Stopping run game a priority

FAYETTEVILLE — Perhaps the biggest concerns after Arkansas’ 28-24 season-opening victory against Western Illinois revolved around two of the Razorbacks’ strengths entering the season.

The play of Arkansas’ offensive and defensive lines was shaky at times, especially when Western Illinois forcefully played keep-away with its hardpounding running game.

The most important thing to improve on before next Saturday’s meeting with Louisiana-Monroe ?

“No. 1 is we’ve got to be able to stop the run,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. “We’ve got to improve, we’ve got to be more physical, we’ve got to get our line to hold their gaps, and then get our safeties and linebackers to fit where they belong.”

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Petrino said the overall tackling wasn’t bad, but fitting defensive players into their slots was hit and miss.

“That [Herb Donaldson, who rushed for 157 yards ] was a very good running back, and we were getting guys there and they were working to wrap up,” he said. “I think it’s really being more gap sound and fitting the runs the way we need to, and then get off the field on third down.”

Redshirt freshman Jerry Franklin led the Razorbacks with 11 tackles.

Other key issues include limiting turnovers on offense and forcing them on defense.

“Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Petrino said.

Personnel report

Asked to point out players who graded out well in the opener, Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino singled out offensive guard DeMarcus Love and safety Dallas Washington.

“[Love ] was very physical and did a nice job of pass protection,” Petrino said. “He’s going to be a great force for us. We’ve got to pull him out more, get him running.”

Petrino said Washington graded out very high on technique and effort on his 31 snaps.

Petrino said there was nothing new Sunday on offensive guard Mitch Petrus, who an Arkansas official said was ineligible to play in the season opener. It is not known when or if Petrus will be eligible.

Petrino didn’t offer anything Sunday that would clear up why senior linebacker Walner Leandre suited out but didn’t play in the opener.

“Walner was just a case where he was being held out this game,” Petrino said. “He’s got to come back and compete and see where we are in the middle of the week.”

Petrino said the duties of freshman safety Elton Ford might be eased up to allow him to concentrate on defense. Ford fumbled away the opening kickoff and had three total kickoff returns before being replaced by London Crawford.

Sack concern At first glance, the four sacks allowed by Arkansas on Saturday looked like a series of failures by the heralded offensive line. Turns out that would only be about half right. Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said the running backs and quarterback Casey Dick need to share some of the blame for the sacks. “A couple were communication problems, a couple of times it wasn’t the offensive line,” he said. “It was the back lining up on the wrong side or going to the wrong place. “ We think of our pass protection as an 11-man thing. Two were communication problems up front, some of that on the quarterback, the others were the inexperience of our running backs.”

Fumble fingers Opening games typically feature some dropped passes, and the Razorbacks had their share of drops on both sides of the ball. Receivers London Crawford, Lucas Miller, Carlton Salters, Joe Adams and Greg Childs all dropped passes that could have been caught. Crawford’s came on a third-and-short that would have moved the chains; Miller’s glanced off his hands and was intercepted; the other three drops all came on the same fourth-quarter series that was capped by Casey Dick’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Childs. Each of the receivers made huge plays during the Hogs’ comeback. On defense, Tramain Thomas, Elton Ford and Jamar Love (twice ) had their hands on balls that could have been intercepted, three of them on Western Illinois’ failed last-ditch possession. “Two of them probably would have been touchdowns,” Coach Bobby Petrino said. “I guess we’d better get the DBs on the Juggs machine.”

Specialty issues Starting with the fumble by freshman Elton Ford on an ill-advised return from 3 yards deep in the end zone on the opening kickoff, the Razorbacks had a less-than-ideal showing on special teams. Jeremy Davis’ kickoffs averaged 10 yards less than Western Illinois kickoff man Taylor Rowan, playing a role in the Hogs’ field-position deficit.

“We weren’t happy with our kickoffs,” Coach Bobby Petrino said. “We would like it inside the 5, between the numbers and the sideline.”

Petrino said Davis had been kicking better in practice, and that he might consider using place-kicker Alex Tejada on kickoffs.

Due to fumbles and special teams play, Western Illinois’ average drive start was robust: Its own 42-yard line. Arkansas’ average start was its 24.

Davis’ net punting average of 38 yards was helped by the Hogs giving up no returns. Aside from the opening fumble, Arkansas’ kickoff returns were decent, though London Crawford made an ill-advised jump into a crowd that led to his injury.

While Western Illinois selfdestructed on its first field-goal attempt with a bad snap, the Razorbacks made sure no score came of it when Jelani Smith harassed holder Joe McEachern into a bad throw, and Isaac Madison nearly picked it off. Stopping Williams

The Razorbacks had their problems blocking Western Illinois All-America linebacker Jason Williams, who had a pair of sacks and forced two fumbles in a superb opening-day effort.

“We had to go to a little different scheme,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said of trying to slow down Williams and the quirky Western Illinois defensive fronts.

Nullifying Williams paid off huge on a third-quarter play. With Williams blitzing right up the gut, Arkansas freshman Dennis Johnson stepped out and shielded him from a clean run at quarterback Casey Dick, who scored on a 23-yard scramble.

Stealing six ? Didn’t it look like freshmen receivers Joe Adams and Greg Childs were mighty close to each other on Adams’ secondquarter touchdown reception ? “They were both right there, both open, and Joe was supposed to stay vertical and he kind of snapped his route off and stole a touchdown,” Coach Bobby Petrino said. So Adams wound up with the first touchdown of the 2008 season for the Razorbacks, and Childs, the team leader with six receptions, caught a key scoring pass in the fourth quarter. Looking ahead The Razorbacks play the first of two games in Little Rock on Saturday at 6 p. m. against Louisiana-Monroe. The game will be available on a pay-per-view basis. Check with your local service provider. Dick top SEC passer

Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick will wake up Tuesday morning as either the top passer or second-best passer in the SEC after the opening week.

Dick’s 318 passing yards was easily the best in conference action through Sunday’s games, 43 yards better than the 275 yards amassed by Georgia’s Matthew Stafford. Dick and Stafford were the only two SEC quarterbacks to pass for 200 or more yards, as several league starters either struggled (South Carolina’s Tommy Beecher ), were part of a rotation (LSU, Auburn and Mississippi State all rotated quarterbacks ) or were in a game where the offense relied heavily on the ground game.

Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton and the Vols take on UCLA tonight in Los Angeles in the final season opener in SEC play. Players of the game

OFFENSE Casey Dick Casey Dick’s debut as a senior had a little of everything. See Dick throw. See Dick run. See Dick lead a fourth-quarter comeback. The quarterback showed some wiggle on his 23-yard scoring run in the third quarter, he threw for a career-high 318 yards on 25-of-41 passing and he scored the game-winning touchdown with 1: 49 left. It doesn’t get much better than that. His lone interception was a back-shoulder throw to Lucas Miller, but it still should have been caught.

DEFENSE Jerry Franklin Redshirt freshman Jerry Franklin had a bit of a challenge in his college debut: call all the plays and strike hard as the key run-plugger against a blasting ground game with a good back. Franklin wasn’t perfect, but he led the way with 11 tackles. The 6-2, 229-pounder out of Marion had three solo tackles and a team-high eight assists to post his teamleading total.