Forget what I said about seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

And, yes, you already know that I’m about to quote Lou Holtz here since that light was indeed an oncoming train.

Has the University of Arkansas football program finally hit rock bottom?

Like the deepest part of the Pacific, we no longer know exactly where the bottom is.

It it wasn’t “San Jose State 31, Arkansas 24,” I hate to think where it was.

That was ugly.

Nick Starkel throwing five interceptions was ugly.

The Spartans had gained 382 yards against Northern Colorado and 348 yards against Tulsa. Against Arkansas, they had 503 yards.

That also was ugly.

San Jose State passed for 402 yards.

That was ugly, too.

Now comes the trip to Arlington (Razorback fans lost enthusiasm for this “classic” years ago) to take on Texas A&M.

I was 5-3 on the picks last week with misses on Arkansas (who didn’t?), UAPB (which scored on the final play of the game) and UAM.

That makes the season record 22-6.

Here are the picks for this Saturday’s games:

Texas A&M 40, Arkansas 27 — The Aggies have the same record as the Razorbacks at 2-2. The difference is that the Texas A&M losses were to Top 10 teams (Clemson and Auburn) rather than Ole Miss and San Jose State. A&M started the season with a 41-7 victory over Texas State, lost 24-10 to Clemson, beat Lamar 62-3 and then lost 28-20 to Auburn. The Aggies were 9-4 a year ago in their first season under head coach Jimbo Fisher. Texas A&M is 7-0 against Arkansas in SEC games, including three victories in overtime. It would be a miracle for this Arkansas team to get it to overtime.

Troy 29, Arkansas State 25 — ASU struggled in Jonesboro last Saturday night against an FCS opponent but still came away with a 41-28 victory over Southern Illinois. Head coach Blake Anderson was on the sidelines at home for the first time this season. Both the Red Wolves and the Salukis are now 2-2. ASU quarterback Logan Bonner was sacked five times in the first half of that game. Bonner, however, completed 17 of his 31 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns. ASU must now make the trip to Alabama for the Sun Belt Conference opener against Troy. The Trojans are 2-1 with a 43-14 victory over Campbell and a 35-7 victory over Akron sandwiching a 47-42 loss to Southern Mississippi. The slight advantage goes to the home team in this one, especially considering all of the injuries that are dogging the Red Wolves this week.

Southern University 21, UAPB 20 — I should know better than to pick against the Golden Lions. They seem to have some magic this year. UAPB scored on a 17-yard pass as time expired in Nashville last Saturday to shock Tennessee State by a final score of 37-31. How much progress has this program made? Consider the fact that UAPB had been outscored 84-13 and outgained 924-448 in its two previous games against Tennessee State. The Golden Lions, who finished the contest with 519 yards of offense, have now won three consecutive games to go to 3-1. That’s more games than UAPB won last year when the Golden Lions went 2-9 in their first season under head coach Cedric Thomas. The current UAPB head man was an assistant coach at Alcorn State for six years before returning to take over his alma mater. Southern has lost 34-28 to McNeese, 55-24 to Memphis and 27-21 to Florida A&M. The one victory was by a final score of 61-0 over Edward Waters. This is certainly a winnable game for UAPB, but the Golden Lions seem due for a letdown.

Harding 24, Henderson 14 — This is the game of the week in the Great American Conference. Henderson, which fell to 5-6 a year ago, seems to be getting back to form with victories over Oklahoma Baptist, Southern Nazarene and Arkansas Tech to start the season. After losing 16-14 to Ouachita to begin the 2019 campaign, Harding hasn’t allowed another point. The defense has been spectacular in shutout victories over UAM and Southern Arkansas. In last Saturday’s 31-0 thrashing of SAU in Magnolia, the Harding defense returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a span of 40 seconds. Since the GAC began play in 2011, Henderson has won three conference championships and Harding has won one. Ouachita has won the other four.

Ouachita 26, Southwestern Oklahoma 11 — Saturday night’s 31-11 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma at Cliff Harris Stadium in Arkadelphia marked the 19th consecutive conference victory for Ouachita. The Tigers led 21-0 at the half. Sophomore quarterback Brayden Brazeal out of England, who leads the nation in pass completion percentage, was 20 of 22 through the air for 179 yards. But you should expect the Tigers to focus on the running game Saturday afternoon in Weatherford, Okla., against a team that gave up 348 yards on the ground in a 41-9 loss to UAM. Southwestern won its first two games against Oklahoma schools, but reality always sets in once it begins playing the tougher Arkansas members of the GAC.

