MEMPHIS — The hay is in the barn.
There are three more news conferences, two practices and a walk-through remaining until the Liberty Bowl is ready to showcase East Carolina vs. Arkansas.
Yet, this week has been a polish week for the Razorbacks. Bobby Petrino put the game plan in during the practices before Christmas and what the Hogs have been doing here is fine-tuning it.
They are taking the pride of Conference USA very seriously, and they should. East Carolina starts 12 seniors, including 8 on defense, and 8 juniors, including 6 on offense.
The Pirates got here by beating No. 18 Houston in their conference championship game, 38-32, despite giving up 527 yards in the air to Cougars quarterback Case Keenum, who completed 56 of 75 passes.
Their bend-but-don’t-break defense is not overly worried about Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett, but it should be noted that at all the news conferences the Razorbacks look bigger and stronger than the Pirates.
What East Carolina hopes to do is outscore the Razorbacks in an offensive showdown, much like they did against Houston.
The Pirates like a balanced attack. They establish the run so quarterback Pat Pinkney can pass, mostly to Dwayne Harris, who had 79 receptions this season, but ECU had four receivers with more than 20 catches.
East Carolina’s offensive coordinator Todd Fitch had the news conference duties Wednesday and admitted that while he likes to run the football, after watching video of the Razorbacks he knows the Pirates are going to have to stretch the field.
He was asked if that meant he would be tempted to go deep more, but he eased right by that question.
“We are going to try and use our versatility to stretch the field,” he said. “We know they are going to try and stop the run so we have to be able to stretch the field. That is our challenge.’
Senior running back Dominique Lindsay was part of the entourage of players who were seated around the media room and was asked that if while reviewing game videos there was one guy who jumped off the screen on the Hogs defense.
A guy he told his offensive line they had to block.
“All of them,” he said with a laugh. “Their defensive line plays with a lot of emotion. Their front seven are really good.”
So both teams are familiar with each other, and both have a lot to play for.
East Carolina led Kentucky16-7 in last year’s Liberty Bowl but lost 25-19, and Skip Holtz has said the Razorbacks are better than the Wildcats. They are going to throw everything at the Razorbacks but their fleet of buses, which they might need.
Arkansas has been to the Liberty Bowl three times, but has never won. Petrino has gone on the record as saying the Razorbacks’ bowl record the past 11 years is not good and he wants to change that.
This group of Hogs seniors has never won a bowl game, and the underclassmen have stated they want to start 2010 with a victory and build off it.
No doubt last year’s season ending victory over LSU helped catapult the Hogs to another good recruiting class, and at this point the Razorbacks - who are recruiting by need more than anything - would like for a victory Saturday to help get more kids on campus.
It certainly won’t hurt the Hogs that the Liberty Bowl is going to be like Reynolds Razorback Stadium East on Saturday with as many as 50,000 Hog-calling members of the Razorbacks nation expected to be in attendance.
Petrino has not treated this bowl like it was a reward for a good season. He’s approached it as a bonus game that comes with extra practices and a chance for a victory.
So the hay is in the barn, and all there is left to do now is polish the offensive game plan, survive a few more news conferences and then get ’er done.
Sports, Pages 15 on 12/31/2009