Never have so many Arkansas college football teams played games on a Saturday in December.

And there’s a lot on the line.

In Jonesboro on Saturday night, Arkansas State and Troy will square off with at least a share of the Sun Belt Conference title at stake. ESPN2 will televise the game nationally.

In Conway on Saturday afternoon, UCA will host New Hampshire in the second round of the FCS playoffs. This is a Bear team with a legitimate shot at making it to the national championship game.

Harding has advanced to the third round of the NCAA Division II playoffs for a second consecutive year and will travel to Michigan to take on Ferris State.

Arkansas Tech will battle Pittsburg State of Kansas in Texarkana in the annual Live United Bowl on Saturday afternoon.

We were 2-1 on the picks last week. We correctly called Missouri over Arkansas in the final game of the Bret Bielema era and Arkansas State over Louisiana-Monroe. We missed on Harding, though, which won its 10th consecutive game after starting the season 0-3.

The season record is now 77-20.

Here are the picks for this Saturday’s games:

Troy 41, Arkansas State 39 — This should be a highly entertaining game. If Appalachian State defeats Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday afternoon in Boone, N.C., the winner of the ASU-Troy game will share the conference title with the Mountaineers. If Appalachian State loses, the ASU-Troy winner will stand alone atop the conference. The Red Wolves had a poor defensive outing last Saturday in Monroe, La., but the offense couldn’t be stopped in a 67-50 victory over Louisiana-Monroe. It was the most points ever allowed in a win by an ASU team. Red Wolf quarterback Justice Hansen set school records for passing yards (520) and total yards (550). The Red Wolves are now 7-3 overall and 6-1 in conference play. Troy is 9-2 overall and is also 6-1 in Sun Belt play. The Trojans attracted national attention back on Sept. 30 when they went to Baton Rouge and knocked off LSU, 24-21. The other victories have come by scores of 34-7 over Alabama State, 27-24 over New Mexico State, 22-17 over Akron, 34-10 over Georgia State, 38-16 over Georgia Southern, 24-21 over Idaho, 42-17 over Coastal Carolina and 62-9 over Texas State. The two losses were by scores of 24-13 to Boise State and 19-8 to a South Alabama team that also upset ASU.

UCA 35, New Hampshire 24 — The Bears, who finished the regular season 10-1 overall and 9-0 in the Southland Conference, had a week off thanks to a first-round playoff bye. They’re the No. 4 seed in the FCS playoffs. New Hampshire is 8-4 and advanced with a 14-0 win Saturday over Central Connecticut. The New Hampshire losses were by scores of 51-26 to Holy Cross, 38-24 to Stony Brook, 21-0 to James Madison and 15-0 to Albany. The seven regular-season victories were by scores of 24-23 over Maine, 22-12 over Georgia Southern, 28-14 over Rhode Island, 45-17 over Bryant, 40-17 over Towson, 35-16 over William & Mary and 16-6 over Elon.

Harding 29, Ferris State 27 — The Bisons are the hottest team in small college football right now. They didn’t win the Great American Conference championship (Ouachita did), but they earned a spot in the playoffs and then knocked off the University of Indianapolis by a final score of 27-24 in the first round. UIndy had come into the game with an 11-0 record. The Bisons went on the road again for the second round against an Ashland squad that was 11-1 following a first-round victory over the defending national champions from Northwest Missouri State. Harding posted a 34-24 victory as the Bisons rushed for 295 yards and passed for 126 yards. Ferris State finished the regular season 9-1 and then came from behind in the fourth quarter to edge Ouachita by a final score of 24-19 in the first round of the playoffs. In the second round, the Bulldogs went on the road to Kansas to take on the team ranked first in NCAA Super Region 3 and won 31-21 over Fort Hays State. Ferris hasn’t seen anything like Harding’s double-slot offense. The Bisons have an excellent chance to advance to the national semifinals.

Arkansas Tech 30, Pittsburg State 28 — Arkansas Tech is 8-3, and Pittsburg State is 7-4. Tech won its first four games of the season over Southern Arkansas, Henderson, Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene to move to No. 11 nationally in the Division II rankings. A 35-31 loss to Ouachita in Russellville on Sept. 30 started a skid that also saw the Wonder Boys get upset by one point the following week at UAM. That was followed by victories over Southwestern Oklahoma, Northwestern Oklahoma, East Central Oklahoma and Southeastern Oklahoma. A 24-17 win by Harding in Russellville on Nov. 11 denied the Wonder Boys a share of the GAC title. Tech has had almost a month to prepare for the game against the Gorillas, long a Division II power.

The Bret Bielema era comes to an end in Fayetteville on Friday afternoon.

