Usually, my notebook is loaded with football leftovers. But this hasn’t been a normal week.

Basketball duty pulled me away from football practice on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Alex Abrams was there for the entire week, but it has left me searching for some leftover stuff worth sharing here on the blog. The good news? I think I found some.

• We all know that Arkansas running back Michael Smith will be a gametime decision before of his hamstring injury. It’s a situation Florida has been keeping track of, apparently. Florida coach Urban Meyer said earlier this week the Gators are paying attention to Smith, especially since he played so well against the Florida defense last season.

“I guess he’s got a little hamstring injury that we’re keeping an eye on because that’s how much respect we have,” Meyer said. “He ripped us apart last year. I’d never really heard of him until we played him, and I saw firsthand a hard guy to tackle, has great acceleration through the hole. They’re a big zone running team, and he’s perfect for it. No, we think he’s one of the top five backs in the league, no question.”

• Remember what Arkansas did with its punt return team last week? The Razorbacks dropped both Jerell Norton and Michael Smith back deep to catch the ball the entire game. Well, I asked John L. Smith about it on Wednesday night and he said it was something the Razorbacks came up with because of what the Tigers did. Auburn’s punter shaded the ball to the side and was getting extra yards on the roll.

“If we can eliminate the 10-, 20- and 15-yard rolls, then that’s going to save us and make us a lot of ground,” Smith said. “I told them our goal this week for us is to not let a ball hit the ground and we did that. Even though it doesn’t show in the stat as a 10-yard return or whatever, it shows up.”

No word on if the Razorbacks will try the same thing Saturday. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

• Arkansas LB Jerico Nelson has gotten plenty of publicity this week. And he deserves it, too, after his performance against Auburn. But there’s another reason for Arkansas’ defensive resurgence the past couple weeks. S Elton Ford has been back in the lineup and playing well. Defensive coordinator Willy Robinson was asked about Ford on Wednesday night.

“I think he’s done a great job tackling,” Robinson said. “There’s still some liability with him in pass coverage. But I think he’s doing a great job of tackling the catch, showing up on the run. He’s starting to stay on his feet when he tackles and great tacklers do do that. They stay on their feet when they tackle. That’s something he’s made great strides in since these last two games as opposed to the last couple of games he played”

• It doesn’t really need to be said that Robinson and the Razorbacks have plenty of respect for Florida QB Tim Tebow. Who doesn’t, right? Well, here’s what Robinson had to say about Tebow and the way he leads the Gators’ offense even after the concussion.

“He runs that offense and he loves being the leader of that offense,” Robinson said. “So regardless of his injury or what it once was, he’s still going to be that competitor. So even though they might say, handoff, or be cautious here, that’s not part of his nature. His nature is to compete and compete and compete until the final bell.”

• Arkansas WR Greg Childs has really played well this season. His performance against Auburn was even more important because the Razorbacks were without Joe Adams and Jarius Wright. Childs will be needed once again against Florida. Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino explained how much confidence Childs has and how important he will be against the Gators.

“Childs right now, he’s begging guys to come up and press him,” Petrino said. “That’s how you want it. You want to have that type of confidence. Come on and play me man and I’ll get the opportunity to make plays. More times than not he’s made the play and we’ve been pretty accurate with the throws. It balances out and opens up your run game. That’s kind of the balance you see. When you run the ball better, you can throw it better. When you can beat man coverage and beat one-on-one coverage, then that allows you to be able to run the ball better because they have to get out of the man coverage.”

• Finally, how does Arkansas feel about playing the No. 1 team on the road? The Razorbacks are looking forward to it, of course. Here is QB Ryan Mallett’s take from Monday’s press conference.

“I mean, there’s always a little bit extra when you’re playing a ranked team, getting ready to prepare for it,” Mallett said. “And then coming in No. 1 and playing the No. 1 team, it’s a big deal for our program. We need to go out there and come home with a win.”

If all goes as planned, this will be the last you hear from me today. I’m hoping to take the rest of the day off after a busy, two-sport week.

If that’s the case, I’ll check back in with you from Gainesville, Fla., tomorrow.

Make sure you follow us here on the Blog and also on Twitter (@NWARobbie, @NWAAlex and @NWAOnlineHogs)

I had a story earlier this week on Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett’s close relationship with Florida quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler. They spent one year together at Michigan in 2007.

Loeffler spoke to the Florida media on Wednesday, and of course, he had plenty of good things to say about his former pupil. Here is what he said about Mallett:

on his relationship with Mallett:

“We had a great relationship. He came all the way from Arkansas. That was quite an adjustment for him — any 18-year-old kid leaving his mom and dad and leaving his family all the way from Texarkana to come up there. We gained a great relationship, and it’s really nice to watch him go on and do some good things at Arkansas.”

on if Mallett would have followed Loeffler to Tennessee if he got a job there?

