UA line a finalist for honor

Arkansas guard Sebastian Tretola (73), center Mitch Smothers (65) and guard Frank Ragnow (72) huddle during a timeout in the second quarter of a game against Mississippi State on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas offensive line was named Monday as one of six finalists for the Joe Moore Award, a first-year honor that recognizes the nation's "toughest, most physical offensive line unit."

The Razorbacks played the same five starters in all 12 regular-season games, with Denver Kirkland and Sebastian Tretola operating to the left of center Mitch Smothers, and Dan Skipper and Frank Ragnow on the right. Associate head coach Sam Pittman serves as the unit's position coach.

The offensive lines at Alabama, Iowa, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Stanford are the other finalists.

Touted as the largest unit in all of football, Arkansas' starting line has paved the way for 200-plus rushing yards in six of eight conference games to lead the SEC.

The award was established to honor Moore, who gained notoriety for his work as the offensive line coach at Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, sending 52 players to the NFL. He died in 2003.

The winner will be announced next week.

Wise named

Arkansas defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr., the SEC leader with eight sacks in conference games, was selected as the SEC co-defensive lineman of the week by the league office. Wise shared the honor with Ole Miss defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche.

Wise had two sacks and forced a fumble in Arkansas' 28-3 victory over Missouri. The junior from Carrollton, Texas, has a sack in four consecutive games and a total of seven sacks in that span.

His eight sacks are tied for the 10th in a season by a Razorback. Wise has posted at least one sack in five of Arkansas' eight SEC games.

Wise has also forced fumbles in each of the past two games and has a team-high three.

Penalty drop

Arkansas had a season-low 5 penalty yards against Missouri. The Razorbacks played a second consecutive game with only one penalty, and when that fact was pointed out to Coach Bret Bielema on Friday, he said. "We'll clean it up."

The lone penalty, a false start on Cordale Boyd on Arkansas' first PAT try, actually appeared to help the Hogs, as holder Matt Emrich did not handle the snap cleanly as the play was being whistled dead.

Arkansas ranks eighth nationally with 38.1 penalty yards per game and ninth with 4.42 penalties per game.

Half a hundred

Arkansas scored 50-plus points in a school-record four games this season, including back-to-back SEC overtime victories against Auburn (54-46, 4 OTs) and Ole Miss (53-52, OT). The Razorbacks also scored 50 points in a loss (51-50 to Mississippi State) for the first time.

They're good

Arkansas' 12 opponents combined to post a 91-50 record, a winning percentage of .645. The Razorbacks' only opponents to post losing records were Texas-El Paso and Missouri. The Miners and Tigers each finished 5-7.

Auburn has a 6-6 record, and the Hogs' other nine opponents have a winning record, led by Alabama (11-1), the SEC West champion.

Nine of the Razorbacks' opponents are qualified for bowl berths, while Tennessee-Martin (7-5) of the Ohio Valley Conference did not receive an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs.

Sports on 12/01/2015