SB Nation - Jarius Wright

Know Your Opponent: Arkansas Razorbacks

jeremyflint — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:07:35 -0000

Here we go with another round of Know Your Opponent. This time we are talking to fellow SBN bloggers Arkansas Expats. Here is what they had to say about the game this weekend. You can check out my answers to their questions as well.

1. Arkansas seems to be a Jekyll and Hyde team this year. They are near the top of the conference offensively, but rank near the bottom (or at the bottom) when it comes to defense. Why is there such a big difference between the two sides of the ball this year?

That's easy: talent.

Obviously everyone knows about Ryan Mallett at QB by now, but even beyond that Arkansas has really good players at every one of the skill positions on offense. Our eight TDs last week against Troy were scored by seven different people, and that's pretty much how it's been all season...lots of points of attack.

Unfortunately for us Hog fans, we don't have the talent on the defensive side to match. There are probably a lot of reasons for this, but the bottom line is that we just aren't as good on that side of the ball.

Also, that talent disparity includes our coaching staff, too. Bobby Petrino is regarded as one of the top offensive minds in the game even by his many detractors, and he's lived up to that reputation during his time at Arkansas. Although I'm sure defensive coordinator Willy Robinson generally knows what he's doing, my guess is that he's not in that league.

2. I have seen very little of Arkansas this year. I think the only games I watched was the loss to Alabama and the Georgia game, which I swear was really a couple of PAC-10 teams dressing up as SEC teams. Aside from QB Ryan Mallet, who are the playmakers on offense and defense that Bulldog fans should keep an eye on?

Well, as I was saying in the above answer, we have a lot of threats on offense. You never really know who's going to be the star in any particular game, but I'll start by calling out the receiving corps - WRs Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs and TE D.J. Williams are all really good, and you can count on some big plays by those guys. Our running game struggled in the earlier part of the season, but has improved lately. The starter is Michael Smith, but he's backed up by big back Broderick Green, sophomore Dennis Johnson (who also returns kicks), and freshmen Knile Davis and Ronnie Wingo, Jr.

Also as noted above, we don't have as many playmakers on defense. Malcolm Sheppard anchors our defensive line and will be a key part of our effort to stop Anthony Dixon. LB Jerrico Nelson is also usually in the middle of the action.

3. Mississippi State has never beaten Arkansas on the road (Fayetteville or Little Rock). Why do you think coming to Arkansas is such a tough road game for most teams in the SEC? Is it the travel? The atmosphere? The annoying pig calls?

Hard to say, exactly. Arkansas is pretty unusual this day and age in that we have two home fields. Most games are in Fayetteville, but the general feeling is that Little Rock actually offers more of a home field advantage - it's a louder stadium and the fans tend to be a little rowdier there. (Note: I'm from Little Rock, so there might be some bias in that statement.)

I have no idea what you're referring to by "annoying pig calls". If by some chance you're referring to the mighty "Woo Pig Sooie" Hog call - the greatest fan chant in all of sports - then yes, I'm sure that usually intimidates opponents into submission as well.

4. Give me some of the key matchups that you are looking for this Saturday on offense and defense.

The most important matchup for me will be the Hogs defensive line against Anthony Dixon. I expect Dixon to have a big day, but if he has a huge day Arkansas will be in trouble. Our nightmare scenario is a game where he cranks out about 220 yards and 3 TDs, and leads a bunch of clock-killing drives to keep the ball away from Ryan Mallett and the offense, while also opening up some possibilities in your passing game. If that happens, we're legitimately in trouble.

Next after that will be Ryan Mallett versus your defensive line. If they can constantly get in his face and force him out of his comfort zone then it will be hard to get on track offensively. If he has time to stand back there and find his receivers, then watch out.

5. How do you see this game playing out? Mississippi State is a run-based spread offense, with flashes of a passing game. Arkansas is allowing 132 yards on the ground and is ranked near the bottom in pass defense and total defense. Will the offense just rack up enough points to put the Bulldogs out of reach or will it be a close game that comes down to the last few minutes?

I think this will be a tough game for the Hogs. You guys have just missed out on beating some good teams, and will be fired up to get a step closer to bowl eligibility. I expect a tough, physical game that's close for most of the time. Mallett and the offense are playing really well right now, so they'll put up some points - but I also think Dixon will counter with a big game of his own (at least one 50+ yard TD run is pretty much guaranteed). In the end, though, I think the Hogs' "bend but don't break" defense will keep the Bulldogs out of the end zone enough times to pull out the win.

Previewing South Carolina at Arkansas: Q & A with Arkansas Expats

Gamecock Man — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:13:41 -0000

More photos » by Danny Johnston - AP

about 1 month ago: Arkansas wide receiver Lucas Miller, left, and Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams celebrate Miller's third quarter touchdown in the NCAA college football game with Eastern Michigan in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009. Arkansas defeated Eastern Michigan 63-27. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

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I got together with our SB Nation colleagues Arkansas Expats to preview this weekend's game. Here's what they had to say. (My answers to their questions are here.)

1. Bobby Petrino's tenure at Arkansas started off badly in 2008 and then pulled it together a bit late in that year, leading to speculation that 2009 would be a breakout year for the Hogs. However, while Arkansas has played well at times this year--particularly in the victory over Auburn and the close loss to Florida--it has also struggled and doesn't seem very far ahead of where it was late in 2008. Is this an accurate assessment, and how do Arkansas fans feel about Petrino's performance at this point?

Well, in one way the Hogs are very much ahead of where they were last year, and that's on offense. Last year, the Hogs averaged 21.9 points per game, which ranked seventh in the SEC, and 373.1 total yards of offense per game, the fourth-highest average in the conference. This year, they're averaging 35.9 points and 438 total yards of total offense per game, both of which rank second in the SEC. Ryan Mallett is a huge upgrade over Casey Dick, and the Hogs receiving corps - led by Greg Childs, Jarius Wright and Joe Adams - is as electric a group as we've ever seen in Fayetteville.

However, those gaudy statistics at least partially obscure the fact that the offense is fairly one-dimensional - the running game has struggled to get going this year, and tight-end D.J. Williams, a true star last year, has yet to develop a good chemistry with Mallett. Our special teams unit continues to struggle at times, and the defense too often has been downright woeful.

Add it all up, and we think the Hogs are noticeably better than last year (the 2008 team could never have taken a Florida squad down to the wire in Gainesville) but perhaps not as improved as many Hog fans were hoping. There were lots of predictions of an 8-4 regular-season record this summer, and obviously that mark is going to be very tough to attain now.

Despite the team's various struggles this season, Hog fans are still very supportive of Petrino (although there was some grumbling after Ole Miss and Houston Nutt whipped Arkansas in Oxford). Razorback fans can be as unrealistic as any fans in the country, but the large majority of us seem to realize that Bobby inherited a program that will require more than two seasons to rebuild.

2. Ryan Mallett has had an impressive season so far. However, outside of the Georgia and Auburn games, his big numbers haven't always translated into lots of points or wins in big games. What has Mallett done well this year, and what does he need to continue to work on to take his game to the next level?

Mallett has an absolute cannon of an arm, and this season the Hogs are serious threats to score quickly and often via the deep pass. But too often it seems, the deep pass has been the Razorbacks' only way of scoring. As mentioned above, Mallett and D.J. Williams have yet to click, and Arkansas' short passing game could use some improvement.

Ryan has struggled with his accuracy at times, and his mobility is an issue against aggressive defenses. He's only a sophomore, so it stands to reason that he should improve in most of the above-mentioned areas. Except for the mobility issue, that is. Not sure there's much he can do about that.

3. Despite having more experience than a year ago, Arkansas continues to have a shaky defense, especially against the pass. What has gone wrong this year, and is there light at the end of the tunnel for this particular group?

