After Arkansas' latest collapse in a one-score game, Sam Pittman's tenure with the Hogs may be cooked

For two quarters, Arkansas was smoking No. 16 Oklahoma State in Stillwater. 

Ollie Gordon had no room to run (11 yards on six carries). Travis Williams’ defense was totally bottling up one of the most experienced offenses in the country (77 total yards, 1-of-5 on third down), and Taylen Green and Ja’Quinden Jackson were gashing the Pokes (158 rushing yards, three touchdowns). 

Up 21-7 with the ball coming out of halftime, Sam Pittman was 30 minutes away from securing a much-needed Top 25 upset. Only, Whoo Pig Sooie turned into Whoopie Daisy.

Oklahoma State 39. Arkansas 31. 

Now, Pittman’s tenure with the Hogs may be cooked after the team’s latest collapse in a one-score game.

Already among the top hot seat coaches in college football, Pittman is now 3-10 the last two-plus seasons in games decided by seven points or less.

Last season’s 7-3 loss to Mississippi State was probably the nadir of the Pittman regime, but Saturday’s second-half flop was certainly an all-too-familiar return of ‘Hello darkness, my old friend” for two quarters (and two overtimes) of football. 

The Hogs never lacked fight or effort, but the sheer volume of self-inflicted mistakes were staggering. 

— A Ja’Quinden Jackson fumble

— Taylen Green mishandling multiple snaps

— A missed wide-open touchdown

— A shanked 41-yard field goal

— A muffed punt return

— A dropped interception in the red zone

— A pair of pass interference penalties

— A missed 46-yard field goal in overtime

— A personal foul penalty in double-overtime

That all happened in the second half or overtime, and I’m assuredly missing something on the self-sabotage bingo card. 

Considering Pittman luckily got away with some terrible clock management in the last 30 seconds of regulation, if Arkansas eliminates one or two of the other mistakes, then the Hogs probably win the game.

They limited Gordon to just 49 yards on 17 carries (a long run of 12). They out-gained Oklahoma State 648-385 and held the Pokes to just 5-of-16 on third downs. Bobby Petrino’s gap-scheme runs dialed up all sorts of explosive plays. He had Green (who had nearly 500 yards of total offense) giving Arkansas fans flashbacks to former dual-threat quarterback star Matt Jones.

And yet they still lost. 

Sam Pittman is a beloved dude. But his teams are never buttoned up, and too often, they come up just short because they seemingly find a way to lose. 

Despite being picked to finish near the bottom of the SEC, the Hogs clearly have talent on both sides of the ball. They were pushing around one of the Big 12 favorites. 

But the end result was the same. Another coulda, woulda, shoulda loss. Another dispiriting defeat ripped from the jaws of victory.

The theory that Pittman was forced to hire his eventual replacement in former Razorbacks head coach Bobby Petrino is likely hogwash, but for a coach who was already under the gun, the team’s latest unraveling certainly suggests that ‘Mr. Yesssss Sirrr’ won’t be on the sidelines in 2025.