There will be far more empty seats than seats that are filled. Razorback fans began “speaking with their feet” earlier this year, letting the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees know they were ready for a change in direction. Only about 35,000 people showed up for last Saturday’s 28-21 loss to Mississippi State.

The board listened.

The game was a microcosm of the five-year Bielema era. It was the 12th time under Bielema that an Arkansas team has lost after entering the fourth quarter with the lead. It dropped the Razorbacks to 29-33 overall and 11-28 in the Southeastern Conference since Bielema became the head coach.

Mississippi State goes into Thursday night’s Egg Bowl with records of 8-3 overall and 4-3 in the SEC. Arkansas goes into that contrived Battle Line Rivalry with records of 4-7 overall and 1-6 in the SEC.

Mississippi State led 348-221 in total yards and outrushed the Razorbacks 195-97. The last time a Mississippi State team had overcome a 14-point deficit was against, yes, Arkansas in 2008.

With the second losing season in five years already in the books, here’s something for you to consider if you watch Friday’s game: The most points ever allowed by an Arkansas football team were 404 points last season. If Missouri scores 19 or more points Friday afternoon, that record will be broken.

We were 5-1 on the picks last week, bringing the season record to 75-19. It should have been 6-0 since we had vowed to never again pick UAPB. But then we noticed that Texas Southern had only one victory, the game was at War Memorial Stadium, etc. So we went with the home team. Of course, the Golden Lions lost, 24-10, to finish the season 2-9 overall and 1-6 in the SWAC. UAPB ended the year with seven consecutive losses, and on Monday head coach Monte Coleman lost his job. It will be interesting to see if a new coach can revive that program.

Here are the picks for the three games this week that involve teams from Arkansas:

Missouri 30, Arkansas 28 — If they play a football game and no one sees it, is it still a football game? We’ll at least have the TV on as background noise for what I expect to be a close game. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Razorbacks win one last game for the coach. Missouri, though, is on a roll. The Tigers won their fifth consecutive game last Saturday with a 45-17 victory over Vanderbilt. Missouri is now 6-5 overall and 3-4 in the SEC following an awful start. The Tigers won their opener 72-43 over outmanned Missouri State and then lost five consecutive games — 31-13 to South Carolina, 35-3 to Purdue, 51-14 to Auburn, 40-34 to Kentucky and 53-28 to Georgia. The five consecutive victories have come by scores of 68-21 over Idaho, 52-12 over Connecticut, 45-16 over Florida, 50-17 over Tennessee and 45-17 over Vanderbilt.

Arkansas State 35, Louisiana-Monroe 25 — Arkansas State is still tied for the lead in the Sun Belt Conference following a 30-12 victory in Jonesboro last Saturday against Texas State. The Red Wolves are 6-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play. They’re bowl eligible for a seventh consecutive season. With heavy winds negating the passing game last Saturday, ASU ran the ball 61 times for 164 yards and led in time of possession by an astounding 23 minutes. The game marked the most rushing plays for an ASU team since 2007. The Red Wolves, still smarting from the loss at South Alabama two weeks ago, will take nothing for granted as they go on the road this Saturday to play a 4-6 Louisiana-Monroe team. ULM’s four victories have come by scores of 56-50 over Louisiana-Lafayette, 51-43 over Coastal Carolina, 45-27 over Texas State and 52-45 over Appalachian State. The losses have been by scores of 37-29 to Memphis, 28-17 to Southern Mississippi, 47-37 to Georgia State, 33-23 to South Alabama, 31-23 to Idaho and 42-14  to Auburn.

Ashland 29, Harding 27 — Harding is one of the great stories in small college football in 2017. The Bisons graduated 18 players off a team that went 11-0 during the regular season in 2016 and then won two NCAA Division II playoff games. Harding started this season 0-3. The Bisons have now won nine consecutive games, including last week’s 27-24 win at the University of Indianapolis in the first round of the playoffs. Harding only attempted one pass on a stormy afternoon and didn’t complete that. The Bisons, who lead Division II in rushing, outrushed their opponent 349-171. Indianapolis had come into the game with an 11-0 record. Harding plays Saturday at Ashland of Ohio, which is 11-1. Ashland’s only defeat was a 26-23 loss to Indiana of Pennsylvania (you read that correctly) in the season opener. The 11 consecutive victories since then have come by scores of 47-21 over Ohio Dominican, 42-14 over Northwood, 20-3 over Ferris State, 38-0 over Davenport, 38-13 over Northern Michigan, 48-0 over Michigan Tech, 38-24 over Tiffin, 30-10 over Wayne State, 34-31 over Grand Valley State, 31-19 over Saginaw Valley State and 21-18 in the first round of the playoffs over the defending national champions from Northwest Missouri State.

