Run the ball or bust should make its debut for Coach Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas offense tonight at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

The Razorbacks take on Louisiana-Monroe at 6 p.m. in their first of two Little Rock games of 2008, and their emphasis is on balancing out their offensive attack and putting the brakes on the Warhawks’ rushing game.

Arkansas, which survived a scare from Western Illinois in its opener, is a 13-point favorite against a club to which they have never lost. Louisiana-Monroe (0-1 ) fell 34-0 at Auburn last week, and its rushing defense was gashed for 321 yards by the Tigers.

With junior tailback Michael Smith back from a one-game suspension, the Razorbacks plan to push the running part of an attack that was 2 to 1 in favor of pass plays last week and accumulated just 76 of its 394 total yards on the ground. Quarterback Casey Dick had a career-best 318 passing yards and accounted for all four touchdowns, but the Razorbacks never established a ground game like they exhibited throughout spring drills and fall camp.

“We kind of have to go back to what we did in preseason, what we did in the scrimmages, what our strengths were there, and we’re going to try to bring them out and really show them and define them,” Petrino said.

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“I just want to execute my assignments and the O-line [offensive line ] execute their assignments, and hopefully we’ll get some breaks and bust through some holes,” Smith said.

Arkansas has had great success at War Memorial Stadium, with 16 consecutive nonconference victories since a 6-0 loss to Memphis in 1993. The Warhawks will be listed as the home team for attendance figures, per the terms of the contract, but the Razorbacks will have a decided home-field advantage.

“We’re going to have to go in there with both barrels loaded to have a chance,” Louisiana-Monroe Coach Charlie Weatherbie said.

“War Memorial is a tough place to go into and come out with a victory. I would say it’s probably tougher than any other stadium we play in, noisewise.” Arkansas defensive end Adrian Davis predicted Monday that Warhawks players would watch tape of the Hogs’ 28-24 victory over Western Illinois and feel they can win this game.

He was right.

“I know Western Illinois gave them a lot of trouble,” Louisiana-Monroe linebacker James Truxillo said. “They’re definitely, definitely a beatable team. We’re pretty confident going into that game that we should be able to match up with them just fine.” Added Louisiana-Monroe cornerback Otis Stamps: “I think we’re going to do real well this week.” The Razorbacks feel like they’ve barely begun tapping into their offensive potential.

“We came out in the second half and played pretty well, but we’ve got to play a whole game like that, and we have to be balanced,” Dick said.

“Mike Smith coming back, it’s going to be very vital to have that run-game, pass-game balance,” sophomore tight end D. J. Williams said.

Louisiana-Monroe gave up touchdowns on a punt return and an offensive fumble last week, and its offense moved the ball better than indicated by the score. Senior quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster is a dual threat who ran for 96 yards in a slotback-quarterback role during a 44-15 loss to the Hogs at War Memorial in 2005.

“One concern I have is they have a running quarterback,” Petrino said. “We’ve been talking about pass rush, pass rush, pass rush, but we’ve got to make sure we stay in our lanes and take care of [Lancaster ].” Weatherbie lamented the gift touchdowns his team gave up at Auburn last week.

“We cannot give [Arkansas ] the football game,” he said. “We don’t have to play a perfect game, but we can’t give them the game. It’s going to be a heck of a football game if we do that.” Based on his team’s narrow victory over a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA ) team last week and Louisiana-Monroe’s feisty reputation, which includes a 21-14 victory at Alabama last season, Petrino isn’t counting anything as a guarantee.

“We’ll probably be in another battle to find a way to win the game,” he said. “That’s the most important thing, to get the ‘W’ on the board.”