Southern Arkansas 19, Arkansas Tech 13 — The Muleriders started the season with victories over a weak Southern Nazarene team and a so-so Oklahoma Baptist squad (the win came on a long field goal on the final play) before crashing back to earth while being routed at home by Harding. Southern Arkansas finished the season 8-4 a year ago but lost the top players off that team. Still, the 2-1 Muleriders should have enough talent to down an 0-3 Arkansas Tech squad that has lost to UAM, Ouachita and Henderson in its first season under head coach Kyle Shipp.

UAM 35, Northwestern Oklahoma 33 — The Boll Weevils make the trip to Alva, Okla., to take on a 1-2 Northwestern Oklahoma squad. UAM has sandwiched victories over Arkansas Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma around a 24-0 loss to Harding. Head coach Hud Jackson is finally turning the UAM program around. The Boll Weevils were 6-6 last season, including a Division II bowl appearance. A win on the road Saturday and a 3-1 start would further enhance their credibility.

Razorback fans were able to see some light at the end of the tunnel last Saturday in Fayetteville.

After experiencing that “here we go again” feeling when Colorado State tied the score at 34-34, Arkansas scored 21 unanswered points down the stretch to move to 2-1 on the season.

If nothing else, it appears the Hogs have found a quarterback.

Nick Starkel was 20 of 35 passing in his first start for 305 yards and three touchdowns. It was the first 300-yard performance for an Arkansas quarterback in two years.

Meanwhile, Rakeem Boyd rushed for a career-high 122 yards as Arkansas had 520 yards of offense. The Razorbacks were six of 12 on first down.

We were 8-0 on the picks last week (thank you UCA for that late score) to make the record 17-3 for the season.

Here are the picks as we enter the fourth weekend of the college football season:

Arkansas 45, San Jose State 21 — The 55 points put on the board against Colorado State last week represented the most points scored by an Arkansas team against an FBS opponent since 2016. While we don’t think the Hogs will score that many points this week against San Jose State, the defense should be able to limit the Spartans to fewer than the 34 points Colorado State had against Arkansas. A win would give the Razorbacks a 3-1 record heading into the Sept. 28 game in Arlington against Texas A&M. San Jose State is 1-1 with a 35-18 victory over Northern Colorado and a 34-16 loss to Tulsa.

Arkansas State 37, Southern Illinois 27 — When the fans at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., wore pink in honor of the late Wendy Anderson, the gesture received nationwide attention that went beyond sports outlets. NBC’s Today Show, for instance, had the story on Monday morning. Unfortunately, Blake Anderson’s Red Wolves were never competitive in the actual game. Georgia won by a final score of 55-0. It was 34-0 at halftime as the Red Wolves had only 81 yards of offense (just seven yards rushing) in the first half. The score was 27-0 before ASU crossed midfield. The Red Wolves return to Jonesboro this Saturday to take on a 2-1 Southern Illinois squad. The Salukis have defeated Massachusetts and Tennessee-Martin since losing to Southeast Missouri in the season opener. The Red Wolves should have the edge against this FCS school, which was 2-9 a year ago.

Hawaii 41, UCA 25 — Bear players and coaches get a nice trip to Hawaii this week to take on the Rainbow Warriors. Hawaii started the season with victories of 45-38 over Arizona and 31-28 over Oregon State before falling 52-20 at Washington last Saturday. UCA improved to 3-0 with a 31-30 win over Abilene Christian in the Southland Conference opener at Conway. The Bears took the lead with 1:30 left in the game on a three-yard touchdown run by senior Carlos Blackman. Abilene Christian then missed a 46-yard field goal attempt with 30 seconds remaining.

Tennessee State 19, UAPB 18 — A UAPB team has won back-to-back games for the first time since 2014. The Golden Lions had a 53-15 victory last Saturday against Langston from the NAIA. UAPB goes to Nashville this week to do battle with a 1-2 Tennessee State squad that won its opener 26-20 over Mississippi Valley State before losses of 45-26 to Middle Tennessee and 49-44 to Jackson State. The slight edge goes to the home team in this one.

Ouachita 39, Northwestern Oklahoma 26 — The Tigers are ranked No. 6 nationally in NCAA Division II by the American Football Coaches Association following a 42-13 victory at Arkansas Tech last Saturday night. Brayden Brazeal, Ouachita’s sophomore quarterback from England, was 12 of 15 passing for 227 yards and three touchdowns.  The victory marked Ouachita’s 18th consecutive win in Great American Conference play. Northwestern Oklahoma brings a 1-1 record to Arkadelphia on Saturday night. We’re told that Cliff Harris will be in the house at Cliff Harris Stadium.

