Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Welcome back to Hog fans and our usual followers for week 2 of the Arkansas Razorbacks' 2012 season, the Louisiana-Monroe game at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium.

Be a part of the blog and feel free to comment in the accompanying comment section, or send me an email at jharris@abpg.com (I periodically will check the mail during the game).

Arkansas will be looking to see an improved overall defensive effort from last week's 49-24 win over Football Championship Subdivision program Jacksonville State, while Monroe is opening its season, the third under Coach Todd Berry.

Two years ago here, Arkansas struggled offensively before putting away the Warhawks 31-7. And in Bobby Petrino's first season as head coach, 2008, the Hogs had to really from 13 points down to edge ULM 28-27, with Chris Gragg making a key fourth down catch to set up the winning touchdown. Gragg is now a fifth-year senior for these Hogs. Monroe was 4-8 last season but was improved offensively over the 2010 version. Colton Browning, a junior, is back for his third year as ULM quarterback.

Parachutists are landing on the field as we type this, and we're minutes away from kickoff.

Arkansas' other focuses tonight are on improved offensive line blocking and picking up expected blitzes from ULM's defense. Knile Davis had a solid first half rushing last week with 80 yards on 14 carries, but Jacksonville State's run stunts and run blitzes limited the running game in the second half and Davis ended up with just 70 yards rushing total on 18 carries. Tyler Wilson was solid at quarterback, though, completing 19 of 27 for 367 yards.

Like the lead-in to last week, media predictions on the game range a lot higher than I would expect. I would believe that if Arkansas holds ULM to 14 points, it's a positive. I'm seeing the game 45-20.

So, sit back, join in, and if you're watching the game on pay-per-view, let us know how the coverage is. Also, if you're reading this after the game, it's logged in reverse chronological order, so start at the end to follow how the game unfolded as we saw it:

10:53 p.m., 34-31 OT, Louisiana-Monroe — Yes, you read correctly. 

Arkansas fans no doubt know this already.

Thanks for being patient with the Blog, as I went to the sideline for the last 4 minutes and basically just returned from the post-game interview room as John L. Smith did his best to describe what happened in one of the true stunning losses in Arkansas football history.

My immediate thoughts went back to 1971, when a lot of you weren't even born, for a more stunning upset of a highly ranked Arkansas team before a home crowd. Tulsa came from 20-0 down at halftime to beat Joe Ferguson and Arkansas at the finish 21-20. That was the same Arkansas team that would rout Texas here 31-7 and turn around two weeks later and lose to a woeful Texas A&M team 17-9 as Gene Stallings was heading out the door in Aggieland.