Hogs face obstacle against Ole Miss no preparation can overcome

It was a lesson strongly embedded as a youth while playing baseball. While items of luck such as socks, rally hats and sitting in a particular chair a certain way have no bearing the outcome of an athletics event, there is definitely such a thing, unfortunately for Arkansas, as curses.

Fans may notice we don't do predictions involving Razorbacks games. That's because, if we do, half the fan base will determine we are just a bunch of haters if we say the Hogs aren't good enough to win, and the other half will say we are homers in bed with Razorbacks athletics officials if we say they are good enough to come out on top.

Considering, like the rest of the independent media, we can't get in to see most practices, nor interview coaches or players one-on-one at least once every three years, and I have no idea if beds exist in the Razorbacks' facility, I can safely, pun intended, put the latter accusation to bed and also acknowledge the lose-lose proposition predicting Arkansas games each week is.

However, today is an exception. That's only because doing so has nothing to do with how talented the Razorbacks may be, nor how intuitive Lane Kiffin might be as an in-game coach or how well he spends his NIL money.

Arkansas will lose, it's because of a curse, and there's nothing the Hogs can do about it. Unfortunately, nothing can ever be done about it.

As a child, I was fortunate enough to be part of numerous really good teams in Little League and Babe Ruth. Oftentimes we were league champions.

We might have gone undefeated, and did not long after the curse was tragically broken, had it not been for one uncontrollable event — my grandfather showing up to watch us play. This one is hard to write about because he was such a great man whom I loved and admired.

However, it became clear pretty fast that if he drove from Gurdon, where he was pastor at New Caney Baptist Church, to Warren to see one of our games, a loss was coming. It didn't matter how hard I tried, how great my teammates were, nor how bad our opponent was, there was no overcoming the curse.

We never won, and a lot of times, the games he attended were the only ones we lost. It killed me for him to constantly hear how good we always were to never see us win.

Unfortunately, in the early morning hours of July back when I was 13 and getting ready to prepare for the Babe Ruth 13U state tournament, a call woke us up letting us know he had unexpectedly passed in his study at age 53. I would have lost every day for the rest of my life to keep him around coming to games, but, unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

The curse lifted after that, which made for memorable moments and an undefeated season, but they were always tinged with a bit of sadness and guilt. I could only hope he finally got to see how great those teams were from Heaven and was proud of the way in which we played.

Arkansas faces a similar, unbreakable curse. It's the curse of Trey Biddy, one of which he has freely spoken about for at least a few years.

Biddy is a fellow Arkansas media member who really burst into the state spotlight when one day during the Chad Morris era he turned on his phone and voiced the frustration fans felt across the state as the losses piled up on the first of his "Walk & Talks." It became a Razorback institution on YouTube and deservedly so.

Fans can always count on him to either reflect their joy, anger or confusion after each game because he goes out of his way to be at all of them. Well, almost all.

This week marks an important anniversary. It was nine years ago this week that Biddy saw the last Arkansas road win as Austin Allen helped Bret Bielema pull an upset at TCU in 2016.

The Hogs are 0-16 when he shows up on the road to the best of his estimate. Yet, he is determined to finally witness an Arkansas road win.

It's just not going to happen. I've seen the curse in person.

Before my health got too bad to travel to road games, I sat just a few seats down from Biddy as the spirit of his curse whispered into KJ Jefferson's ear that he should try to jump over the goal line from five yards out at AT&T Stadium. He fumbled, leading to one of the most dramatic returns in Texas A&M history for a touchdown.

Despite No. 10 Arkansas still leading at the half, the game had switched from a blowout to the Hogs feeling like they were losing even though they weren't. The No. 23 Aggies rode that momentum shift to a 23-21 upset that included an ultra rare Cam Little missed field goal from 42 yards out, killing a Week 5 showdown of Top 10 teams with Alabama the following week.

When Jefferson drove the No. 13 Hogs 80 yards with a minute left against No. 17 Ole Miss, scoring on a touchdown pass with no time left in 2021 with only a two-point conversion between Arkansas and a historic 10-win season, it was the Biddy curse that closed the running lanes and packed the throwing lanes on the failed two-point conversion.

The one game Biddy refused to attend because the stadium set-up makes covering games in person even more difficult than they already are was last season's game at Auburn. There, Pittman's team, which traditionally plays better on the road than at home, easily dispatched of the Tigers, 24-14, in a game that should have been much worse for Auburn.

One guess where the Razorbacks won on the road two years prior. That's right, Auburn.

Now, there is still technically hope. Biddy will drive from a stop in Little Rock to Oxford today.

However, along the way, there will be ample opportunity to pull off at a casino just across the Mississippi border to kill a little time and get a bit of food before the game. Perhaps he decides to drop a coin in a slot or place a couple of dollars on a roulette wheel and immediately finds himself on heater.

The money keeps coming and coming, and, as casinos are specifically designed to do, time passes without Biddy realizing how late it's gotten. At roughly 6 p.m. he cashes in his large mound of winnings and begins the rest of his drive, listening intently to the radio as the Hogs' offense starts rolling.

Eventually Biddy makes it to the game, but the area where he needs to pick up his credentials is closed and he can't get upstairs to the media area. He texts and calls Arkansas officials and fellow media members for help, but because of the craziness of the game unfolding, they don't notice.

Finally, right as the Hogs pull off the upset, Razorbacks sports information director Kyle Parkinson sees the texts and sends an Ole Miss official down to let Biddy in who has watched everything take place on his phone. He hits his chair in the Sam Pittman press conference just in time to ask questions and gets to wander The Grove afterward with his Walk & Talk highlighting a big win.

It's not enough to break the curse, but it's the loophole Arkansas fans have needed. There may have been frustration at one point, but Biddy's getting to bask in the glow of a win rather than a loss brought on by his curse, and he's going home with pockets overflowing with money.

However, since such a scenario is about as borderline impossible as it gets, the Hogs will lose tonight. It won't be a reflection of how good or bad of a coach Sam Pittman is, nor the ability and preparedness of the players.

It will just be an unfortunate moment when there was no way for Ole Miss to lose. It was a road game with Biddy there hoping to finally see a win, which for his personal sanity will hopefully come one day.

That being said, there is no beating true curses. That's just how it is, no matter how frustrating it may be for the team facing it.

Hogs lose a close one in heart-breaking fashion in a game where it felt like they won everywhere except the final scoreboard.

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