By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Louisiana-Monroe is in a position only Florida International can appreciate as it prepares to play Arkansas in War Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
The programs are the only two in the Football Bowl Subdivision that spent the first week of the college football season watching from their couches.
“I’m a little jealous of everybody that got to play last week,” ULM coach Todd Berry said Monday.
Not only is ULM opening its season a week later than nearly every other program, it does so with an unenviable challenge: Playing the Razorbacks a week after they beat Tennessee Tech 44-3 in the opener.
Granted, it’s not an ideal situation. Especially for a program implementing new schemes, formations and ideas under a first-year coach. But Berry and the Warhawks are trying to squeeze any advantages they can get from the extra week of preparation.
“I think it was good for us in terms of our players having an opportunity to watch some ballgames and talk about some situations that happened in other ballgames,” Berry said. “That first ballgame is generally whenever you see the majority of mistakes made across college football. So hopefully with us having seen some of those things pop up there’s going to be a little bit more conformity to understanding we can’t make some of those mistakes.”
ULM could have the element of surprise on its side, too. For the second straight week, Arkansas is preparing for an offense it hasn’t seen on the field.
Last week, TTU was breaking in a new quarterback.
This week, ULM’s new system will make its debut.
But Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino is, at least, familiar with Berry after facing the then-Army coach when he was at Louisville. Berry also was the offensive coordinator at UNLV when Arkansas receivers coach Kris Cinkovich was on staff. So the Hogs have watched tape of UNLV’s offense to prepare.
“We work hard preparing for what we believe their schemes will be,” Petrino said. “But then you don’t get to really see their players doing it.
“So we went back into last year and made highlight tapes of their skill guys and what plays they made and studied the schemes plus their personnel.”
There are some disadvantages for ULM, too.
Berry said one is this: Coaches typically believe their teams make their greatest improvement between the first and second games. Arkansas, he said, should be much improved from its opener Saturday night.
“I think Arkansas has somewhat of an advantage along those lines because I do believe that it is true and I think probably most college coaches would tell you that,” Berry said. “They’ve already played that game and got some of those first-game jitters out, first game mistakes out and make those corrections.”
Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett said it’s always better to have a game under your belt.
“We know how to operate on the sideline, we know how to communicate, especially the new, younger guys,” Mallett said. “For them, how are they going to play in a game for the first time? They might be able to change some things up on us because we don’t have film from this year, but a lot of times when you do that, it can hurt you more than it helps.”
ULM will be making its first trip to Little Rock since the 2008 season, when Arkansas had to rally in the fourth quarter to squeeze out a 28-27 win. It helped the Razorbacks improve to 8-0 against the Warhawks, but ULM has proven capable of upsetting SEC teams after beating Alabama in 2007.
Berry wasn’t around for the 2008 game in Little Rock and said there aren’t many veterans left who remember it either. He doesn’t want his team worrying about “what happened in the past,” though.
His only concern? Making sure ULM looks like a team that has a game under its belt Saturday night.
“We know going in we’ve got to try to limit those (mistakes) and not treat this like it’s the first ballgame,” Berry said. “Because there already is an advantage with them having played theirs.”
Saturday’s Ticket
Louisiana-Monroe (0-0) at No. 17 Arkansas (1-0)
When: 6 p.m.
Where: War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock
TV: Fox Sports Net
Radio: Razorback Sports Network
Satellite Radio: Sirius (Ch. 217); XM (Ch. 197)
Series Record: Arkansas leads 8-0
Last Meeting: Arkansas 28, ULM 27 in 2008
Coaches: Arkansas — Bobby Petrino (14-12 in third season); ULM — Todd Berry (0-0 in fourth season)
