Arkansas Vs. Texas 2008: A Defining Moment For Both Programs?

This coming September 13th, the "New" Arkansas Razorbacks will invade Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, before what can only be anticipated to be a "standing room only" crowd of rowdy Texas fans, to battle the Longhorns in a game that could determine the direction of both programs during the 2008 season.

The last time the Longhorns teed it up in a major game was last December against #12 Arizona State in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. Texas prevailed 52-34 in what was a relatively sloppy performance by both teams that found Texas QB Colt McCoy fumbling four times and ASU QB Rudy Carpenter throwing for 3 INT's. The strength of the Texas game that night was their running game where on 54 attempts they gained 300 yards. McCoy was 21 of 32 for 174 yards and 1 TD. Carpenter, on the other hand, was 25 of 50 for 305 yards and 3 TD's while ASU only managed 22 yards in 27 rushing attempts. The most odd incident of the entire game and perhaps the entire bowl season occured when the grandson of Texas head coach Mack Brown, stepping onto the playing field, touched a ball that came near the sideline that was eventually ruled to have been a lateral. After much deliberation and replay after replay by the officials, the incident was ruled as "illegal touching" and "unsportsmanlike conduct on the Texas sideline". Texas was penalized and Arizona State capitalized, scoring shortly thereafter. It had little effect on the outcome but will probably be replayed during the bowl season for years to come.

Arkansas' last major game was against Missouri in the Cotton Bowl and it is a game that many Arkansas fans would like to forget after being taken behind the woodshed by Missouri to the tune of 38-7. The Razorbacks, led by interim head coach and defensive coordinator Reggie Herring, appeared to be unprepared to play Missouri as the Tigers burned them for 459 yards in total offense. Arkansas assisted  Missouri by committing 5 turnovers(four fumbles and one INT) with Dick's lone interception being returned for one of the Tigers TD's. Arkansas, relying mostly on their running game, managed only 164 yards on 50 attempts while Casey Dick was 19 of 33(58%) for 197 yards passing and 1 INT. The Razorbacks were held scoreless until 3:08 remained in the 3rd quarter when Missouri was already up by 28 points. Having reduced the score to a 21 point difference, it had to be disappointing to the Arkansas faithful when Heisman finalist and future NFL first round pick, Darren McFadden, didn't play a single down in the fourth quarter when they needed him most. It was a sad night for Razorback fans who were watching what was perhaps the best overall backfield in the history of Arkansas, play for the last time.

As for the new season, the Razorbacks have a new head coach, Bobby Petrino. Petrino has been like a breath of fresh air to Razorback fans so far. No excuses, no "next year". Petrino has made the statement on several occasions that he expects to win now and he expects his team and coaching staff to produce this year. Petrino did a good job finishing a recruiting year that had been started by the previous staff and to his credit, remained faithful to commitments made to recruits that had been promised by the previous staff. He added a few recruits of his own the most notable of which was stealing away previous four star verbal commitment Joe Adams from the jaws of the USC recruiting machine. This may be a strong indicator of things to come in the future of Arkansas football and Petrino's "recruiting machine". A better than expected season this year will fuel that fire for Arkansas recruiting.

Texas, as always, had a good recruiting season and they always pretty much have their pick of the abundance of Texas talent. 12 of their 20 commitments were four star athletes. Mack Brown has been referred to with disdain by Oklahoma fans as "Mr. February" for years because of his ability to recruit, but failure to show up in October against Oklahoma where he lost five in a row to Oklahoma from 2000 through 2004. Still, the man and his staff are great recruiters and this year was no different where he came in with the 14th ranked class in the country as compared to the Arkansas ranking of 36. Of course it is difficult to correctly evaluate and rank the value of a class until 2-3 years after their signing, but typically, Brown and his staff do an excellent job. Look for early enrollee Jeremy Hills of Alief, Texas(who participated in this years spring drills) to contribute this year. He was the Rivals #8 all purpose back in the country last year.

So how do these two teams stack up for their September meeting?

Texas is going to be a young team this year and with having to replace seven starters on offense and seven on defense as well, Mack Brown knows he has his work cut out for him. The good news for Brown is that he was wise enough to hire Will Muschamp away from Auburn to be his Defensive Coordinator. Muschamp has already made Texas players pick up the pace with his "no holds barred" defensive aggressiveness. Muschamp has already been quoted as saying that, "he will put a team on the field that is physical, disciplined, passionate and aggressive", traits that reflect his own personality and character. Muschamp has already moved players around to gain more speed at the edges to put pressure on opposing QB's. He has also installed a 4-2-5 defensive alignment(nickel defense) to combat three and four wide offensive sets commonly found in spread offenses. You can count on a couple of things. Texas will be far more aggressive on defense this year but they are also going to make mistakes because they are young. Arkansas' new offense may benefit from this by meeting them early in the year before they really get settled into this new style of play.

