FAYETTEVILLE — Stick the scores by their names and you'd know without proof the different University of Alabamas the Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas A&M Aggies played last Saturday.

A&M swamped the University of Alabama-Birmingham, 56-19, in a nonconference bout at the Aggies' Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.

Arkansas played the real football University of Alabama and took a real SEC whipping, 35-7, at the nationally third-ranked Crimson Tide's Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Their recent results make a contrast for potential mindsets going into this Arkansas vs. Texas A&M game. The old rivals of the deceased Southwest Conference resume their rivalry nonconference style in an ESPN2 televised clash Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Jerry Jones' Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

A&M breezes 3-0 but all are nonconference soso's at home: New Mexico, Utah State and UAB.

So Coach Mike Sherman's Big 12 Aggies still haven't played a Big 12 game nor a game against a traditional BCS power conference. Nor have they played outside of College Station. They still won't have ventured outside the State of Texas after Saturday, but will play in a house divided.

Arkansas has a big alumni base in North Texas.

The Aggies should feel confident from their 3-0 start but maybe a little apprehensive if their 3-0 has sufficiently tested them for an SEC team in their first foray from Kyle Field.

As for Arkansas, the Hogs are tested but unfortunately have flunked.

After vanquishing lower division Missouri State, 48-10 in Little Rock, the 1-2, Razorbacks lost a 52-41 SEC game they maybe could have won against a better Georgia team in Fayetteville. As expected, the Tide trounced them in Tuscaloosa.

Oddsmakers likely expect the Hogs to get trounced again when they visit Tim Tebow, presuming the two-time national championship quarterback is recovered from a concussion, and the reigning national champion/SEC champion Florida Gators, Oct. 17 in Gainesville.

In between are Saturday's tussle with Texas A&M and the Oct.

10 Auburn SEC visit to Fayetteville.

To an Arkansas program already likely out of the SEC West chase and facing an SEC gauntlet also including Ole Miss and LSU on the road, these next two games are critical.

Lose them both and these Hogs would perch precariously behind the 8-ball to achieve bowl eligibility in Coach BobbyPetrino's second season after a 5-7 stay home for the holidays 2008.

So restoring confidence is paramount, especially with Petrino galled by the Hogs seeming to arrive in Tuscaloosa with the can'twin mindset that oddsmakers projected.

"In our execution we didn't really believe we could come in and win the game," Petrino said postgame in Tuscaloosa.

"When you don't believe you can come in and win the game you drop passes. You don't do the things you've been coached to do. You don't do the things you normally do. You don't set your feet and throw the ball with conviction."

The Hogs believed they could and would beat Georgia.

Offensively that showed. They generally protected quarterback Ryan Mallett and he planted school records with 408 passing yards and 5 touchdowns to receivers who never dropped a pass in their grasp.

Alabama's great defense coupled with, Petrino believes, the Hogs' lack of self-belief triggered Arkansas' offensive meltdown.

It's all in the mind whether Arkansas offensively shakes the Alabama hangover.

A&M has a great defensive coordinator, Joe Kines, the Arkansas defensive coordinator from 1991-94 and Arkansas interim head coach in 1992, but its defense is not be confused with Alabama's or the great A&M "Wrecking Crews" of bygone SWC days.

Defensively, the Hogs in Tuscaloosa improved from abysmal versus Georgia to at times pretty good. But as happened too often last year, adversity at key times folded the tent.

Down 14-0 at half, the Hogs opened the second half forcing an A&M three and out, assembled their own scoring drive on Mallett's 18-yard TD pass to Greg Childs, and then immediately deflated on Alabama's first down, 80-yard TD pass.

"It hits you in the stomach," Malcolm Sheppard, the Razorbacks defensive tackle and senior captain said. "There's nothing you can do about it now, so you've got to show your true character and just move on from it and fight back."

Nate Allen covers the Razorbacks for the Northwest Arkansas Times.

Sports, Pages 8, 7 on 09/28/2009