* A blowout win against Florida International couldn’t prevent Houston Nutt from rising one spot to No. 4 in coacheshotseat.com’s weekly ranking of the coaches whose jobs are in the most trouble. Topping the list is Charlie Weiss of Notre Dame, followed by Karl Dorrell of UCLA and Ed Orgeron of Ole Miss. Sitting one spot behind Nutt is Dennis Franchione of Texas A&M. Here’s part of what the site’s blog page has to say about Houston: “Lose to the Gamecocks and Nutt will find that the few remaining poeple in his corner will be heading for the exits.”

* There’s no quarterback controversy here. Carry on.

* Foxsports.com has the Hogs ranked No. 15 in its pre-season basketball poll. The accompanying team profile says these four games will determine Arkansas’ season: Dec. 15 at Oklahoma; Feb. 2 vs. Florida; Feb. 13 at Tennessee; Feb. 23 at Kentucky. Why those games matter more than the others, it doesn’t say.

* Darren McFadden gears up for the stretch run.

* Harry King takes a look at the SEC bowl picture.

To be an Arkansas fan is to be convinced that other sports fans and the national sports media don’t give the Razorback program the respect it deserves. I guess it’s in part the consequence of growing up in a small and often-maligned state.

In the fall of 1994, however, as the Hogs were gearing up to try to defend the national basketball championship they had won months earlier, the sports media was anything but dismissive of the Razorbacks. In fact, at least one writer was heaping an amount of praise on them that looks pretty over-the-top 13 years later.

In an edition of Sport magazine that I bought in the fall of 1994 and rediscovered during a recent visit home, Darryl Howerton penned an article entitled, “Hog Wild: Arkansas is Loaded with Pro Prospects, and the NBA is Waiting with Open Arms.”

Here’s a sample paragraph: ” Arkansas’ team photo looks more like an NBA scouts’ most-wanted list than a collegiate squad. If you didn’t know better, you might think the 1994-95 Razorbacks were one of the new expansion clubs joining the NBA next fall.”

Here’s another: “‘To give you an idea of how loaded Arkansas is, let’s just say I can kill six or seven trips around the country by going to just one game in Fayetteville,’ says an NBA Western Conference scout.”

(Read on …)

We may struggle in the SEC, but it’s nice to know there’s one conference we can excel in. With today’s 58-10 stomping of poor Florida International, the Hogs will finish 2007 with a 3-0 record against Sun Belt opponents. Break out the bubbly.

Click here for the box score and here for the game story. Post your thoughts in the comments section.

Welcome back, Marcus Monk. Get well soon, Casey Dick.

On to South Carolina.

and nails a three-pointer. Check out Wholehogsports, the Hog Blogger and the Razorbloggers for full coverage.

In case you need any extra help getting fired up, we’ll be providing a handy pre-game cheat sheet detailing why you should hate each one of the Razorbacks’ opponents this fall. Some weeks will be easier than others …

1. It’s a Boring Matchup. One week after our first SEC victory, we’re itching to see the Hogs take on another conference opponent and find out if last week’s nice win was a harbinger of things to come. Instead, we get another, but thankfully final, installment of the Razorbacks’ beyond-boring non-conference schedule. As one writer said earlier this year - we forget who it was - “How can Arkansas look at its season-ticket holders with a straight face?”

2. It’s a No-Win Situation. If the Hogs win by a lot - hey, it’s Florida International, a team that has lost 19 straight and hasn’t tasted victory since December 2005. If they struggle, another week of angst and agitation among Arkansas fans.

3. They’ve Got a Bit of a Temper. During Florida International’s game against Miami last season, a national-headline-making brawl broke out that resulted in the suspension of 31 players. During the incident, one Florida International player swung his helmet at a Miami player. McFadden and the fellas may want to watch the trash talking.

4. They Make Blogging Hard. This isn’t supposed to be work, but trying to find reasons to hate Florida International (and Arkansas’ other non-conference opponents) sure feels like it. Furthermore, it kind of seems cruel, like clubbing a baby seal. This feature usually lists five reasons to hate the Hogs’ opponent. Four is as far as we can stretch it this week.

It’s the day of the annual Red-White basketball game. Are you a Red fan, or do you pull for the White? It’s a question whose answers have ripped apart families across the state.

In honor of tonight’s festivities, we have compiled this hodge-podge of Hog b-ball stories and reports from that “series of tubes” known as the Internet. Read, absorb and impress friends, lovers and co-workers with your newfound knowledge.

*  The Sporting News ranks Arkansas No. 22 in its preseason poll, while cbssportline.com has the Hogs at No. 16.

*  Click here for SI.com’s preview of the Razorbacks. Here’s the preview’s “final analysis” of the Hogs: “Coaches are often hired to rebuild. This is different. Pelphrey inherits a program that has had modest success recently but appears capable of much more right away. Arkansas has the talent to win the West. It’s up to Pelphrey to get the most out of that talent and to create cohesion, a quality that has been eggshell-fragile in recent seasons. Don’t underestimate the hunger factor. The seniors are desperate to do more than flame out in the first round of the NCAA tournament for a third straight year.”

