FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas returned to its game-week routine with an off day Monday after a Sunday evening workout following its open date.
“It was a legit practice,” Arkansas Coach John L. Smith said. “Normally on a Sunday we’re just going to run the soreness out and some of those things, possibly work a little bit of the kicking game. But this was actually a little bit more time and we did practice.”
The more extensive Sunday work made sense for a team coming off an idle weekend looking to continue its current roll in the season’s second half, starting with Saturday’s 11:21 a.m. Central game against Ole Miss in Little Rock.
“It was a little different than our normal Sunday schedule,” center Travis Swanson said. “I know a lot of us, talking with some of the guys, it was kind of frustrating on Saturday to be just kind of sitting around not playing a game and watching all the other games going on, so I knew we would be happy to get back out there.”
Arkansas has won two games in a row after snapping a four-game losing streak, the longest for the program since the 2004 team lost four in a row.
“It looked good from period one to the end,” defensive tackle Alfred Davis said. “It was a good day to start the week, I’d say.” He’s back
Arkansas tight end Chris Gragg went the social media route to deliver what he described as a public service announcement Monday.
Gragg wrote on his Twitter account: “PSA: College Football and Arkansas Fans this week ....IM BACK!” Gragg’s tweet actually had eight exclamation points.
Hogs trivia
Of the six SEC teams Arkansas has played each of the past four seasons, which rivalry has produced the closest cumulative scoring margin?
Disturbing digs
Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze, who has never coached at War Memorial Stadium, wanted to know what to expect for Saturday’s game against the Hogs.
“I’ve talked to a couple of my buddies ... that coach in that area and I was curious as to what the atmosphere would be like compared to Fayetteville,” Freeze said.
“And without exception everyone I’ve talked to has said it will even be probably more disturbing there. So we’ve got to be prepared for that.”
Ole Miss will be the first SEC team to play a road game in Little Rock, other than LSU and Mississippi State, since South Carolina in 2003.
Go big
Arkansas center Travis Swanson, asked about the meaning of Arkansas’ 49-7 victory over Kentucky in light of Georgia’s 29-24 victory over the Wildcats last week, said all teams have their ups and downs.
“As far as the Kentucky game goes for us, we wanted to play four quarters, but the weather didn’t permit that,” Swanson said. “We just wanted to see how high we could have gotten on the score and see how much offense we could have put up.”
The Razorbacks had 533 yards after playing 40 minutes against the Wildcats when the game was stopped at the 5:08 mark of the third quarter.
Morning kick
Arkansas’ homecoming game against Tulsa on Nov.
3 has been selected by the SEC Network for an 11:21 a.m. Central kickoff.
The Razorbacks’ final nonconference game will mark the team’s fourth morning kickoff in a five game stretch. The Hogs, whose 53 victories against the Golden Hurricane are its highest total against any opponent, will have to win on homecoming to post a 2-2 mark in nonconference games.
Injury report
In addition to tight end Chris Gragg’s projected availability, the Razorbacks expect to have back running back Ronnie Wingo (shoulder) and defensive tackle D.D. Jones (legs), who both sat out the Hogs’ 49-7 victory over Kentucky.
Trivia answer
Arkansas’ series with Ole Miss has been its tightest among its annual SEC rivals the past four seasons. The series is tied 2-2 in that span and Arkansas leads in cumulative scoring 105-101.
The next-closest series is against LSU, also 2-2 in the past four years, with the Tigers leading 127-109 in scoring. Arkansas is 3-1 against Auburn, Mississippi State and South Carolina in the past four meetings and 0-4 against Alabama.
The Razorbacks already have played Auburn this season, and they’re 4-1 against the Tigers dating to the 2008 season.
Arkansas has played new SEC rival Texas A&M each of the past four years and is 3-1 against the Aggies, though Texas A&M took a 132-123 lead in cumulative scoring in those games with its 58-10 victory in College Station, Texas, on Sept. 29.
SATURDAY’S GAMES All times Central Kentucky at Missouri, 11 a.m.
Tennessee at South Carolina, 11 a.m.
Mississippi vs. Arkansas at Little Rock, 11:21 a.m.
Florida at Georgia, 2:30 p.m.
Texas A&M at Auburn, 6 p.m.
Massachusetts at Vanderbilt, 6 p.m.
Mississippi State at Alabama, 7:30 p.m.
Sports, Pages 18 on 10/23/2012