ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas head football coach Bobby Petrino watches practice Tuesday in the Willard and Pat Walker Indoor Pavilion. The Hogs play the University of Louisiana-Monroe Saturday in Little Rock.

Even with a closed practice, you could tell Tuesday's session did not go well for Bobby Petrino's Razorbacks.

Hung juries have deliberated less time than the first-year Arkansas coach filibustered after Tuesday's practice in pads inside the Walker Pavilion.

" We didn't execute real well today, " junior receiver Lucas Miller of Greenwood said after the long post-practice address. " Obviously Coach Petrino is upset with us. We just have to come out tomorrow with a better effort and better focus and get things right. "

Offensive coordinator / receivers coach Paul Petrino, the coach addressing media after the Tuesday practice, echoed his brother's displeasure.

" Overall, " Paul Petrino said, " it needs to be a lot better with a lot more focus and enthusiasm (Wednesday ) night. "

Surprised considering the Hogs eked by decided underdog Western Illinois, 28-24 last Saturday in Fayetteville, that they didn't come out more focused for their heaviest workout prepping for Saturday's 6 p.m. game in Little Rock against Louisiana-Monroe ?

" You are surprised any time, " Paul Petrino said. " I always expect us to come out and practice really good. Tuesday is a hard practice here. I'm not sure if they understand that but they are going to understand. So they had better get used to it. "

Starting wide receiver London Crawford (concussion ) didn't practice Tuesday. Starting weakside offensive guard Wade Grayson of Harrison wasn't in full gear during the first 20 minutes that media sees practice.

Greg Childs, the big freshman backup from Warren and surprise go-to guy against Western Illinois with six catches for 88 yards, including a third-quarter 26-yard touchdown, worked in Crawford's first-team spot Tuesday.

" He took a whole bunch more reps than he's used to, " Paul Petrino said of Tuesday's workout. " And looked real tired. "

Paul Petrino said Childs " must fight through that, " if Crawford is still sidelined Saturday and that secondyear freshman Crosby Tuck of Shiloh Christian, one catch for 12 yards against Western Illinois, must be rotation ready against Louisiana-Monroe.

With Arkansas only possessing the ball 23 minutes, the receivers probably didn't have to fight through much fatigue against Western Illinois.

They did have to fight through adversity, though.

Childs, Miller, Carlton Salters, Joe Adams and Crawford all suffered drops but all came back for key catches.

" You are not going to catch every ball, " said Salters, who made a 13-yard reception of a Dick fourthand-10 pass to keep the winning touchdown drive alive. " You would be dumb to think that you would. If you do drop one, you can't let it compound to the next one. You just have to block it out and go out there and try and make the next play. "

Miller played some of last Saturday's game with different colored socks.

" I ended up with a nice little green sock at the end of the game, " Miller said.

He lost a shoe during a 20-yard catch and didn't want the Hogs losing momentum while he put the shoe back on.

" I didn't want to stop that at all, " Miller said. " I looked at the official like, ' Can I continue to play with one shoe on ? ' He kind of looked at me like I was dumb. I threw it off to the sideline and kept playing a couple of plays and Coach got me a sub. "

It's not just Arkansas netting but 72 rushing yards against Western Illinois that fourth-year junior starting tailback Michael Smith is so heartily welcomed back against Louisiana-Monroe after fulfilling a one-game suspension.

The little (5-7, 173 ) leading returning rusher steps up big in the passing game, too, and not just catching tosses out of the backfield.

" It will really help, " Paul Petrino said of Smith's return. " It will bring more confidence to the huddle and it will help in protection as much as anything. We had a couple of protection busts and it was just young freshmen not exactly sure when we made a check and making mistakes, both in the running game and the protection. "

Given the schedule that becomes a gauntlet with nationally ranked Texas, Alabama, Florida and Auburn consecutively looming, some Arkansas fans likely already have chalked Saturday's ULM game as a'W' in War Memorial Stadium.

However, the Hogs didn't surpass Western Illinois until 1: 49 remained in the game. And Auburn, Lucas Miller observed from tape, found ULM's defense difficult to dislodge despite a 34-0 Auburn triumph last Saturday in Auburn, Ala.

" Auburn's offense really didn't score on them if you look at the first half, " Miller said. " It was more their special teams and defense that scored. "