Well, the Hogs' defense may be more experienced than last year, but it's not much more talented. Although it’s quite possible that Petrino’s first pick for the D.C. job (Ellis Johnson – a guy you might be familiar with) would be having more success with this group than Willy Robinson had he stayed in Fayetteville, there’s only so much that can be done with a group that’s thin in so many key areas. The Hogs’ staff is making defense the recruiting priority, but of course that won’t help us stop whatever Spurrier has planned for Saturday.

Having said that, the Hogs' defense actually has had a few bright spots this year. We seem to do well against spread teams, having held both Auburn and Florida far below their usual outputs, and the defensive line, led by Malcolm Sheppard, is actually pretty strong. Last time we checked, Arkansas was towards the top of the country in making tackles for a loss...the only problem is that those tackles are often followed by a defensive breakdown that gives up a big play.

As far as a light at the end of the tunnel goes, we'd like to believe that a few more good recruits and a more consistent across-the-board effort from the whole team will solve a lot of the basic woes. But, until that happens we're going to have to rely on Mallett's arm to win games for us.

4. Because you're our Western Division opponent and the series has been back and forth and has had some really great games, a lot of Gamecocks see this series as a budding rivalry of sorts. Where would you put the Gamecocks on your list of SEC rivals?

That's a great question. Rivalries in the SEC are a funny thing - by the time the Hogs and Gamecocks joined the party, most of the other guys had been playing (and hating on) each other for about 100 years. Plus, both of us haven't really beaten the key teams consistently enough since joining to engender too much significant ill-will ... we're more in the "pesky nuisance" category.

So, there are a few teams Razorback fans particularly look forward to playing (and, ideally, beating), but we'm not sure if you could consider those rivalries in the true sense of the word. LSU is definitely one, and Ole Miss is becoming another (for reasons that are probably obvious). As far as South Carolina goes, there's certainly potential there for it to become a solid rivalry - we play every year and both fanbases are sort of looking for that mutual hate we described earlier - but from the Arkansas side we don't think we're quite there yet. We think most Hog fans tend to focus on the Western Division teams first and foremost, but we'd be all for getting something going!

5. Prediction. Who will win and how will it go down?

Well, for starters we should put in a plug for your readers to visit our site tomorrow when we unveil the official prognostication from our staff soothsayer, Rasputin. We lack his predictive powers, but the homers in us have to say Arkansas in a close, probably fairly high-scoring game.

Obviously, both teams really need this one in terms of setting up a strong finish to the season, and we expect it to be pretty intense (or as intense as a game played at the crack of dawn can be). Your offense will probably break off at least a couple of really big plays (it's apparently written into the SEC by-laws that each opponent will have a 70+ yard scoring play against us this year), and your defense (especially Eric Norwood) concerns us, but hopefully a well-rested Michael Smith and a newly healthy Joe Adams will give us the offensive spark needed to put us over the top.

Thanks to Arkansas Expats for participating in this Q & A.

Five Questions With Arkansas Expats

mlmintampa — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:00:27 -0000

We exchanged questions and answers with SB Nation Arkansas writers Arkansas Expats (which I want to read Celebrity Jeopardy style as Ar Kansan Sex Pats). We did not ask which slimmed down Arkansas politician do they like the best; Bill Clinton or Mike Huckabee. On to the questions;

1. Arkansas held Auburn to 23 points and only 133 yards passing. Have they figured out something on defense or was the game last week a fluke?

That's a very good question, and unfortunately nobody quite knows for sure. What we do know is that the defense was absolutely horrific against Georgia, very bad against Alabama, decent against Texas A&M (which came into the game with a top-ranked offense) and pretty good against Auburn (except in the 3rd quarter, when they resorted to their early season form).

So, the trends are at least moving in the right direction and I do feel like the defense is better now than it was at the beginning of the year. But, we still give up way too many big plays and the ceiling for this defense isn't all that high...at best it will be a competent "bend, but don't break" unit rather than one that actually wins games. So, no one will be confusing us with the 1985 Chicago Bears (or 2009 Florida Gators) any time soon.

2. Arkansas is top-15 nationally in scoring and total offense. Was this expected in year two of Petrino?

Pretty much...the anticipation of a high-powered offense, particularly a passing one, is what made Hog fans so excited when Petrino originally came on board and what's given us the strength to shake off approximately 8 billion "Petrino is going to take a plane to [insert team name here] at halftime" jokes.

Last year was very much a transitional period, but this year with some better talent at the skill positions and Ryan Mallett coming in at QB fans had pretty high expectations for the offense. So far those expectations have been met and then some...with the ominous exception of the running game, which has been mostly shaky.

3. Five players are in double digits for catches and six in triple digits for yards. Does Mallett have a go to guy, or is it whoever is open?

We do have the benefit of a really deep and talented receiving corps (which is good because they keep getting hurt). Mallett hasn't singled out one person as a go to guy, but does seem to favor a trio of sophomores - Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs - all of whom have made multiple big plays and have pretty gaudy stats.

The good news for you and bad news for us is that, out of that trio, only one is at full strength. Wright had a minor concussion against Auburn and will probably play at Florida, but he's still being tested. And Adams had what was termed as a "mild stroke" last week, which is obviously a scary thing. Word is that he's doing better, but no one knows when he'll be back on the field (if at all)...definitely not against Florida.

4. Arkansas leans on their passing game more than any other SEC team. If Florida's secondary can lock up Mallett, what chance do the Razorbacks have to run the ball?

As I noted earlier, the running game has struggled a bit this year. We actually did really well on the ground against Auburn's porous D, but getting anything going against the Gators will obviously be incredibly tough.

The good news for the Hogs is that we have a very good running back - Michael Smith, who was 2nd in the SEC in rushing yards last year. The bad news is that he's banged up after suffering a hamstring injury against Auburn and has only been practicing in limited capacity. Without him playing (and playing well) our already small chance of a victory drops down very close to zero.

To answer your question, I'm sure the Florida defense will go after Mallett and have some success - particularly your D line versus our O line. So, to negate that and open up the passing game in general we'll need to get the running game going. It's possible - Bobby Petrino is a smart guy and I'm sure he's spent a lot of time thinking about this - but I'm not betting my mortgage on it.

5. Mallett isn't 2006 Brandon Cox or 2008 Jevon Snead, right?

Ha. Well, when all is said and done I think Mallett will actually wind up a much better QB than either of those guys - both because of his freakish arm and the fact that he's playing in an offense perfectly geared towards his talents. But, since I suspect you're mainly concerned with avoiding an untimely upset like the kind those two dished out, I'll say that Tim Tebow probably won't feel the need to make any frame worthy emotional promises after the game.

I do think Arkansas has a better offense than any of the teams you've faced so far this year (hopefully we'll find the end zone more than, say, LSU) but I'm also sure your defense is quite capable of locking it down enough for Tebow and company to do their thing against our less-than-nasty D. In the end, I think the Hogs will perform better than they did against Alabama but, unless Florida completely falls asleep out there I think you guys will do just fine in avoiding a Cox/Snead scenario.

Southwest Classic Preview

Beergut — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:36:58 -0000

The Aggies will play Arkansas for the first time since 1991 when they meet the Razorbacks on the field Saturday. The Razorbacks left the Southwest Conference for the Southeastern Conference following the 1991 season; the Ags sent them on their way with a 13-3 loss in College Station. In the 18 seasons since then, Arkansas has lost 95 games, making you wonder if they made the right move by leaving for the SEC. The renewal of the rivalry between A&M and Arkansas helps both teams; it gives A&M a marquee non-conference game in the Metroplex, which helps with television exposure and recruiting, and it gives Arkansas a guaranteed game in Texas for the next 10 seasons, which will definitely help their recruiting. A&M might have the bigger advantage here, simply because the location will make it a de facto home game for the Aggies.