Henderson 40, Arkansas Tech 22 — The Reddies are off to a 2-0 start and appear to be much better than the squad that finished 5-6 a year ago. Henderson posted a 34-6 win at home over 0-2 Southern Nazarene last week. Richard Stammetti was 34 of 44 passing for the Reddies for 396 yards and three touchdowns. Arkansas Tech, which must make the road trip to Arkadelphia, is 0-2 with an overtime loss at UAM and the blowout loss against Ouachita in Russellville.

Harding 24, Southern Arkansas 23 — This is an interesting matchup in Magnolia. Harding is 1-1. The Bisons bounced back from their 16-14 loss to Ouachita in that highly touted season opener and then beat UAM 24-0 at home in Searcy last Saturday. All the points were scored in the first half. Southern Arkansas, which upset Harding in Searcy last year, is off to a 2-0 start. The Muleriders got a 48-yard field goal from sophomore Austin Wilkerson in Magnolia last Saturday on the final play of the game. That resulted in a 30-28 victory over 0-2 Oklahoma Baptist. Harding is trying to keep pace with Ouachita in the GAC race and simply can’t afford to start the season 1-2.

Southwestern Oklahoma 33, UAM 30 — Southwestern Oklahoma is off to a surprising 2-0 start following a 3-8 record in 2018. UAM, which finished 6-5 a year ago, is 1-1 following the win over Arkansas Tech and the loss to Harding. UAM is the home team, but we’ll go with the visitors in this one.

Razorback fans are asking themselves when the Arkansas football program will hit rock bottom and start the slow climb back up.

It has to happen at some point, doesn’t it?

Saturday’s 31-17 loss at Oxford was the 12th consecutive Southeastern Conference defeat for the Hogs. The most recent SEC win came in Oxford two years ago by a final score of 38-37.

The Razorbacks are 1-19 in their past 20 games against teams from Power 5 conferences. For those of us who grew up in this state in the 1960s and 1970s (the three top programs in college football in the decade of the ’60s were Alabama, Texas and Arkansas), the depths to which this program has fallen defy logic.

Arkansas had just 137 yards of offense and three points in the first half at Ole Miss. At the end of the game in Oxford, the Razorbacks had been outgained 483-361.

Arkansas’ 61 rushing yards were the fewest allowed by an Ole Miss team in four years.

Arkansas saw Nick Starkel go 17 of 24 through the air for 201 yards passing in the second half after Ben Hicks had gone seven of 16 for just 98 yards in the first half. Get that slow vehicle out of the left lane! The hammer is definitely not down.

Starkel will get the start this Saturday in Fayetteville against Colorado State.

We were 7-1 on the picks last week (missing only the UAPB game) to make the record 9-3 on the year.

Here are the selections for this Saturday’s games:

Arkansas 30, Colorado State 27 — Style points don’t matter at this point. Just get a W. That should be the mantra in Fayetteville, even if it’s by a single point. Colorado State trailed Arkansas 27-9 last year before rallying for a 34-27 victory. The Rams opened this season with a 52-31 loss to a Colorado team that upset Nebraska the following week. A 38-13 victory over outclassed Western Illinois last weekend allowed Colorado State to break a six-game losing streak. With Starkel now getting the start at quarterback, we’re going to give a slight advantage to the Hogs.

Georgia 42, Arkansas State 26 — My favorite highlight of the college football season so far isn’t something that occurred on the field. It’s instead the footage of Arkansas State University head coach Blake Anderson entering a meeting room in Las Vegas with these words: “Y’all got room for one more?” Anderson had been on a leave of absence since shortly before his wife Wendy’s death on Aug. 19. The Red Wolves, who lost their opener to SMU in Jonesboro, played inspired football in a 43-17 victory over UNLV. It was the biggest margin of victory against a nonconference FBS opponent since 2011. ASU had 498 yards of offense, and the Red Wolf defense held UNLV’s starting quarterback to just 42 yards passing. This week will see the Red Wolves go between the hedges in Athens, Ga., against a Georgia team that beat Murray State 63-17 last Saturday. Jake Fromm threw for 166 yards and a score. Georgia scored 35 of its points in the second quarter before clearing the benches. ASU won’t win, but the Red Wolves should play Georgia a lot closer than Murray State did. The keys for ASU are to play decent football, avoid injuries and pick up the big check.

UCA 29, Abilene Christian 22 — The Bears improved to 2-0 on the 2019 season with a 24-16 win at Austin Peay. UCA had trailed 16-10 in the fourth quarter but rallied with two touchdowns down the stretch. UCA quarterback Breylin Smith completed 19 of 30 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. He’s the real deal. The Bears finally get a home game at Conway as Abilene Christian rolls into town for the Southland Conference opener. The two schools played each other in the final game of the season a year ago with the Bears winning by 10 points, 16-6. This year’s Abilene Christian team comes to Conway following a 51-31 loss to North Texas and a 66-14 victory over Arizona Christian. Go with the home team.

