Remember when Bobby Petrino was considered Public Enemy No. 1, and Arkansas fans were talking about boycotting ESPN because of the criticism Petrino received for leaving the Atlanta Falcons to coach the Razorbacks?

Well, that seems like a long time ago.

Petrino has appeared on ESPN since then, and he’ll be back on The Mothership this afternoon. He’s scheduled to be a guest on ESPN’s College Football Live, which runs from 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Petrino should have no shortage of things to talk about after watching his team put together a complete performance in Saturday’s rout of Texas A&M in the inaugural Southwest Classic in Cowboys Stadium.

College Football Live begins in less than an hour, so if you’re at work, tell your boss you have a dentist’s opponent and go find a TV.

It’s that time of week again. Done with final stories in preparation for Saturday’s game. Waiting for the Stephens jet to pick us up and take us to Arlington tomorrow (and hopefully we’ll get there before kickoff this time).

But while we wait, it’s time to clean out my notebook with some leftover notes, quotes and thoughts before the Texas A&M game.

• Everyone wants to know how QB Ryan Mallett is going to respond after a bad day at ‘Bama. I got a chance to ask Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino about it after Thursday’s practice. He said Mallett has given plenty of indication that he’ll bounce back this week.

“He’s done a great job of leading,” Petrino said. “He’s been very focused. He’s worked real hard at his footwork. Like you would like a guy to respond. Like you would like a great competitor to respond.”

Mallett will get his opportunities against a defense that hasn’t faced a big test, yet. But Texas A&M has shown an ability to pressure quarterbacks, collecting 14 sacks in three games. Eight of those have come from defense end/linebacker Von Miller. Mallett said earlier this week his inability to handle the pressure cost his team at ‘Bama. But he wants to make sure he does a better job Saturday.

“I was trying to make plays and get my team back in the game, but in reality, if I would have stuck to my technique, I would hit a lot of those throws that we missed,” Mallett said.

• One more thing Petrino was asked about Thursday: Does the SEC vs. Big 12 matter? His response was, not really. Arkansas has other things to worry about after dropping a couple of games.

“It means that we need to go down and get us a win,” Petrino said. “You know what I mean? It adds up probably for the conferences and all that, but this is really about us going down and playing well. Seeing our hard work pay off. Being able to fight through tough times and stick together and go down and play well. I want to see us compete, play well, finish the game with a ‘W.’”

Petrino also was asked if this has become a “backs against the wall” game for his team. He wouldn’t go that far.

“We want to win it,” Petrino said. “There’s no question about it. We need to execute, play well and win the game.”

• A lot has been said of Texas A&M QB Jerrod Johnson. And for good reason. Johnson is off to a great start, averaging more than 300 passing yards a game. He has 9 TDs, 0 INTs. He also is the team’s second-leading rusher and has scored 4 rushing TDs so far.

The dual-threat is a new element for the Hogs. Safety Matt Harris said Arkansas will have to be on its toes tomorrow night.

“It’s just one more thing,” Harris said. “The beauty of football and defense. There’s’s always something they can throw at you. There’s always an offense to prepare for. But we’ve been working hard all practice all week long. So we’re not going to go in there intimidated by a dual-threat quarterback. We’re going to respect him, but we’re going to play our defense.”

• Junior college transfer Andru Stewart spent part of the week working with the first-team defense. We don’t know if he’ll start Saturday, but do know he is starting to impress Arkansas’ coaches. It has taken Stewart time, but defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said he’s starting to figure out what he needs to do to succeed at this level. The first step was to get past feeling overwhelmed by it all.

“He was overwhelmed,” Robinson said. “There was a lot of information being pushed to him (in the spring). I think the other part of it is sometimes you come in and here’s a young man that comes from California and he’s made it to the SEC and it’s like, ‘Well, I’m here.’ So there’s a little bit of, I don’t think it’s confidence, it’s that he felt shoot he made it. Why do everything else? So he had to learn how to earn his money.”

• We all know Arkansas’ secondary has struggled to defend against the pass. But the Razorbacks could use some help from their pass rushers, too. The Razorbacks defensive front has 3 1/2 sacks in three games. The defensive ends have just one of those. I got to talk to DE coach Kirk Botkin for a little while Wednesday and we talked about getting pressure on the quarterback.

