OK, stay with me on this one.

At some point in junior high, I developed a crush on this girl, a real puppy-love kind of thing. Think Kevin and Winnie in The Wonder Years.

Like Kevin, I wanted my Winnie to be my girlfriend in the worst way. When I finally worked up the courage to ask to her to a Valentine’s Day banquet — and she said yes — I was a happy, happy boy.

Like most junior-high crush stories, though, this one ended in relative disaster. By the time Valentine’s Day rolled around, and I showed up with flowers and candy, my girl smiled and gave me a hug and a thank-you.

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But something just didn’t seem right. She was more interested in talking to her friends on the way to the banquet, during the banquet, and on the way back from the banquet.

I racked my 14-year-old brain trying to figure out what was wrong, oblivious at that age to the fact a woman’s whims are simply one of life’s insolvable mysteries. I would have been better off hunkering down with Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Instead, for what seemed like an eternity — but probably was more like a couple of days — I tried to win back my Winnie’s favor. The problem was that my perspective was all out of whack.

I wanted something so badly that I couldn’t see what was plainly apparent to everyone else: My Winnie liked another boy.

Ever since Arkansas escaped with that 28-24 victory over Western Illinois, and right on through Saturday night’s 28-27 Houdini act against Louisiana-Monroe, there’s been a distinct feeling that a lot of Hogs fans are having a similar problem.

There seems to be an awful lot of Arkansas fans, in other words, who want to believe so badly this team is going to be OK that they’re overlooking what’s staring them right in the face: This team’s going to take some lumps.

Lump No. 1 is probably coming Saturday afternoon at Texas, too, and there are plenty of reasons why.

For starters, Arkansas’ youth and inexperience on defense has been exposed by the two teams on its schedule with the least amounts of physical talent.

Yes, Western Illinois’ Herb Donaldson is an underrated talent at running back. Yes, Louisiana-Monroe’s Kinsmon Lancaster is the equivalent to a streak shooter in basketball — when he gets hot, he can cause even the saltiest of defenses some real problems.

But guess what ?

Donaldson is no Ben Tate, and Lancaster is no Colt McCoy. Or, as Bachman-Turner Overdrive might say, Arkansas’ defense ain’t seen nothing yet.

That’s not to knock defensive coordinator Willy Robinson in any way. Talk to Robinson for five minutes and it’s obvious he knows defense like Campbell’s knows soup.

The hard truth for Arkansas’ defense is that in addition to being young and inexperienced throughout the back seven, it’s also undersized at linebacker. That’s not a recipe any defensive coordinator covets.

As heart-thumping as Arkansas ’ offense has been in the fourth quarters of its first two games, there are some serious concerns on that side of the ball, too.

Perhaps the biggest question facing Arkansas’ offense is whether it will be able to muster the kind of ground game it had against Louisiana-Monroe against big boys like Texas, Alabama, Florida and Auburn — and that’s just the next four games.

Then there’s the fact Arkansas ’ best receivers, like many of their defensive teammates, are young, too. That means ups and downs like the ones we’ve already seen can be expected to continue for some time, and that’s not exactly a good thing in a league that demands consistent execution just to stay in games.

As for Arkansas’ special teams, well, let’s not even go there. Their week will be long enough without hearing from the pundits or the peanut gallery.

Really, it’s kind of like my dad told me when my Winnie dumped me.

“You’re gonna have to trust me on this one,” he said. “There are plenty of fish in the sea.”

In Arkansas’ case, there are plenty of victories yet to come. You’re just gonna have to wait until after another Valentine’s Day.