Bowl Win Caps Turnaround Season, but Arkansas Still Can't Hang with SEC's Elite

Enjoy this one, Arkansas fans. In fact, treat the dominant Texas Bowl victory for what it is, the crowning achievement of a season that shows Bret Bielema was the right choice to turn around the Razorbacks program.

But despite what you hear during the offseason, remember this: There's still a long way to go before Arkansas is a legitimate contender in the SEC West.

By winning, 31-7, on Monday against Texas, Arkansas finished with a winning record for the first time since 2011. It helps provide momentum on the recruiting trail and gives the many integral players returning in 2015 a huge confidence boost in facing what lies ahead. NFL.com's Bryan Fischer thinks watching the game film from this win will also be a boost for the Arkansas coaches:

Just don't be fooled into thinking that the Hogs will be competing for a division title or anything so glamorous—at least not yet.

That defense that the Hogs unleashed on a helpless Texas team has been rising up since mid-October, when a blocked extra point (and not enough offensive punch) kept the team from upsetting Alabama. Since then, it has enabled the Razorbacks to end a long SEC losing streak by thoroughly dominating LSU and Ole Miss with back-to-back shutouts, earning the necessary conference wins to get into a bowl game.

It's a foundation that Arkansas can build on, but defense alone isn't going to get it done against the talent that resides in the SEC. The Razorbacks will need to become as good—if not better—on offense than what they've shown they can do defensively, and that's going to mean not being one-dimensional.

There's been a noticeable push in that direction as the season wore on, with quarterback Brandon Allen becoming a more integral part of the game plan, while dual 1,000-yard rushers Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams saw their touches remain relatively constant. Nearly every relevant offensive player should be back in 2015, so the expectation of further improvement isn't outlandish.

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Yet Arkansas still seems at least a year away, especially when you look at the schedule it faces next season, particularly the conference portion.

Road games against Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee will make for tough sledding at every stop, not to mention another matchup with Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas. Having two-time East Division champ Missouri as its permanent crossover rival doesn't help, either.

The Razorbacks can actually look to those ahead of them in the West standings for examples of what can potentially happen in the near future, depending on how they progress. Mississippi State and Ole Miss both finished below .500 in division play last season, with the former needing to beat the latter just to make a bowl. Each won its bowl game and headed into this fall with momentum and increased hope.

Both got off to great starts, yet each eventually ran into a wall when its main deficiency was exposed.

Mississippi State had an exciting quarterback in Dak Prescott, a Heisman contender for much of the year, but when he began to struggle, the lack of a consistent defense became the Bulldogs' downfall; Ole Miss had the defense, which allowed an FBS-low 13.8 points per game, according to cfbstats.com, but without a matching offense that could be relied on to do its part every week, that defense couldn't carry the team.

Those teams now know what it will take to keep on improving and make the next step. Arkansas needs to be strong and balanced on both sides of the ball, not just one. It can be that team, but it's a process.

Instead, the Razorbacks figure to get better gradually, which will have to do. Bielema had to know this was going to be the case when he chose to leave the good thing he had going at Wisconsin—where he could annually compete for at least a Rose Bowl spot—for this major challenge.

He saw that gradual improvement this year, not just in the seven wins but also by virtue of four losses by seven points or less (after losing by an average of 21 points in SEC play the season before). The turnaround actually began late in 2013, when Arkansas' final three losses were by 10, seven and four points.

That might mean next year—when opening SEC play against A&M—instead of a narrow loss, it will result in a hard-fought victory.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.