Tulsa and Homecoming

After an emotional loss to Ole Miss last week, Arkansas faces an up and coming Tulsa team this Saturday.

When the Hogs scheduled Tulsa its football team wasn’t ranked 18th in the nation and wasn’t known for a potent offense. Gus Malzahn, Tulsa offensive coordinator, may have more to prove by beating Arkansas than Houston Nutt did this past weekend.

After all, it was Malzahn’s riff with Nutt that resulted in him leaving as offensive coach and becoming offensive coach at Tulsa. Nutt may be gone, but because of Malzahn’s Arkansas ties, I’m certain would like to make the statement, “Hey, look what you already could have!”

While 8-0 Tulsa is relatively untested so far this year, I predict they will come out of Fayetteville with a win. It may be a close game, but I think the Hogs will lose.

Now for the real story. I believe a loss to Tulsa, coupled with the loss to Ole Miss, will take it’s toll on Petrino. So far fans have for the most part have rallied around their new coach, but I believe some fans who expected Petrino to do miracles this year, will start some heated criticism.

I believe this criticism will heat up because SEC teams are supposed to beat lesser out-of-conference teams like Tulsa, even in rebuilding years.

It will be interesting, particularly in defeat.

Game preview on ESPN.

Hogs Fall to Wildcats :-(

Since Arkansas wasn’t able to hold off the Widcats, it appears now it was more of a case of Kentucky not playing its best rather than the Hogs finding their way. On top of that it appears Michael Smith may be out for the game against Ole Miss.

Now the young team must deal with the enormous emotion that will accompany the Ole Miss game and Houston Nutt’s return to Fayetteville.

Originally, I predicted Arkansas would win this one, but I am now wavering and wondering if it is possible.

I’m Going with the Hogs, 34-31

This season has rolled along rather quickly and the Hogger is surprised that our beloved Hogs have managed to claw out a .500 record. If you will recall, Hogger predicted the Razorbacks would be 2-4 at this point in the season. So it is a pleasant surprise that they upset Auburn last weekend and have evened their season record at 3-3.

Now we come to Kentucky. I really believe this is a toss-up game, but I will stay with my original prediction for the Hogs to pull out a 34-31 squeaker in Lexington.

Both Kentucky and Arkansas are struggling, to say the least, but I think the Hogs will ride the momentum of the Auburn win into the Bluegrass State. A “W” will only be possible, however, if Arkansas continues to improve and build on the improvements they have made in their overall play the past couple of weeks.

Season Looking Up

After a tremendous effort and win at Auburn, the season for the Hogs is looking up. Here’s a quote from an article from the Northwest Arkansas Times:

“Somehow a 3-3 mark overall and 1-2 record in SEC play doesn’t look quite as bad, considering in the latest Associated Press poll Texas is ranked No. 1, Alabama is No. 2 and Florida is No. 5. Most teams that played Arkansas’ schedule would have a identical record.”

Read the entire article here.

What a Win!

Well, it appears the Razorbacks aren’t the only team that’s down this year and searching for the right offensive and defensive combination to win in the SEC. Let’s place Auburn in that category too after Saturday. The problem is that the Hogs are a team that are slowing putting the pieces together to be competitive in the intense SEC, whereas, Auburn seems to be slowly losing its way.

Arkansas definitely showed some heart and a glimpse of the future in the gutsy win at Auburn. What is important to note is that Coach Petrino is using what he had when he arrived in Fayetteville and using it to compete successfully.

I actually had Arkansas losing to Auburn this season, who this is pleasant surprise. I have Arkansas beating Kentucky next week, so this should be interesting.

Check out the recap of the Auburn game at www.ArkansasRazorbacks.com here.

ESPN Arkansas-Florida Preview

ESPN has posted a preview of the Arkansas-Florida match-up, “Gators, Tebow, aim to get back on track after stinging loss.”

Here’s the game summary, “After getting tipped at home by Ole Miss, Florida looks to get back on track at Arkansas. The Gators will be looking to diversify their offense, while the Razorbacks will be looking for any offense at all. Florida has won six straight games against Arkansas to take a 6-1 lead in the series.”

Surprisingly, on paper the two teams look fairly evenly matched. However, the competition Florida has faced is of a much higher caliber.

Check it out here.

They’re Playing for Pride Now

From Rice Hog's Photostream/Flickr

Having been an Arkansas Razorback fan practically all my life, I can’t just throw in the towel on the 2008-09 football season…not yet at least.

I refuse to concede that our beloved team will not be competitive against admittedly top-level football programs in and outside of the SEC.

Arkansas certainly has a capable coach (most still think so), the money, the fans, the facilities…but not the players? I refuse to accept that this year’s Hogs have no heart. If nothing else, they’re playing for pride now.

So what will happen Saturday? Another blow out at the hands of a Florida team looking for blood after being upset by Ole Miss? Or will Arkansas surprise everybody by fighting hard, using what it has and showing heart?

I choose to believe we will see a lot of heart that might just surprise the Gators.

Will the Razorbacks win? Probably not. But a good showing will go a long way to communicating to the Hog Nation that our team won’t quit without a fight.