Traffic was bear coming into Reynolds Razorback Stadium, which leads me to say that I'm glad Arkansas fans DON'T support their team in the way seen around most of the SEC. With a significant number of empty seats in the South outdoor club section, and large open sections in the ends of the east upper deck, this is below-average crowd turnout for a key SEC matchup and a big game as it relates to Arkansas' bowl hopes.

Maybe those fans who aren't here know something. It is on TV, after all, and this 11:21 a.m. kickoff time is for the birds. Again, we've said it before: NO game in the Central Time zone should start before noon,. I don't care how much money the SEC is getting from TV contracts.

OK, let's get started on this game blog. South Carolina is already picking apart the Arkansas defense on the Gamecocks' first possession, after the Hogs made one first down and punted.

Feel free to comment here, or send me an email at jharris@abpg.com and I'll check that periodically, if you want to chime in. Or enjoy this look at the game as it unfolded after it's all over, but start from the bottom and work your way back up. We'll post it in reverse chronological order.

3:30 p.m. (33-16, Arkansas, final) -- We're back from the post-game media room session with Bobby Petrino, the assistants a and the players.

Great quote from a happy Petrino: "The only thing we did wrong in the kicking game was me calling the fake punt. I thought it was there. It ended up giving them a touchdown."

Considering that short USC drive for a touchdown and USC hitting one long pass for a score, the Gamecocks could manage little in the red zone, including failing to score inside the final two minutes in what would have made it a cosmetically better looking final. USC piled up lots of yards (390) but Steve Spurrier probably was tipping his hand early when he was going for fourth down in close in the first quarter. He knew he had to score touchdowns, not field goals.

Ryan Mallett was an amazing 23 of 27 and didn't have a touchdown pass. "I thought I was going to get when with the pass to D.J. [Williams]. I thought he was going to score. I think he striped over the 5-yard line or something."

Arkansas converted 10 of 16 third downs. "I thought that was the difference in the game," Petrino said.

It was quite a comeback day for D.J. Williams, who has been mostly silent this season in Arkansas' offense, and Jerell Norton, the former cornerback turned safety turned cornerback, who in Willy Robinson's eyes made the play of the game intercepted a fade pass in the end zone when Arkansas led 17-16 in the third quarter. Also, Broderick Green, who cynical sportswriters and fans were terming "overrated" early in the season, continues to make big plays and did so again Saturday.

So Arkansas is one win away from coveted bowl "eligibility," though a seventh win (meaning two more Hog wins) would seal the deal and probably land the Hogs in Memphis or Nashville. Dallas and the Cotton Bowl is out even if Arkansas won out -- at least that seems to be the feeling. Dallas already had the Hog fans en masse on Oct. 3 for the Southwest Classic with Texas A&M, the first of 10 meetings with the Aggies.

Next up, Troy here in Fayetteville at 6:30 p.m. Then Mississippi State comes to Little Rock on Nov. 21. The Hogs close out at Baton Rouge against LSU on Nov. 28.

And that's a wrap ....

2:03 p.m. (33-16) -- Officials reviewed a third-down catch by Greg Childs that gave Arkansas a first down, but there was nothing to overrule it -- the ball was low -- and Arkansas powered on in for the touchdown mostly on the ground or with swing passes to Ronnie Wingo, Michael Smith and the may of the day, D.J. Williams. Broderick Green plunged the short 2 yards for the score and Arkansas has this one 

37  yards in nine plays a nd three of three in third down conversions. That will be one of the key stats to reflect on after this is over -- the success Arkansas had on third down today. DJ Williams was a lot of the reason. Also, Arkansas lined up in unbalanced power formations and that was a big aide to Broderick Green, who brings a load anyway at 250 pounds.

1:54 p.m. (26-16 UA) -- Hogs are missing a few chances here of putting this away. The previous UA possession bogged down at the USC 43. Rudell Crim, the Hogs' junior cornerback, had an interception in his chest and didn't hold it. A nice twist up front by Adrian Davis and DD Jones results in the big sack on Stephen Garcia. And Jerell Norton has the best punt return Arkansas has had in years, it seems, with a 38-yard runback that puts Arkansas at the USC 37 with 10 minutes to go. But two snaps gain nothing. We'll be right back.

