Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports
Bret Bielema knew that he came into a difficult position when he took over as coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Arkansas was expected to be one of the top teams in all of college football last season, but struggled all year and finished 4-8. Bielema’s job became harder with the departure of quarterback Tyler Wilson. It is going to be up to Brandon Allen to take over that position to begin the turnaround for the Razorbacks.
Allen played in five games last season and threw for 186 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. Those numbers aren’t great obviously,but the experience he gathered last season behind Wilson will help him this season. Allen has seen the power that the SEC has and what he will have to do to be successful, and even showed in the spring game why he is ahead of the other quarterbacks on the roster, going 11-for-16 for 158 yards.
It was against his own teammates, but it is positive play like he showed in that game that will work out in Allen’s favor this year.
The first three games on the Arkansas schedule are all at home and should all be victories for the Razorbacks. I thought that last season too before a loss in their second game of the season started a season-long decline. Arkansas and Allen will need to be 3-0 after those games because the rest of the schedule is very difficult.
It will be a fight for the Razorbacks to make a bowl game playing the SEC without the amount of talent that the other teams have. Bielema and Allen will be learning more together in 2013.
Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.