If only Arkansas’ game at Baton Rouge could have ended at halftime.

It’s those second halves that so often cause the problems in this season of discontent for Razorback fans.

In the end, the score of LSU 33, Arkansas 10 was about what most folks expected last Saturday. We’ve given up hope for Houston Nutt-style upsets in what surely is the final gasp of the Bielema era.

The loss to LSU marked the fifth time this season that Arkansas has lost by 20 or more points. This weekend could certainly make six.

LSU outgained the Hogs 425-318 as Derrius Guice rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns. Arkansas is now 3-11-1 in games played at Baton Rouge through the years. LSU leads the overall series 39-22-2. Austin Allen was 12 of 23 passing for 140 yards. With Cole Kelley having drunk himself out of the picture for this week, Allen will need to be even better for Arkansas to have a chance against Mississippi State in the first game of the post-Jeff Long era.

I figured I was on the verge of going 7-0 on my college picks as I drove back home to Little Rock following a glorious Battle of the Ravine afternoon in Arkadelphia. I had the radio tuned to the Arkansas State game. Even though the Red Wolves trailed South Alabama by a score of 24-19 in Mobile, they were just about to score. As quarterback Justice Hansen reached for the end zone, the ball was knocked away with 5:18 left in the game. Touchback. Hansen threw his fourth interception of the game on the final Red Wolf possession, and ASU lost its first Sun Belt Conference contest of the season.

We thus were 6-1 on the week to bring the season record to 70-18.

Here are the picks for this Saturday with all four of the Division I teams playing in the state and two of the Division II teams on the road for playoff appearances:

Mississippi State 34, Arkansas 25 — It’s another 11 a.m. kickoff. You get a lot of those when you’re bad. Arkansas (4-6, 1-5) needs to win its next two contests to qualify for a bowl game. And I’ve yet to find anyone who thinks that’s going to happen. Mississippi State gave Alabama all it could handle in Starkville on Saturday before falling 31-24. The Bulldogs are 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the Southeastern Conference. The other two losses were by scores of 31-3 to Georgia and 49-10 to Auburn. The seven victories have come by scores of 49-0 over Charleston Southern, 57-21 over Louisiana Tech, 37-7 over LSU, 35-10 over BYU, 45-7 over Kentucky, 35-14 over Texas A&M and 34-23 over Massachusetts.

Arkansas State 40, Texas State 20 — Look for the Red Wolves (5-3, 4-1) to bounce back this Saturday in Jonesboro against a Texas State team that’s just 2-8 overall and 1-5 in conference play. Hansen, who was 27 of 44 passing for 285 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to South Alabama, should have a field day against the Bobcats. Texas State’s only two victories have been by scores of 20-11 over Houston Baptist and 27-7 over Coastal Carolina. The losses have come by scores of 37-3 to Colorado, 20-13 to Appalachian State, 44-14 to Texas-San Antonio, 45-10 to Wyoming, 45-27 to Louisiana-Monroe, 24-7 to Louisiana-Lafayette, 45-35 to New Mexico State and 33-30 to Georgia State.

UCA 36, Abilene Christian 16 — The Bears secured at least a share of the Southland Conference title last Saturday with a 56-10 victory over a 1-9 Incarnate Word squad. UCA moved to 9-1 overall and 8-0 in conference play. The Bears can wrap up an outright title in Conway on Saturday with a win over an Abilene Christian team that comes to town with records of only 2-8 overall and 2-6 in the Southland Conference. The Bears outgained Incarnate Word 527-294. Expect similar numbers this Saturday. UCA quarterback Hayden Hildebrand was 20 of 30 passing for 226 yards and three touchdowns in last week’s win. The only two Abilene Christian victories have been by scores of 24-3 over Houston Baptist and 45-20 over Incarnate Word. The losses were by scores of 38-14 to New Mexico, 38-10 to Colorado State, 20-10 to Stephen F. Austin, 13-7 to McNeese State, 29-20 to Nicholls State, 56-21 to Southeastern Louisiana, 26-23 to Northwestern State of Louisiana and 44-35 to Sam Houston State.

UAPB 24, Texas Southern 23 — The Golden Lions play the second of two games at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium this Saturday. UAPB lost its sixth consecutive game last Saturday at Prairie View A&M by a final score of 35-12. UAPB is now 2-8 overall and 1-5 in the SWAC. Texas Southern comes to town with a 1-8 record. The only victory was by a score of 28-21 over Mississippi Valley State. The losses have been by scores of 29-7 to Florida A&M, 24-17 to Houston Baptist, 30-13 to Alabama A&M, 24-17 to Alcorn State, 48-3 to Kennesaw State, 23-16 to Alabama State, 50-24 to Grambling State and 33-7 to Southern University.

