Jim Harris: If Only the Hog Players Took Ole Miss as Seriously as the Hog Fans Do

Some things we would hope to see in college football seasons coming just around the corner:

* The Arkansas football team takes the Ole Miss game as seriously as the Razorback fans do. The disappointment on the faces of thousands of Arkansas fans who trekked over to Oxford was akin to what we saw back in the Southwest Conference days and losing to Texas. Razorback fans took up a significant portion of three sections in the southeast corner of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and half of the north end zone seating. Plus, many others found some prime seating closer to the 50-yard line.
It was an impressive turnout - which, of course, was the complete opposite of the emotional turnout by their football team.

Bobby Petrino and his staff just turned next year's Ole Miss game into pretty much a must-win game. It certainly should have had more emotion to it from the Hogs than the come-up-short effort against No. 1 Florida. And, to think there was absolutely NOTHING to be looking ahead to, with pathetic Eastern Michigan rolling in for homecoming.

There is that nagging "magic level" back in our mind, and how former Razorback basketball coach Eddie Sutton said he feared his team being too emotionally charged too early and going past that magic level, then ending up looking flat and terrible. It really happens, though folks who haven't been there but sit in the stands watching it happen don't quite understand it.

That said, Petrino and his staff might want to work on a different approach to getting fired up for Ole Miss, if it was truly circled on their schedule.

* The Ole Miss coach and his team no longer thinks it necessary for the Gatorade dousing after a big win. This was a 3-3 Arkansas team, for gosh sakes. A win over Alabama ranked No. 2 would have been Gatorade-bath-deserving. Beating Arkansas because it's where Houston Nutt managed to ply his coaching trade for 10 years doesn't constitute a big win on a national scale. Last year, OK - douse the coach in blue Gatorade. Last year, OK - coach should go on and on about how the Arkansas date has been circled, and that he recruited most of those players.

Two years have passed now. We can all move on. Word for coach: You should have brought the same emotion to the South Carolina games, and you should have brought more Dexter McCluster to the Alabama game. He's your best player. Six touches against 'Bama for McCluster was no way to beat the Tide. You still might have come up short, but it would have given you a chance. Your defense is solid.

Actually, maybe it would make Arkansas fans proud when any opposing coach thinks a win over the Hogs is Gatorade worthy. Right now, Arkansas isn't at that level.

* Arkansas has more talent on the field than Ole Miss. A good start might be to hit the state of Mississippi a little harder in recruiting than this staff has and the previous Razorback coaches managed. Speaking of, the current Ole Miss coach, at last look, has nine commitments for the 2010 class and not one of them is from the state of Mississippi - which is renowned for producing future NFL stars, right behind Louisiana for states in Arkansas' immediate area.