By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ head football coach jumped the gun, applying a label to the South Carolina game that was being held in abeyance for possible use next week.
“Much like the Texas A&M and Auburn games, it is a must win for us,” Bobby Petrino said Monday at his weekly news conference. The UA e-mails the quotes to media members and one of those present was asked what prompted the response. Somebody, the beat writer said, asked Petrino if returning to Southeastern Conference play was a concern.
Must-win was attached to A&M because the Aggies were a team with a perfect record and questionable quality and the Razorbacks needed a 4-0 sweep of non-conference games to become bowl eligible. Despite a perfect record, Auburn was also suspect and, along with Mississippi State, figured to be the lesser lights of the Razorbacks’ eight Southeastern Conference opponents.
Ranked in the Top 25 until losing to Tennessee last week, the Gamecocks are already eligible for postseason. Surprisingly, 4-4 Arkansas is favored over the Gamecocks. That goes to the fact that South Carolina, which has been unable to run the ball consistently all year, will try to manufacture positive running plays with a revamped offensive line including a walk-on at left guard.
The Gamecocks ran for only 65 yards against the Vols and Stephen Garcia threw it 50 times, partly because fumbles led to three quick touchdowns and put South Carolina in a 21-0 hole. He threw 34 times when the Gamecocks made 65 yards rushing in a victory over Ole Miss, averaging 1.9 per try.
Arkansas, too, has been deficient in the running game, netting less than 80 yards in losses to Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss. The Razorbacks snapped the ball 56 times vs. the Rebels and Petrino admitted that he was impatient, calling a running play only about one-third of the time.
Michael Smith and the other Arkansas running backs are likely to get more carries against the Gamecocks. One reason the Razorbacks came so close against Florida was that running backs Dennis Johnson and Broderick Green combined for 147 yards and the offense was almost perfectly divided between run and pass.
Smith is only one of many playmakers, an area where Arkansas appears to outnumber the Gamecocks.
The edge on defense belongs to the Gamecocks, who have one of the most prolific big-play linebackers in the Southeastern Conference in Eric Norwood. He has 28 sacks in his career, but none in the last five games. Extending that streak would improve Ryan Mallett’s chances of success and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier referenced the pass rush when he said the Gamecocks haven’t faced Mallett “so we haven’t hit him enough to see if he can bounce back.”
Petrino and Spurrier are two of the best at dissecting defenses and both will give their quarterbacks opportunities to hit big plays.
A hint of a running game would do wonders for either quarterback. If both teams struggle with the running game, the over-under will be 80 on the total number of pass attempts.
With a victory, the Razorbacks will do themselves some good and prevent redundant use of must-win for Troy.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
