I harped on offensive efficiency in my latest column, but for the purposes of the thought experiment I had to ignore one garish number: The 2009 Hogs offense successfully converted 92.95% of attempts in the red zone.

Yes, that's better than the 2005 Louisville Cardinals. It's better than the 2009 Crimson Tide. It's even better than the 2008 Gators, a jump-passing machine much-ballyhooed for efficiency. As a matter of fact, I ran out of patience before I found a national championship team with more success in the red zone.

It's just one number, but it speaks to the Hogs' dominating athleticism, Mallett's ability to actually throw the ball for short yardage, and the Swiss Army-like utility of Petrino's offensive playbook. Plus, if you remember how hesitant Petrino was to use Tejada last year—just 12 of 47 red zone conversions were field goals—then you can only come to one conclusion: The Hogs are all-but-unstoppable when they smell the endzone.

Follow Derek Jenkins on Twitter @aboynamedsooie.

I love reading Matt Hinton's "hyper-specific" predictions during the season. Dr. Saturday's often uncannily spot-on, even when he's straying further and further from the entirely plausible. Regardless, it's fun to match his intuitions and prejudices  against your own. However, his SEC forecast, as far as the Razorbacks are concerned, strikes me as a bit much:

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett will lead the league in both touchdowns and interceptions, and the Razorbacks will lose multiple games in which he passes for at least 350 yards and three touchdowns.

We're all fairly certain that Mallett will be one of the league-leaders in TDs, but nothing about his past performance indicates that he'll come anywhere near the lead in interceptions. He may throw a few more than the measly seven (in 403 attempts!) that he gave up in his first full season as a starter—he's an aggressive guy who trusts his arm—but there's a lot of young quarterbacks taking snaps in the SEC this year.

Also, the only time Mallett has thrown for three touchdowns and 350 yards in a loss was that wild Georgia sh*tshow, and no way the Hogs give that one up with more than a single nonconference game under their belts. Hinton's guessing their performance on the other side of the ball will stay roughly as bad as it's been. No Hog fan trusts our defense less than me, but

1. They're one year better than they were, 
2. Three-and-outs, which will likely dwindle this year, played a big role in most of the losses, 
3. The Steve Caldwell hire will have an immediate visible impact, and
4. More often than not it was a weakness for giving up the big play which burnt them. Age and experience is the best way to improve recognition and on-field intelligence.

Hinton gives much more space to other teams in the conference, and most of his prognostications look about right, but why limit himself to only three actual predictions for everyone's favorite "darkhorse"?

Because there's a lot of ways to be wrong about the Razorbacks in 2010.

Maybe I don’t play as large a role in Bobby Petrino’s life as he does in mine, but I can’t help framing the upcoming season in terms of  What It All Means to Me. I began writing a weekly column on the Hogs in 2007, a very eventful year, one that came right after the most hopeful and exciting season in recent memory, or at least since 1998. What followed was one of the messiest divorces in NCAA history, and an awful lot of very public therapy.

Thereafter we Hog fans have been alternately cursed and blessed with interesting times. I covered everything from a fan’s perspective, suffering and rejoicing in public, week in and week out. The thing about suffering, though, is it makes for bad copy. No one wants to relive a bad Saturday. Nobody likes to wallow in self-evident frustration. It’s just bad for the soul.

So lucky me and lucky us, we now have the edge on suffering. Three seasons later and we’re already rounding the last bend on that full circle—helped along by a once-in-a-lifetime transfer, a renewed sense of purpose regarding in-state recruits, and a pervading competence. We’re finally to the place where whatever happens will happen on the field. We can look out there at those players with a hard-earned fondness, a pride that will withstand outcome.  

All the condescension wrapped up in the "darkhorse" narrative couldn’t dampen my spirit. Scouts may see us as glorified spoilers, but those same guys don’t know enough to fear Joe Adams and Jarius Wright same as Greg Childs. (We all know with the certainty of faith that Petrino’s fellow coaches will regret leaving our receivers off of the All-SEC team.)

All the shameless baiting in the world won’t get a rise out of me. I'm done with the victim routine. The only way Hog fans could revise their image in the conference was by forging a new sense of self. Mallett hit the perfect note at Media Days and in George Schroeder’s SI piece. He embraces our expectations because he shares them.

I’m downright squirmy with anticipation. This isn’t our last best chance, but it’s our best chance in a while. I look forward to sharing the experience with the other Arkansas Expats—painful as it might be, joyful as it could be.