Join us after the jump as we take a statistical look at Arkansas so far this season....

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Ryan Mallett	3	83.0	50	96	52.1	877	292.3	9.1	7	1	10	-22	-7.3	-2.2	0	-	-
Tyler Wilson	2	103.0	17	25	68	84.5	169	6.8	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Michael Smith	3	24	163	54.3	6.8	1	5	52	17.3	10.4	0
Broderick Green	3	15	39	13	2.6	1	1	8	2.7	8	0
Ryan Mallett	3	10	-22	-7.3	-2.2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ronnie Wingo, Jr.	3	13	61	20.3	4.7	0	1	8	2.7	8	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Joe Adams	3	13	206	68.7	15.8	2
Greg Childs	3	13	250	83.3	19.2	3
Ben Cleveland	1	1	11	11	11	0
London Crawford	1	2	44	44	22	0
Knile Davis	2	1	-1	-0.5	-1	0
Reggie Fish	1	1	9	9	9	0
Broderick Green	3	1	8	2.7	8	0
Cobi Hamilton	3	6	68	22.7	11.3	1
Van Stumon	1	1	2	2	2	1
D.J. Williams	2	4	46	23	11.5	0
Ronnie Wingo, Jr.	3	1	8	2.7	8	0
Jarius Wright	3	11	261	87	23.7	1

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts

Obviously, Ryan Mallett is the leader of this offense. As QB, he makes the Razorback spread attack go. Mallett has been able to spread the ball around to 12 different receivers so far this season, but his main targets seem to be Greg Childs, Joe Adams, and Jarius Wright. Mallett has been solid and sometimes spectacular this season; he had 408 yds through the air on 21-39 passing for 5 TDs against Georgia. Granted, Georgia has the second-worst pass defense and second-worst defense overall in the SEC, but that is still a solid performance, regardless of who you play. Part of that poor defensive showing for Georgia is because of Ryan Mallett. If Mallett has a weakness, it is that he is fairly immobile in the pocket. He was sacked twice against Georgia and three times against Alabama; getting pressure on Mallett and forcing him to hurry his throws will be imperative for the Aggie defense. Alabama was able to hurry him 8 times besides those 3 sacks, and that is something we want to duplicate.

The Razorback running game is headlined by Michael Smith, a stud picked by many as All-SEC in the preseason. Smith had over 1000 yds rushng last season, despite missing two games, and has produced this season when given the ball, as shown by his 6.8 yards per carry average. Unfortunately for Smith, Arkansas has been playing from behind in games against Georgia and Alabama, which has caused them to run the ball less. As a team, Arkansas only averages 94.7 yds per game rushing, which ranks them dead last in the SEC. Arkansas is also dead last in scoring defense (32.3 ppg) and total defense (386.7 ypg), but we'll get to that later. Next to Mallett going crazy, Smith is my biggest concern going into this game. If we don't contain him and stop the running game early, it can be a long night in Arlington for our defense.

Defensively, Arkansas is led by Matt Harris, a redshirt freshman free safety from Richardson Pearce HS. Harris has 19 total tackles on the season, which ties him with senior LB Wendel Davis, who is from Sweeny, TX. I've always said you know you are in trouble when your defensive leader in tackles is a safety, which is partially the case here, but Davis is a stellar LB, with 2.5 tackles for loss, a pass broken up, and 1 fumble recovery so far this season. The Hogs defensive line is led by DE Adrian Davis, a senior from Rosenberg, TX (you starting to understand why Arkansas wants a game in Texas for recruiting?), who has 16 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 fumble recovery so far on the season. Arkansas' pass defense is the weakness of their team; they are currently last in the SEC, giving up an average of 263 yds per game, and have already given up 8 TDs through the air. Being able to protect Jerrod Johnson from their pass rush so he can exploit their porous pass defense will be one of the bigger offensive keys to the game for A&M. Arkansas' run defense isn't great, but it isn't horrible, giving up an average of 3.3 yards per carry, and 123.7 yds per game. They have given up 4 rushing touchdowns on the year, though. Given that Arkansas' spread offense is going to force opponents to want to run the ball more to keep the ball out of Ryan Mallett's hands, this isn't a bad performance by their defense. If we can get 150 or more yards rushing on Arkansas to balance out our passing attack, we'll be in a good position to win the game.

Overall, I think Arkansas is a solid to decent team which is still figuring things out in coach Bobby Petrino's second season. Like us, Arkansas is still learning to win games after a losing season last year. Arkansas has a significant advantage over us in that they have played two conference games, so their team has been through the fire. Coming into this game after two straight losses, Arkansas will be a hungry and desperate team, and will play with a lot of intensity. Matching that intensity and breaking their will, so we destroy any hope they ever have for victory, will be the key to us winning the game on Saturday.

Week Four Preview: #3 Alabama vs Arkansas Overview

outsidethesidelines — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:00:33 -0000

More photos » by April L. Brown - AP

Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett is the best pure passer Alabama has faced this season.

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The 49-14 thumping that Alabama put on Arkansas last year in Fayetteville was easily the most lopsided game this series has seen in a decade. Last year's game, however, was also an anomaly as this series generally sees close, hard-fought contests, and none should expect another crimson landslide for a second year in a row.

There are two majors reasons for that: One, Arkansas looks to be a much better team this year than they were a year ago, and two, last year's game was much closer than the scoreboard indicated. Lopsided score notwithstanding, last year's game was actually played pretty evenly by the two teams, and the massive disparity on the scoreboard resulted from four major players all going Alabama's way. Those four plays were Glen Coffee's long touchdown run, Casey Dick's two interceptions (while driving) that were returned for touchdowns, and Terrence Cody's goal line stand to end the first half, and all of them directly resulted in Alabama touchdowns. Don't expect all of the big plays to go the Tide's way this year, and thus a much closer game this time around.

Let's take a closer look at the match-ups.

Alabama Offense v. Arkansas Defense

On the surface, this seems like a lopsided match-up in the Tide's favor. The Alabama offense has been surprisingly effective to date -- 500+ yards of total offense in each of the first three games, and 127 total points -- and Greg McElroy has exceeded all reasonable expectations. The offensive line was a major question mark coming into the season, and while penalties have hurt them somewhat, they've still generally gotten the job done. Even with Julio Jones not even playing in more than half of the offensive snaps to date, nothing has really been able to slow down the Tide's offense. On the other hand, Arkansas' defense has been nothing short of abysmal to date. It was a very bad unit a year ago, and unfortunately for the Hog faithful it's one that has shown little or no improvement since.

So is it just a given that the Alabama offense is going to rack up points left and right against Arkansas? Perhaps, but let's not be so fast.

An objective look at Arkansas' defense yields a group that is very light on elite top-end talent and quality depth throughout the roster, but even so this unit may not be as hapless as many would make it seem. Clearly the Hogs had a disastrous performance last week against Georgia, but it is worth noting that performance came almost entirely without the presence of two of Arkansas' best defenders: middle linebacker Jerry Franklin and cornerback Rudell Crim. Franklin is the leader of the linebacker corps and he was ejected in the second quarter, and Crim is the team's best cornerback, but he went out with leg cramps early. And as if missing two of their best players wasn't a big enough issue in its own right, their replacements -- Terrell Williams and Greg Gatson -- were effectively outright disasters. Franklin will be back this week, however, and you can rest assured that the Arkansas medical staff will have Crim properly hydrated this time around, so their returns alone will go a long way towards improving this Arkansas defense.

