Last week they were lightning fast as I darted to open computers between classes. This week they're leisurely paced as I sit in my dorm room on Veterans' Day. Thanks veterans.
The Game
Tennessee has the best offense in the SEC, but two of their 3 top running backs, Lamarcus Coker and Montario Hardesty, are hobbled but will play and the third, Arian Foster, is out for the first half after being arrested for fighting at Goodfellas, the nightclub, in Knoxville. All of this combines to make a large dent in Tennessee's already subpar running game.
This would be alright if their starting quarterback were on the field, but Erik Ainge is out for the second straight game with an ankle injury and Jonathan Crompton will be starting. Crompton showed himself a decent passer at home against LSU throwing two TDs to Robert Meachem into double coverage, but Fayetteville may be a different story.
The Razorbacks have played a fairly close game against South Carolina last weekend, but before last weekend they had played a mid-major team, a IAA team, and Ole Miss since their shocking domination at Auburn. Houston Nutt has declared that Sophomore Casey Dick will start in place of Mitch Mustain, who has gone 8-0 since taking over for Robert Johnson after the opener against USC, but Arkansas' strength still lies in their run game with McFadden and Jones. Look for some more plays where the ball is snapped directly to McFadden and then he either fakes or makes handoffs to Felix Jones or Casey Dick or runs off-tackle.
Implications for Texas
This is a little hazy, because it is definitely to our benefit for Arkansas to get into the SEC title game instead of Auburn, so we don't want them to lose both to Tennessee and LSU, but boy wouldn't it be great if they lost one.
Arkansas is ahead of us in two of the computers, while Tennessee is ahead of us in one, but could also jump us in another with a win over Arkansas, so either way we'll probably move up one spot from this, but while Arkansas has at least one more big game left, the Volunteers do not. Go Razorbacks, but then lose to LSU!
This has been a leisurely paced preview
--AR--