Harmed and dangerous

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Sympathy might be hard to come by, but Arkansas' players at least understand what Alabama is going through.
National title or bust was Alabama's goal this season, same as Arkansas' last year. In both instances, two early losses reduced those hopes to dust and forced the teams to rethink.
Knowing how it feels to be humbled before the first Bowl Championship Series standings even appear, the Razorbacks say they expect the Tide to rumble into Reynolds Razorback Stadium tonight seething. Kickoff is 8:07 p.m.
Alabama (1-2, 1-0 SEC) has lost to UCLA and Southern Mississippi, the latter a 21-0 shutout last week. Its victory came against Vanderbilt.
The upside? Even though the Tide has had to downshift its postseason ambitions, it still can win the SEC championship and qualify for the league's slot in the BCS.
"We want to go out this year as winners," Tide free safety Tony Dixon said. "Starting off 1-2, if you look at the schedule, we've still got a lot to play for. We can still go out there and have one of the best seasons we've had in the history of Alabama."
A softer schedule helped Arkansas start 2-0. While Alabama was fighting nonconference opponents now ranked sixth (UCLA) and 22nd (Southern Miss) nationally, the Razorbacks were feasting on Division I-AA Southwest Missouri State and hanging on for dear life against Boise State.
The scheduling idea was to start easy and build toward the rugged challenge of SEC play. That was the plan last year too, when a senior-heavy team coming off a nine-victory season took aim at the national title and then started 0-2 in the league.
In retrospect, Coach Houston Nutt has said, the 1999 team wasn't ready for prime time because those players had not experienced a championship of any kind or many victories in their first two seasons. Besides losing at Alabama and Ole Miss, the Razorbacks squandered chances at Kentucky and LSU but beat Tennessee and Mississippi State, both ranked in the top 15 at the time.
Players on the current team said they learned a lesson from last season.
"A lot of teams last year weren't supposed to beat us but did," junior guard La'Zerius White said. "I think we kind of looked ahead. This year we're not looking ahead of anybody, especially the guys we have coming up the next couple of weeks."
Alabama marks the first of three consecutive games in Fayetteville, with Georgia next week and Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 7.
After opening at No. 3 in The Associated Press rankings, Alabama is unranked. The Tide lost in the third week of the season for the fourth consecutive year and has a 2-1 record in the games after those losses.
Nobody at Arkansas has been lulled into thinking the Tide is ready to roll over, players and coaches said.
"I think they're probably going to try to use us as a steppingstone to get back on track," defensive tackle Jermaine Brooks said.
Questions linger for both teams.
Inexperience and injuries have left the Razorbacks' secondary vulnerable. That and an inconsistent pass rush allowed Boise State to throw for 304 yards. Arkansas also is breaking in sophomore quarterback Robby Hampton and has been pushed around at times in the interior defensive line.
Most of Alabama's problems have occurred on offense. The unit has suffered an identity crisis.
Do they spread the field and throw, highlighting the talents of receiver Freddie Milons, or do they line up in the I formation and try to hammer teams with the run? They've tried both and are expected to focus on the run today after dropping to 113th nationally in passing efficiency.
Goal adjustments have been made, too.
At a spring meeting, Alabama's players set their goal as winning the national championship, and DuBose said the idea was attainable
"Now the team that wins it is not always going to be the best or most talented football team," DuBose said. "It's the team that comes together and plays as one with a singleness of purpose and has the talent to win it. That was our goal but ... there's still goals out there."
Winning the SEC or just qualifying for a bowl game would satisfy many programs. But that's harder to digest when you're Alabama and you were aiming for the top.
For the Tide to realize its readjusted goals, it needs to start winning again quickly.
"I don't think there's finger-pointing now, " Dixon said. "But if the same problems happen Saturday, some of the immature people may start finger-pointing. "
The Razorbacks expect nothing short of a battle, pointing to last year's situation as an example.
Alabama lost to Louisiana Tech and rumors swirled that DuBose would lose his job. Then the Tide beat Arkansas and Florida in consecutive weeks and all was well again.
"Coach DuBose did a great job of getting them ready for the SEC and they're in the championship game," Nutt said. "We know what kind of team they have. We know how they're going to come in here and what kind of frame of mind they'll be in. We've got to have our best game."

WHERE Reynolds Razorback Stadium (cap. 51,000), Fayetteville
WHEN 8:07 p.m. today
RECORDS Arkansas 2-0, 0-0 SEC; Alabama 1-2, 1-0
SERIES Alabama leads 7-3 or 6-4 depending on the source. The Tide had to forfeit its 1993 victory but still counts the victory in the series record. Arkansas recognizes it as a loss for Alabama. The Razorbacks have won three of the last five and lost 35-28 last year in Tuscaloosa.
LINE Alabama by 21/2
TV ESPN2
RADIO Arkansas Razorback Sports Network on 73 stations, including KARN-AM, 920, and -FM, 101.7, KKRN-FM, 102.5, and KSYG-FM, 103.7, in Little Rock; KXOW-AM, 1420, and KLAZ-FM, 105.9, in Hot Springs; and KEZA-FM, 107.9, and KREB-AM, 1390, -FM, 96.7, and -FM, 99.5, in Fayetteville-Springdale.

This article was published on Saturday, September 23, 2000

RETURN to main page

Copyright and permissions
Copyright © 2000, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.