FAYETTEVILLE — Neither Arkansas or South Carolina have their running backs who were projected to compete with Alabama’s Trent Richardson for first-team All-SEC, first-team All-America and maybe even the Heisman Trophy.
Yet without Knile Davis and Marcus Lattimore, Arkansas and South Carolina are running with the elite as they prepare to run into each other Saturday night at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas lost Davis for 2011 when he fractured his ankle during an Aug. 11 scrimmage. Lattimore’s season ended two games ago with knee surgery.
Even without Davis’ 1,322 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns from 2010, the Razorbacks are 7-1 overall, 3-1 in the SEC West, and are seventh in the BCS standings.
The Gamecocks are 7-1 overall, 3-1 in the SEC East, and are ranked ninth in the BCS standings after beating Tennessee on the road in their first game without Lattimore, who had 835 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns this year and 1,197 yards and 17 rushing touchdowns last year.
Three games ago, South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier permanently banished senior starting quarterback Stephen Garcia from the team. South Carolina has gone 3-0 since with Connor Shaw at quarterback.
Still, the miracle of both teams’ rankings without their star running backs - and without South Carolina’s senior quarterback - has been eclipsed by their fans fretting if either deserve to be in the Top 10.
Lately it seems winning equals escaping for both teams, so both tend to get analyzed for what’s going wrong over what has gone right.
It even seems like it takes looking at the other guy for the coaches to appreciate their guys.
Asked to comment on the Gamecocks, Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said: “A lot like us. Just battling and staying in there. Both teams have had real close games, real hard-fought games, and found ways to win the games, so it’s been very similar.”
And rewarding, even while gut wrenching.
The Razorbacks had to overcome a halftime deficit each week to do it, but Arkansas posted a 4-0 October after losing 38-14 to BCS No. 2 Alabama on Sept. 24 at Tuscaloosa.
“Going into the month of October, the goal was to get back here7-1, and we accomplished that,” Petrino said. “I’m really excited about it, happy about it.”
In spite of themselves.
“When you look at our team right now,” Petrino said, “I don’t feel like we’re playing as well as I want to play. But I’ve had years where you play really well in a game and all of a sudden you look up and you lost the game. So, although we haven’t played as well as we want to the last two weeks, we have found a way to win the game.
“There is a lot to be said for that.”
Amen, said Spurrier, who won big and with big style points while coaching Florida in the 1990s but learned to equate any “W” with wonderful at South Carolina.
“They are a lot like us,” Spurrier said. “They can still win their division. They can still win the SEC, actually.
“They are still alive, and we’re still alive, so it’s a huge game.”
Sports, Pages 16 on 11/02/2011