UAPB 19, Langston 15 — One of the most pleasant surprises of the weekend was UAPB’s 52-34 victory over Alabama A&M in the SWAC opener at Huntsville, Ala. The Golden Lions, who had lost at TCU the previous week, are now 2-0. UAPB had 632 yards of offense. Keshawn Williams rushed for 206 yards for the Golden Lions. Langston comes to Pine Bluff for the home opener. Granted, UAPB is an FCS program and Langston is an NAIA program. But in recent years, victories over NAIA squads haven’t been guaranteed for the struggling UAPB program. Langston was 9-2 last year with a trip to the NAIA playoffs. The season ended with a 15-9 loss to Kansas Wesleyan in the first round. Langston won its opener last Saturday, 21-20, over McPherson. This is an improved UAPB squad. It won’t be easy, but we’re calling for a Golden Lion victory in Pine Bluff.

Ouachita 31, Arkansas Tech 25 — The Tigers are ranked No. 6 nationally in NCAA Division II by the American Football Coaches Association but might suffer somewhat of a letdown following an emotional 16-14 win at home last week over nationally ranked Harding. It was the national Division II game of the week on ESPN3. Gabe Goodman, a true freshman from Arkadelphia, hit three of his four field goal attempts for the Tigers. That included a 38-yard field goal with 1:05 left that proved the difference. Ouachita and Harding both made the Division II playoffs a year ago and could be back this season. Tech, which has had two head coaches since the end of last season, fell in overtime at UAM.

Harding 24, UAM 13 — Expect Harding to bounce back from its heartbreaking loss at Arkadelphia. The Harding program has more victories (33) the past three seasons than any college program in the state. UAM will hang around for at least three quarters, though. The Boll Weevils won their opener, 26-23, in overtime over Arkansas Tech when Josh Marini hit a 23-yard field goal. UAM went 6-5 in the regular season last year. Coach Hud Jackson should be able to lead his team to another winning record in 2019.

Henderson 40, Southern Nazarene 23 — Coach Scott Maxfield picked up his 100th victory as the Henderson head man as the Reddies opened the season with a 35-28 road win at Oklahoma Baptist. Reddie quarterback Richard Stammetti threw four touchdown passes. Look for Henderson to significantly improve upon last season’s 5-6 record. This game is at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Arkadelphia, and the Reddie program (which has won three GAC titles since 2012) will be anxious to show that last year’s losing record was a fluke.

Southern Arkansas 32, Oklahoma Baptist 28 — The Muleriders opened the season with a 34-14 road victory at Southern Nazarene. They’re at home in Magnolia this Saturday night against Oklahoma Baptist, which failed to defeat any of the six Arkansas GAC schools last season. The Muleriders piled up 323 yards on the ground against Southern Nazarene.

A win is a win, right?

Attendance was announced at 61,055 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium last Saturday afternoon, and you can bet that a majority of those fans left disappointed with Arkansas’ performance in a 20-13 victory over Portland State.

“There’s no such thing as a bad win,” said Razorback head coach Chad Morris.

OK, coach, we’ll play along. We won’t use the adjective “bad.”

Let’s just say that a Southeastern Conference team playing at home should never find itself hanging on for dear life at the end against an FCS squad.

It was the fifth consecutive season opener for a Razorback team to win. Arkansas finished the game with 204 yards on the ground. Rakeem Boyd gained 114 of those rushing yards, his fourth time as a Razorback to rush for more than 100 yards.

There were several bright spots on defense. An Arkansas team had three interceptions for the first time since 2014, and the Hogs also had six sacks.

It was the offense that caused the most headaches. Arkansas had the ball in Portland State territory on 11 of 12 possessions but had a hard time finishing drives with touchdowns.

And things are going to get much tougher this week with the SEC opener in Oxford against Ole Miss.

We were 2-2 on the picks last week.

We figured UCA would keep it close against Western Kentucky, but we didn’t climb out on that limb and predict the Bears to win outright. And we perhaps let emotion get the best of us in picking Arkansas State to beat SMU in Jonesboro.

