FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks are not in contention to be the national champion in Coach Bobby Petrino’s first season. But they could be a national statistical champion — in a dubious way — this season.

Heading into the final weeks of the regular season, Arkansas has allowed 38 sacks, an NCAAhigh 3. 8 sacks per game, slightly higher than Hawaii’s 3. 7 sacks per game.

Quarterback Casey Dick was sacked six times in the Hogs ’ 34-21 loss at South Carolina in Week 10, including an intentional grounding call for 15 yards on a series that eventually resulted in an interception for Dick on a bad throw.

“It’s not acceptable,” Petrino said. “We can’t have the sacks that we’ve been having.”

The Razorbacks might have been expected to surrender more than the 1. 0 sacks per game they allowed last year during the transition to Petrino’s offense, which relies more on the pass, but this year’s total, which included seven sacks allowed at Texas, has been alarming.

“We like to keep our quarterback clean, and when you see that stat, it kind of stabs you in the heart,” Arkansas center Jonathan Luigs said.

“That’s something that’s on the whole offense,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said.

“That’s something that we’ve always taken real pride in and that’s something that between the quarterback getting the ball out of his hand, making sure we’re in the right protection, offensive line protecting, the backs and tight ends, receivers running good routes, the whole group takes the hit on that.”

But the quarterback takes the literal hit. Dick suffered a concussion on the sixth and last sack in the fourth quarter at South Carolina and was not available for interviews during the week.

Dick has diplomatically accepted much of the fault himself when asked earlier this season about taking sacks.

“We’ve had them where it’s one guy getting beat 1-on-1, we’ve had where we have protection flaws and we’ve had a lot where the quarterback holds the ball too long,” Bobby Petrino said. “So, it’s a combination of everything. You know it’s certainly not acceptable to have the number of sacks we’ve had, particularly in the game we had last week. There was probably four of those that should not be sacks.” Arkansas has lost 239 yards on its sacks, with only Washington State (288 yards ), New Mexico State (244 ) and Texas A&M (240 ) yielding more sack yardage. The Petrinos’ offenses have not historically been reckless at allowing sacks. “That didn’t necessarily happen when we were new at Louisville,” Paul Petrino said.

Petrino’s first team at Louisville in 2002 gave up 13 sacks after the Cardinals had allowed 46 the season before. “If we’re going to compete in this league, we’re going to have to protect the quarterback, and we have not done a good job with, so I take responsibility,” UA offensive line coach Mike Summers said. There is a direct correlation between sacks and nonproductive drives for the Razorbacks. Arkansas has scored points on only five of the drives on which it has allowed a sack, and only three of those possessions came against SEC competition.

The Razorbacks put together a field goal drive — a 20-play, 87-yard march that was full of penalties — after allowing a sack against Kentucky, and the Hogs bounced back for touchdowns against Ole Miss and South Carolina after allowing a sack. The last of those drives was directed 80 yards by Nathan Dick after Casey Dick’s concussion.

The Razorbacks gave up some 1-on-1 sacks earlier in the season and there was some admitted protection mistakes along with Casey Dick’s indecision at letting some passes fly.

“I mean, it’s kind of been a rough season,” Luigs said. “That’s definitely something the offensive line had a lot of pride in going in.

“ We haven’t helped ourselves in the running game. There’s a bunch of different factors that go into it. It’s been frustrating.”

Now the Razorbacks have two more regular season games to try to shed the sack-king crown.

“It’s something we’re going to be sure to stress a ton in the offseason and get better at,” Paul Petrino said. Game-by-game sacks

Arkansas’ opponents have sacked the Hogs all the way to the NCAA lead in that category. A game-by-game look at the sack totals posted against the Razorbacks: OPP. NO.-YDS W. Illinois............................................. 4-35 UL-Monroe.......................................... 4-20 Alabama.............................................. 2-15 Texas................................................... 7-58 Florida.................................................... 4-8 Auburn.................................................. 1-2 Kentucky.............................................. 3-10 Ole Miss.............................................. 4-25 Tulsa.................................................... 3-22 S. Carolina........................................... 6-44 TOTAL 38-239