Harding 29, Indianapolis 27 — This is our upset special. Harding went 11-0 in the regular season last year and won its first two games in the 2016 NCAA Division II playoffs. The Bisons lost 18 starters off that team and began the 2017 season 0-3. Then came a remarkable turnaround that has seen Harding win its past eight games. Last Saturday, Harding went to Russellville to take on an 8-2 Arkansas Tech team that could have wrapped up a share of the Great American Conference title with a victory. The Bisons won by a final score of 24-17. This week’s playoff opponent, the University of Indianapolis, is undefeated. But it plays in a relatively weak conference and has not seen anything like Harding’s hard-to-stop double-slot offense. Harding is playing as well as any Division II team in the country right now. The UIndy victories have come by scores of 24-20 over Grand Valley State, 31-28 over Wayne State, 45-17 over Southwest Baptist, 45-38 over Hillsdale, 34-19 over Truman, 28-10 over McKendree, 55-0 over Quincy, 45-0 over Lincoln of Missouri, 42-3 over William Jewell, 43-34 over Missouri S&T and 42-27 over Notre Dame of Ohio.

Ferris State 41, Ouachita 33 — It was a memorable day for the Ouachita football program. As anyone associated with either Ouachita or Henderson can tell you, winning the Battle of the Ravine is about as big as it gets. Ouachita also won an outright GAC championship, earned a spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs, moved into the Division II Top 25 and broke the nation’s longest college road winning streak (Henderson had won 31 consecutive road games). Junior Drew Harris of Benton scored all seven of the Tiger touchdowns in the 49-42 win over the Reddies. Ouachita is now 53-21 since the GAC began in 2011 and has three conference championships to go along with two trips to the playoffs. In fact, the GAC title has resided in Arkadelphia for six of the seven years (Henderson has three titles, and Harding has one). Ouachita must make the long trip to Michigan this week to take on a 9-1 Ferris State team that’s ranked 10th in the country. The lone loss came by a score of 20-3 to Ashland. The victories were by scores of 48-27 over Findlay, 42-10 over Northern Michigan, 59-17 over Wayne State, 13-3 over Tiffin, 49-17 over Saginaw Valley State, 28-27 over Grand Valley State, 24-14 over Northwood, 26-0 over Davenport and 49-7 over Michigan Tech.

It’s my favorite week of the year.

It’s time for the Battle of the Ravine. That just happens to be the greatest small college rivalry in the country, and it’s right here in Arkansas.

ESPN’s “College GameDay” really should pay a visit to Arkadelphia one of these years.

And attending a Battle of the Ravine should be on every Arkansan’s bucket list. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cliff Harris Stadium.

There’s much on the line this year.

Ouachita is tied for the Great American Conference lead with Arkansas Tech and is seeking its third GAC title in seven years.

Henderson, meanwhile, has the nation’s longest road winning streak at 31 games. Yes, it’s a road game even though the Reddies only have to walk across U.S. Highway 67.

We ran the table on the picks last week, going 7-0 to improve our season record to 64-17.

Here are the picks for Week 11:

Ouachita 39, Henderson 38 — This is usually a battle to remember, and the 2017 edition should be no different. Ouachita held onto its share of the GAC lead with an amazing finish in the Murphy USA Classic at El Dorado. The 8-2 Tigers beat 6-4 Southern Arkansas by a final score of 45-42 in a game in which the lead changed hands four times in the final four minutes. You read that correctly: Four times in the final four minutes. SAU scored on a 23-yard pass with 3:34 left to go up 35-31. Ouachita then scored on a 47-yard pass with 2:43 remaining to go ahead 38-35. SAU scored on a nine-yard pass with 58 seconds left to retake the lead at 42-38. Ouachita scored on a 13-yard pass with 33 seconds on the clock for a 45-42 lead. A long pass into the end zone by the Muleriders on the final play was broken up. SAU had 611 yards of offense, and Ouachita had 573. Mulerider quarterback Barrett Renner set a school record with 533 yards passing in a losing cause. Henderson kept its road winning streak alive in Monticello. The Reddies came from behind to defeat UAM by a final score of 28-21 with two late touchdowns. Henderson is 6-4, and UAM is 5-5. The Reddies returned an interception for a touchdown to tie the game and then took the lead for good with 5:51 remaining.

