Razorback news from around the web to help distract you from certain underachieving basketball teams:

* Looking for more behind-the-scenes info about the Hogs’ coaching search drama last month? ESPN.com reports that if not for one inspired performance by the New Orleans Saints we’d likely be discussing the possibilities of the Will Muschamp era at Arkansas.

* The football schedule for next year is out and it looks a little, well, challenging. I hope Bobby Petrino knew about this before signing on…otherwise he might be on the phone with his agent right now.

* News that probably did not make John Pelphrey’s day: prized point guard recruit Terrance Joyner is going to look at other schools while the NCAA reviews his academic standing (scroll down to the bottom of that article for details).

* Ryan Mallett officially becomes a Razorback and is greeted with a wet dorm room.

* In what surely won’t be the last mock draft we see between now and April, ESPN’s Todd McShay says D-Mac is the top talent in the draft, but has him going 4th to the Oakland Raiders. Felix is nowhere to be found in the first round, although McShay does say he’s a possibility for the New York Giants at pick #26.

* Lastly, because they apparently haven’t run this story quite far enough into the ground, ESPN once again takes the trouble to remind everone (especially recruits…thanks guys) that Bobby Petrino is the WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD. EVER!

So much for a tiny bit of history. That one brings back unpleasant memories of the Heath era.

On Sunday, the Razorbacks did something they hadn’t done in six years: get off to a 2-0 start in conference play. Tonight, against the South Carolina Gamecocks, Arkansas will be aiming for its first 3-0 SEC start since …. (drumroll, please) … Jan. 14, 1998, back in the days of Kareem Reid, Pat Bradley, Derek Hood and Nicky Davis.

At that point in time, Houston Dale Nutt was in the first weeks of his job as Razorback football coach, we had yet to hear the name Monica Lewinsky (although the day those Hogs suffered their first conference loss was the day Bill Clinton gave his infamous deposition in the Paula Jones lawsuit) and Roger Maris still held the single-season home-run record.

Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?

And what, you ask, became of that 1998 Razorback team? Well, after losing their fourth SEC game, they peeled off six straight wins to race out to a 9-1 conference record (unfortunately, I was there in person to witness their second SEC loss, which came at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens). However, they slumped down the stretch, losing four of their last six conference games to finish SEC play at 11-5.

(Read on …)

Although we’re only a few weeks into the Bobby Petrino era, it’s obvious already that it’s going to supply plenty of blogworthy material. The interesting thing to me is that the duality that was discussed ad nauseum when he was hired - great excitement about his ability to win (college) football games, tempered with a dash of uneasiness about his “blank shark-eyed” nature - will apparently be the standard reaction to the football program while he’s at the helm.

For example, on the day that Petrino lost his entire all-world backfield to the NFL, he pulled off a huge coup by securing superstar-QB-of-the-future Ryan Mallett. No way would that ever have happened under Houston Nutt, who was more known for causing QBs to transfer rather than reeling in ones who were transferring. Meanwhile, though, we’re treated to allegations that Petrino and his staff are trying to poach players from Louisville, a definite no-no in the world of college sports.

To be fair, these are only unproven allegations and the columnist reporting them, Rick Bozizh, seems to have the column-writing ability of Wally Hall, so who knows if there’s even a trace of fire with that smoke (and Nutt-haters will certainly argue that there was no lack of ethical lapses on his watch, also). My point is that, even as the Hogs improve on the field, the Petrino-haters will still have enough ammo to take their shots.

As a Razorback fan, I’m encouraged by the events of the last few weeks and am very excited about the future of the football team. But at the same time, we should definitely get comfortable with both the light and dark sides of the Petrino era. Seeking an edge in the insanely competitive SEC, that’s the deal Jeff Long knowingly signed up for. So, let’s buckle our seat belts and enjoy what promises to be an often thrilling (and occasionally dismaying) ride.

NFL defenses: watch out.

This certainly comes as no surprise, but Darren McFadden and Felix Jones both declared for the NFL Draft today (supportive teammates to the end, they held a joint press conference). We’ll surely have more gushingly sentimental thoughts in the days to come, but for now we’ll just say thanks to D-Mac and Felix for three amazing years. It’s been a blast.

