They're still the nail instead of the hammer, but at least these Razorbacks now see they're driving towards something instead of just driven into the ground.

Hope on both sides of the Arkansas ball abounded after last Saturday's 38-7 hammering administered by Florida unlike the gloom and doom of the 49-14 and 52-10 hammerings that Alabama and Texas put on the Hogs the two games previously.

The contrast manifests in first-year coach Bobby Petrino's summation post Texas in Austin versus his summation following Florida in Fayetteville.

" We are what we are, " Petrino said in Austin.

Tone of voice alone reflected they were accurately reflected in that lopsided score.

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Everything conveyed more upbeat following Florida even with the outcome exceeding the already swollen 24-point spread.

" We're a better football team right now than we were a week ago at Texas, " Petrino said.

He saw a team showing pride, not just pride competing in the game, but in preparations all week after being embarrassed in Austin.

" I know that they really care, " Petrino said last Saturday. " Their actions in practice and their actions in competing in the game show that they really do care a lot. "

If this schedule would ever let up beyond the nation's best, last week Alabama ranked No. 2, Texas No. 5 and Florida, No. 12 after the Gators were ranked No. 4 the week before, these Hogs might have a real opportunity to improve with a W for win instead of a MRL (more respectable loss ).

Alas, for them, the gauntlet continues with successive Saturday road shows at Auburn, ranked 13 th last week, and at Kentucky which just played the socks off Alabama in a 17-14 loss last Saturday at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

So Petrino exhorts them just to pick up the fight they fought for three quarters against Florida in Fayetteville and carry it to a fourquarter fight in Auburn, Ala.

" We've just got to keep working hard, " Petrino said. " Keep going to practice with a good attitude, keep getting the leadership we got within the team, come back and get after it. "

Keep sustaining the long drives they kept sustaining with a 361 yards total offense good run-pass mix against Florida but find the way to finish them without bogging down or turning it over.

That way won't be easy to find Saturday because while appreciably less offensive than Alabama, Texas and Florida, Auburn's defense may be the best of them all.

As for Arkansas' defense last Saturday, Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson mostly approved this message until the fourth quarter.

Since his arrival last winter, Robinson has been exhorting the defense to be the hammer instead of the nail. Finally, until the Florida game's fourth quarter, when the defense splintered allowing three big-play touchdowns turning a 17-7 battle into a 38-7 rout, he saw his troops making stops and playing with fire, doing some hammering instead of just getting nailed.

After leading his postgame summation with the fourth quarter the defense didn't play well, Robinson looked shocked it even needed to be asked if he thought overall the defense had improved.

" Oh, yeah ! " Robinson replied. " Don't you feel that way ? We do, too. "

Now don't get any ideas this crusty staff, especially its head coach, are into moral victories lost by 31 points. Petrino didn't go 41-9 at Louisville on moral victories.

However, Petrino is a realist. He's not a warm, fuzzy guy but he's not a negative Nick, either.

He sees something positive to build on and he's seizing it.

It's what good coaches do trying to convert nails into hammers.

Nate Allen covers the Razorbacks for the Northwest Arkansas Times.