The big concern for Alabama, most likely, comes in the running game. The offensive line is still a bit of an unknown commodity, and for all of the criticisms of the Arkansas defense, we really haven't been challenged in the way that this Hog front seven will challenge us. Given our proclivity towards using two-tight end sets, we practically lost five starters at the point of attack from a year ago (Andre Smith, Antoine Caldwell, Marlon Davis, Travis McCall, and Nick Walker), and the replacements for those five starters simply don't have the size that their predecessors did. Combined we are about 100 pounds lighter at the point of attack than we were last year -- which is to say nothing of the fact that the combination of Preston Dial and Brad Smelley isn't near the blocker that Travis McCall was, size differential notwithstanding -- and that alone probably means that we cannot dominate teams in the trenches like we did a year ago.

And that is where Arkansas really challenges us. For all of the criticisms of their defense, this is a big, strong unit in the front seven, and that is something we really haven't seen this year. Virginia Tech openly traded size for speed, and both Florida International and North Texas were clearly outmatched physically. Arkansas, however, is a very different animal altogether. They average nearly 280 pounds in the front four, the linebacker corps averages around 235 pounds, and with Malcom Sheppard manning the defensive tackle position, they will be able to match our physical style of play. In all likelihood, if the Arkansas defense is to slow down the Alabama offense, this is likely how they will have to do it.

Unfortunately, however, the rest of the match-ups for the Hogs simply do not look good.

Looking at the rest of the defensive backfield, even with a healthy Rudell Crim, the secondary is still one of the worst in the conference. Starting opposite Crim is Ramon Broadway, but Broadway has made news for three things this year, none of which are good for the Hogs: Getting arrested for not showing up to traffic court, running his mouth before the Georgia game, and ultimately getting lit up by A.J. Green. He's a below average corner in coverage, and the same thing goes for the rest of the rotation at cornerback. Highly-touted true freshman Darius Winston -- a consensus five-star prospect -- has not been able to make any impact whatsoever. Likewise, the safety play from Tramain Thomas and Matt Harris has impressed no one to date.

Largely the same thing goes for the linebacker corps as well. Jerry Franklin is a fine player at middle linebacker, but while the starters surrounding him, Wendel Davis and Freddy Burton, have a good bit of size, neither of the two look to be particularly good players right now. The aforementioned Terrell Williams struggled greatly last weekend trying to fill in for Franklin, and while Jerico Nelson is a good player against the pass, at barely 200 pounds he struggles to get on the field on running downs, thus limiting his effectiveness.

The best match-up of all may very well come against the Arkansas defensive line in the passing game, which has struggled to rush the passer. Jake Bequette and Adrian Davis start at defensive end, but neither are particularly adept pass rushers, and while Sheppard is more active than your typical interior player, there's only so much you can legitimately expect when you need your interior defensive linemen to generate the bulk of your pass rush. Despite Georgia being without its starting left tackle last week, Arkansas still couldn't muster any pressure whatsoever on Joe Cox, ultimately racking up only one sack and one hurry on approximately 30 passing attempts. Alabama may still have some issues protecting off the edge, but Greg McElroy ought to find himself with plenty of time to throw the football.

All in all, the Arkansas defense may be a bit better than it has been given credit for, and at any rate Alabama is still going to have to come out and execute successfully over the course of 60-70 plays to get the job done. Nevertheless, you still have to think that the Tide will put up more than their fair share of points this weekend. Arkansas may make running the football tough, but Arkansas' porous defensive backfield mixed with a lack of a consistent pass rush is likely a lethal combination in and of itself if Greg McElroy continues to play like he has so far this year.

Alabama Defense v. Arkansas Offense

While most expect the Alabama offense to have a big day against the struggling Arkansas defense, it's clear to everyone that it will be strength on strength when the Arkansas offense comes on the field. Both the Alabama defense and the Arkansas offense have the ability to be among the nationally elite with regard to their respective units, and making matters even more intriguing both units are led by two of the most advanced football minds in all of college football.

The Arkansas offense is a scary group, no two ways about it. Ryan Mallett has the arm strength of JaMarcus Russell, and he is easily the best pure pocket passer that Alabama has faced in years. The backfield is loaded with talented tailbacks that bring experience along with their unique mixes and matches of different physical builds. Tight end D.J. Williams is clearly the best in the conference, and back-up Ben Cleveland is a very valuable threat as a possession receiver. The wide receiver corps, too, is a good one from top to bottom. They don't have a true superstar ala Julio Jones, but they do have five or six high quality wide receivers who have good athleticism and who run good routes -- Greg Childs, Jarius Wright, and Joe Adams are good enough to begin with, and Lucas Miller is returning this week from injury. That alone makes the Hogs very difficult to defend on the perimeter, even without saying anything with regard to Mallett. Bottom line, at the very least, this is the third-best offense in the conference, and it could easily be the best.

The only real weakness of the Arkansas offense comes up front at the point of attack, where the Hogs offensive line is seemingly still a relic of the Houston Nutt era. All five starters committed to Nutt, and not surprisingly they are generally the big, physical mashers that Nutt loved so much in his run-heavy offense. The "smallest" player on the line comes in at around 6'5 and 305 pounds, and truthfully that fact is probably doing the Hogs few favors. This line is, on the whole, a fish out of water. They are more physically built to pave the way for a run-heavy offense, but with the coaching turnover they are now being asked to pass protect against highly athletic pass rushers in a pass-happy offense. On a fundamental level it's effectively a recipe for disaster, and not surprisingly it's a team that has struggled to a degree to protect the passer. Starting right tackle DeMarcus Love probably needs to be playing inside at guard, and starting left tackle Ray Dominguez was absolutely atrocious against Georgia with four penalties and one sack allowed. The left tackle of the future is Anthony Oden, the younger brother of basketball star Greg Oden. He'll be a star one day, and the Arkansas coaches have indicated he may play some this week against Alabama, but he's a true freshman and given Nick Saban's love for giving multiple fronts that confuse offensive linemen, I'm not sure exactly how eager the Arkansas coaching staff is to put him in front of 93,000 fans. Nevertheless, if Dominguez' struggles continue, the Hogs' hand may be forced.

And this is the weakness that the Alabama defense must successfully attack to limit the Arkansas offense. The performance of our defensive backfield has been solid but not spectacular to date -- the overall statistics look good, but safety play has been shaky and highly inconsistent, Kareem Jackson has been hit or miss, and Marquis Johnson had a key penalty against Virginia Tech -- but the simple truth of the matter is that if Ryan Mallett consistently has the time to throw, it's going to be a very long day for the Tide. The Arkansas wide receiver corps is too good and Ryan Mallett has too much arm strength and accuracy to expect to be able to consistently stop the Arkanas offense if we cannot get pressure on Mallett.

Fortunately for the Tide, however, you have to like how we match against the Arkansas offensive line. Marcel Dareus is having a breakout year, Lorenzo Washington is playing better than ever, and we've gotten great pressure from the linebacker corps with Rolando McClain, Dont'a Hightower, and Eryk Anders. Moreover, on obvious passing downs, we have been moving the defensive ends inside in a four man front, and then putting Hightower and Anders at end. The results have been very good, to put it mildly, and we have consistently harassed passers all year long. Given the struggles Arkansas has had at the tackle positions, all signs point towards the Tide having some success getting to Mallett.

Even with that said, though, expect the Arkansas offense to have a reasonable amount of success against the Tide regardless. The running game has the potential to be a very good one -- you mix a bunch of big, strong offensive linemen with a group of highly talented tailbacks, and that is usually what you get -- and unless the Arkansas coaching staff is blowing smoke, they plan to use the rushing attack more prominently this weekend. It could have some success, and realistically no matter how well you can pressure Mallett, all of the outstanding components of the Arkansas passing game will guarantee that the Hogs hit more than a few plays in the passing game. These guys are going to score points, period.

