Razorback Stadium – Fayetteville, AR
Kickoff: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET
Line: Arkansas -1.5, Total: N/A

TCU and Arkansas will both be hoping to improve to 2-0 when the teams meet in Fayetteville on Saturday.

TCU had a very rough season a year ago, but the team is hoping that it can get back to being a Big 12 contender in 2017. The Horned Frogs certainly looked good to open up the year, as they defeated Jackson State 63-0. They did, however, fail to cover the game’s 64.5-point spread. Still, TCU is not going to be dwelling on a game that saw the team rack up 542 yards of total offense and also hold its opponent to just 65 yards. Arkansas also failed to cover in the opening week of the year, as the Razorbacks won 49-7 as 46.5 point favorites against Florida A&M last week. They’ll now gear up for a rematch of last year’s epic meeting with TCU, when Arkansas won 41-38 as a 10-point road underdog. That game needed overtime to decide the winner and one can only hope that this game can match the excitement of that one. One trend that is worth noting is that road underdogs (TCU) that gained 525 or more total yards in their previous game and that also returned eight or more offensive starters (including their QB) are 63-29 against the spread over the past five seasons.

The Horned Frogs are coming off of a 63-0 victory and that should have them feeling pretty good when they get out there on Saturday. QB Kenny Hill was 18-for-23 for 206 yards, four touchdowns, and one pick against Jackson State last game and will now do his best to revenge last year’s loss to Arkansas. Hill was 36-for-56 for 377 yards, one touchdown, and one interception against the Razorbacks last year. He did, however, add another 93 yards and two scores on the ground. It’ll be interesting to see if he uses his legs as well this time around, but TCU certainly needs him to be better as a passer in this one. RB Kyle Hicks also rushed for two touchdowns against Arkansas last year, but it’s not definite he’ll be out there for this one. Hicks did not play against Jackson State, but there were many that believed he would have played if the game were against a better opponent. On defense, the Horned Frogs must find a way to get to Austin Allen in this one. Allen absolutely tore them apart last year and that can’t happen again if TCU is going to improve to 2-0.

Austin Allen was 17-for-29 for 223 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks against TCU last year and also added a score on the ground in that upset victory. Allen will now try to come through against the Horned Frogs once again, but he’ll definitely need to be better than he was against Florida A&M last week. Allen was just 14-for-19 for 135 yards with one touchdown and one pick in that game. An interception against a lower level school like that is really not acceptable and Allen will need to be ready to be better here. One thing that was really working against Florida A&M was the ground game, though. The Razorbacks rushed for 236 yards in that game and three different players rushed for touchdowns. If the team is going to run the ball that effectively on Saturday then it should be able to steamroll TCU. The Razorbacks do, however, need to be ready to go on defense, which means they have to be prepared to stop Kenny Hill. Hill has a good arm, but he is also a great runner. He hurt the team with his legs last year and Arkansas needs to be ready for that.