The Arkansas Razorbacks of the SEC travel to Austin for a clash with the seventh-ranked Texas Longhorns of the Big 12 Conference. This game was originally scheduled for September 13th, but Hurricane Ike caused the contest to be pushed back two weeks.
Arkansas opened the season with back-to-back victories over Western Illinois and UL-Monroe, but the fact that the two wins came by a total of five points had fans more concerned than excited. Those concerns proved to be warranted, as the team was crushed by Alabama last weekend, 49-14, in front of a deflated Fayetteville crowd. Head coach Bobby Petrino is in his first year as the leader of the Razorbacks, and he has plenty to prove after seemingly deserting the NFL's Atlanta Falcons to take the position.
As for Texas, it has won its first three games by a combined score of 146-33. The Longhorns are fresh off a 52-10 pounding of Rice and will dive into a full slate of Big 12 games following this tilt. While Oklahoma and Missouri have garnered most of the headlines in the conference thus far, Mack Brown's team appears poised to challenge for the league title.
Texas owns a commanding 55-21 series lead over the Razorbacks.
Arkansas finished with 309 total yards against Alabama on Saturday and scored a pair of offensive touchdowns. For the most part, the offense was completely ineffective. The Razorbacks finished the day with four interceptions, including three by starting quarterback Casey Dick. Two of the picks were returned for touchdowns. He completed just 20-of-39 passes, and while he did avoid getting sacked, Dick was under pressure all day. Tailback Michael Smith ran for 91 yards on 19 carries and also caught a touchdown pass. Unfortunately, his efforts were not enough to prevent what was a lopsided defeat. Arkansas was 5-of-17 on third down conversion attempts and did very little with nearly 35 minutes of possession time. Arkansas has turned the ball over seven times through three games.
Dick has completed 58.8 percent of his passes for 831 yards and five scores with four interceptions. He made some clutch plays in the fourth quarter of both Arkansas wins, but it is important to keep in mind that the level of competition in those tilts was not very high. Smith has run for 248 yards and two scores, and DJ Williams leads the team with 15 catches for 217 yards and two touchdowns.
The Arkansas defense did not play quite as poorly as the final score against Alabama suggests, as two of the Tide's seven touchdowns did come on interception returns. Still, it is hard to give the Razorback defenders much praise, as they were shredded for 328 rushing yards on 35 attempts, an average of 9.4 yards per carry. Alabama scored four rushing touchdowns, including scampers of 87, 62 and 31 yards. The defense was only on the field for 25 minutes and was pushed around for much of that time. Alabama only passed for 74 yards, but the Tide didn't have to get away from the run very often.
Arkansas has held opposing quarterbacks below a 50 percent completion rating this season. Unfortunately, the defense has not put forth a dominant performance yet, permitting 24 points to Western Illinois and 27 points to UL- Monroe before the Alabama game. Jerry Franklin leads the Hogs with 25 total tackles, while Adrian Davis and Jamar Love are tied with 17 stops apiece.
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy entered last season with the weight of some Heisman hype, and he clearly struggled early. This year, McCoy was overshadowed by some higher profile Big 12 signal-callers heading into the campaign, and he has quietly put together a tremendous stat line through three outings. McCoy has completed 77.8 percent of his passes for 833 yards and 11 touchdowns against only one interception. Equally impressive is the fact that McCoy leads his team in rushing with 194 yards and two touchdowns. Quan Cosby has caught 18 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns, and Jordan Shipley has made four touchdown grabs. Texas is racking up a staggering 48.7 ppg and 502.3 total ypg. The team has already posted 19 offensive touchdowns and has looked unstoppable.
Against Rice last weekend, McCoy completed 19-of-23 passes for 329 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, setting the school's all-time record with 62 touchdown passes. "He broke a very impressive record at a very young age,"
said coach Mack Brown of his junior quarterback. "He still continues to take care of the football and move the ball."
McCoy also ran for 83 yards and a score against Rice. Cosby caught seven passes for 90 yards and a touchdown, while Shipley made five grabs for 155 yards and two scores.
While the Texas offense has been getting most of the attention, the team's defense has been among the nation's best, especially against the run. The Longhorns, who are yielding a mere 11.0 ppg, are giving up only 66.3 rushing ypg on an average of 2.6 ypc. With nine sacks, Texas has clearly done a good job of pressuring opposing quarterbacks. While the club has only posted three takeaways, it is hard to argue with the play of the defense. If there is an area of weakness, it is clearly the play against the pass, as foes are racking up 274.3 ypg through the air. Still, that high number is due to the fact that opponents have been forced to abandon the run and become one dimensional after the Longhorns have taken big leads. Roddrick Muckelroy has been all over the field for Texas, leading the team with 27 tackles. As for Brian Orakpo, he has 3.5 sacks already.
The 'Horns held Rice to a mere 17 rushing yards on 24 attempts, and seven sacks totaling 69 lost yards clearly helped those stats. "Our defense did a lot of really good things,"
said coach Brown. "The two things they are concerned about and will continue to work on are the explosive plays in the first half and not having enough turnovers."