Putting It All Together

All in all, I don't think there is much questioning the notion that Alabama is the better team here. We have more top-end talent, more quality depth, and probably a tad bit more experience as well. As long as Greg McElroy continues to play like he has to date, you have to imagine that Alabama will score more than their fair share of points tomorrow, and we should come away with the victory. Nevertheless, this game is far from a given, and it is likely to be a closely fought contest that goes into the fourth quarter. Arkansas is at worst a solid SEC team, and the difference between the two teams is far from gaping.

While it seems like we should be able to take full advantage of the Arkansas defense, truth be told we are probably going to have to do just that in order to win this game. Bamagrad has talked about these spread passing teams before, and I think he makes a good point: You can have a good defense and play well, but at the end of the day they are still good enough offensively to put up 24-28 points on the board. That could very well happen to us on Saturday, and if our special teams breakdowns continue, we could very easily be needing to score 31-35+ points in order to be able to get the victory. Arkansas is an improved team over last year, and they pulled off some pretty big upsets even then -- another victory over LSU, and came within a hair of knocking off Ole Miss as well. Rest assured, the Hogs will collect some more scalps this year, and it won't be a shock if they head back to Fayetteville with a crimson scalp in their possession.

Hope for the best.

ATVSSECOSPPOW: Week 3

Richard Pittman — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:19:21 -0000

We could have gone a few different directions again this week with the And The Valley Shook SEC Offensive Speed Position Player of the Week. Derrick Locke of Kentucky had almost 200 yards in kickoff returns, including a 100 yard touchdown, plus 142 yards from scrimmage as a rusher and receiver. Anthony Dixon of Mississippi State had a 5.9 yard average per rush against Vandy, and rushed for 123 yards. And Auburn keeps putting up PlayStation numbers as Chris Todd had almost 300 yards passing, plus 4 touchdowns. Receiver Darvin Adams reeled in 3 of those touchdown passes.

But the last SEC game of the week was an offensive bonanza for two quarterbacks and a number of receivers, and Georgia quarterback Joe Cox and receiver A. J. Green ended up outdueling Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett and receivers Greg Childs and Jarius Wright. Actually Mallett and his targetshad the better numbers. He was 21 for 39 for 408 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. He struggled down the stretch though, as Georgia outscored Arkansas 17-6 from the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter to the end of the game.

In the end, it has to come down to the Georgia boys, and here today we start trying to correct the inherent bias for taking quarterbacks over receivers. We're picking A. J. Green as our ATVSSECOSPPOW for Week 3. Green, widely considered one of the very best receivers in all of college football, reeled in 7 catches for 137 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 2nd quarter touchdown to give Georgia its first lead, and a 4th quarter touchdown that expanded Georgia's lead to 11 points and virtually sealed the game for the Bulldogs. He also caught a 2-point conversion pass, and ESPN's play-by-play summary claims he caught every ball thrown his way. When you consider that he caught about 40% of Joe Cox's completions, and that Cox was apparently 11 for 19 on balls not thrown to A. J. Green, I think it's obvious that Green is the right choice between the two.

Georgia Bulldogs 52, Arkansas Razorbacks 41

T Kyle King — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:24:05 -0000

I know I am arriving a little late to the party---ESPN and the Griffin District of the United Methodist Church did not get their schedules straight when the former lined up three straight night games for the Georgia Bulldogs on the very same weekends on which the latter arranged for me to attend my lay speaking recertification course for four hours every Sunday---but I appreciate the way everyone has kept the conversation going in the comments and in the fanposts.

Permit me to add a few observations, but please bear in mind that I haven’t had the time to check out any other weblogs or the game day open comment thread, so some of what follows may be repetitive, or redundant, or repetitive:

As the first quarter came to an end, I was very nearly ready to flush the 2009 season and get the guy most likely to start under center next autumn out onto the field to get some playing experience. Needless to say, Joe Cox answered any remaining doubts about his competence in the remaining three quarters. He hooked up on 18 of 26 attempts for 375 yards, a record-tying five touchdowns, and one interception. Although undeniably aided by the amazing abilities of A.J. Green (seven catches for 137 yards and two scores), Cox did a much better job of hitting his receivers in stride. This may be damning him with faint praise, but Cox didn’t throw long and incomplete any more often than Matthew Stafford would have.

I was a bit surprised at how surprised everyone seemed to be at the supposed "emergence" of Michael Moore. When was Michael Moore not clearly the Bulldogs’ second-best receiver following the departure of Mohamed Massaquoi? Why did everyone seem so shocked that Moore caught six passes for 91 yards against the Arkansas Razorbacks when he ended last season by catching six passes for 97 yards against the Michigan St. Spartans in last year’s Capital One Bowl? Who didn’t know already the dude was good?

I have always admired Mark Richt’s willingness to give a player an immediate shot at redemption after he makes a mistake. After Branden Smith’s gaffe in the return game against South Carolina, he was given the opportunity to make up for his miscue on the reverse. Coach Richt’s charges respond well to his confidence in them and usually make the most of their second chances. Tavarres King had a couple of potentially game-changing mistakes in Fayetteville, which were addressed by giving him the chance to haul in a 50-yard touchdown pass. He made good on that opportunity. Kudos to the coaches for letting the young man atone for his error and kudos to King for justifying his coaches’ faith in him.

Lisa Loeb. Tina Fey. Sarah Palin. Now Erin Andrews. I don’t know what it is about librarian-style glasses on good-looking women, but, holy smoking barbecue in a wire basket, that’s a look that works for me. Yowzers!

Although his play-calling sometimes seems strangely streaky, Mike Bobo is better at his job than he generally is given credit for being, and he managed a surprisingly balanced ballgame. The ‘Dawgs ran the ball 36 times and threw the ball 26 times. That demonstrates an admirable commitment to the ground game on a night when your quarterback is hitting almost 70 per cent of his passes. Three Bulldogs averaged four or more yards per carry, Richard Samuel rushed for 104 yards on 16 attempts, and Georgia scored on an 80-yard touchdown run. When that happens at the same time your signal caller is airing it out for a career night, you’re sticking with the running game.

The Bulldogs’ growing pains this year will pay big dividends next year. Ere anyone criticizes Brandon Boykin for a few miscues in the secondary, I have two words for you: Bruce Thornton. In his first year in the defensive backfield, he looked hopelessly lost and was picked on mercilessly by opposing quarterbacks. By the final year of his varsity career, Thornton was as good a defensive back as the Bulldogs had. Boykin shows great promise, on which he will deliver. Be patient.

As hopeful as I am for the future, though, I am worried that we’re going to go through this whole thing all over again a year from now if no quarterback other than Cox gets to run the offense for at least a couple or three series per game. As matters presently stand, Cox’s successor is going to come into the job in 2010 with less live game experience than Cox had coming into 2009, which is nothing short of downright scary.

There was a lot to like out of the Georgia offense last night. The ‘Dawgs answered the Hogs score for score, hung half a hundred on an opponent for the first time since last year’s LSU game, and did it without needing a special teams or defensive score to boost the stats. The Red and Black’s nine scoring drives covered 57, 26, 85, 75, 34, 65, 62, 73, and 17 yards, respectively. Other than the first-quarter drive following the Ryan Mallett fumble and the fourth-quarter game-clincher after the poor punt from the home team’s two yard line, the ‘Dawgs were moving the ball well over long distances.

The defense gave up a pair of one-play drives in the first quarter. A 50-yard Cobi Hamilton kickoff return set up a 48-yard touchdown pass to Jarius Wright and Samuel’s fumble was followed by a 30-yard touchdown pass to Greg Childs. I realize that the special teams and the offense put the defense in bad situations in those instances, but the Bulldogs have to do better on potentially momentum-changing drives. No single aspect of this game makes me more fearful for the future than this indication that the Classic City Canines’ inability to adapt to sudden changes in circumstances is one of the ugly holdovers from last year’s meltdown.

