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| Monday, August 19 Razorbacks ready to run for SEC West title By Pat Forde Special to ESPN.com |
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Outlook: Every time you lowball Houston Nutt and his Razorbacks, they find a way to make you look foolish. Offensively inept in a 1-3 start last season, the Hogs abruptly won six straight to earn their fourth bowl bid in four years under Nutt. The turnaround reached storybook -- and record-book -- proportions in the seven-overtime epic victory against Ole Miss. There will be no lowballing this season, not with only 14 lettermen lost from last year. Even multiple offseason problems -- including legal scrapes for star safety Ken Hamlin and running back Cedric Cobbs, plus an ongoing NCAA investigation -- have not dramatically lessened porcine optimism.
The offense will be prettier this year, by default. The Razorbacks were last in the SEC in total offense last year (and 102nd in the nation), averaged fewer than four yards per carry and completed less than 50 percent of their passes. Simple equation: when the backs ran well enough that the scatter-armed quarterbacks weren't asked to pass, life was good. The 7-5 Hogs were 6-1 when rushing for more than 110 yards in a game, and 6-2 when throwing fewer than 27 passes. With every important runner returning, this should again be a pound-it first, throw-it second football team. The defense gets a new coordinator in Dave Wommack, but he was on staff last year and will continue the same aggressive, "organized chaos" system John Thompson took with him to Florida. If Hamlin is allowed back, the secondary is one of the best in the nation. He teams with excellent cover corners Lawrence Richardson and Ahmad Carroll. Special teams should be a hidden weapon as well. The kickers and return men from a year ago, all of them effective, are back. Keep an eye on: The quarterback position. Early last year Arkansas was desperate for a single QB, and now it plans to play two. Freshman Matt Jones helped salvage the season last year with his daring running ability, scrambling for 615 yards and five touchdowns in eight games. But he'll play wide receiver some this year as well, as Nutt tries to utilize the greater throwing gifts of redshirt freshman Tavaris Jackson. "With Matt, someone can miss a block and he can still hurt you," Nutt said. "Tavaris will win the most teddy bears at the carnival because he can really throw it." Key game: Alabama at Arkansas, Sept. 28. After two warmup games and two open dates, the Hogs should get a hint where they stand in the perpetual tight pack of the West. Nutt is 2-0 against Alabama at home, 0-2 on the road. This one gets bigger when you consider that the next two games are at Tennessee and at Auburn. It's a good year if. . .: The Hogs are in the West race right up to the traditional season-ender against LSU. They're 23-3 in Fayetteville and Little Rock under Nutt, and have eight home games this year. With Georgia and Florida both off the schedule and four non-conference stiffs lined up, Arkansas at least has the schedule for a big year, if not all the parts. Pat Forde covers college football for the Louisville Courier-Journal. |
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