"I could not live without champagne," Winston Churchill said. "In victory I deserve it. In defeat I need it."
Razorback fans have had to defer to the latter far more than the former in recent years.
For the third time in 12 years, Arkansas has an SEC losing streak of 14 games or more. A loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday would extend the current streak to 15; the Hogs lost 17 straight SEC contests from 2012-14 and 20 consecutive from 2017-20.
But oh, how glorious those streak-breaking victories were, both in the moment and in hindsight.
In 2014, it was No. 17 LSU that Arkansas took out its frustrations on. The Razorbacks blanked the Tigers 17-0, giving Bret Bielema his first SEC win and giving Arkansas fans their first shred of hope since Bobby Petrino's infamous motorcycle crash in early 2012.
In 2020, Sam Pittman and the Razorbacks went to Starkville and inexplicably knocked off No. 16 Mississippi State, which had beat defending national champion LSU in Baton Rouge the week prior, to snap a 20-game SEC drought. Never before had an entire state exhaled and celebrated in such unison, at least not until the Razorbacks waxed Texas a year later. (The morning after Arkansas beat Mississippi State in 2020, I remember my pastor remarking that more people tended to show up to church after miracles happen.)
Arkansas' best shot at an SEC victory this season is Saturday's road trip to Vanderbilt, which like Arkansas, is winless in the SEC this season. Needless to say, Vanderbilt is not a top-20 LSU team or a Mike Leach-led Mississippi State squad that just knocked off the defending champs last week.
But they are an SEC team, and as far as I can figure, the only parameter for breaking an SEC losing streak is to beat an SEC football team.
Arkansas winning on Saturday would not have the national implications of their two prior slump-busting victories. It wouldn't be a win over a rival, as the 2014 triumph over LSU was, nor a victory over a team that was perceived as an SEC dark horse after Week 1 of the season.
But it would be a win nonetheless, and one Razorback fans would and should celebrate.
A win over Vanderbilt would not absolve Ryan Silverfield of his team's no-shows against Utah and Texas A&M, nor should it. It would not suddenly get athletic director Hunter Yurachek off the hot seat, nor should it.
But it would be a glorious moment of reprieve for a coach, administration, fan base and state that desperately need one.
There's more beer to found on Broadway than champagne to be sure, but a win would ensure the contingent of Arkansas fans that made the trip to Nashville would get to have some libations, as Churchill said, in a deserving fashion after victory, rather than defeat.
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