Georgia returned the ball well and kicked field goals well. The Bulldogs turned the ball over too often and drew too many penalties. This is a recording.

I truly have no clue what to make of our defense. Georgia gave up 21 points before the break and 20 points after intermission; so much for Willie Martinez’s ability to duplicate Brian VanGorder’s trademark second-half shutdowns (and, oftentimes, shutouts). Last week’s excuses do not apply; Mallett isn’t half as elusive as Stephen Garcia, and the Bulldog D wasn’t overworked against the Razorbacks, who ran 63 plays to the Red and Black’s 62. Georgia held the ball for almost 32 minutes of clock time, so fatigue should never have been a factor. The Classic City Canines gave up next to nothing on the ground (77 yards on 24 carries) while surrendering 408 yards and five touchdowns through the air, without so much as a single pick. On third down, though, the ‘Dawgs permitted the Hogs to convert just over 20 per cent of the time (3 of 14). What gives?

What makes the Georgia defensive numbers appear even weirder is the fact that Mallett was on fire, then, all of a sudden, he was ice-cold. The Arkansas quarterback completed eight of his first nine attempts in the second half, connecting on a pair of 40-yarders and one 30-yarder that was hauled in by Childs for a first down at the visitors’ eight yard line with fewer than five minutes remaining in the third period. At that point, a false start penalty cost the Razorbacks five yards, and, suddenly, Mallett couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. Starting with the very next snap after the flag (one of eleven against the Hogs, who lost a football field’s worth of yardage to yellow laundry), Mallett went three for 14 the rest of the way. His last 14 attempts picked up a total of 36 yards, Mallett was sacked once, and he did not lead a touchdown drive. Maybe something changed that I was missing, but it didn’t look like the ‘Dawgs were getting a good deal more pressure on Mallett than they had before, yet his aim went from lethally accurate to absolutely off-target for no reason I was able to discern at first glance. Maybe Mallett was feeling the heat more than he had been before, but it didn’t seem like the ‘Dawgs were getting to him so much faster that he should have gone from looking like an NFL starter to looking like Jonathan Crompton so swiftly.

In the course of Coach Martinez’s tenure as Georgia’s defensive coordinator, the Bulldogs have surrendered single-game point tallies of 31 and 38 in 2005; 51 in 2006; 35, 30, and 34 in 2007; 41, 38, 49, 38, and 45 in 2008; and 37 and 41 in 2009. Seven of the last twelve opponents the Red and Black have faced have scored at least 37 points on Georgia. That is all.

The enduring value of Mark Richt’s consistent calm was on full display in Fayetteville. Down 21-10 after fifteen minutes of play, Georgia could have come unglued, yet the Bulldogs remained poised and continued to play their game without panic or desperation. There are a lot of problems which persist from last year, but there are a lot of positives that remain present, as well. What is worrisome is the reality that the ‘Dawgs had to come back and hang on to beat mid-tier league challengers in their first couple of conference outings. What will the Red and Black do when facing a ranked opponent whose SEC pedigree dates back before the early 1990s?

Those are my thoughts, and y’all have done an excellent job of sharing yours. (If I happen to have echoed sentiments I have not yet read, well, I guess great minds think alike.) Keep up the good work, and, as always, don’t forget to savor the win while spotting the flaws. Optimism may be overly extreme, but enjoyment and hope are entirely appropriate.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Dawg Sports Interviews Razorbacks Blogger Arkansas Expats

T Kyle King — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:15:09 -0000

Last week, I traded interview questions with South Carolina weblogger Gamecock Man. This week, SB Nation’s resident Razorback writer, the eponymous author of Arkansas Expats, contacted me about a similar swap. Earlier this evening, he posted my answers to his questions, so now it is time for me to return the favor. Here is our exchange:

Dawg Sports: South Carolina's Stephen Garcia just had a career day against the Georgia D by extending plays with his running ability and completing short passes over the middle. Ryan Mallett, while undeniably talented, brings a different sort of ability to the table. What in Mallett's skill set will be most helpful and most worrisome for the home team when Arkansas crosses paths with the Bulldogs?

Arkansas Expats: This is going to sound impossibly general, but the most helpful thing about Mallett's skill set is that he's an all-around legit QB. You have to go way back into Razorback history to fully appreciate this, but Hog fans have been dying for an actual passing game (and blaming the coach for the lack of one) since roughly about five minutes after the forward pass was invented. So, to have a guy under center who appears to have all the physical and mental tools to lead a successful passing attack is incredibly exciting.

Slightly more specifically, Mallett seems well-equipped to run Bobby Petrino's offense. It's really the offensive strategy as a whole, rather than any particular player, that's the most exciting.

As far as the most worrisome aspect goes, it's definitely his lack of mobility. No one is going to mistake Mallett for Vince Young any time soon, and when you combine that with the fact that the offensive line was one of our weakest units last year (the Hogs ranked near the bottom of the nation in sacks allowed) it's a recipe for trouble. In the nightmare scenario, the line breaks down against a legit SEC pass rush and Mallett spends the whole evening either on his back or lumbering around throwing bad passes on the run.

The interesting thing is that, for all the talk about Mallett nobody really knows how he'll do. This is his first SEC game, so a lot of the questions will be answered on Saturday night.

DS: Mark Richt is 30-5 all time in opponents' home stadiums. Georgia's most recent road loss was in Stillwater to start the 2009 season and Coach Richt's teams have never lost consecutive away games. The Bulldogs are 3-0 against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville. What sort of home field advantage, if any, will the Hogs have against the Red and Black this Saturday?

AE: The Arkansas home field situation is a little, well, unconventional. The school is in Fayetteville, of course, and Razorback Stadium there is the official home field. But, the Hogs also play a couple of games a year in Little Rock. It'd be sort of like if Georgia sometimes played their home games in Atlanta, only if Atlanta were further away from Athens and didn't have Georgia Tech already there.

Anyway, the scouting report on these two types of home games is that even though the Little Rock stadium is decidedly smaller and crappier, it typically has a more raucous atmosphere and thus a bigger home field advantage. So, in terms of walking into a crazily intense environment, it's not like the Bulldogs will be going to Neyland Stadium or the Swamp this weekend.

Having said that, though, the Hogs will have a home field advantage, no doubt about it. For one thing, Fayetteville and Athens are pretty far apart so there's a travel factor (especially for a Georgia team that's already played a couple of tough games). And, it is the SEC...Razorback fans will make the game crazy and loud just like anywhere else in the conference. Plus, my guess is that they'll be especially geeked up for this one...it's our first big game of the year, it's on ESPN and people are generally really excited about it. Expect a lot of Hog calls.

DS: Georgia has played two tough opponents to open the autumn. Arkansas tuned up against a Division I-AA team and had a bye week. To paraphrase Alex Abrams of The Morning News, is it better to be battle-tested or well-rested?

AE: In this particular case, I'm going to go with well-rested. The Hogs' early bye followed by 11 straight consecutive game weeks is generally a pretty sucky thing, but in this case it's allowed them to focus pretty squarely on Georgia. Our week 1 cupcake (Missouri State) didn't require a lot of intense preparation, so essentially the Hogs have been preparing for this one for a few weeks now. Petrino and the players have all been pretty up front about that.

Playing a quality team will certainly be a bit of a jolt after the long offseason and then the noncompetitive game followed by a bye week, but we've certainly had ample time to get ready for it. All in all, I'd take that over coming into this game battle-tested but a little worn out. Of course, this question will be answered much more definitively on Saturday.

DS: Georgia and Arkansas have squared off only eleven times, with four of those showdowns coming in bowl games while the Razorbacks played in the Southwest Conference. Because the two teams meet so infrequently, we don't know as much about one another as we should. Name two Arkansas players---one on offense and one on defense---whose names most Bulldog fans don't know now but will know after Saturday night.

