Hogs' road to bowl game gets tougher in November

By: Matt Watson

Posted: 10/31/07

After crushing Florida International Saturday in front of a less-than-capacity Homecoming crowd, the Razorbacks are 3-0 in conference games. Sunbelt Conference games, that is.

Arkansas has more victories against Sunbelt opponents, three, than North Texas and Florida International, two Sunbelt teams, combined - one win.

In fact, the only Sunbelt team that hasn't lost a conference game is Troy University, who lost to the Hogs in Fayetteville in the season opener.

The Razorbacks' non conference opponents have a combined 9-23 record this year.

According to teamrankings.com, Arkansas has the 66th toughest schedule in the country, right in the middle of the pack. However, among Southeastern Conference teams, the Hogs are dead last in strength of schedule. The next closest team is LSU, with the 41st toughest slate this season.

The Razorbacks have won four of their last five games to improve to 5-3 on the year, but those four wins came over teams with a cumulative 5-28 record.

There are three teams on the docket in November that have been in the top 15 in the AP poll at some point between the preseason and now - South Carolina, Tennessee and LSU. The other team on the schedule is Mississippi State, who has already beaten Auburn and Kentucky this season, two teams that beat Arkansas in Fayetteville.

"We have four very good opponents left, and all of them are doing very well," head coach Houston Nutt said. "You've got to roll up your sleeves now and go to work and put it together."

So the road to a bowl game for the Hogs will only get tougher come November, when their four opponents have a combined record of 23-11.

The Razorbacks' 2007 season is reminiscent of the one the 2002 Arkansas squad put together, which ended in a Music City Bowl birth against Minnesota.

Five years ago the Hogs stood at 5-3 (2-3) after a win at home against Troy the first weekend of November. They had already lost to Kentucky and Alabama at home, and had beat Ole Miss in October, just like this year's team. The 2002 Hogs also won all four of their non conference regular season games.

In '02, quarterback Matt Jones passed for roughly 1,600 yards, completing 52.1 percent of his passes for 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Casey Dick has 979 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven picks through eight games this season with a 53.4 completion percentage and is on pace for 1,470 yards.

Fred Talley led the Arkansas rushing attack in '02 with 1,119 yards. Matt Jones and De'Arrius Howard combined for 1200 more yards on the ground, and Cedric Cobbs added 400 more yards to push the team over 3,000 rushing yards.

Darren McFadden has rushed for just under one thousand yards already in 2007, complemented by 863 yards from Felix Jones. At their current pace, the Hogs would rush for 3,450 yards this season. The UA school record is 3,523, set in 11 games in 1975.

The '02 squad blanked South Carolina 23-0 on the road and beat Mississippi State 26-19 two weeks later in Starkville, Miss. With an epic 21-20 victory against LSU in Little Rock, remembered as the "Miracle on Markham Street," the Hogs won the SEC Western Division title, finishing November 5-0 with a pair of non-conference wins.

After Georgia dominated Arkansas in the conference championship game, the Hogs lost to Minnesota in the Music City Bowl to finish the season 9-5. Matt Jones had two years left at the UA, senior tailback Fred Talley graduated and junior Cedric Cobbs stayed and led the SEC in rushing the next year.

In 2007, quarterback Casey Dick is just a junior, but Heisman candidate Darren McFadden is likely headed for the NFL. Will junior running back Felix Jones stay for his senior season and produce like Cobbs did in 2003?

Going into November 2007, Nutt will have to win at least one game to be bowl-eligible and will have to leapfrog four teams to play for the SEC title in December.

"We've always hit on the way you finish. November is always the time that they remember," Nutt said. "It's what happens at the end of the year."

Changes on Offensive Line

Last Saturday against Florida International, freshman Ray Dominguez alternated at left guard with junior Mitch Petrus, the former fullback who started preseason camp as the left guard going into the season.

Against Tennessee-Chattanooga, freshman Wade Grayson shared time with Petrus on the offensive line.

"We'll keep the same guys going, Ray Dominguez and Mitch Petrus," Nutt said. "They're splitting duties there."

Nutt said that Petrus will start against South Carolina this weekend and continue to rotate players on the line at left guard.