“We’ve been pretty productive so far stopping the run,” Botkin said. “We’ve got to get better pressure on the quarterback and that comes from all four of the defensive linemen. But I think at the end spot we only have one quarterback sack. That’s an area I’m tryng to emphasize.”

Botkin said it’s not all about sacks. The Razorbacks won’t get to the quarterback every time, but need to make him hurry his throws. We saw what can happen last Saturday. Alabama only had three sacks, but Mallett was under pressure and hurried most of the day.

• We all know that Arkansas’ receivers, like Mallett, had a tough outing against ‘Bama. Dropped passes and other mistakes were costly. WR Jarius Wright said the group probably lost its confidence early with some dropped passes. However, he said there’s no excuse for it and vowed that the Razorbacks’ receiving corps is determined to play better this week.

“After the game, we just had to get our priorities straight,” Wright said. “The way we bounce back is just coming into the next game and showing everybody that we can play lights out. We can be the lights out receivers everybody thought we were in the first two games.”

• Arkansas needs to run the ball Saturday. It’s something that has been said plenty of times, but offensive tackle Ray Dominguez added an important reason when he spoke to us Tuesday. The Razorbacks need to help their defense as much as possible because of Texas A&M’s frenetic, no-huddle offense which is averaging more than 80 snaps a game. The more Arkansas can stay on the field, the more rest the defense gets.

“Everyone knows we can pass the ball, but we’re really trying to establish the run just so we can control the clock,” Dominguez said. “Three-and-out and only wasting 30 seconds off the clock doesn’t help. It keeps our defense out (on the field) and it keeps them tired.”

• I wrote something on Matt Harris and his father, former Dallas Cowboys great Cliff Harris for today’s paper. But I didn’t get in a funny quote from Monday’s press conference, when Matt Harris was asked what his dad thinks of the new stadium.

Harris said he hasn’t heard from his dad about it. In fact, he didn’t even know his dad was there for the opening game in Cowboys Stadium.

“He didn’t even actually tell me he was going to the game because we played Georgia and he came to the Georgia game,” Harris said. “They played the Giants the next day. He was so caught in the Georgia game and asked me a question about the Georgia game that he forgot to even mention he was going to go to the opening game at Texas Stadium. That is the kind of guy he is – just so concerned about his kid still that he didn’t even say anything about it. I called him at halftime. ‘I said I saw you on TV, you didn’t tell me you were going to the game.’”

• I’ll close with one more note from Texas A&M defensive coordinator Joe Kines. The Aggies have been relying on tons of youth on defense this season (sound familiar). There are 14 freshmen and sophomores on the defensive depth chart. Kines was asked about it by the media in College Station, Texas, earlier this week. Here was his response:

“That’s what we’ve got,” Kines said. “They’re a good bunch and they’re getting better every day. They’re fun to coach and it’s fun to come to work with them. They’re going to make some mistakes, but they’re going to run out of some problems sometimes, too. I think that’s the biggest difference this year. Sometimes we can make a mistake and we’re fast enough to run out of it and overcome it. Before we just say, ‘Oh my goodness.’”

That’s it for me for the week. I’m going to try to slip away and enjoy some downtime before setting up in the press box tomorrow night.

Make sure you check out RazorbackCentral.com later tonight and tomorrow for more on this game. Alex Abrams is in Arlington right now working on a story on Cowboys Stadium and another on the renewal of this old SWC series.

Don’t forget to check back here to the Hog Blog tomorrow for plenty of info before, during and after the game. And you can always follow us on Twitter at three locations (@NWAOnlineHogs, @NWARobbie, and @NWAAlex).

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino just spoke to us for the final time before Saturday’s game in Arlington.

No big news, but a couple of things worth mentioning:

• Petrino was asked about the defensive back shakeup and said there hasn’t really been one. Elton Ford and Tramain Thomas have split reps at safety this week after splitting time last Saturday. He said both will play Saturday, but did not name a starter.

• Tackle DeMarcus Love practiced again Thursday after missing Tuesday’s workout. Petrino said he skipped Tuesday because his knee swelled up on him after hurting it at ‘Bama. Love didn’t miss time in that game and should be ready Saturday, Petrino said.

• The Razorbacks will go to Texas a little earlier than usual to make sure they get a walk-through in at Cowboys Stadium. Petrino said it’s a little different routine. He usually likes to get the work done in Fayetteville. But we all know Jerry World is going to be a unique environment so the Razorbacks want the shock value to go away with a walk-through. Petrino said the “super jumbotron” might even be turned on Friday.