AE: I know exactly what you mean - it's kind of funny how mysterious the Bulldogs are to me considering we play in the same conference and everything. It's sort of like having that one co-worker or neighbor who you see walk by occasionally but know practically nothing about.

As for offensive players, you already know Ryan Mallett and I'm guessing you may also have heard of RB Michael Smith and TE D.J. Williams (in case not, those guys are really good). But, you may not know about Jarius Wright and Joe Adams...a couple of sophomore WRs who are starting to thrive in the Petrino offense. They both came on strong at the end of last season and have started well this year: Wright had 139 receiving yards last week, and Adams had a nifty 40-yard TD catch and run. I'd look for those guys to make a big play or two this weekend.

The Hogs have tons of potential playmakers on offense, but are definitely shakier on defense. However, one guy to watch out for is senior DT Malcolm Sheppard. He's big and fast, and was a bright spot on a pretty weak unit last year. Plus, he's from Bainbridge, GA so maybe he has a little extra incentive going against his home state's team.

Once again, my thanks go out to Arkansas Expats for inviting me to take part in this exchange. Be sure to check out our SB Nation sister site for all the Razorback-related news.

Go ‘Dawgs!

Post-Spring Previews: Arkansas Razorbacks

Gamecock Man — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:51:49 -0000

More photos » by Butch Dill - AP

4 months ago: Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino speaks to the media during a news conference at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala. on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 (AP Photo/ Butch Dill)

Browse more photos »

After traveling to Knoxville to take on the Vols, the Gamecocks head to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. Arkansas is another team looking to rebound from a shaky 2008. Luckily, momentum is in their favor. After playing poorly early in the season--see the close wins over cupcakes and absolutely ugly blowout losses to elite opponents--the Hogs played well to close out 2008. Moreover, they should only improve with a year in Bobby Petrino's system under their belts. Petrino may be one of the game's true professional slimeballs, but he's also a fantastic coach that came close to getting Louisville to the national title game. To understand the gravity of that accomplishment, take a look at what has happened there now that Petrino is gone. Petrino's offense was undoubtedly hampered last year with Casey Dick--an average quarterback at best--under center. However, this year he has Ryan Mallett taking over quarterbacking duties. Mallett will make mistakes at times, but he'll also be brilliant at times. The tools are in place for this to be a prolific Arkansas offense. While they probably won't win more than seven or eight because of Mallett's youth and a suspect defense, this is a team that will undoubtedly make for exciting football and perhaps an upset of one of the conference's big-name teams.

Let's see how we matchup against them.

Offense

The Hogs run Bobby Petrino's power spread, a modified pro-style attack. Often mischaracterized as a coach that likes to air it out, Petrino believes being able to run the ball is just as important as being able to go long. To this end, Petrino likes to move back and forth between spread formations and power-I formations. The spread formations usually allow him to get the ball to his receivers on the outside, whereas the power-I allows him to run the ball down hill. Petrino likes to throw deep to the tight ends out of the I, as well. His offense is also notable for running similar plays out of multiple formations, which I'd imagine is confusing for defenses.

Quarterback

After sitting out for a year after transferring from Michigan, highly recruited Ryan Mallett takes over under center for the Hogs. Mallett is a prototypical pro-style quarterback: he's big, tall, and can throw the ball a mile. Mallett should thrive in Petrino's system, where his vision and arm will give him lots of advantages. Mallett is somewhat inexperienced and may show it at times. However, while this is Mallett's first year playing at Arkansas and he can thus be expected to make some mistakes, it's not like he's a freshman. He had significant experience playing at Michigan in his freshman year and has had a year to learn Petrino's offense since then. His one liability other than his relative inexperience is that he's kind of slow because of his size. That could pose problems if he doesn't get great protection, which is a distinct possiblity. Overall, though, he looks to be poised for a big season throwing the ball.

We've yet to really see what Mallett can do, whereas we've at least seen Garcia play well in spurts, so I can't give Mallett the advantage here. I'm tempted to, though. Mallett is good and he will thrive throwing to a talented group of receivers in Bobby Petrino's system. Plus, Garcia frankly has almost just as much to prove at this point as Mallett. It will be interesting to see what kind of year these two are having when this game rolls around in November.

Verdict: Push

Running Backs

The Hogs return one of the SEC's best tailbacks in senior Michael Smith. Smith, who spent his first two seasons in the shadow of Felix Jones and Darren McFadden, broke out last year for over 1000 yards. Although small, Smith is a tough runner. His size, though, makes him vulnerable to injury, as the Hogs saw late last season. They'll look to lighten his load this year. The Hogs will look at a host of players in the rotation, although some injuries that occurred during the spring may limit some of those players' effectiveness. The primary backup role may, in fact, go to highly touted freshman Ronnie Wingo, Jr., one of the Hogs' prize recruits and a guy we'll probably hear a lot more of after Smith graduates.

I call this a slight advantage for Arkansas. We have more experienced depth than the Hogs at this position, and depth has to be a concern for the Hogs right now. However, Arky does have some nice young players that stack up well against most SEC teams, and Smith pushes the balance in their favor.

Verdict: Slight advantage Arkansas

Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

Arkansas returns an experienced group of talented receivers that could be poised to put up big numbers if Mallet and offensive line step up. The big name in the group is tight end D. J. Williams, who is one of the nation's best ends. Williams has and will continue to thrive in Petrino's offense, which frequently utilizes the tight end as a long-yardage passing option from what look like power-running formations. Lucas Miller, Jarius Wright, London Crawford and others fill out what should be a very effective group.

I give Arkansas another slight advantage here. I think our receivers have the potential to be as good as this group, but they have to prove it, first.

Verdict: Slight advantage Arkansas

Offensive Line

Here's where things get a little murky for what has the potential to be a great Arkansas offense. Last year's line had lots of trouble with both pass protection and run blocking. However, pass protection was the biggest problem, with the Hogs giving up a whopping 46 sacks. If problems continue this year, they may keep the Hogs from having the kind of year offensively they're otherwise capable of having. The fact that Ryan Mallett is hardly the kind of quarterback that can evade sacks with his feet makes protecting him all the more important.

This year's more experienced unit should be better, but they'll really need to be a lot better for the Hogs to truly live up to their potential on offense. Arkansas returns three starters as well as one player that started in 2007 but redshirted last year. It's hard to say who will play where; expect a lot of shifting around on this unit throughout the year, although Ray Dominguez looks to be the guy at the important left tackle position. The reserves are mostly inexperienced. All in all, there are still a lot of question marks here.

I'm going to call this a slight advantage for Carolina. Neither team was good up front last year and both have lots to prove, but we return a bit more experience and should start playing well sooner.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Let's look at the defenses after the jump.

Defense

To put it simply, the Hogs had a bad defense last year. Arky finished at or near the bottom of the SEC in most major categories. To put things into perspective, we managed to score 34 points against them. Experienced defensive coordinator Willy Robinson must get better play out of this group if Arkansas is to contend in the West.

Defensive Line

The Hogs' front four--which returns four starters--is led by tackle Malcolm Sheppard, who was second in the conference in tackles for loss a year ago. Adrian Davis, Zach Stadther, Lavunce Askew and Alfred Davis should round out the bulk of the rotation, although some newcomers may see time as well. This unit wasn't very good against the run last year and has focused on bulking up this offseason. I expect better production from them, but this may still be a team that good teams can run against fairly easily.

I give us a slight advantage here. There's no reason that our line can't be one of the best in the SEC this year, while Arkansas simply has lots to prove despite its experience.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Linebackers

This is another fairly experienced group. Senior Wendel Davis is perhaps the defense's overall leader. Davis missed the first part of last season, and when he returned, the defense clearly improved. Freddy Burton and Jerry Franklin round out the group. This should be another improved unit, but depth may be an issue here.

