Hogs Should Enjoy a Less Demanding Second-Half Schedule

Is it too much for fans to start imagining that these Arkansas Razorbacks might make a return trip to Jerry Jones' Cowboys Stadium for the 2010 Cotton Bowl? A 5-3 mark in the SEC might do it.

Just the same, like last year by season's end the Hogs might wonder what might have been in a game or two that could have turned a 5-7 final mark to a bowl eligible 6-6. And right now, Razorback fans might be joyous for a return to the Dallas Metroplex but would gladly take the short sojourn over the Memphis and the Liberty Bowl to meet the best Conference-USA has to offer.

Let's not even worry about Saturday's Florida game. Nobody expects Arkansas to win, and already the betting money has heavily favored the Gators enough to move the Vegas line from an opening 24 to the current 25 points. The Florida result will help, surely, if Arkansas somehow wins. But if the Hogs head home at 3-3, that is probably the mark most people had pegged for the halfway point.

The remainder of the schedule is, if not outright winnable, at least manageable. Six games and not a one of the opponents will measure up to Alabama or Florida - not Ole Miss, not LSU, not even South Carolina, which finds out if it's for real Saturday against the Crimson Tide. Defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson seems to work magic whether he's got 10 starters back or 2, and gives Steve Spurrier's club a chance in every game, but quarterback Stephen Garcia will see a completely different type of defense than he's seen this season in the Tide.

So, granted, Arkansas will face devilish defenders in those games -- talent good enough to slow down Bobby Petrino's high-scoring machine. Scoring 41 or more points in an SEC game, while a possibility against the likes of Mississippi State, is unlikely against the front-seven skill that Ole Miss possesses, or against the well-coached bunch of South Carolina. LSU is the hardest to call six games out, mainly because we don't know if the undisciplined Tigers will fall apart like they did last year or find some success on offense to help out their fierce defense. If quarterback Jordan Jefferson can't step it up, the Tigers' house of cards is sure to fall by Thanksgiving.