Harding 40, Arkansas Tech 30 — The Bisons have won seven consecutive games after starting the season 0-3. And they get better each week. If Harding can beat Tech in Russellville, and Henderson wins the Battle of the Ravine, Harding will share the title with Ouachita and Tech. Harding routed 2-8 East Central Oklahoma last Saturday by a final score of 44-13. The Bisons, who lead NCAA Division II in rushing, have scored 40 or more points in three consecutive games. Tech cruised to a 48-10 victory over a Southeastern Oklahoma team that started the season 6-0 and has now lost four consecutive games. Wonder Boy senior Braden Stringer had 230 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Tech rushed for 390 yards as a team and had 535 yards of total offense.

Southern Arkansas 29, UAM 24 — Both teams are coming off losses. It has been a disappointing season for SAU, which was picked to win the conference in the coaches’ preseason poll. On the other hand, the 5-5 Boll Weevils from UAM have been better than expected. SAU’s Renner and UAM’s Cole Sears are both quality quarterbacks. This should be a close game with the slight advantage going to the home team.

LSU 37, Arkansas 25 — About the only thing one can say about the game last Saturday in Razorback Stadium is that it was a win. Remember what Houston Dale Nutt used to say: “All wins are precious.” The Razorbacks are 4-5 following the 39-38 decision over Coastal Carolina, a team that came into Fayetteville with a 1-7 record after having lost seven consecutive games. The Chanticleers led  38-25 in the fourth quarter, and we were all thinking Citadel until Arkansas scored the winning touchdown with 1:55 left. Coastal Carolina had gained just 183 yards against Texas State the previous week but had 359 yards against Arkansas. In previous games against Southeastern Conference teams, Coastal Carolina had lost by 59 points at Georgia and 60 points at South Carolina. Arkansas State beat Coastal Carolina by 34 points earlier this season. This might not be rock bottom for the Razorback football program, but you can see it from here. LSU lost to Alabama, but it was just by 14 points — 24-10, a closer game than most people had expected. The Tigers are 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference. The other two losses came by scores of 37-7 to Mississippi State and 24-21 to Troy. The wins have been by scores of 27-0 over BYU, 45-10 over Chattanooga, 35-26 over Syracuse, 17-16 over Florida, 27-23 over Auburn and 40-24 over Ole Miss. This is not a great LSU team, but it appears to be a lot better than Arkansas.

Arkansas State 41, South Alabama 23 — Having had two weeks to prepare, the Red Wolves should roll to victory over a 3-6 South Alabama team late Saturday afternoon in Mobile. The three victories for South Alabama have been by scores of 45-0 over Alabama A&M, 19-8 over Troy and 33-23 over Louisiana-Monroe. The losses have been by scores of 47-27 to Ole Miss, 44-7 to Oklahoma State, 29-23 to Idaho, 34-16 to Louisiana Tech, 21-13 to Georgia State and 19-14 to Louisiana-Lafayette.

UCA 46, Incarnate Word 16 — The Bears are up to No. 3 in the country in FCS and should have no problem on the road in San Antonio on Saturday night against a 1-8 Incarnate Word team. UCA improved to 8-1 overall and 7-0 in the Southland Conference with a 42-14 victory at Lamar last Saturday. The Bears ran off 35 unanswered points beginning in the second quarter. UCA had 565 yards of offense and held Lamar to just 279 yards. Lamar (1-8, 0-7) had only 26 yards rushing. Two regular-season games remain for UCA, and those two teams are a combined 3-15. In other words, the Bears appear headed for an undefeated regular season and the outright Southland Conference title. Incarnate Word’s lone victory was by a score of 33-24 over Lamar. The losses have come by scores of 66-0 to Fresno State, 56-22 to Sacramento State, 37-31 to Stephen F. Austin, 45-20 to Abilene Christian, 49-30 to Southeastern Louisiana, 55-7 to McNeese, 38-31 to Nicholls and 57-20 to Sam Houston State.

Prairie View A&M 18, UAPB 10 — A year ago, UAPB lost 70-0 to Grambling State. There was much improvement this year, but it was still a loss — 31-26 in Pine Bluff to drop the Golden Lions to 2-7 overall and 1-4 in the SWAC. UAPB has now lost five consecutive games. The Golden Lions travel to Texas this week take on a 3-5 Prairie View A&M team. The three Prairie View victories have been by scores of 34-0 over Alabama State, 38-9 over Jackson State and 34-17 over Bacone. The five losses have been by scores of 44-31 to Sam Houston State, 44-13 to Nicholls, 34-21 to Grambling, 34-21 to Alcorn State and 37-31 to Southern University.