the College Football Playoff at the end of the season.