Hogs out when facing third down

— Arkansas has gained lots of yards in its first two games, but not on third down.

Going into today's game at No. 3 Alabama, the Razorbacks are averaging 538 yards to lead the SEC and rank second nationally, but their 25 percent conversion rate on third down (6 of 24) is last in the conference and 107th nationally.

"We're concerned," Arkansas Coach B obby Petrino said. "We've always traditionally been very good on third down. We've struggled a little bit this year."

It may seem like nitpickingto harp on third-down struggles when the offense has produced 99 points in beating Missouri State 48-10 and losing to Georgia 52-41.

But the Razorbackslikely need to do a better job of converting on third downs and keeping the ball away from Alabama if they hope to get an upset at Bryant-Denny Stadium - and over the long haul have a shot at a winning record against a brutal schedule.

"As we go down the road, stuff is going to get harder and it's going to come down to third-and-short or thirdand-long, and that's something we've got to work on and convert," Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams said. "That's a part of the game that can make or break a team."

Offensive line coach Mike Summers said the third-downconversion rate is somewhat deceiving because the Razorbacks are 4 of 5 on fourthdown conversions.

"We've been able to keep some drives alive after we didn't convert on third down, so that kind of balances it out a little bit," Summers said. "But, certainly, we don't want to get to that point where we're having to go for it on fourth down.

"We want to execute on third down. After two games, I'm sure every team has things they need to work on, and that's one of the things we need to work on."

On 11 of the third downs the Razorbacks failed to convert in the first two games, they had to go between 10 and 19 yards for a first down.

Petrino doesn't want to be making third-down calls in those situations against Alabama, which has 10 sacks in three games for 76 yards in losses.

"We've got to get ourselves to third-and-medium, third-and-short, because they like to tee off with their pass rush," Petrino said. "Third down is when they really like to do their blitzing, and they have a lot of experience.

"They can get a little exotic with some of the blitzes that they do, and they're very good at it."

Sports, Pages 21, 25 on 09/26/2009

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