Arkansas Razorbacks Pass First Game Test

Against a football FCS division team picked to finish seventh in a nine team Missouri Valley Conference, the Arkansas Razorbacks were something like 37-point favorites to win their opening game against Missouri State.

The Hogs covered that spread, not that I care about betting lines, winning 48-10 with a school record 447 yards passing, half a season's worth under most of the Hogs' former head coaches.

Missouri State was so determined to stop the running game, the Bears curiously crowded the line of scrimmage, as if almost daring the Hogs to throw.

And throw the Hogs did with Michigan transfer Ryan Mallett hitting 17-of-22 passes for 309 yards and a touchdown.

Backup QB Tyler Wilson was also effective completing 13-of-19 attempts with 139 yards and a pair of scoring tosses.

Yes, Razorback fans realize that Missouri State is hardly an SEC caliber team and there were several items to be concerned about when the Hogs play more than token opposition. 

Still, after a 2008 season in which all five of the teams' victories went right down to the final gun, a 48-10 win in which the Hogs led on the scoreboard all but 17 seconds shows progress in Bobby Petrino's second season.

Now, to the concerns. With much emphasis put on special teams play in fall camp and spring practice before that, there were still way too many special teams blunders even for a season opener.

A trio of kickoffs went out of bounds allowing Missouri State to set up shop on the 40-yard line. There was also a long kickoff return by the Bears, a muffed punt, and a couple of punts that were allowed to hit the ground.

Running into the return man who signaled for a fair catch, a couple of shaky PAT attempts that barely hooked inside the left upright—these were a few bonehead plays that almost made fans forget Dennis Johnson's 90-yard return for a TD on the opening kickoff.

However, Johnson's return did cover some of the special team's sins, if not the entire multitude.

Alex Tejada was 2-for-2 on field goal tries and 6-for-6 on PATs, but after two shanked kickoffs, Tejada was replaced on the kickoff team by walkon Cameron Bryan, who kicked his first one out of bounds, also.

As for the defense, even though Missouri State ran the ball at times, Hog fans will take 36 attempts for 82 yards by any opponent after a 2008 season in which every opposing team ran the ball effectively.

The pass rush was decent with Bear QB Cody Kirby receiving a rude reception in his return to his home state.

Missouri State was helped by a fourth down penalty on their only touchdown, so the Hogs' defense receives a passing grade. Not an "A", but a solid "B" maybe.

The offense was only solid in the running game with Broderick Green struggling to find holes, but it should be noted that freshman Ronnie Wingo got twice as many carries as starter Michael Smith and Missouri State was selling out to stop the running game.

The passing was often spectacular with Jarius Wright having a career night of 139 yards receiving and freshman Cobi Hamilton looking like a seasoned vet.

Overall, while no one will ever confuse the Missouri State Bears with an SEC squad, last seasons' Hogs would have likely struggled to a 10-14 point win at best.

Therefore, this year's thrashing of an opponent in the opening game shows progress. More good news is that the offensive and defensive gameplans were very vanilla, using maybe one or two pages of the Hogs' thick offensive playbook, thus not giving away too much to future foes.

The Georgia game in two weeks will give Hog fans a much better indicator as to what 2009 will bring. While the Hogs have an open date this weekend, UGA will have a tough game with South Carolina, which could be a nice advantage.

However, for the Hogs' six Georgia natives to have a happy reunion on Sept. 19, special teams play must improve. There's no way the Hogs can afford to give the Dawgs the kind of field position the Bears enjoyed before going into early hibernation.