Hogs aim to improve running game, run defense

Noah Trister, The Associated Press

One game into Arkansas’ season, and already the difference is obvious between 2007 and 2008.

The Razorbacks beat Western Illinois 28-24 Saturday night. Their passing game was solid, but their running game was mediocre — when’s the last time you could say that?

Coach Bobby Petrino expects Arkansas’ offense to be more balanced this weekend against Louisiana-Monroe at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.

“Our running game will improve,” Petrino said. “There’s no question in my mind that we’ll come out next week and run the ball a lot better.”

Junior Michael Smith is expected to return from a one-game suspension. He’s the man who is supposed to step in for departed stars Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, and without him, the Razorbacks struggled in the opener. Freshmen Dennis Johnson and De’Anthony Curtis averaged over four yards per carry, but their inexperience was obvious, especially as Arkansas tried to protect quarterback Casey Dick.

Dick was sacked four times in the first half.

Arkansas rushed for only 76 yards and had a hard time stopping the run. Herb Donaldson rushed for 157 yards against the Razorbacks, and the line is their most experienced defensive unit. Arkansas’ defense had only one sack.

“We have to get to the quarterback on passing situations and stop the run on third and short,” junior defensive end Adrian Davis said. “We need to be more physical on that.”

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TICKING AWAY: Arkansas played well on offense from the middle of the second quarter on, but the Razorbacks didn’t have the ball very much. Western Illinois controlled it for 36:43 overall.

One particularly damaging drive came after Carlton Salters lost a fumble late in the third quarter. The Leathernecks took over at the Arkansas 35 and used 8:05 on a 13-play drive that included three third-down conversions. Western Illinois didn’t attempt a pass on the possession, which ended with Javid Milton’s 1-yard touchdown on fourth down. The Leathernecks took a 24-14 lead with 10:34 left in the game, but the Razorbacks had enough time to come back.

For their part, the Hogs converted seven of their last eight third-down attempts — and the one time they failed, they went for it on fourth down and made it on the winning drive.

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KICKING THEMSELVES: Freshman Elton Ford might want to forget his first play of the season. He returned the opening kickoff to the 15 before fumbling the ball away and giving Western Illinois great field position.

The rest of Arkansas’ returns were uneventful, and Ford was part of a secondary that didn’t allow much through the air. Still, Petrino said he might evaluate Ford’s role again.

“I liked Elton in the preseason. Sometimes that’s the hardest thing to evaluate, is how your kickoff returners and punt returners do. Going against the scout team live look is just not the same,” Petrino said. “We’re asking him to do a lot. Maybe we’ll be able to limit what we ask him to do and he’ll play better at safety.”

Petrino wasn’t thrilled with Jeremy Davis, who didn’t put any of his five kickoffs into the end zone. Davis’ average kickoff landed at the Western Illinois 12-yard line.

“We would like it inside the 5, between the numbers and the sideline,” Petrino said. “He obviously mishit a few. I’ll tell you what we were getting, though. We were getting great effort from our cover teams.”

The Leathernecks averaged only 17 yards per kick return.

Petrino hinted that kicker Alex Tejada, who handles field goals and extra points, might work with kickoffs as well.

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RESPECT: Western Illinois’ near-upset put the rest of college football’s second tier on notice. The Leathernecks moved from No. 25 to No. 18 in The Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision poll.

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Pig points ... Arkansas is 7-0 against Louisiana-Monroe. ... The Razorbacks won for only the fifth time in the last 11 seasons when held under 100 yards rushing. ... Junior S Matt Harris made 10 tackles against the Leathernecks. He entered the game with three career tackles. ... Dick’s 25 completions gave him 293, moving him one ahead of Quinn Grovey and into seventh place on Arkansas’ career list. ... As of Tuesday, Arkansas OL Mitch Petrus was ineligible to play in games, but he is allowed to practice.