Sports

ULM A MEASURING STICK FOR ARKANSAS?

By Harry King/SPORTS COMMENTARY
Saturday, September 6, 2008 3:56 PM CDT

LITTLE ROCK — Straight from St. Paul, Minn., the must-use word of the week is vetted, as in she was vetted. Vetted, to subject to expert appraisal.

It is safe to say that Bobby Petrino vetted Arkansas’ performance against Western Illinois and that he did the same to Louisiana-Monroe vs. Auburn.

Because of Arkansas’ struggles against Western Illinois, today’s game against ULM has pre-empted Texas as an early-season measuring stick of Petrino’s first Arkansas team. All along, 2-0 was the anticipated start for the Razorbacks. That is still the case, but the fact that ULM gave up 321 yards rushing to Auburn and Arkansas had marginal success running the ball against WIU adds a bit of spice.

Arkansas’ inability to stop Herb Donaldson allowed WIU to control the clock and the Razorbacks’ three turnovers put them in a position of playing from behind for almost 30 minutes. In all, Arkansas had 14 running plays — 12 by freshmen running backs De’Anthony Curtis and Dennis Johnson, a sweep with wide receiver Joe Adams, and Casey Dick’s fake-and-keep for the winning touchdown. Those plays netted 69 yards.

Petrino called more than 45 pass plays. A 3-to-1 ratio is not his style and the split will be more even against ULM.

“We had to try to pick up the tempo and go faster,” Petrino said. “It wasn’t a case of saying, ‘Hey, we need to establish these runs, this run.’ It was always more, ‘Let’s throw the ball and try to pop a draw type of deal.’”

He said the Razorbacks will run the ball better this evening, and they should. Although Auburn moved to a hurry-up offense with the idea of throwing the ball more effectively, the Tigers had four backs run for more than 50 yards each against ULM, including Ben Tate’s 115.

Early in the week, Petrino said Michael Smith, who was suspended for the opener, would start against ULM. He’s apt to break a big one. Neither Curtis nor Johnson exhibited the quickness that Smith demonstrated last year in relief of Darren McFadden and-or Felix Jones.

Arkansas also will benefit from the participation of some defensive players who were unavailable for the opener, and the defensive backs will do better hanging on when presented with interception opportunities. On top of that, ULM does not have a Donaldson in the backfield. Against Auburn, Frank Goodin was the leading running back with 15 carries for 39 yards.

All of this adds up to the sort of victory that fans anticipated a week ago, one where the margin is comfortable in the fourth quarter. Too many folks reacted to Arkansas’ struggle against WIU with “woe is us.” That’s a one-game knee-jerk. This week, some of those same fans might flip-flop and leave War Memorial Stadium talking about the Razorbacks’ chances against Texas.

That sort of week-to-week fluctuation is common. Last week, South Carolina shut out North Carolina State and jumped into the Top 25. Thursday night, Vanderbilt intercepted two passes, sacked Chris Smelley four times, blocked a field goal and recovered a punt that bounced off a South Carolina player in a 24-17 victory over the Gamecocks.

Getting an accurate read on this Arkansas team will take a while, maybe even late October or early November.