To say the football Hogs are less talented this year than their 2007 counterparts is a given.

The names Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis have filled hundreds of stories the last several years and the trio's names even bleed into the columns of Arkansas newspapers months after their departures to the NFL. You can see why, too. After all, who expects Arkansas to replace those three consistently every year ?

And what do you expect when your best letterman returning at tailback - Michael Smith - hasn't started a game two years into his career ?

The point is this: There's no reason to think Arkansas will ever see players of that threesome's caliber in the same Razorbacks' backfield again.

Not going to happen.

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And Smith, Brandon Barnett, De'Anthony Curtis and Chip Gregory will not match the 3, 339 rushing yards produced by the Hogs' three-headed rushing game of 2007. Absolutely not. No way, Jose.

But as fans worry about the future and the departures of the past, munch on this for a moment: Arkansas is still going to be scary on offense this fall.

Just as historians can reflect positively on Arkansas' previous backfield, one can almost just as assuredly predict that the Arkansas offense is ready to put up numbers the previous 104 Razorback teams could never reach.

Bobby Petrino is in town folks, and whenever he puts on a headset and starts drawing up plays in an athletic complex near you, records are going to crumble faster than a cookie pulled out of a cup of cold milk.

" We could be as good as anyone in the country, " UA quarterbacks coach Garrick McGee said confidently last week. " We could be the No. 1 offense in the nation. I personally feel like we have arguably the best playcaller in the country. We're going to coach hard. We're going to put more pressure on our kids on the practice field than they're going to have in the games, and we have an NFL style of offense that can attack every spot on the field. "

Suffice it to say, confidence oozes from this coaching staff.

This year will seem like a cakewalk for record-breaking performances in Fayetteville, especially when one considers that option- and run-oriented offenses have been implemented more times by more coaches than the individual number of plays called by the pass-happy Gus Malzahn.

So as we draw closer to Arkansas' game-week preparations for Western Illinois, here are a few records that will more than likely fall this season as the Hogs attempt to achieve a tougher goal than setting records - making a bowl game.

• Most passing yards in a season. Senior Casey Dick is due for a breakout year and the record set by Clint Stoerner in 1998 is like a crystal vase on an uneven and slippery surface with Petrino on board. Expect Stoerner's 2, 668 yards through the air to be upstaged with a season somewhere in the 2, 800- to 3, 300-yard range for Dick.

Don't forget, Dick threw for 1, 695 yards last season and also had 18 touchdowns. He also tossed 4 touchdowns against Mississippi State to tie the school record for most TDs in a game. Also consider that Arkansas was one rushing attempt away from a perfect, 2-to-1 run over pass ratio last season.

• Most passing yards in a game. This record would have been broken in the spring if the Red-White game was, well, an actual game. Dick threw for 404 yards in April, which would have surpassed Stoerner's school-record 387 yards against LSU in 1997.

• Most passing yards per game. The 1998 team holds this honor with a 242. 5 yards per game average. Petrino's quarterbacks never averaged lower than 260 yards per game at Louisville.

• Most touchdown passes in a season. Casey Dick finished third on this last year with 18, just behind Stoerner's 26 scores in 1998 and 19 in 1999. Dick could solidify this undertaking banked solely on what he should do in the first two games of the season against Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe.

Petrino's history, however, shows that this record will not fall. At Louisville, the quarterbacks never combined to throw more than 27 touchdowns in a season. But I still see about 30 this season thanks to the receptions out of the Razorbacks backfield.

• Most pass completions in a season. Not an exciting statistic, but Dick was just 25 attempts short from breaking this record (204 ) last season.

• Most passing attempts in a season. Stoerner's 371 attempts in 1999 will tumble.

• Most receiving yards in a season. This one is a bit tough to swallow. While Petrino certainly does love to throw the ball, he also loves to spread the love to multiple receivers. I wouldn't be surprised to see eight receivers a game catching a ball or two. With that standing against my argument, here's my prediction: London Crawford or Jarius Wright will surpass Anthony Lucas' 1, 004 yards in 1998.

It's hard to believe the Razorbacks have only had one 1, 000-yard receiver.

• Most yards in a season by an individual. Dick will break Matt Jones' record of 2, 695 yards in 2004 with relative ease. Well, that's if he doesn't get sacked more than 15 times.

• Most touchdowns in a season by an individual. Dick will have this covered through the air to break Stoerner's record of 27 in 1998.

Dick, as you can see, will have a hand in every single one of these record-setting categories.

The biggest surprise this season, though, wouldn't be rewriting of the record book.

Break all of the above and it wouldn't drop many jaws.

In fact, if Arkansas' inexperienced defense can improve on last year's less than stellar performance - second-most yards (4, 753 ) and points (345 ) given up in school history - the most exciting thing to Hog fans would be seeing their team win seven or eight games to secure a bowl bid.

Now that would be unexpected.

Brandon Marcello is a sports writer for the Northwest Arkansas Times and regularly updates The Slophouse, a blog covering the Razorbacks at www.wholehogsports.com.