I give us a slight advantage here. Again, Arkansas has a lot to prove, whereas we have one of the league's better units with Eric Norwood and Rodney Paulk leading the way and a talented group of underclassmen providing depth.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Secondary

Secondary is perhaps the biggest cause for concern for this Arkansas defense. The most talented players just might be five-star freshman corner Darius Winton and highly touted JUCO transfer safety Rudell Crim. Both will push for playing time, as the returning starters all struggled last year. Corners Ramon Broadway and Isaac Madison have experience, but neither exactly instills fear in opposing quarterbacks and wide receivers. Safeties Elton Ford and Jerico Nelson also return with experience, but Ford will likely have to fight to keep Crim away from his job.

I call this a push. Both teams have some talented players but will have to rely on freshmen and must worry about depth problems. It's worth point out here that our secondary versus Bobby Petrino's offense is a cause for concern.

Verdict: Push

Special Teams

Kicker Alex Tejada struggled mightily last year after a solid 2007. The Hogs hope he can regain his old form. The Hogs had trouble with some of their return units last year, but should be better this year, especially with Petrino's mentor and former Michigan State coach John L. Smith taking over the special teams.

I'll call this a push. Arkansas doesn't have a reliable kicker at this point, while we don't even know who ours will be quite yet. Punting should be OK for both teams. Both teams look to have good kick return games but will need to figure out punt returns. Both should have decent coverage units. All in all it's hard to make a call right now on which team should have better units.

Verdict: Push

Head Coaches

As I said at the beginning of this preview, I think Bobby Petrino is one of the best coaches in the game. He almost won a national title at Louisville, for goodness's sake. The last two years haven't been nice to the guy, but let's face it: he wasn't exactly playing with a stacked deck last year or in 2007 in Atlanta. He has more pieces in place this year, and it should show with an extra couple of wins. I expect the team will continue to get better over the next few years and will regularly compete with Alabama and LSU in the West.

I'll give Arkansas a slight advantage here. Petrino may not have as many conference titles as Spurrier, but he has been relevant more recently.

Verdict: Slight advantage Arkansas

Overall

Although their strengths are somewhat different, in a lot of ways these are fairly evenly matched teams. Arkansas should have a slightly better offense and we should have a slightly better defense, but the gaps aren't that large. My general impression is that this will be one of the higher scoring games of the year for us; Arkansas's offense is capable of putting up poitns against anybody, and we're capable of putting up points against their defense. Unfotunatley, if the game does become a shootout, I'll have to give the advantage to Petrino and Arkansas. To make matters worse, the game is in Fayetteville, and the atmosphere will likely be raucous if Arky is still in the running for a Western Division crown. If we're to win, we'll have to counter these Arkansas advantages by putting lots of pressure on Mallett, getting some sacks, and hopefully forcing a couple of game-changing turnovers. That kind of performance can't be taken for granted, though, and I have a feeling we'll lose this one.

Predict: seven-point Arkansas victory

Poll

The Arkansas game will result in a...

Blowout Carolina victory

3 votes

Close Carolina victory

27 votes

Close Arkansas victory

104 votes

Blowout Arkansas victory

79 votes

213 votes | Poll has closed

Conversing with the Enemy: Arkansas Razorbacks Edition

Gamecock Man — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:57:41 -0000

I got in touch with the Arkansas bloggers at Razorbacks Expats for a little Q&A action. Read on for insider info on Bobby Petrino, Casey Dick, and the rest of the Hog crew. My answers to their questions are here.

1. The Hogs have shown some improvement over the past few weeks. You guys started off slow, eking out wins over weak opponents and getting blasted by a few elite teams, but you've bounced back with solid wins over Auburn and Tulsa. What has been the key to Arkansas's resurgence? Are you happy with the job Coach Petrino has done and with the direction the team seems to be headed in?

Part of the Hog's improvement probably has to do with a young team gaining more experience and growing more comfortable with Petrino's system. Running back Michael Smith's emergence as a top-notch offensive threat has been a big help as well. And, there had to be a psychological uplift to getting past the Murderers' Row portion of their schedule (consecutive games against Texas, Alabama and Florida) and facing a long, season-ending stretch of games in which they have a chance to at least be competitive.

As far as Petrino, we're definitely happy with the job he's done so far. As we said, he inherited a very inexperienced team, and they've shown noticeable improvement. Perhaps most impressively, he and his staff didn't lose the team during the very ugly start to the season.

2. We've been very pleased with how our defense has performed this year, but the improvement you guys have shown on offense this year has us a little worried. We know you pass the ball a lot, which plays into our hands to a certain degree, but you also have a good tailback in Michael Smith. How will you attack our defense, and what kind of success do you expect to have?

Try as we might, we haven't been able to persuade Petrino to let us sit in on his staff meetings, so we're unable to report on the Hogs' specific plans, but considering that you guys have the best pass defense in the conference, we expect the Hogs to rely heavily on Michael Smith. He had an off game last Saturday against Tulsa, but pretty much carried the team in the several games before that.

Statistically, Arkansas is one of the better passing teams in the SEC, but this aspect of the team has been inconsistent. Quarterback Casey Dick especially has had an up-and-down season, but he looked great last week (he was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday), and the Hogs' young receivers continue to improve (more on that below). Still, it's hard to see the Hogs winning if Smith has a sub-par outing. We expect to see him have a good game.

3. While your defense has played a little better lately, you've been gouged a few times and, although you created a few key turnovers to keep the score relatively low, you even gave up over 500 total yards to Tulsa. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your defense, and how do you expect Spurrier, Stephen Garcia, and the Gamecocks to attack you? What kind of game do you expect to have Saturday?

It's hard to say that the Razorback defense has a real strength. After all, this is a unit that ranks last in scoring defense, last in total yards per game, last in rushing yards per game and 10th in passing yards per game. There have been some signs of improvement lately, though. According to one article we read the other day, after allowing 38 points per game in their first five contests, the Hogs have allowed only 22.3 points per game in their last four. Total yards allowed has dropped from 388 to 365.5 during that same stretch. And after forcing only three turnovers in the first five games, the defense has forced 11 in the last four. Granted, the level of competition has declined somewhat during this recent stretch.

Looking at South Carolina's offensive stats, we'd expect you guys to primarily come at us through the air. And given the teams' various strengths and weaknesses, we're looking for a fairly low-scoring affair.

4. Do you have any major injuries right now that may affect the outcome of this game?

Well, Darren McFadden has a bad case of turf toe, so it looks like he'll be out. Aside from that case of wishful thinking, there's nothing too major outside the normal stuff that all teams have at this point in the season. Our starting defensive ends, Damario Ambrose and Adrian Davis, both have hurt knees and might not play. All-purpose defensive guy Jerico Nelson and offensive guard Grant Cook might also be out.

Other than that, we worry a bit about Michael Smith. He's been great for us this year, but he's a little guy and, because he's our best offensive player, he tends to get a lot of carries. So he's always a bit at risk to get banged up.

5. Carolina fans know all about players like Casey Dick and Michael Smith, but since you have a young team this year, we're not very familiar with some of your other guys. Tell us a little about one lesser-known player that you expect to be a key performer Saturday.

Actually, we'll give you three for the price of one. The Hogs have a couple of up-and-coming freshman receivers - Jarius Wright and Joe Adams - who have both shown good potential this year. As young guys, they've been inconsistent but have each had some big moments. Wright had a breakout game against Tulsa with 112 receiving yards, for example.

Casey Dick's favorite target is probably sophomore tight end D..J. Williams. He's big and fast, and has shown signs of being a serious playmaker in Petrino's offense. Our guess is that out of the three guys listed here, you'll probably be hearing his name the most over the next couple of years..