• Petrino was asked about the team’s work this week and said it’s been good. He was particularly impressed with the attitude of his players, saying they’ve done a good job of encouraging each other. “That shows pride and that shows that they really want to get this thing right,” he said.

That’s about it for now. Make sure you check out RazorbackCentral.com for more on the game tomorrow. And we’ll always have some good stuff here on the Hog Blog. Once again, I’ll be cleaning out my notebook with all kinds of final news and notes tomorrow.

Today is Wednesday, which means I leave tomorrow for Dallas and what should be an entertaining game in a stadium that looks big even on TV. What does a $1 billion stadium look like in person?

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still have more football to cover in Fayetteville before we leave for the Lonhorn State.

Robbie Neiswanger wrote a story in today’s Morning News about Arkansas piling up penalties over the past few games. The trend has annoyed Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino and left others to scratch their heads. But Texas A&M has seen even more yellow flags this season.

I have a notebook in today’s newspaper. In it, Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino accepts responsibility for last Saturday’s loss at No. 3 Alabama, offensive guard Mitch Petrus goes off on his own offensive line and changes are made to the first-team offense and defense.

The Dallas Morning News has a rather lengthy article on Petrino embracing Fayetteville and Arkansas fans. The (Other) Morning News reporter was in town last week doing interviews for the story.

That’s it for now. But I’ll have more after Petrino speaks at 11 a.m. on the SEC coaches teleconference. And you can follow me on Twitter (@NWAAlex).

A lot has been said and written about the Alabama postgame press conference last Saturday because two big issues/topics emerged.

First, Bobby Petrino’s assessment that the Razorbacks didn’t believe they could win raised eyebrows.

Second, the fact that Arkansas’ offensive and defensive coordinators weren’t available for comment did.

I was able to go cover the first topic in today’s notes, but didn’t get into the coordinator talk. However, Petrino was asked why Paul Petrino, Willy Robinson and John L. Smith weren’t available after the loss. Especially since they’ve been available throughout his tenure – win or loss.

Petrino classified it as a misunderstanding Monday. Apparently, when Kevin Trainor and Zack Higbee — who are in Arkansas’ media relations department — went to get the assistant coaches for interviews Saturday, they were already on the team bus.

“After the game, I did get on the players and I guess the last thing I said was, ‘Guys, lets get in the shower, get dressed, and get on the bus,’” Petrino said. “Coaches did the same thing. By the time Zack came in to get the coordinators, I guess they were on the bus.”

Petrino said he wasn’t keeping the assistants off limits.

“It wasn’t something that, ‘Hey, they’re not talking to the assistant coaches,’ or anything like that,” Petrino said. “We get our butts kicked they need to face the music just like I do. I’d rather say, ‘Hey, I’m on the bus and you talk to the coordinators.’ We can do that if it ever happens again. But it was nothing like that. I said, ‘Let’s get dressed, get on the bus, and get home. And that’s what the coaches did also.”

I’m still working on my final story for the week. One that will appear in tomorrow’s paper. But wanted to take a break from putting it together to run through all of the leftover notes, quotes and tidbits. It’s a weekly thing I like to do here on the blog. So let’s get started:

• Saturday’s game is shaping up to be a very interesting battle between head coaches. Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino is regarded as an offensive mastermind, whose team is rolling (especially through the air) this season. Alabama’s Nick Saban, on the other hand, is well-known for his defensive background. And the Crimson Tide has one of the nation’s best defense. It has clearly impressed Petrino this week.

“They’re really good on defense,” Petrino said Thursday. “They have real good players. They have a great scheme. They challenge you. They come up and try not to give you anything easy. They make you earn it. They have great schemes to attack your protections and your pass protection. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for what they do defensively and what he’s always done defensively.”

• The anchor of ‘Bama’s defense is nose guard Terrence Cody, who has given teams fits the past two years. After all, the guy is a 360-pounder and plugs up the interior. Not an easy thing to deal with. Arkansas guard Mitch Petrus talked about the challenge Tuesday.

“I’ve never played against him, but I know he’s big. I know he can move,” said Petrus, who was ineligible for last year’s game. “We don’t have anybody on the offensive line that’s 360. We’ve got to really make sure we use good technique and come off the ball. … You can’t go in there and get all freaked out and go in there and get scared. You can’t let him dictate where you go. You’ve got to hold him off the best you can.”