Well, it was another wobbly win, but as was the case on Thursday, we’ll take it. For the first time in six years, the Hogs are 2-0 in SEC play. (Perhaps that’s not a great omen: after winning their first two conference games, the 2002 Razorbacks ended SEC play with a 6-10 record and Nolan got fired.)

And as was also the case with Thursday’s victory, you get the sense that Sunday’s win was the kind of game the Hogs of the preceding several seasons likely would have lost.

More thoughts to come later, but a quick hats off to Gary Ervin. The often-maligned point guard pretty much saved the Hogs’ bacon in overtime, nailing a three-pointer with less than two minutes to play to put Arkansas up by one and then completing an old-fashioned three-point play with less than a minute left to extend the Hogs’ lead to 68-64. As sloppy as much of the game was, that was an awfully stirring stretch of basketball.

Also of note: 6-1 Patrick Beverley led all players with 13 rebounds. That’s pretty insane.

As alway, please chime in with your observations in the comments section.

OK - maybe not.

That wasn’t the most artful win, and at numerous points it was downright ugly. But, I’ll take it, I guess. After all, since we’d won one road game in the last 25 years heading into tonight’s game (or whatever the stat was), I figure we can’t be too choosy yet. Hats off to Patrick Beverley and to Sonny Weems, who for the second straight game really turned it on in the second half.

The funniest moment of the evening for me came when I received a text message in the second half from a dear friend and fellow Hog fan who lives in Memphis and who has one of the driest wits around. His message read, “Gary Ervin is frustrating to watch. And I’m being charitable.”

Speaking of Ervin, his clang of a free throw in the waning seconds has to be one of the most massive bricks I’ve seen since the times when Razorback two-sporter Matt Jones was forced to step up to the charity stripe.

Interested to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Although it doesn’t excite us very much, we suppose we should weigh in on D-Mac’s most recent run-in with the law (Rule 325, Section IV, Sub-section G of the official Sports Blogger Code of Conduct states that all high-profile legal difficulties must be commented on).

We’ll spare you the tsk-tsking about his behavior (it’ll most likely be in Wally’s column tomorrow, anyway) and focus on a few more interesting things. First, the fact that this altercation took place at a piano bar strikes us as being both bizarre and hilarious…we’re having a hard time reconciling the image of an enormous football player and his posse ’scuffling’ with the piano bar stereotype of ferns, lounge music and cognac glass tip jar sitting atop the baby grand. Being an expat, we haven’t hung out at the RiverMarket much lately, but we’re assuming that the Ernie Biggs piano bar is a little more badass than the vision in our head.

Also, as part of their very thorough coverage of the incident, the good folks at Arkansas Sports 360 have dug up D-Mac’s MySpace page. Needless to say, it’s pretty awesome…the screen shot below captures it in all its tacky glory, but be sure to check it out yourself. How often do you get the opportunity to become ‘friends’ with a true Arkansas legend?

Wally Watch: Where we read Wally Hall so you don’t have to.

Jan. 8, 2008: Arkansas would be a good fit for BCS festivities.

Primary Theme: It’s a bit hard to tell, but the gist of it seems to be the controversial assertion that Arkansas administration and fans would enjoy a trip to the BCS title game.

Secondary Themes: LSU outplayed Ohio State. The SEC is good at football.

Really Going Out on a Limb Here: “Arkansas fans would fit in very well in a championship environment.” It’s nice to hear that this long-running debate has finally been settled.

Choice Analogy (Cajun-style): “Early Doucet got the touchdown after he shucked two defenders as easily as he could a crawfish head”

Our Analysis: Even by Wally’s standards, this is a fairly confusing column. It begins with some generic information about Jeff Long’s attendance at the BCS title game and then abruptly segues into a straightforward recap of the game’s major events before sort of returning to the main theme at the very end.

Although the game itself did have some interesting angles - the validity of LSU’s “championship”, how the BCS mess impacts the future prospects of a college football playoff (or “plus 1″ game) or the significance to the Razorback football program of having recently beaten the new national champs, to name three - unsurprisingly Wally stayed pretty far away from them. He did manage to include some slightly suck-uppish comments about the greatness of Razorback fans, though (one of his go-to moves). So, as Razorback fans ourselves, thanks for the kind words!

The Hog Blog is reporting that, when asked about McFadden and Jones at a press conference today, new defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said “They’re great players. I wish they weren’t leaving.”

Nothing has been announced officially yet, but we definitely don’t like the sound of that…