Yes, there has been a lot of rain this week, but unless you see a bearded guy building an ark and animals lining up in pairs, War Memorial Golf Course will be open for tailgating Saturday.

There are already numerous motor homes parked around the stadium, and while those are on pavement, the only places stadium manager Charlie Staggs is concerned about are the low-lying ones.

“We’ve had rain before and have never closed the golf course,” Staggs said. “We’re inspecting some areas that might have received too much water because of draining, but we expect to be open Saturday.”

That means the biggest and some of the best tailgating in the country will commence Saturday morning and will last into the night.

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It is almost a tossup which is better for pregame festivities, Ole Miss’ Grove or the WMS Golf Course.

The Grove is a bit more dignified. It’s more of a khaki pants and blue blazer crowd sipping bloody marys out of cups, as compared to the jeans, T-shirt and cold beer in a cup crowd here.

That doesn’t mean there are no socialites on the golf course. There are probably as many as there are in the Grove. It’s just that the golf course attracts thousands more.

There are those at both places who come for the party more than the game.

Not everyone with a ticket goes to Ole Miss games. Here, every ticket to the Razorbacks game is used, but there are many, many more people on the golf course without tickets who just want to share in the pregame festivities.

If you plan on being part of this great tradition, you can get there as early as 6 a. m. but no later than 10 a. m. There is a midnight curfew after the game, but most will be asked to leave before then.

Of course, there are rules about cleaning up your area, and this year that is especially important since the area is going to be damp.

Everyone gets tired of the “they are young” explanation, but in the case of the 2008 Arkansas Razorbacks, it’s not an excuse. It’s a cold, hard fact.

Last Saturday, according to the UA participation chart, 15 true freshmen and five redshirt freshmen saw action.

Only 10 seniors got on the field.

That’s young, very young by anyone’s standards, but it is also a strong indication that the future of the Razorbacks program is going to be good.

For those who were curious, Casey Dick passed 17 times on first down Saturday night.

While D. J. Williams was the favored receiver with six passes thrown his way, nine receivers got a first-down throw.

Oh, and including a pass for minus-1 yard, 181 of Dick’s 318 yards passing came on first down.

The total yards in the air were the most since Clint Stoerner was the quarterback and the seventh-most in a game in Razorbacks history.

Dick has thrown 36 touchdown passes in his career. He is 17 away from moving ahead of Matt Jones for second, and 22 away from moving in front of the Razorbacks career leader in touchdown passes, Stoerner, who has 57.

With the new offense, Dick may leave the UA with a lot of passing records.

With no television and new clock rules, the Razorbacks’ first game took 3 hours, 3 minutes, which is amazing considering the teams threw a combined 67 times. They also had a combined 67 rushes.

Generally, this is the cupcake time of the year, when powerhouses pay big bucks for a team to come to their place and get a nice paycheck in exchange for losing.

Arkansas State wanted no part of that last Saturday and beat Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, in front of 78, 000 Aggies fans.

ASU Coach Steve Roberts was quick to say he didn’t want that victory to define the season, that his team’s goal is still to win the Sun Belt Conference title.

Great attitude after a great victory.