COLUMBIA, S. C. — Two of the SEC’s most acclaimed offensive minds will match wits today when Arkansas takes on South Carolina at noon for the Gamecocks’ homecoming.

But the fans at always-rowdy Williams-Brice Stadium won’t be witnessing the offenses of Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier in full stride.

Petrino’s Razorbacks (4-5, 1-4 SEC ) have moved the ball decently, but they struggle to score in like fashion. Spurrier’s Gamecocks (6-3, 3-3 ) are tame by the visor-wearing coach’s normal offensive standards, but they feature one of the nation’s most bruising defenses.

This is the backdrop for a game Arkansas desperately needs to win to improve its postseason chances, while South Carolina — already eligible with six victories — would like to build on its streak of five victories in its past six games.

“I think our players really understand the challenges we have in front of us,” Petrino said. “We have to take care of the ball and move it, run it better than we did a week ago and continue to improve in our passing game.

“ Defensively, we need to stop the run. We have to try to make them one-dimensional.”

Spurrier has lost two in a row to the Razorbacks, including 26-20 here two years ago. Arkansas will be trying to become only the second team to beat a Spurriercoached team in three consecutive meetings. Florida State won three in a row against Spurrier’s Florida Gators (1998-2000 ).

“Bobby Petrino’s got his guys playing extremely hard, and we expect a down-to-the-wire ballgame here,” Spurrier said.

The Gamecocks lost to Vanderbilt and Georgia on consecutive weekends in September, but their only loss since was by a touchdown (24-17 ) at then-No. 13 LSU two weeks ago.

Arkansas recovered from backto-back close losses to Kentucky and Ole Miss — by a combined three points — by dealing No. 18 Tulsa its first loss of the season last week. The Hogs’ past two victories have been over ranked opponents, but Petrino’s team hasn’t been caught up in bowl chatter.

“Our focus is going on the road and winning a game on the road,” Petrino said. “We understand it’s going to take a tremendous amount of poise.

“ The good thing is, that’s about what we had to do to win the game at Auburn. It’ll be the same type of crowd — very loud.”

The Arkansas coaches have noticed a ploy by South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson that plays off the racket at Williams-Brice. The Gamecocks ’ defense will show a look as the offense makes it presnap calls, then it will shift to a different look before the snap.

“They try to confuse you up front and really get some lost-yardage plays and make you play behind the chains, so it’s going to be tough,” Arkansas center Jonathan Luigs said.

“They line up in a lot of different fronts and coverages, and they have real good safeties that come down and tackle real well,” UA offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. “Usually when you have safeties that tackle well, you are a good defense.”

Injuries look to be a factor for the Razorbacks, who have lost starting defensive end Adrian Davis and his backup, Damario Ambrose, safeties Elton Ford and Jerico Nelson and offensive linemen Grant Cook and Ray Dominguez in the past two weeks. Davis and Dominguez have the best chances of returning today.

Arkansas leads the series 10-6, with all the games having been played since the teams joined the SEC simultaneously and were paired as permanent opponents in 1992. The Razorbacks’ two victories in a row are the only losses suffered by South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier against Arkansas.

South Carolina has the worst rushing attack in the SEC, putting more pressure on the passing game, and Spurrier has swapped out quarterbacks Stephen Garcia and Chris Smelley the past couple of months, looking for consistency after Tommy Beecher opened the season as the starter.

“Their offense is struggling a little bit, but we’ve struggled at times, too,” Luigs said. “I think it’s going to be a defensive ballgame.”

Spurrier has indicated Garcia would start today, and that he’d probably rotate Smelley into the game.

“Chris Smelley has played very well at times for us, and Chris is a good quarterback,” Spurrier said.

“I just don’t think Stephen is mentally prepared to play the entire game. He went the entire LSU game and really, really sputtered around the second half. Of course, their pass rush is very good, too. Our pass protection, we wish could be somewhat better.”

Bobby Petrino spoke this week about squaring off against one of the game’s most innovative offensive coaches.

“I know Coach Spurrier pretty well,” Bobby Petrino said. “We certainly have studied his offense a lot, particularly when he was coaching at Florida.

“ He’s a great football coach and certainly changed a lot of college football today with their success in throwing the ball and everything they did when he was at Florida.”