• We touched on it a little earlier this week, but defensive coordinator Willy Robinson indicated that S Elton Ford could be ready for playing time this weekend. Ford hasn’t played since his severe neck injury last October and an ankle injury slowed him the past couple of weeks.

But getting Ford back could help a secondary that struggled. Robinson said it has been a long process for Ford, though.

“He’s starting to come back,” Robinson said. “He’s starting to get healthy and he’s starting to put it all together. The mental aspect of it and the assignment aspect of it. We’re bringing him back. The thing is, we’re bringing him back slowly. It’s still a major situation. I think there was a confidence issue with him. Even thought I thought earlier there wasn’t, I think there was.”

• Along the same line, it’s clear Anthony Leon is getting closer and closer to contributing more. Robinson said he played about 30 snaps against Georgia and the Razorbacks want to see him continue to improve. Leon reported to campus later than most incoming players and it has taken time for him to get adjusted to the Razorbacks’ system.

“I think he had over 30 snaps and played pretty decent,” Robinson said. “He had two mental errors at the end of the first half that were kind of costly, but you live to play the next day I guess. He got more production last week than he’s had. So that was good.

“He’s starting to settle down. It’s coming to him. He’s had a really good week of practice.”

• Arkansas freshman LB Terrell Williams was put in a tough spot last week. He replaced Jerry Franklin when the sophomore was ejected. Georgia went right after him, too. Williams made a mistake on the 80-yard touchdown run.

But position coach Reggie Johnson said Williams can learn from the experience, as rough as it was.

“He is a good football player and he’s going to bounce back and he’s going to make some big plays for us this year,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to get him in the right situations. He’s got to continue to grow and learn in the defense as we go with this thing. Again, he’s going to come back and have some big-time ballgames for us. We’re not down on him by any stretch of the imagination.”

• Arkansas’ defense didn’t play well. We know that. But the Razorbacks weren’t totally discouraged. In fact, I got to talk to DE Adrian Davis about the run defense the other night. Outside of the 80-yard touchdown run, it was good. Georgia had 75 yards on 35 other attempts.

“That 80-yard run hurt,” Davis said. “But we held them other than that. We feel like we’ve got a better defense than what we had last year.”

Arkansas will find out how good it is against the run Saturday, though. ‘Bama is averaging 267.7 rushing yards a game.

• Last week, Georgia WR A.J. Green had a field day against the Hogs. This week, the secondary gets the pleasure of covering Alabama’s Julio Jones. We got a chance to catch up with Matt Harris, who spoke about the challenge Wednesday.

“It’s just the SEC,” Harris said. “Every week we’re expecting a different opponent with another star player. So it’s nothing that we fear.”

Harris was asked to explain the differences between the two receivers: “A.J. Green, I think has a litlte more speed than Julio Jones,” Harris said. “But Julio Jones is a big body guy. He can go up there and run across the middle and make you play.”

• We know Arkansas can throw the ball. But we don’t know if they can sustain success on the ground. Michael Smith’s injury left that a question mark last week, but Smith said he’s ready to go. And he said Arkansas is ready to balance out its attack at ‘Bama.

“We have to,” Smith said. “We don’t want them to just sit back deep and wait on the crossing pass, wait on the deep route. We want to come up every now and then so we can hit the play-action pass or sit back deep and run right down the middle. That’s what we’ve been working on since December, to become a more balanced offense. Now it’s time to start putting it together.”

OK. I think that about does it. I’m going back to writing my story for Saturday’s paper. I’ll check in later today if something newsworthy pops up.

If not, we’ll be bringing you more from Tuscaloosa, Ala., tomorrow. Make sure to check the Hog Blog and follow us on Twitter.

We all know Arkansas’ defense was shredded by Georgia, leaving plenty of questions about this group as it enters the Alabama game.

The run defense played well except for one costly, 80-yard touchdown run. The pass defense was woeful, giving up play-and-play-after-play to the Bulldogs. Defensive backs were beaten in coverage numerous times. Defensive linemen didn’t put much pressure on the quarterback. There were assignment errors. Missed tackles. Mental busts. It’s something we’ve been writing about and will continue to do so.

But there is one thing that did go right Saturday night. For awhile anyway.

