Numbers on side of Tulsa

FAYETTEVILLE — Tulsa has scored more points in every game than Arkansas has scored in any game this season.

The Golden Hurricane posted a season-low 37 points in a six-point victory at SMU on Oct. 11, one of only three road games Tulsa has played.

Arkansas has a season average of 19. 1 points per game, a figure that ranks 99 th nationally, significantly behind Tulsa’s NCAA-leading 55. 6 points per game. Arkansas’ highest point total is 28, reached in each of its first two games.

That’s just one of the intriguing statistical points heading into Arkansas’ game against BCS No. 18 Tulsa’s at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday. The Golden Hurricane also has just eight three-and-out series on offense this season out of 104 drive starts, a percentage of 7. 6 which also leads the nation. Tulsa had just five of its 89 drives (5. 6 percent ) end with three-and-outs or less before last week’s game against Central Florida. The Golden Knights led that game 19-14 at halftime before being overwhelmed in the second half in a 49-19 loss.

Personnel notes Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino did not comment Thursday on the status of defensive end Adrian Davis and offensive tackle Ray Dominguez, but his remarks made it sound like neither would be available against Tulsa.

“Yeah, we’re going to be down a few guys,” Petrino said in response to a question about Davis and Dominguez. “We’re not going to talk much about that. We’re going to talk about the guys that are playing. Guys have to step up and plug in there, just like they did in the game the other day.” Davis suffered a sprained knee and Dominguez a sprained ankle in last week’s 23-21 loss to Ole Miss. Arkansas also lost freshman safety Elton Ford for the season with a neck injury in that game.

Rest easy It might be difficult for All-America center Jonathan Luigs to repeat as the Rimington Trophy winner on a team that is not in contention in the SEC West race, but he’s having another outstanding season anyway. “He’s a rock in there,” offensive line coach Mike Summers said. “He not only makes the rest of that group perform better and more comfortable, but he makes me sleep better at night.”

Coach Bobby Petrino agreed.

“I think the last two weeks he’s played as well as he has all year,” he said. “He’s been very physical, very fast. I tell you what he possesses, not only the knowledge of the game and what to do, but he’s a tremendous athlete.

“ To be able to be the size he is and bend and stay on his feet, be able to adjust and get through. You know center’s a tough position to play. You’ve got to be a little bit sneaky, a little bit nasty. It’s certainly a learned position because of all the different things you have to do, and he’s learned it very well.” Win one for the Cooper

John Cooper was 57-31 in eight seasons as Tulsa’s coach but 0-8 against Arkansas in his tenure from 1977-1984.

All of the Arkansas-Tulsa games were played in Fayetteville, as will be Saturday’s matchup.

“I hope they win that one for me,” Cooper told the Tulsa World on Sunday night, when he was honored at halftime of the Golden Hurricane’s 49-19 victory over Central Florida. “I got sick and tired of going over there [to Fayetteville ]. We bused over there and played them over there every year. “ That’s one team we never beat when I coached here. I think they have a good chance of beating Arkansas [on Saturday ] if they can keep playing like they are playing. This is a good football team.” Cooper, who left Tulsa for Arizona State and then finished his coaching career at Ohio State, was honored for his recent election to the National Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame. In 24 seasons as a head coach, his teams combined for a 193-83-6 record.

Former teammates Tulsa receiver Damaris Johnson and Arkansas safety Jerico Nelson were high school teammates at Destrehan, La., last year.

“We keep in touch. We’re real good friends,” Johnson said. “We’ve been talking about this game a lot. We’ve never played against each other, so it’s going to be a different game for us.”

Johnson, a starter at flanker, has 28 catches for 388 yards and 6 touchdowns. Nelson, who started three games at strong safety and is now playing off the bench, has 29 tackles.

Milestones Junior tailback Michael Smith needs 80 rushing yards to rack up the first 1, 000 yard season of his college career. Senior quarterback Casey Dick needs four completions to reach 418 in his career and to surpass Matt Jones (417 ) for third place on Arkansas’ career charts. Stat chatter The Razorbacks haven’t been a great statistical team this season, unlike Tulsa, which leads the country in total offense, scoring and passing efficiency. In fact, Arkansas ranks in the top half of the 120 Football Championship Subdivision teams in only three of the 17 categories listed by the NCAA’s Web site. Those categories are net punting (No. 36, 36. 6 yards per punt ) pass defense (No. 38, 191 yards per game ) and passing offense (No. 45, 232. 8 ypg ).

Safety dance A couple of injuries at safety for Arkansas last week gave junior Rashaad Johnson more snaps than he’s had in a while. Johnson had two tackles and what could have been a key interception in the second half, though Arkansas did not take advantage of the takeaway.

“He made the interception, that was a nice play there, and he made a couple of tackles on the run,” Coach Bobby Petrino said. “He did have an assignment error on one of the touchdown throws that hurt us.”

That would have been Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead’s 11-yard pass to Mike Wallace, who had no defender within 8 yards of him when he scored the touchdown that gave Ole Miss a 20-7 lead.

“I was in shock,” Wallace said. “I thought there was going to be a flag or something, because nobody is ever that wide open.”