LITTLE ROCK — OFFENSE Quarterback Arkansas 5, Alabama 4
Ryan Mallett
wowed Arkansas fans - and likely NFL scouts - with his powerful throws to virtually every area of the field last Saturday.
He zipped an 18-yard TD pass to Joe Adams and the 30-yard fade for Greg Childs looked like a perfect pass. The 6-7, 238-pounder appeared to tire in the fourth quarter and lost accuracy, and he also lacked ball security on a first-quarter fumble. But it's hard to knock his statistics: 38 of 61 for 717 yards, 6 TDs, 0 ints. and an NCAA-best 193.5 efficiency rating. Alabama's
Greg McElroy
falls into the Jay Barker mode: studious, not real flashy, solid arm, good field command. He won't dazzle you, but he's not likely to get you beat. The 6-3, 220-pounder has completed a higher percentage of passes than Mallett (.667 to .638) but he's averaging just 215.7 passing yards per game. McElroy's 161.7 efficiency rating is 16th nationally, 4th in the SEC.
Running backs Alabama 4, Arkansas 3The Razorbacks touted their depth here before the season started, but have yet to unleash
Michael Smith
Dennis Johnson
and
Ronnie Wingo
. Smith has been productive as a receiver, and is averaging 8.5 yards per carry. Wingo got no carries last week against Georgia. Johnson has had little room to run, and averages just 1.3 yards per carry.
Broderick Green
also has had tacklers in his face and hasn't run with power on the goal line. Alabama's top five rushers each average 5.6 yards per carry or better.
Top back
Mark Ingram
has speed and tacklebreaking ability and averages 99 yards per game, third in the SEC. He also leads the team with 10 receptions.
Trent Richardson
averages 7.4 yards per carry. Ingram has taken snaps in a Wildcat formation, as has
Roy Upchurch
.
Ingram, Richardson and
Terry Grant
have scored 3 rushing TDs each as the Crimson Tide pound hard with the running game.
Receivers Arkansas 4, Alabama 3Arkansas'
Jarius Wright
,
Greg Childs
and
Joe Adams
might be the best sophomore receiving group in the nation. Wright is 6th in the NCAA, averaging 123.5 yards per game, and has a team-high 24.7 yards per catch. Childs has been tough to tackle through two games, and both his TD catches are highlight clips: a dive and a tackle-breaking power play. Adams is averaging 17.9 yards per catch and has two TDs.
D.J. Williams
broke out late against Georgia, but hasn't been an early option as much because the downfield game has been so open. These Razorbacks are fast headed toward being one of the premier groups in the nation, and they get senior
Lucas Miller
back this week. With
Julio Jones
playing sparingly the first three weeks, lanky
Mike McCoy
(8 catches, 138 yards, 1 TD) has been Alabama's top wideout.
Marquis Maze
and
Darius Hanks
have six catches each, as does tight end
Colin Peek
. Jones' return from injury should help stretch the field and open things up on the other side of the formation.
Line Alabama 4, Arkansas 3Arkansas' pass protection has shown immense improvement, from allowing almost 4 sacks per game to this year's average of 1 per game. The linemen's run blocking has not been remarkable, though, particularly in short yardage.
Mitch Petrus
and
DeMarcus Love
graded out well against Georgia, while
Ray Dominguez
had five penalties, including three false starts. Truefreshman
Anthony Oden
might get the nod this week at tackle opposite Love. The Hogs, particularly center
Seth Oxner, face a difficult task moving Terrence Cody off the line to create space for the run game today. Alabama had to refill nearly every starter's spot, returning just left guard
Mike Johnson
. The revamped line, with tackles
Drew Davis
and
James Carpenter, guard
Barrett Jones
and center
William Vlachos
joining Johnson, has received good reviews. Alabama has the fifth-ranked rushing offense nationally (267.7 yards per game) and is ninth in total offense (512.3). The Tide have allowed 3 sacks and they've converted 46 percent on third down.
DEFENSELine Alabama 4, Arkansas 3Arkansas' veteran front was expected to exert more pressure on Georgia's passing game last week, but the group accounted for one sack, by
Malcolm Sheppard
. Ends
Adrian Davis
(9 tackles, 1 fumble recovery),
Jake Bequette
(5 tackles),
Tenarius Wright
(7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss) and
Damario Ambrose
have no sacks and must break free more often when pass rushing. The front four held up well against the run a week ago, outside of giving up an 80-yard scoring run.
