FAYETTEVILLE - The push to pack 50,000 fans into Reynolds Razorback Stadium for today’s 2 p.m. Red-White spring game has spread through the Arkansas football team and its athletic department.
Arkansas’ athletic department’s Web site headlined its football page with “#50KHOGS: Help us break the attendance record,” and Coach Bret Bielema has been chatting up his wishes to surpass the school record for spring game attendance.
“It looks like we’ve got some great weather ,” Bielema said. “I know you set a record, I think the last two years, last year being 45,000. I’d love to break that thing, 50 or more.”
It appears Bielema will hit the weather jackpot, with a forecast calling for mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-60s, with about 35 percent humidity and virtually no chance for rain.
Near-perfect conditions would be a stark contrast to the wildly fluctuating weather that has impacted all five weeks of the Razorbacks’ first spring drills under Bielema.
Arkansas coaches elected to pit their first-team offense, dressed in red, against the first unit on defense and will have the second teams pair off against each other throughout the first half. The second-half pairings are likely to be established at halftime based on the flow of the game.
“We’ve gotten so much better every day because we’ve been going good-good the whole time,” Bielema said. “We haven’t’ done any ones [vs.] twos or anything like that. We’ve been all ones-ones in competitive situations.
“So you’ll see the best of Arkansas on both sides of the ball going at it in that phase of the game. It will be move the ball.”
The defensive front four has earned some of the spring’s best reviews, but defensive end Chris Smith said improvement has been made across the field.
“Obviously people want to see how much better we’ve gotten, and I feel like we’ve gotten better on both sides of the ball, so it’s going to be a show,” Smith said. “I feel like as far as the defensive linemen, I want to come out with a sense of urgency.”
The only scoring tweak will be an opportunity for the kickers to score points for the defense following the end of the first and third quarters.
“We’re just going out to play ball,” defensive coordinator Chris Ash said. “We can’t get enough of just playing regular football.”
Tailback Jonathan Williams cranked up the pregame hype Tuesday when asked what fans should expect.
“A lot of touchdowns,” said Williams, who scored two in goal-line work in the spring’s second scrimmage. “A lot of TDs.”
Sophomore quarterback Brandon Allen is expected to lead the first-team offense through much of the first half, with Brandon Mitchell leading the second team.
“Me and B-Mitch are really pushing each other the best we can, and that’s happening everywhere, from the weight room to the meeting room to on the field,” Allen said.
“Right now I feel … we’re a little bit smoother it appears with Brandon Allen, but not considerably, and statistically he might be a little bit ahead but not considerably,” offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said Tuesday. “I mean, there’s no great separation in my opinion, but I will say that Brandon Allen’s had back-to back very solid practices.”
In the three scrimmages open to the media, the defensive front has held sway in much of the live-tackling work while the offense dictated play in the goal-line game and in some of the staged third-down reps.
Chaney did not call many down field passes in the longest of the scrimmages, but the percentage of deep-ball throws has picked up in the past couple of weeks.
“I’m looking for ball security, explosive plays that generate points,” Chaney said of his expectation for today’s game. “I’m looking for the offensive people to move in and out of the huddle. I’m looking for the management of the game.
“I want to watch the game from the press box and go, ‘Hmm, looks like a pretty solid bunch of kids that know what they’re supposed to be doing.’ ”
Ash has gushed over defensive improvements the past two weeks, although he cautioned the Razorbacks are far from ready for their 2013 season opener. He said he thinks playing the top offense against the top defense all spring has been beneficial.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. “The only way you’re going to get good is going against good people. … You hear the saying iron sharpens iron, and that’s the way we approach it.”
Bielema said during a recent interview on local radio that his hope for today’s game is “to play clean football. We don’t want any dumb mistakes before the snap.”
Spring has been marked by few serious injuries, a trend coaches hope will carry through today’s game.
Linebacker A.J. Turner’s broken wrist, linebacker Otha Peters’ hip, receiver Mekale McKay’s early muscle tightness, tight end Mitchell Loewen’s sprained ankle, and offensive tackle David Hurd’s minor knee injury have been the most notable physical setbacks.
Tight end Austin Tate rebounded from shoulder surgery and is taking part in live action. Running back Kody Walker began camp on the limited-availability list, but his repaired broken leg was cleared for full contact last week and he’s expected to take reps today.
Red-White Game WHEN 2 p.m. today WHERE Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville FORMAT The offense (red) will take on the defense (white) for the first half, with the first units facing each other and the second units squaring off in drives from the 25-yard line with no live special teams work.
ADMISSION Free TV Cox Sports Television; Comcast channel 207 (Little Rock) RADIO Razorback Sports Network, Sirius channel 94, XM channel 200
Sports, Pages 21 on 04/20/2013