1:38 p.m. (24-16, UA) -- What's better than the defense getting a three-and-out? How about the defense getting a safety one play after giving up a first down. Brian Maddox, the USC tailback, may have saved a touchdown by recovering a wild snap and Stephen Garcia pickup-and-fumble, but it's still a safety. Arkansas' pressure had picked up on this possession, and it had to affect the snap, which soared over Garcia's head back to the 5. He fell on it, but it then rolled into the end zone. 26-16 Arkansas.

1:32 p.m. -- The Hogs are finding the available holes in the Cocks' defense now. Mallett leads a second-straight long scoring drive, this one of 80 yards in 7 plays, with Broderick Green getting the last two with power plunge over and through right tackle.

It's D.J. Williams day for sure, too. Mallett has been finding D.J. at key junctures in the past two drives, and this one he spots in in a delay off the line to get the ball to the 2 yards line. Greg Childs, the sophomore wide receiver, started the drive first with a vicious crackback block on a running play, then on the next down caught a pass and ran an additional 20 yards to complete a 46-yard play into  USC territory.

24-16 Arkansas, 3:00 left in the third.

7 plays 80 yards

1:27 p.m. (17-16, UA) -- The Hogs didn't get the three and out, giving up a third-and-11 completion that helped jump-start the Cocks on a drive to the Arkansas 20. But Jerell Norton has just made the best play by an Arkansas cornerback in forever (the interception at Ole Miss by Andru Stewart being close) in stealing away a fade route from Garcia to Alshon Jeffery in the end zone (left side). Arkansas takes over on the 20. 

1:13 p.m. (16-10 USC) -- It remains to be seen whether that missed PAT by South Carolina comes back to haunt the Cocks at the end, but it's making its effect now. Arkansas drives 73 yards in 11 play, several of them rushing calls, with three third-down conversions in 5:04 of the clock to regain the lead. Ryan Mallett's 1-yard sneak with the Hogs in an unbalanced line right finished the drive, but it was  his 26-yard pass to D.J. Williams, the newfound man today, that really did the damage and put Arkansas in the red zone.

Arkansas is up 17-16. That was a big-time answer to the Cocks' home run score five minutes early. Now, the even bigger answer would be a rare defensive stop in three downs and a return of the ball to the offense with the lead. We'll see.

1:06 p.m. (10-10) -- I've lost track of  how many plays of 50 yards  or more that Arkansas has given up, but I'm sure it in double digits. And there is one every game, from Eastern Michigan managing it to South Carolina starting the second half with an 80-yard bomb right down the middle of the field from Stephen Garcia to freshman receiver Alshon Jeffery to put the Cocks up 16-10.

Jeffery's a good one; he could have gone to the other USC or to Florida or some big-big-big-time program, but he's one of the few great talents that Steve Spurrier has managed to keep home on the Head Ball Coach's time in Columbia. Rudell Crim was on him, but Jeffery's got serious speed, and Garcia probably threw his best pass ever. It's the longest touchdown pass of Garcia's career.

As is typical of Arkansas' defense, an average quarterback is looking great on the day he goes up against the Hogs. That can't be a coincidence.

And all this happened seconds after Alex Tejada drove a kickoff deep into the end zone and got a standing ovation from the crowd.

12:36 p.m. (10-7. USC) -- Arkansas gets a lucky 3 points at the end of the half, but gets unlucky in that tight end D.J. Williams tripped over his own two feet trying to cut back for a touchdown in the final seconds. Williams caught a short Mallett pass and found an opening down the left sideline to turn it into a 69-yard  play to the USC 6. After an incompletion into the end zone that left 2 seconds to play, Alex Tejada booted the tying field goal.

It's 10-10 at the end of a weird half.

12:31 p.m. -- Inquiring minds want to know: what did the Hogs regular punting for 7 weeks, freshman Dylan Breeding, do to get demoted for a guy, Britton Forester, who kicks a 29-yard punt? Geez. And what did Forester do between the time he left junior college, where he supposedly averaged closer to 40 yards a punt, and arrived in Fayetteville? We've watched him in warmups all season, and he hasn't hit one 40 yards even in practice. Why hasn't Arkansas already offered Russellville kick boomer Zack Hocker?He'll probably end up at UCA, where there are better kickers and punters  than at Arkansas.

12:24 p.m. (10-7 USC) -- USC's nice drive off its own 10 yard line bogs down in Hog territory after a couple of procedure penalties and a missed pass downfield. A bad kick gives Arkansas possession its 27 with 3:47 left in the half.

Spurrier's team isn't putting points on the board, but the Cocks are controlling the clock well. Arkansas needs to get up, quickly, and stay up before we get to the fourth quarter.