“I don’t know. Who knows? That was quite a long time ago. I went over to Detroit and he decided to make a decision to Arkansas, which I thought was a really good decision for him. Bobby does a great job in the throw game. It’s an NFL system for him. So that was a good choice and I’m really happy that he’s having some success over there. He’ll mature as these next couple years go by and he’ll be a good player.”

on how Mallett compares now to when he was with Loeffler at Michigan:

“Haven’t seen him on tape, how about that. I haven’t seen him on tape yet one bit. I got to watch a little bit of his, I believe it was his Georgia game. Obviously, I’ve heard he’s doing some really wonderful things.”

on what was it in Mallett that made his special as a freshman:

“He fit the system that we had back then at Michgian. He was a 6-foot-7 drop-back passer. That’s what he wanted to do over there at Arkansas. The system fits him quite well.”

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).

I want to take one more look back at the 35-7 loss to Alabama before turning the page to Texas A&M later today.

It’s time to look back at the five keys to beating Alabama and how the Razorbacks fared:

1. Score Points Early: This one is pretty self-explanatory. Arkansas’ defense did a good job of keeping Alabama off the scoreboard for awhile, but the offense got nothing done itself. Arkansas failed to score in the first quarter for the first time this year … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

2. Fix the Leaks: For the second straight week, an opposing quarterback had a career day. Arkansas’ secondary gave up plenty through the air once again, including an 80-yard touchdown pass (although, Rudell Crim was in good position. He just couldn’t make a play) and a 50-yard touchdown on a trick play. Arkansas has given up 8 passing touchdowns the past two games … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

3. Pressure McElroy: Arkansas registered just one sack Saturday and did not get much pressure on Greg McElroy. The quarterback had plenty of time in the pocket and completed 17 of 24 passes for 291 yards with 3 touchdowns. … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

4. Limit Turnovers: When you see a team score just seven points, you figured turnovers had to play a big role. But Arkansas did a good job of protecting the football. The only turnover came late, when Ryan Mallett threw an interception with the outcome already decided. It was his first interception of the season, but not bad considering ‘Bama had four picks in this game last year. … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

5. Establish the Run: Arkansas showed some flashes with its ground game, but finished with a season-low 63 yards. Michael Smith led the team with 61 yards on 12 carries and nearly every other back had opportunities, too. But the biggest run of the day was an 18-yarder and that came on a third-and-25 play in the first half. Running for 63 yards against ‘Bama won’t win the game. … KEY NOT ACCOMPLISHED

  Ryan Mallett has played only two games at Arkansas, but already he’s being talked about as a better NFL prospect than a Heisman Trophy winner and a likely first-round pick.

  Here is what ESPN’s SEC blogger Chris Low wrote about Mallett, who has passed for 717 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions in his two starts this season.

  Former Vanderbilt safety Corey Chavous, who played in the Pro Bowl during his 11-year NFL career, has identified his early leader as the best pro prospect in the SEC at the quarterback position. 

  And it’s not Tim Tebow or Jevan Snead.

  Chavous, who recently launched his DraftNasty.com Web site for year-round coverage of the NFL draft, thinks Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett has the most NFL potential.

  “My friend, ESPN’s Shaun King said it on TV, and now I’m starting to believe it,” Chavous said. “Mallett, at 6-foot-7 and 248 pounds, is the top NFL prospect in the SEC at quarterback. He made every throw you want to see a premier quarterback make Saturday night. The Arkansas staff has really concentrated on helping him with his footwork.” 

  Mallett will have the option after this season to leave early to enter the NFL Draft. He played as a freshman at Michigan in 2007, then sat out last season because of his transfer to Arkansas. And though he’s listed as a sophomore, this is his third season in college, making him eligible to enter the draft after this year.

  Will Mallett decide to give up his final two years of eligibility to take a shot at the NFL? Well, I spoke with his family and friends for an article on him before the start of the season, and one of his former coaches said Mallett hopes to someday be the first overall pick in the draft.

  But considering that this upcoming draft should be quarterback heavy — with Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, Texas’ Colt McCoy, Snead and Tebow all in the running — Mallett might think twice about leaving early. Now the 2011 NFL Draft could look like a better fit for him.

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.”

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett made quite a debut in his first game with the Razorbacks, completing 17 of 22 passes for 309 yards with a touchdown in the 48-10 win against Missouri State. But let’s be honest. That was Missouri State. Mallett’s first big test as Arkansas’ quarterback comes Saturday, when the Razorbacks play No. 23 Georgia.

We all got a chance to talk to Mallett during Monday’s press conference. Here’s part of the Q&A with the media:

Q: Ryan what are your thoughts on opening up SEC play on such a big stage?

A: “That’s how you’ve got to want it. Big stage, ESPN, first SEC game for me and for the rest of the team. And we’re ready. We’re ready to go out there and compete and have some fun.”

Q: Do you think there are any negatives to having so much time to prepare for Georgia?

