One coach was forced out after two straight eight-win seasons and his replacement was poached in the middle of the season -- and the middle of the night -- from the NFL. In the meantime, the old coach moved to a rival in the same division. Now, the Houston Nutt-led Ole Miss is pegged as a surprise team in the SEC while the Bobby Petrino-led Arkansas is favored to be the worst team in the division and the worst team in the conference whose name does not begin with a "V."

Just another offseason in Fayetteville.

OFFENSE

O-line. The line was pretty good for the Razorbacks, though a relatively small number of pass attempts and a pair of incredible running backs helps you look really good. Rimington winner Jonathan Luigs returns at center, but Arkansas also loses a couple of high-impact starters. Oh, and the offense is completely different. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Quarterback. Hooray! Casey Dick is back! Last year: 150-of-262, 1,695 yards, 18 TDs, 10 INTs. You know a quarterback is good when the coaching staff looks at him and says, "I think we'd actually be a better team if he weren't on the field," which is what Houston Nutt and Co. did several times last year. And Darren McFadden did have a better QB rating than Dick. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Running back. Darren McFadden is gone. Felix Jones is gone. Peyton Hillis is gone. No one returning to the Razorbacks had 50 carries last year. Oh, and they won't get too many more than that in the new, pass-based system. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Wide receiver. Who knows? The primary mission of receivers for the last few years has been: "Block for McFadden and Jones. Unless you're Marcus Monk, and then just run a go route." None of the returning wideouts had even 20 catches to their name in 2007. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

DEFENSE

Defensive line. The Hogs managed just 23 sacks last year, or 1.85 sacks per game -- tied for 73rd in the FBS. Three starters return, all with at least 10 TFL in 2007, which is better than South Carolina. ADVANTAGE: ARKANSAS

Linebackers. Freddie Fairchild had 9.5 TFL in 2007, 4.5 of them sacks. He was also third on the team with 92 tackles. And now he's gone. None of the other expected starters has done much to commend themselves. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

Secondary. They return no starters from 2007. None. Zero. This could be a major blow to the Razorback defense: Their pass efficiency defense was second in the nation, holding opponents to a 97.68 QB rating. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

SPECIAL TEAMS

Well, their biggest kick return threats were -- you guessed it -- Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. But K Alex Tejada wasn't bad on FGs (73.9 percent) and Jeremy Davis averaged 40.1 yards on punts. Both are back. ADVANTAGE: PUSH

COACHING

This is a tough one, mostly because we really don't know how good a head coach Petrino is. Sure, he had four good years in Louisville -- but first it was Louisville in Conference USA, and then it was Louisville in a watered-down Big East. He did win a Big East crown in 2006, but a loss to Rutgers cost him a chance at the BCS title. Then again, look at Louisville in the first year after his departure. Still, we have a longer record with Spurrier, and we know he's capable of sustaining success once he's achieved it. ADVANTAGE: SOUTH CAROLINA

RESULT

McFadden and Jones beat us last year. No other way to put it.

WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED, due to the violence committed upon South Carolina's defense and Tyrone Nix's reputation.

That said, Arkansas has never been a team South Carolina can afford to overlook. It doesn't really matter how good or bad each team is; the game is always entertaining. Even if the entertainment comes from watching Darren McFadden do sprints. In any case, this year, this should be a victory. Should be. LIKELY WIN

THE REST OF THEIR SEASON

There's a reason that the Hogs are expected to be last in the SEC West: They're not a very good team. At least, they don't look like it. Supplement the usual division slate of Auburn, LSU and a potentially resurgent Alabama with Florida, at Kentucky and at South Carolina from the East. Sprinkle in an out-of-conference game against Texas. Even with a split of the Mississippi teams, the Hogs are still a long way from a winning season. 4-8

You would think Bobby Petrino would know better.

After all, this is the same guy that joined the Atlanta Falcons and then bolted because -- regardless of what he might say -- the job got too hard when the team lost Michael Vick.

Now, the Gypsy Coach of the South steps into essentially the same situation at Arkansas. A team that has been good but not great. (Though the Hogs were a better college team the last two years than the Falcons were an NFL team in the two years before Petrino came.)

And a team that has lost its most valuable pieces.

Darren McFadden and Felix Jones are gone. And the rest of the league couldn't be happier.

 
See ya later, guys. You won't be missed.

"I'm just glad that we don't have to game-plan for them anymore," said Kentucky defensive end Jeremy Jarmon.

It's easy to see why.

There are a number of statistics that show how impressive -- and indispensible -- the McFadden-Jones tandem was. Here's just a few:

McFadden holds Arkansas' career records for rushing attempts, yards (by 1,040!) and 100-yard games (22, leading the next member of the list by six, or half a season). He owns the top two seasons in terms of rushing yards, as well as the 12th.

Felix Jones is the all-time Arkansas leader in yards per carry for a season and a career, fifth in career yardage and fourth in the number of career 100-yard games.

And on and on it goes.

Amazingly, Petrino appears to have faced not a single question about the departure of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones during his session in the print and Internet room. (C&F is going by the transcript, since he had to miss Petrino's remarks.) Petrino did talk a little bit about Michael Smith, apparently the front-runner for the starting position.

"He's a smaller running back that is very quick and has a great burst," Petrino said. "Can do a lot of things with him. ... So we're going to have to try to figure out ways to utilize his strengths and get him the ball in the open field."

Of course, Petrino has a different plan for the offense. And it will be hard for the offensive line and QB Casey Dick to operate a pass-first offense in a game situation for the first time. And for a few times after that. (In fairness, if past history is any indication, it might be hard for Dick to operate any offense that doesn't consist of "hand the ball to the impossibly strong and fast guy and watch him run.") The Gypsy Coach of the South can play it down as a "learning experience" that "hasn't been difficult" if he wishes; we'll see when the games begins.

The smart money says this will be a hangover season for Arkansas, much as 2004 was for Ole Miss (after they lost Eli Manning). When a team has a great player, it can be intoxicating, creating a buzz around the program that feels good at the time.

But if you rely too much on beverages to have a good time, no amount of coffee and tylenol can stop the world of hurt you face the next morning.

Standing in the west stands of Williams-Brice on that cold November night, having watched South Carolina just take a 21-20 lead on a Blake Mitchell TD pass to Dion Lecorn, I muttered a simple plea to the team I'd followed devotedly for eight seasons: "Don't screw this up."

Not ten feet above me, a beat-writer friend who had cheered for South Carolina even longer turned to his colleague from The Gamecock and said, "If they don't find a way to screw this up, I'll buy you a case of beer tomorrow. And I'll do it with a smile on my face."

Across town, another college friend watched the results during a concert at the Art Bar. "They're going to screw this up," she said.

Three people, in different locations, all South Carolina fans, knew the unstoppable force of Gamecock history made it almost certain that this team stood on the cusp of glory, of salvaging a crumbling season -- but would screw it up.

Of course, they did.

With Clemson down to a last-ditch third-and-18, two passes gave the Tigers a first down. Another, and they were in field goal range. Unlike 2006, when an unlikely block sealed the South Carolina victory, there were no heroes to rise up and change inevitable. Clay Buchholz' kick sailed through the uprights. The season was over.

This is the last installment of a review I began months ago. Because of distractions, it kept getting put off. Because of distractions, and an unwillingness to do it. There are no real incentives for reviewing the last nausea-inducing chapters of an epic collapse.

Except that I stand in the middle of previewing a season, and realize that to really, truly move forward, you have to come to grips with what happened before.

And so, here is the fourth and final part of Up In Smoke.

---

Continue reading this post »