* Andrew Skwara of Rivals.com says there will be no honeymoon for our new coach.

* Meanwhile, Terry Wood of the Northwest Arkansas Times says, despite all of its crazy and often embarrassing twists and turns, the Hogs’ search for a new basketball coach may have worked out just perfectly.

* In the ex-Hog department, Ronnie Brewer enjoyed quite a nice preseason for the Utah Jazz. And, finally, look at the many hairdos of Corliss. For sentimental reasons, we can’t help but be partial to the bald look, but we admire the way Big Nasty always challenged his audience. (Link courtesy of HogNation message board.)

Although we here at Razorback Expats fancy ourselves thoroughly modern, 21st century types, we occasionally still like to keep in touch with the more old school arts - namely, books (you know, those bound-together stacks of paper you sometimes see lying around). With that in mind, I’d like to share some thoughts about a book called “Game of My Life: Memorable Stories of Razorback Football” by Rick Schaeffer.

You surely know Schaeffer from his many years as the U of A sports information director, or perhaps recognize his voice from his countless Razorback radio broadcasts. In his book, he uses his years of experience to provide a really interesting look at some of the biggest football games in Hog history, as told by the players themselves. It’s broken down into 24 chapters (plus a brief foreward by “J. Frank Broyles”…so formal!), each focusing on a particular player and their experiences before, during and after the game (mostly during).

In addition to providing great details about each game (a lot of which, frankly, I either never knew or had long since forgotten), Schaeffer does a good job of capturing the personality of each athlete…much more than you’d get from the standard generic post-game quotes. Because my formative years as a Razorback fan were in the 80s, I particularly enjoyed the chapters on players like Quinn Grovey, James Rouse, Gary Anderson and Brad Taylor, but the book covers everything from Preston Carpenter’s reflections on the 1954 Ole Miss game to DeCori Birmingham’s take on the 2002 “Miracle on Markham St”. In other words, there’s a little something for everyone.

To sum up, Schaeffer’s book is a quick and easy read, full of interesting facts and anecdotes that any serious Hog fan (if you’re reading this blog that probably means you) would likely enjoy. If you’re curious to know more, here’s a short excerpt. And if you’re really intrigued, you can buy it here.

Bad news hit Razorbackland today: the NCAA has vacated two of the 4,000 national championships won by the university’s storied track and field program. We are beyond shocked to hear of wrongdoing in a college athletic program. In fact, a couple of our staffers fainted upon hearing the news and had to be revived with smelling salts. Their heart rates are still elevated, but, overall, they appear to be recovering nicely and should be back at their sub-minimum wage/no-health-insurance jobs in no time.

To be honest, I have never been that interested in track and field (although perhaps I should be: I imagine Hog track fans have a much happier outlook on life than those more inclined to follow the basketball and football teams). Still, we realize the import of today’s development and therefore sent some of our staff out to capture the “man in the street” reaction. To view an arresting photo that one of them snapped of a man hearing today’s news for the first time, click the “read on” button below:

(Read on …)

The world of college coaching often seems as gossipy as your average group of junior high girls. In what I’m quite sure won’t be the last rumor to swirl around the Arkansas program in the coming months, there’s suddenly a lot of speculation around UNC coach (and Arkansas native) Butch Davis becoming the next Head Hog (no matter that the position technically isn’t vacant). It’s gotten to the point where he’s already issuing the standard non-denial denials (perhaps on the advice of noted truthteller Slick Nick Saban). The Slophouse blog has the story on this.

In semi-related news, Richard Davenport at the Democrat-Gazette reports on how the coaching uncertainty has already affected one prized recruit.

Lots, lots more to come on this in the future, I’m sure. Fasten your seat belts, everybody…

As I was watching that rather insane finish to the LSU-Auburn game the other day, it struck me how crazy and fragile the whole SEC balance of power is. A play goes a few inches longer (or shorter) here and there and not only are the standings completely different, but people’s reputations and careers are changed forever.

Of course, that thought made me ponder how thin the line is between the Hogs’ wildly disappointing current season and something much, much better. Consider this: if any number of single plays had turned out differently in the Alabama, Kentucky and Auburn games we could very easily be undefeated right now. It’s not even that much of a stretch…the Alabama and Auburn games were essentially decided on the final play, and the Kentucky game came down to a couple of key moments.

Imagine that: change just three plays out of the hundreds already played this season and suddenly the Hogs are a top 5 team, D-Mac is on top of the Heisman race and the only banners seen at home games would be the good kind. Instead, we’re struggling to become bowl eligible, McFadden is largely off the Heisman radar and Houston Nutt is facing a full-on fan revolt.

Having said that, even if those three plays had gone differently the Hogs would still have the same deep flaws that we all know about, so perhaps it would have all caught up with us at some point (you could certainly also argue that with some smarter coaching those three plays would have gone our way). Or maybe this is just karmic payback for the close (lucky?) wins against Vandy and Bama last year. But it’s still fun/painful to think about. How would you feel about the team/season if the SEC West standings looked like this?

Arkansas 4-0
LSU 4-1
Alabama 3-2
Auburn 2-3
Miss St 1-3
Ole Miss 0-5

Three little plays. Crazy, huh?