A: “You get anxious. Being able to get out there Saturday and release that energy is what we need right now. We had the bye week and we prepared well for Georgia. We’ve just got to go out there and execute and play our style of ball.”

Q: Do you approach your first SEC game any differently?

A: “I approach every game the same way. I go in there and I think everybody else does too, you can’t change your approach to an opponent. If you do, that’s how you get kind of out of sync.”

Q: How important is it to get off to a good start?

A: “We’re trying to get the ‘W’ every game. We’re going to go out there and play our style of football, regardless of who it is. We’ve got to play how we want to play to be successful and that’s what we’re going out there to do.”

Q: Is this is a chance to let the country see you guys?

A: “We don’t look at ourselves as an underdog. We go in the same way. That’s to win the football game. We don’t really pay attention to that other stuff because we know what we can do as a team. If we go out and play how we’re supposed to, we should win a lot of football games.”

Q: Stephen Garcia threw for over 300 yards against Georgia, what are your thoughts on that?

A: “You know me, I’ve said it before, I’m not a stat guy. The only stat I’m worried about is the wins and the losses. I think the guys in the locker room will tell you the same thing. The numbers are all good and everything, but the only ones that matter are in the win/loss column. That’s what we’re going out there to do.”

Q: Does that make you think you can pass the ball on them?

A: “They had success doing it, but I think Georgia will also change some things up and approach the game differently.”

Q: Coach Petrino talked about coming out calm and relaxed. How hard is that to do since it’s the SEC opener?

A: “Since my freshman year until now, I’ve grown up a lot. I don’t get as wired up as I did. I’m more calm and know what I have to do. I’m just going to approach it like I did the Missouri State game with the same mindset and the same focus and stuff like that.”

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino didn’t intend to call so many pass plays throughout the 48-10 win against Missouri State.

But for whatever reason, he said the Bears kept packing players in the box to stop the run. So Arkansas quarterbacks Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson kept throwing the ball. Jarius Wright and the receivers kept catching it. And the result is now a school record.

Not only did Arkansas set a school record for passing yards in a game (447) in the season opener, it can call itself No. 1 in the nation in passing – at least for now. The Razorbacks and Houston sit tied atop the NCAA statistical leader board in passing yards after the first week of the season, which ended with Miami’s 38-34 win against Florida State last night. (What a way to end the week, by the way).

It’s a strange place for Arkansas to be, considering the Razorbacks were a run-oriented offense for years. But it’s clear Petrino has plenty of firepower in the passing game at his fingertips. Consider this: It’s the fifth time Arkansas has thrown for more than 300 yards in the 13 games he has coached. Arkansas had only 16, 300-yard passing games prior to Petrino’s arrival last season.

Let that soak in.

Anyway, in addition to Arkansas sitting atop the NCAA in passing yards, here’s a few more statistical rankings to consider:

TEAM STATISTICS

Total Offense: 591 yards (No. 7 in nation)

Rushing Offense: 144 yards (No. 62)

Scoring Offense: 48 points (No. 16)

Rushing Defense: 82 yards (No. 37)

Passing Defense: 123 yards (No. 23)

Total Defense: 205 yards (No. 21)

Scoring Defense: 10 points (No. 33)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Passing Efficiency: Ryan Mallett – 210.25 rating (No. 5)

Passing Efficiency: Tyler Wilson -153.64 (No. 32)

Total Offense: Ryan Mallett – 311 yards/game (No. 19)

Receiving Yards: Jarius Wright – 139 yards/game (No. 12-T)

Kickoff Returns: Dennis Johnson – 57.5 yards/return (No. 2)

Arkansas running back Dennis Johnson was named the SEC’s co-special teams play of the week this morning.

Johnson picked up the honor after returning the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown in the Razorbacks’ 48-10 win against Missouri State on Saturday. It was the second kickoff return touchdown of his career. He had the game-winning return in Arkansas’ 30-23 win against Tulsa last season. Johnson shares the honor with Florida’s Brandon James, who had an 85-yard return Saturday.

Johnson was on the only Razorback to earn a weekly honor from the league. Quarterback Ryan Mallett, who threw for 309 yards in his Arkansas debut, was included among players who had other “outstanding performances” during the opening weekend of play.

Here’s a list of the SEC’s honorees:

SEC FOOTBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (Games of Sept. 3-6)

OFFENSIVE: MARK INGRAM (Running Back – ALABAMA)
DEFENSIVE: TREVARD LINDLEY (Cornerback – KENTUCKY)
Co-SPECIAL TEAMS: DENNIS JOHNSON (Tailback – ARKANSAS) and  BRANDON JAMES (Athlete – FLORIDA)
OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: CHRIS SCOTT (Tackle – TENNESSEE)
DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: DEVIN TAYLOR (Defensive End – SOUTH CAROLINA)
FRESHMAN: ONTERIO McCALEBB (Running Back – AUBURN)