12:17 p.m. (USC 10, UA 7) -- Arkansas gets a good drive going, with some nice passing from Ryan Mallett, to reach Cocks territory, then stalls near the 40 after having a second-and-3. This game isn't shaping up well for Arkansas folks. The Hogs punt the Cocks back to their 10 and the defense has let them out and into Razorback territory with a mix of running and short passes. Arkansas is the equivalent of Kentucky right now. That's bad. It would be great in basketball, though. 

Some teams are affected more by the early start. Usually, you expect it to be home team, but Arkansas was ready and then some for Auburn on Oct. 10 in the first early start. Not so today. Back in a minute. 

12:05 p.m. (UA 7, USC 3) -- Wow, shades of Houston Nutt in the 2005 game here against the Cocks, when Arkansas failed on a fourth-and-1 at its own 29 early in the game and was never the same in a 14-10 defeat, Bobby Petrino calls for a fake punt on his own 24-yard line early in the second quarter with the lead. The snap went to Ronnie Wingo, the upback in the punt formation, but the Cocks blew up the play on the Hogs' left side. It was similar to what Arkansas attempted and made at Alabama in September.

To tell you the truth, when I saw USC's smallish-looking punt return team come on the field for fourth down, the first thing I thought was how they might be susceptible to a short snap and run. So, call me as crazy as Bobby Petrino was for calling the play. It wasn't like Arkansas needed to do something to get the momentum, and certainly the  Hogs didn't need to fail and give the Cocks such a short field to drive. They aren't that good. But from 25 yards on in they can probably put at least 3 on the board.

Strange. And it results in Stephen Garcia's 1-yard sneak fo ra touchdown with 12:29 left in the half. The crowd has gone almost silent. 10-7 South Carolina. The Hogs also look a little out of sorts on the ensuing kickoff, with it bouncing before Dennis Johnson returns it 13 yards to the 25. Now, Arkansas has to get the momentum, and the lead, back on its side. 

11:45 a.m.(USC 3, UA 0) -- We suppose the days of fairweather Hog fans whining about what Broderick Green can and can't do is over. With that record 99-yard run last week and his 39-yard run and catch on this Hog possession, Green's talents are being put to great use. The pass out to the flat (this time the left), letting Green get rambling, is the way Pulaski Academy and coach Kevin Kelley used him when Green starred in high school. The 39-yard catch and run set up Joe Adams' 18-yard touchdown run on the speed play, where the flanker runs a reverse. Adams ran left to right and had nice blocking in front, then cut up in and made a dive at the goal line for the Hogs' first score of the game. 7-3, Arkansas. 5:16 left in the quarter.

Now, Willy Robinson's defense has got to show it can stop the big play on the USC end. To think the Cocks are regarded as having little or no running game and nearly broke a big one the last possession. 

11:37 a.m. -- Talk about your bad breaks. Arkansas has a fourth-down play at the 2 stopped -- you could see this huge gap between the  center and right guard that DD Jones penetrated on the snap to destroy the play, even forcing a fumble, but USC had run out of play clock and a delay was whistled. So Spencer Lanning came on to kick a short field goal. 3-0, Cocks, and more than half the quarter is gone. (6:40 showing). Interesting play calling to go for it on fourth-and-1 and succeed, then try to run three straight times at the Hogs' left side and gain 2 yards.

But here's a nice break for the Hogs: a kickoff into the strong south wind goes out of bounds. Hogs start on the 40.  

11:30 a.m. -- South Carolina has taken its first time out, facing a fourth down and 1 at hte Arkansas 6. The Hogs came one lucky arm tackle away from giving up yet another 70-something yard touchdown run early in the Cocks' possession.

Wow, Steve Spurrier is so indecisive about the situation, he's called his second time out before USC has made a snap on fourth down. Putting a lot on this one play. It's a long 1 yard for a first down. USC is going for it, in an  I look wiht a fuillback.... and they get it, just barely. 

Arkansas came out in all red again, the same garb as the Hogs  donned last week against Eastern Michigan. Arkansas' defense has come out resembling the unit that gave up 300-plus yards to awful EMU in the second half. 

I'll say it now, too, if this game were in Little Rock, it would be a capacity crowd, and if Little Rock had the seating it would have drawn more than 70,000. The UA will announce crowd in that neighborhood, but there are big gaps on the ends of both the upper deck east side and lower deck, and we can guess it's similar on our side (which we can't see), meaning about 55,000-60,000 are here.