Arkansas forced three Georgia turnovers in the first half. One came on special teams, when Wendel Davis pounced on a muffed punt and it led to Arkansas’ first touchdown. Then there was a fumble recovery by Arkansas defensive end Adrian Davis. And the third turnover came when Tramain Thomas intercepted a Joe Cox pass (It was the play that led to Jerry Franklin’s ejection).

Arkansas has forced five turnovers in two games. Not bad if you think back to last year, when the Hogs didn’t force a turnover until the fourth quarter of its 49-14 loss to Alabama. That was the third game of the season. It’s one positive Bobby Petrino did point out this week.

“We did get three turnovers in the game,” Petrino said Monday. “We are on the plus side of the turnover battle, which is good.”

Arkansas is plus-3 in turnover margin so far this season, which is tied for third in the SEC with Ole Miss and LSU. Auburn leads the league at plus-7, while South Carolina is at plus-4. Georgia is last at minus-7.

Even more important, Arkansas has done a good job of cashing in on the turnovers. The Razorbacks have scored 28 points off the five turnovers forced so far. The only time they didn’t score was after Thomas’ interception last Saturday.

Thomas leads Arkansas with two interceptions in two games. Wendel Davis has a fumble recovery and an interception.

Interestingly, Davis was holding a football during post-practice interviews yesterday. I asked the senior how he has been around the ball.

“I’m just hustling and getting to the ball,” Davis said. “That’s what defense is all about. It felt good for the first couple of games, getting hold of the ball. Hopefully I can make a third one (Saturday) and just keep it going.”

We know Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino spoke very highly of Alabama’s defense during today’s press conference, calling the Crimson Tide a physical bunch which knows how to get after the quarterback. In fact, he said Alabama will be a very difficult challenge Saturday.

“We’ve got to get ourselves to third-and-medium and third-and-short because they like to tee off with their pass rush,” Petrino said. “Third down is when they really like to do their blitzing. They have a lot of experience so they can get a little exotic on some of the blitzes that they do and they’re very good at it.”

Well, Alabama coach Nick Saban met with the media in Tuscaloosa, Ala., today, too. One topic of conversation: Arkansas’ offense.

Saban said the Razorbacks will challenge ‘Bama’s defense, which, arguably, has been one of the nation’s best so far. Arkansas is second in the nation in total offense (538 yards), passing offense (427.5 yards) and is eighth in scoring offense (44.5 points).

“Arkansas, to me, is one of the best offensive teams in the country,” Saban said. “Bobby Petrino has always been one of the best offensive coaches wherever he’s been or whatever level. They have a great passing game.”

Arkansas had success against Alabama’s defense early last year, moving the ball up and down the field. The problem was, interceptions killed drives. Arkansas couldn’t punch the ball in the end zone, either. It led to the 49-14 loss.

But Saban knows Arkansas looks a little different this year with Ryan Mallett under center. He said Mallett is executing well.

“They just really lit it up throwing it,” Saban told the Alabama media today. “I think they are very, very dangerous when it comes to making big plays in the passing game. That’s something that we have not seen.”

Had to shift my attention to basketball yesterday afternoon, but haven’t forgotten there’s a little football game coming up tomorrow night in Razorback Stadium. I’m finishing up work for tomorrow’s paper, so you know what that means: There’s plenty of extra notes and quotes about the Georgia game that won’t make it in print.

So it’s time to clean out the notebook:

1. First up, got a little note from our interview with Arkansas safety Matt Harris on Monday. He was asked if the defense was a little disappointed they never got to face former Georgia QB Matt Stafford. Harris told us he did play against Stafford in high school.

“We’re both from the Dallas area,” Harris said. “I played him when he was at Highland Park. When I played him, he was a sophomore and I knew he was going to go to the NFL. I committed to Arkansas, he committed to Georgia that next year and I figured I might have another shot at him. I was one year off if he didn’t leave. It’s kind of disappointing, but to not play against a guy like Stafford does take a little pressure off of you.”

2. CB Rudell Crim has his first game as a Razorback under his belt. But Crim – a JUCO transfer – is getting ready for his first taste of SEC ball Saturday. I talked to Crim for a few minutes Wednesday and the last question I asked was this: Are you getting any sleep?

Apparently, he isn’t. There may be some visions of Georgia WR A.J. Green dancing in his head.

“It’s not easy to sleep, honestly,” Crim said. “You just have to try to stay humble to yourself and try to get as much rest as you can. Right now everybody is so excited and pumped up about this big first SEC game, conference game. It can be overwhelming but you have to force yourself to stay calm and get some sleep.”

3. Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said some funny things Wednesday. Like his “they don’t know who the hell I am” response to a question about whether he knew anyone on Georgia’s staff. But one thing that didn’t create a laugh is worth nothing. Robinson was asked what he thought was different about the ‘Dawgs offense in their second game. Short answer: Quick screens.

“Their run game hasn’t changed much, but their pass game became more accessible for their quarterback to be able to manage it,” Robinson said. “A lot of screens to a lot of different players. A lot of quick game. You can make explosive gains off of quick game. You’ve got to be able to tackle the catch. … The quick game, the screens, it made it so much easier for the quarterback to manage it.”

4. It didn’t really fit into anything I was writing, but Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino was asked about Ryan Mallett on the SEC Teleconference on Wednesday. Specifically, he was asked if he could compare Mallett to any other quarterback he has coached.

“It’s hard to compare him because he’s so different,” Petrino said. “I’ve never coached a guy this tall before or a guy that has the arm strength that he has. I’ve been happy with his progress. He’s done a nice job. He’s a great student of game. He works extremely hard at it. Since he’s been here, he’s dropped from 265 pounds down to 238 so he’s really taken a lot of responsility in getting his body ready to play. And he came out and had a good game the first game.”

5. Well Rested vs. Battle Tested. It’s a topic we explored in a story we wrote earlier this week. Petrino was asked about it a little more on the teleconference Wednesday. Petrino said advantage Georgia. He said Arkansas must adjust quickly to the speed of the game.

“There’s a concern,” Petrino said. “When we see what we opened up with and the opponent that we played, we did play well. They’re not same quality teams as an Oklahoma State and a South Carolina. I think that gives Georgia the advantage in the fact that they’ve been in hard fought game and very fast and physical game. What we have to do is make sure we understand what getting ourselves into and we come out and be aggressive early and adjust to speed quickly.”

6. We know that Georgia has been impressive on the road in SEC games under Richt. Honestly, you can’t ask for anything more than a 24-4 record in an eight-year span. So why is Georgia so good in road games? Richt said it has to do with quarterback play.

“The one player who has to weather the storm is your quarterback,” Richt said. “Your defense doesn’t have to worry about it much. Not only handle noise and communication, but feeling if something goes a little bad the whole world is against him.”

Richt has had some pretty good ones in David Greene, D.J. Shockley and Stafford. How will Joe Cox fare?

7. A lot has been said about Green already. Clearly, the matchup with Arkansas’ DBs will be one to watch. But defensive end Jake Bequette said the defensive line will have plenty of responsibilities, too, knowing there’s a big-play threat outside.

“It gives us extra motivation to get back there because we know what an excellent player he is,” Bequette said. “It’s very obvious when you turn on the film who No. 8 is and what he can do. As defensive ends and defensive tackles, we’re going to have get back and put some pressure on No. 14.”

8. Finally, the last thing I’ll write is a quote I didn’t get to use from running back Michael Smith. Clearly, everybody realizes this is a big game for Arkansas’ season. Win this and the goal of winning every home game becomes more legitimate. Lose it and you just might have to be kicking and clawing to make sure you’re bowl eligible at the end of the year.

Smith was asked about his thoughts on Saturday’s stakes for the Razorbacks.

“If we’re going to have a big year we need to come out and win every game,” Smith said. “Making sure that we win every game. It starts right here with Georgia. There’s a lot riding on it. We have to make sure we come out and execute, we come out and compete, and most of all, just finish and come out with a win.”

  So I was about to leave to get a haircut – because I’m looking like Tusk on a bad day – when I decided I’d check the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Web site. (For the record, I was raised outside Atlanta, so this is the newspaper that used to come to my driveway as a kid.)

  Anyway, as I was checking ajc.com, I saw a column by Jeff Schultz that begins with him talking about Saturday’s highly anticipated game between Arkansas and No. 23 Georgia. Well, let’s just say that Schultz takes some shots at Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino, who isn’t particularly liked in Atlanta because of his abrupt departure as the Falcons’ coach.

  Schultz also takes some shots at Fayetteville, but they are all in good fun. Here is the link to his column.

  On a more news worthy note, Georgia running back Caleb King will likely see his first action of the season on Saturday after missing the first two games because of a pulled hamstring. You can read all about King’s status and more in this notebook from the AJC’s Tim Tucker.