It was a little thing that made me look like a giant doofus.

The year was 1996, my first covering Arkansas football. The place was Starkville, Miss., where two pretty sorry football teams were set to meet in a pretty meaningless late-season game.

Having spent the previous night at a casino in Tunica, a fellow writer and I were running a little behind Saturday morning. OK, make that a lot.

In fact, the way we figured it, we'd barely have enough time to make the drive from Tunica to Starkville in time for kickoff. Making matters worse was the realization I'd left my belt and dress shoes in Fayetteville.

A belt and a pair of shoes don't seem like a big deal until you're forced to wear a pair of black Nikes with slacks and an untucked button-down shirt. Trust me, tucking in the shirt only moved me higher up the dolt meter.

Witty and wise-cracking bunch that they are, my sportswriting compatriots were more than happy to make me the butt of what seemed like innumerable jokes.

"Wow, man," one of them said. "You look like you're ready for the opening ceremonies of the X Games."

I can laugh about the whole episode now. At the time, all I could do was skulk around the press box, praying for the day to end.

I'm guessing the Razorbacks felt the same way Saturday afternoon as they waited for the clock to run out on a 49-14 loss to Alabama's Crimson Tide. As whippings go, it was of the woodshed variety.

As ugly as it got - and it was just as ugly as my outfit that day in 1996 - Arkansas' loss could have been swallowed a lot easier had the Razorbacks just taken care of the little things.

When Elton Ford hesitated instead of laying out and trying to block Alabama's punt on the game's opening series, he ended up running into the kicker and keeping the drive alive. Six plays later, that little thing ended up costing the Hogs a touchdown.

When London Crawford was called for a block in the back on Arkansas'ensuing drive, the Razorbacks went from a first-and-10 at the Tide 41 to first-and-20 at their own 49. A little mistake ended up contributing to a stalled drive and a punt.

When Casey Dick didn't recognize a receiver-on-linebacker mismatch midway through the second quarter, he ended up throwing to the other side of the field, where Alabama's Justin Woodall was waiting for just about the easiest interception and 74-yard touchdown return you'll ever see.

Arkansas was at the Alabama 29 when Dick threw the pick. That little mistake not only cost Arkansas a chance at cutting the lead to 28-14, but deepened its hole to 35-7.

"We have got to get where we don't beat ourselves," Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. "The first part of winning games is not beating yourselves - taking care of the ball, being where you are supposed to be, not having assignment errors, get more big plays than your opponent gets."

Petrino also said Arkansas finally paid the price for playing the same way it did while narrowly avoiding losses to Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe.

"Not taking advantage of opportunities and giving our opponent opportunities," is how Petrino put it.

None of this is meant to suggest Arkansas could have or should have beaten Alabama on Saturday. If the Hogs and Tide played 10 times this season, Alabama would probably win nine.

That's what bigger, faster, stronger does for a team, and Alabama looked all three against Arkansas. The real problem is that Texas, Florida and Auburn - the next three teams on Arkansas' schedule - look pretty much the same.

Maybe that's why Petrino stressed this young Razorbacks team's main charge needs to be "to focus and concentrate, play one play at a time."

In other words, Arkansas' focus needs to be on the little things.

Anything else, and this season could turn into a very long one. Anything else, and anyone who picked Arkansas to go to a bowl game will end up feeling like one giant doofus.