So let’s move on and get to the picks for Week 2:

Ole Miss 27, Arkansas 24 — The Rebels fell to a good Memphis team, 15-10, at the Liberty Bowl on Saturday. Ole Miss had only 42 yards of offense in the first half. The Arkansas defense probably won’t be able to replicate what the Memphis defense did, but this is a winnable game for the Hogs. The key will be on the offensive side of the ball, especially at the quarterback position. Ben Hicks was just 14 of 29 passing against Portland State for 143 yards. Will we see more of Nick Starkel this week? I think so. Hicks played all but two series in the opener. The Rebels were 5-7 a year ago, and that was enough for Matt Luke to bring in two new coordinators. Both are former FBS head coaches. Rich Rodriguez (West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona) is the offensive coordinator. Mike MacIntyre (Colorado) is the defensive coordinator.

Arkansas State 29, UNLV 28 — In David Duggan’s first game as interim head coach, the Red Wolves fell 37-30 to SMU in Jonesboro. ASU junior quarterback Logan Bonner threw four touchdown passes to Omar Bayless, and Bayless tied the school’s single-game record. The Red Wolves make the long trip west this week to do battle with a UNLV squad that’s 1-0 following a 56-23 win last week over Southern Utah. The Rebels were 4-8 a year ago, including a 27-20 loss to ASU in Jonesboro. A UNLV team has not started a season 2-0 since John Robinson’s first year as head coach in 1999 when the Rebels had wins against North Texas and Baylor.

UCA 30, Austin Peay 22 — How about those Bears? They went on the road on Thursday of last week and returned from Bowling Green, Ky., with a 35-28 victory over Western Kentucky of Conference USA. Of course, it’s not a new thing for UCA to beat an FBS school. Don’t forget that the Bears won at Arkansas State just three years ago. UCA quarterback Breylin Smith was 20 of 28 passing for 324 yards. Austin Peay is 1-0 following its 42-10 win over North Carolina Central. The Governors were 5-6 a year ago.

Alabama A&M 19, UAPB 12 — The Golden Lions hung around for a half last Saturday night at Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth before falling 38-7 to TCU. The Horned Frogs outgained the Golden Lions 484-225. This week’s road opponent for UAPB is Alabama A&M, which opened its season on national television Sunday afternoon with a 35-30 victory over Morehouse in the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic at Canton, Ohio. Alabama A&M was 6-5 last year (UAPB was 2-9), including a 45-14 victory over the Golden Lions in Pine Bluff. Expect for it to be closer this year.

Ouachita 17, Harding 14 — What a way to open the Great American Conference season. Ouachita and Harding both went to the NCAA Division II playoffs last year. Ouachita is No. 4 and No. 5 in the two major Division II polls. Harding is No. 16 and No. 18. Ouachita has won four of the first eight GAC titles, and Harding has won one (Henderson won the other three). The Ouachita-Harding game has been decided in the final minutes of play for six consecutive seasons. Ouachita won 7-3 in Searcy last year with a goal-line stand at the end of the game. The Tigers went on to win the conference title and go 11-0 in the regular season. It’s the biggest Division II game in the nation this week, and it kicks off at 7:05 p.m. Thursday at Cliff Harris Stadium in Arkadelphia. We’ll give a slight edge to the home team, but this one could easily go the other way.

UAM 31, Arkansas Tech 26 — The Boll Weevils were 6-5 in the regular season a year ago, and Arkansas Tech was a disappointing 3-8. Tech fired its head coach, Raymond Monica, at the end of the season and hired Bo Atterbury away from Southeastern Oklahoma. Before spring practice was over, Atterbury had resigned for what were described publicly as health reasons. Bring in Kyle Shipp, a former Tech player who spent the past five seasons as the UAM offensive coordinator. He would love to win his head coaching debut against his former employer on Thursday night, but the Bolls Weevils appear to have the talent advantage at this point despite the loss of three-year starter Cole Sears at quarterback.

Henderson 39, Oklahoma Baptist 34 — The Reddies were an uncharacteristic 5-6 a year ago but look to be improved with the return of quarterback Richard Stammetti, who had 2,459 yards passing in 2018. Henderson also returns two good running backs in Logan Moragne and Querale Hall. Reddie head coach Scott Maxfield has been oddly quiet during the preseason. That means he’s probably prepared to surprise some folks this year as Henderson again becomes a contender. In the words of Harding head coach Paul Simmons: “It would be a lot more surprising if Henderson didn’t bounce back. He has been at the top too long.”

Southern Arkansas 40, Southern Nazarene 23 — The Muleriders thought they had the talent to win the conference a year ago but finished the regular season 8-3. What was supposed to be a showdown against Ouachita turned into a 35-10 Tiger victory. SAU had defeated Harding in the second week of the season. The Muleriders graduated their best offensive player (quarterback Barrett Renner) and their best defensive player (end DaVondrick Lison). But there’s still plenty of talent in Magnolia.