Lost in the drama and intrigue of Houston Nutt’s return to Fayetteville today is, possibly, the most important factor of the Ole Miss-Arkansas game — bowl hopes.

The Razorbacks and Rebels need three wins in their last five games to become bowl-eligible. A loss tonight for either team could seriously derail those bowl aspirations.

But don’t tell that to Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino. He’s not even mentioning to his players that a loss today would require his Hogs (3-4, 1-3 SEC) to win three of their last four games to even have a chance at being handed a bowl bid.

“You know, it’s certainly something that’s in your mind,” admitted Petrino, who said he felt this week was still too early in the season to bring up bowl talk with his players. “It’s important for us to get to a bowl game.”

Arkansas has teetered on the edge of bowl bubble and bowl hopeful for the last three weeks. A road win at Auburn rekindled bowl talk, but a loss in a game that was all but wrapped up by the Hogs with 5 minutes remaining at Kentucky booted hopes back to the horizon last Saturday.

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“It’s hard to bounce back after a loss that. If we’d have won, it would’ve counted for something,” junior defensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard said. “... We were looking at high hopes of beating Kentucky and maybe, possibly, with the wish of a falling star, we could jump back in the SEC Championship race.”

An SEC Championship berth may be too far-fetched, even before the loss at Kentucky, but a bowl berth wasn’t for the Hogs. Tonight, bowl hopes may be just as far-fetched with a loss to Ole Miss (3-4, 1-3).

Of six national sports news services providing bowl game projections, just one this week had Arkansas pegged for a postseason berth. NBCSports.com projected Arkansas in a match-up with Kansas State in the Independence Bowl. Last week, Sporting News writer Matt Hayes projected Arkansas in the Independence Bowl against Colorado. Hayes’ projections had not been updated since Arkansas lost to Kentucky, 21-20.

Ole Miss, perhaps because of a favorable schedule, was picked in five of the six projections sampled to reach the postseason. The Rebels’ remaining opponents after Saturday have a combined record of 13-14. Arkansas’ final four opponents, including No. 11 LSU and undefeated Tulsa, are 19-9 combined.

Getting to a bowl game for Ole Miss would fulfill a promise Nutt made to his seniors who had never been to the postseason. To get them there, Nutt will have to wade through the drama in his return to the Arkansas campus just 10 months after his resignation and 10-year reign as the Hogs’ head coach.

“You knew this week was coming, but you focus on the task at hand,” Nutt said. “I’ve just got one job, and that’s to get our team better. We’re a good football team. To be 3-4, it makes me sick, because I know we could be 6-1 or 7-0 so easily.”

Ole Miss has lost three of its games this season by a combined 12 points. What might hurt Nutt’s players worse, though, is that the Rebels’ last bowl appearance came after the 2003 regular season, when Eli Manning had yet to join the NFL and was a senior at the school.

“That’s what hurts and tugs at my heart for these seniors, because my obligation to them, like I told them in our very first team meeting, is that I want to get them to a bowl game,” Nutt said. “I want them to experience that.”

Plenty of positives can be made from a bowl berth in recruiting and also with the players currently on the teams. There’s also the financial benefits of payouts from the bowls that are then rewarded to teams through the SEC’s profit sharing.

“We need to get to a bowl game so that we can practice our young guys and get to be a better football team,” Petrino said. “That’s the greatest thing about the bowl game — besides rewarding the seniors and rewarding the season.”

Petrino compared bowl preparations to spring practices. Players that redshirted in the regular season can practice in the weeks leading up to the bowl, which can stretch to up to a month. Simply put, a bowl game gives freshmen and redshirt players a head start on the next spring and fall practices.

The players recognize the task and the opportunity, junior linebacker Wendel Davis said.

“Of course we’re trying to get there,” Davis said. “We let one slip last week and we’re planning on getting this one and winning out. We’re doing our best. It’s the talk. Everyone wants to go to a bowl game. We’re not trying to stay at home. That’s our plan — get to a bowl — and that starts this week.”

For Arkansas, which has played 16 true freshmen this season, every extra sanctioned bowl practice in December could pay dividends for its young team next season, Petrino said.

“That’s something that’s important for us,” he said.

“That’s something we need to get to. We’re working and fighting and clawing in trying to fulfill that as one of our goals.”

2008 Bowl Game Projections

The Northwest Arkansas Times sampled six sports news services that project bowl game match-ups throughout the regular season. Here are the latest projections for Arkansas and Ole Miss, as of Oct. 22.

Arkansas

Predictor Bowl Opponent

CollegeFootballNews.com None None

CBSSports.com None None

SportingNews.com* Independence Bowl Colorado

ESPN.com None None

NBCSports.com Independence Bowl Kansas State

Rivals.com None None

Ole Miss

Predictor Bowl Opponent

CollegeFootballNews.com PapaJohns.com Bowl Cincinnati

CBSSports.com Independence Bowl Nebraska

SportingNews.com* None None

ESPN.com’s Bruce Feldman Chick-fil-A Bowl North Carolina

ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach Independence Bowl Colorado

NBCSports.com Music City Bowl North Carolina

Rivals.com Liberty Bowl Tulsa

* Denotes projection made Oct. 17