Know Your Opponent: The Woo Pig Sooie Edition

When Rutgers added Arkansas to the schedule back in February, it looked like the Scarlet Knights would be heading down to Fayetteville to face a top 10 opponent today, but that is no longer the case. Coming off a season in which they finished ranked 5th with their only two losses coming against the #1 and #2 team in the country, the Hogs had their eyes set on a national championship, but things have totally unraveled for the Razorbacks in ensuing 7 months. Head coach Bobby Petrino was fired back in April when it was revealed that he hired his mistress for a job in Arkansas' athletic department and gave her an undisclosed cash payment, and John L. Smith was named the interim head coach. Smith has been nothing short of a disaster running the team, and it looks like this could be a make or break game for the Hogs' season, as they are 1-2 and coming off a humiliating 52-0 loss to #1 Alabama at home. They may seem down, but they are not yet out, as they still posses an extremely talented roster capable of putting up a ton of points against anyone. This is still a big test for the Scarlet Knights, and it could give them and the Big East as a conference some more respect nationally.

Arkansas So Far...
 The Razorbacks are 1-2, playing all three of their games so far at home. They won their opener against Jacksonville State 49-24 thanks to Tyler Wilson putting up big numbers in the air, but their defense struggled mightily, especially in the first half, and their rushing attack was mediocre. They dropped an OT thriller to Louisiana Monroe the following week, and Wilson left the game late in the second quarter with a concussion. They had another pedestrian game on the ground and the defense blew a 28-7 lead, as they allowed the tying TD to score with 47 seconds left. Last week Wilson sat out with a concussion, and the Hogs made a ton of mistakes on their way to being absolutely annihilated  by Alabama. Wilson called the team out for quitting after the game, and Fayetteville has had a circus like atmosphere this week. But the question is: will the distractions work against them?

Coaching Staff

John L. Smith was the special team coordinator under Petrino from 09-11, and he was hired to run the program with an interim tag, replacing the fired Petrino, not long after taking the head job at his alma matter, Weber State. Smith has an unbelievable weird personality, and has made a ton of questionable coaching decision in his career, but Arkansas' hands were tied, as offensive coordinator Garrick McGee just left for the head coaching position at UAB and the rest of their staff was relatively new.

Smith was a some what successful head coach at some smaller schools, including a 41-21 tenure at Louisville as Petrino's predecessor, but he was an absolute disaster when he got a job at a big times school, Michigan State. He had a 22-26 record during his time in East Lansing, and he lost on the road to Rutgers in 2004 after not spending a lot of time in the off season preparing for the game, and not having QB Drew Stanton in the season opener after he was injured in the bowl game playing special teams the prior season.

He has not inspired a lot of confidence in Arkansas' fans or players, and he is coming off one of the worst weeks you could possibly imagine. (Condolences to him and his family.)

The offensive coordinator, awkwardly enough, is Paul Petrino, who is of course the brother of Bobby. Petrino is an experienced offensive coordinator who runs the same offense as his brother. Their defense is lead by former Ohio State defensive backs coach Paul Haynes.

Offense- 74th in points per game, 104th in yards per carry, 75th in pass efficiency, 71st in yards per play

The Razorbacks had a high flying offense a year ago, but things haven't been so great so far this year, and obviously a lot of that has to do with all SEC quarterback Tyler Wilson missing a game and a half. The Hogs don't really run a spread offense or a pro style offense, they run a mixture of both. They will use a fullback and run plays from under center, but they will run a lot of shotgun and three receiver sets as well.

Wilson threw for 24 TD passes and averaged 8.3 yards per attempt a year ago, and he passed on a chance to enter the draft to return for his senior year. Obviously, things haven't gone as planned, but he will start today, and he is one of the best QBs in the nation. Arkansas's offense loves to throw the ball vertically, with all goes, and clear out routes, and Wilson's rocket of an arm is able to take pick apart defenses deep, completing a ton of long bombs for 6 points. He lost his top 3 receivers from a year ago, but Cobi Hamilton is a dangerous deep threat, and tight end Chris Gragg, their leading receiver, will run a lot of underneath routes when the receivers clear the defense out, and he is their go to guy on 3rd down. The Hogs' offensive line has not been able to protect Wilson, and obviously that was part of the reason he had a concussion. Wilson has a quick release, but he is not very mobile. Their line was overwhelmed by blitzes when I watched them against Louisiana Monroe, and they allowed pressure on almost every play, so protecting Wilson is a huge problem for them.

Their line is not very good run blocking either, but they mostly run the ball to the outside with the stretch play and student body play. Knile Davis ran for 1300 yards (6.8 yds per carry) in 2010, but he missed all of last year with a broken leg. He has returned this year, but he has not been able to recapture his explosiveness and is only averaging 3.5 yards a carry. Dennis Johnson (who is also a great kick returner) and Ronnie Wingo back him up, and they have both been much better than Davis so far this year.

Defense- 109th in points per game, 56th in yards per carry, 75th in pass efficiency, 61st in yards per play
Arkansas runs a pretty simple scheme. They have a 4-3 front and usually play cover 3 behind it. They love blitzing to the wide side of the field, and they will occasionally play man to man coverage. They rarely bring more than 5 pass rushers. Haynes claims to be running a "new scheme" and that is what they are saying has caused some of their early season issues, but personnel has still been their biggest problem on this side of the ball. This is as basic and generic of a defense as you will see.

Their defensive line has constantly been pushed around, even going back to last year, and they have not been very good as a result. They will occasionally shoot a gap and make a play, but more often than not, they are giving up a lot of yards on the ground. They lost their best two pass rushers from a year ago, Jake Bequette and Jerry Franklin, and this unit has been merely average rushing the passer.

Alonzo Highsmith leads the linebacking corp, and he is a play maker who will make tackles all over the field. The rest of the back 7 is largely inexperienced, and they have been porous against the pass. They have a converted defensive lineman at middle linebacker, and only one DB who received any playing time prior to this season.

This unit can be over powered and beat deep, and they have given up a ton of points so far. They have looked really, really bad, but this is still a fast, SEC defense, who may start to click at any moment with more experience and more time in their new system.

Conclusion
Arkansas is a desperate team, and this game could make or break their season. If they get punched in the mouth early, they could fold like they did last week, but if they get off to a fast start, they are capable of steam rolling over basically anyone in the country. Their coaching has been terrible so far this year, but they have a very talented roster who will be hungry for a victory. And at the very least, they want to avoid being embarrassed.