The Arkansas offense, if spring practices are any indicator, are fully 180 degrees out from what they have been in the past. Casey Dick had over 400 yards passing and exceeded 60% in completion percentage. The running game, though not at the usual 200+ yards, was more than adequate with the heir apparent to the RB position, Michael Smith, running for over 150 yards. The Arkansas offensive line is one of their strengths and they are huge averaging over 6'3" and over 300 lbs. per man. Michael Smith, incoming freshman running backs De'Anthony Curtis and Albert Gary, as well as QB Casey Dick, may be made to look even better than they truly may be, by the talent of this offensive line. The Arkansas receivers have not really made a name for themselves at this point and it is said that Petrino has challenged them to step up their play. There are two that already have set themselves apart and you can count on former TE Ben Cleveland and WR London Crawford to be emerging stars in Bobby Petrino's new offense. Additionally, WR Crosby Tuck showed promise before an injury sidelined him last year. Add to that incoming freshman Cruz Williams(6-4, 205, 4.5-40), Jarius Wright(5-11, 180, 4.4-40) and Chris Gragg(6-3, 195, 4.6-40), not to mention Joe Adams(6-0, 167, 4.4-40) who may split time between WR and DB, and you have a more than adequate WR corps. Both TE's have been a pleasant surprise during the spring and you will see a lot of balls thrown to them as well this fall. Arkansas fans are not going to miss their old style of offense. Balance, will be the word of the day under Petrino.

The Texas offense has to replace a lot of players. They have their QB, Colt McCoy back, but they have to find answers at RB, which will mostly be by committee this fall. Not one RB distinguished themselves in the spring and this leaves Mack Brown searching for answers. You can can expect to see doses of Ogbonnaya, Vondrell McGee, Whitaker and Hills this fall until someone steps up to be the dominant RB. Their RB's(6 of them) combined for a total of 129 yards in the spring game. They lost their big play TE Finley early to the NFL as well as RB Jamall Charles. The Longhorns are going to be "offensively challenged" early on this fall and again, this may work in the Razorbacks favor. The Longhorns plan to put their offensive fortunes int he hands of their O-Line and RB's as 83% of their 1st down plays in the spring were runs. 75% of their second down plays were runs and 82% of their third down plays were passes. Can you say "predictable"? While on cannot say that spring practices are going to dictate game plans in the fall, you can say that by noticing what teams are trying to accomplish and focus on in the spring, you can somewhat discern what they feel they need to be working on. I suspect that the Longhorns will be trying to force the running game since their two top candidates at QB were a combined 5 of 15 for a total of 46 yards and one sack during the spring game. This will not be the vaunted Texas offensive attack we have seen in years past. More like a "calf" than a full grown "Longhorn".

The Arkansas defense has some challenges. Their defensive line may be stronger than it has been in several years with three strong defensive ends back in Sheppard, Davis and Robinson. At DT they have Ernest Mitchell back and I have heard that a RS Freshman by the name of Van Stumon has turned into a "man mountain" and has impressed the coaching staff at DT with his physical prowess, quickness and nose for the ball. Cord Gray may add depth in the rotation, but hey need one or two more players to step up. Arkansas expects this line to be a strength for them. Linebacker is another issue where thought hey feel they have adequate talent across the board at all LB positions, they are severely limited by issues of depth. Elston Forte as limited by injuries this spring and a player they were counting on, Freddie Fairchild, has some currently unresolved, off the field, legal issues that may affect his playing status in the fall. This may wind up being a weak suit for the Razorbacks. I am told they have adequate back ups for these players who are relatively inexperienced but very motivated and are team players. Can they step up and make the difference? It does little good to have a good D-Line who keeps the O-Line off the backers if the backers are not good enough to move to the ball and make the play. LB is a key issue that must be answered for Razorbacks. The Razorbacks have to replace their entire starting secondary but from all the feed back I have received, according to the Razorback staff, that is already done and they are very pleased with the secondary overall. Again, depth seems to be an issue, but with the influx of a quality freshman class, I believe Petrino's staff will find the answers.

At kicker, the Razorbacks have Alex Tejada back who was 17 of 23(74%) on FG's while the Longhorns have Ryan Bailey back who is 24 of 28(86%) on FG's for his career at Texas.

This is going to be a huge game for both teams. Texas wants to face their first major team of the 2008 season and make a statement to the nation before a home crowd.

Arkansas wants to make a statement that they are on their way back to the top of the mountain and are a force to be reckoned with.

Texas will have a talented team, but this is not the same team you have grown accustomed to seeing come put of Texas in the past. They are a year or two away from being a top 10 team again. Arkansas is also a year or two away from being a top 10 team again. It will be Petrino Vs. Brown. The Hogs Vs. the Longhorns. While it may not carry the national significance of the 1969 meeting between these two teams, I can assure it is no less important at this juncture to the progress of both teams.

I can only make one personalized comment about how I see this game developing and in doing so I have to quote my favorite college football announcer of all time, Keith Jackson. How would he have defined this contest? Oh yeah, I remember, "Whoaaaaaaaaa Nellie".

Arkansas will overcome the lack of experience that Texas has and beats Texas in Austin and the Petrino era will be announced with authority. Texas will be good in the long term for the season, but they will fail their first early 2008 season test in meeting the Razorbacks.

That's just my take.....from outside the boundaries.