Allen gets a full week of practice

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen passes during the first half of an NCAA college football game against South Carolina in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/April L Brown)

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen passes during the first half of an NCAA college football game against South Carolina in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/April L Brown)

Thursday, October 17, 2013

FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said late Wednesday that quarterback Brandon Allen is in the midst of his first full week of practice since his return from a shoulder injury against Texas A&M on Sept. 28.

The past several weeks Allen had participated in a full day’s work on Wednesdays while getting partial reps on Tuesday and Thursday, Bielema said. But that is changing this week.

“There has been a steady improvement,” Bielema said on his radio show Wednesday. “This is the first time since the injury that he’s practiced the entire week without any issues, so a really big week for us this week to get through that.”

Bielema said a starting quarterback who can’t practice the full week affects the timing and rhythm of an offense.

“There’s a reason every team in college football and the NFL, your No. 1 wide receivers work with your No. 1 quarterback every day to get those things worked out,” he said.

Offensive line coach Sam Pittman said Allen took just two hits in the South Carolina game after he absorbed eight shots, including two roughing-the passer calls, at Florida.

New look

Alabama Coach Nick Saban is making a big deal about how the Razorbacks will present a different offensive look for his team’s No. 8 rated defense.

“We really haven’t played hardly against anybody that plays two backs,” Saban said Wednesday. “It’s just as much of an adjustment for our players to play against two-back runs, regular personnel, two tight ends, two backs and one receiver as it used to be against empty [no backs].

“It’s just the style of play now, and I think it’s a huge advantage for teams who can run the ball, run downhill and be physical, because most teams aren’t used to playing against that.”

Alabama linebacker C.J. Moseley said the Tide welcomes the challenge presented by Arkansas’ power running game.

“You’ve just got to get adjusted to playing the downhill football, smash mouth football,” he said.

“Back to old-school football with us, but that’s nothing new at Alabama.”

Stay in red

Bret Bielema was asked on his radio show whether he would consider pulling the redshirts off freshman quarterbacks Austin Allen and Damon Mitchell.

Bielema responded that while he thought the pair would end up being good quarterbacks, “those guys just aren’t in a position to help us.”

Bielema said at this stage he would insert walk-on Brian Buehner at quarterback if Brandon Allen and AJ Derby were unavailable.

Nick Bananas

Bret Bielema said he got a kick out of reading something Nick Saban said last spring.

“I love reading Nick’s quotes just because I see him go bonkers over … two fumbles after the spring game,” he said. “He went bananas because he knows what it takes to win. I mean, he’s obviously done it on the highest level. So those little details, everybody just thinks, aw, it’s a fumble in a spring game. That’s a big deal. And I appreciate that.”

Wise one

Arkansas’ only takeaway in SEC play came when end Deatrich Wise pounced on a bungled hand off between South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw and Mike Davis at the Arkansas 12 in the second quarter last week.

“An O-lineman down blocked and I scraped off of his butt, realized there was a bad hand off, and I just hopped on the ball to give my team some momentum,” Wise said.

Must get ball

Bret Bielema said forcing takeaways is imperative for the Razorbacks.

“Defensively, you have to create some turnovers,” Bielema said. “Obviously there’s certain times where the offense may give you that, whether it’s an interception or they put the ball on the ground, but you can create turnovers.

“You can tackle the football. You can look for strip attempts. A lot of times when a ball carrier doesn’t expect a tackle from behind, whether it be a quarterback, wide receiver, running back, if that ball is left, it’s just a matter of whether you take a swing at it.”

0 for fourth

Arkansas has not scored in the fourth quarter of its past four games, while its opponents - Rutgers, Texas A&M, Florida and South Carolina - have combined for 41 points in the final period.

Call crew

The ESPN broadcast team for Saturday’s game will consist of Brad Nessler on play-by-play, Todd Blackledge with analysis and Holly Rowe as the sideline reporter.

Sports, Pages 20 on 10/17/2013