D.D. Jones
and
Lavunce Askew
have been decent backups to Sheppard (6 tackles, 1.5 sacks) and Zach Stadther (9 tackles, 1 TFL) on the interior. The Crimson Tide present an all-senior 3-man front: 354-pound
Terrence Cody
(9 tackles),
Lorenzo Washington
(3 tackles, 1 sack) and
Brandon Deaderick
(5 tackles), who was shot in the arm the week before Alabama's opener. The Tide front holds up against the rush - Alabama is No. 2 nationally in rush defense - and pressures on the pass.
Linebackers Alabama 5, Arkansas 3
Wendel Davis
is off to a solid start for Arkansas, with a team-high 15 tackles and 2 takeaways at middle linebacker.
Jerry Franklin
(6 tackles) might be in a sophomore slump, getting beaten in pass coverage for a TD before being ejected after drawing two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on one play in the second quarter last week.
Freddy Burton
on the strong side has 9 tackles, 2 1/2 for loss, while
Jerico Nelson
has made 13 tackles, including a half-sack.
True freshman
Terrell Williams
(3 tackles) stepped in for Franklin last week, and showed he has a ways to go.
Austin Moss
(1 tackle) has seen limited action in the middle.
Alabama'slinebacking corps has plenty of speed and physicality, starting with
Rolando McClain
(18 tackles, 3 1/2 TFL), who had a Franklinlike incident against Virginia Tech and might turn pro after the season. Sophomore
Dont'a Hightower
(14 tackles, 4 TFL) is a rising SEC star, while OLB starters
Eryk Anders
(16, 2.5) and
Cory Reamer
(2 tackles) give Alabama five seniors among its front seven starters.
Secondary Alabama 4, Arkansas 2
The fight to regain respectability begins anew for a Razorbacks group that helped allow Georgia's Joe Cox to pass for 375 yards and 5 TDs. The preseason loss of
Isaac Madison
showed the lack of depth at cornerback, where
Ramon Broadway (
9 tackles, 1 pass breakup) and
Rudell Crim
(5 tackles, 1 PBU) have taken most of the snaps. Broadway lost some 1-on-1 battles to the Dogs, and reserve
Greg Gatson
was beaten when Crim came out briefly. Free safety
Matt Harris
(12 tackles) has made tackles, but hasn't shown much pop, and strong safety
Tramain Thomas
(11 tackles, 2 ints) is recovering from a slight injury.
Anthony Leon
(6 tackles) is starting to progress with the schemes, while
Elton Ford
has yet to play.
Cornerback
Javier Arenas
(13 tackles, 2 PBUs) and safety
Justin Woodall
(9 tackles), who had interceptions for TDs in last year's Arkansas game, are back as seniors. The other starters are corner Kareem Jackson (6 tackles, 3 PBUs) and safety Mark Barron (13 tackles, 2 PBUs), who has the Tide's only interception. The Tide have veteran depth at cornerback with
Marquis Johnson
and
Chris Rogers, but this unit has been slightly more vulnerable than expected, ranking 9th in the SEC in pass defense efficiency.
Special teams Alabama 4, Arkansas 3Arkansas gave up way too much kickoff return yardage (167 on 8 returns) against Georgia, but at least didn't put any more kickoffs out of bounds, and responded with a strong kick return game (5-142). Led by
Dennis Johnson, the Hogs are 5th in the nation in kickoff return average (36.7 yards per game).
Alex Tejada
is perfect on FGs (4 of 4) and extra points (11 of 11). Punter
Dylan Breeding
(78th nationally, 37.1) has been below average. The punt return game, with a 2.3-yard average that ranks 106th, has yet to get going. It seems like
Leigh Tiffin
has been kicking for Alabama forever. The senior is 8 of 10 on FGs, with a long of 49, and he ranks 11th nationally with 11.7 points per game. He's missed two extra points, however. Spark plug
Javier Arenas
ranks 8th nationally in punt returns (20.5) and 26th in kickoff returns (28.2).
P.J. Fitzgerald
has punted just nine times in three games, and his 44.7-yard average would be 12th in the nation if he had enough attempts to qualify. Alabama looks sound in all areas except kickoff return, where two opponents have returned kicks for TDs.
Intangibles Alabama 4, Arkansas 3One of college football's offensive masterminds (
Bobby Petrino
) meets one of the game's true defensive experts (
Nick Saban
). The Razorbacks still have a strong hunger to factor into the SEC race and to grab national headlines, and an upset of the No. 3 Crimson Tide would do just that. The Hogs have the potency on offense to do it, but execution by the offensive line and a stiffer defense will be imperative for pulling off an upset. Alabama will be told that Arkansas is much better, but there could be a slight chance that the Tide take the Hogs lightly after last year's 49-14 victory. The Crimson Tide are at home and in a strong position to stay in the national championship race, so their incentive is still very strong.
Sports, Pages 24 on 09/26/2009