Road trip will check vital signs

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Maybe the Arkansas Razorbacks can tell us who's going to win the presidential election, when the stock market will recover and what's going to happen on the next West Wing.
After all, this is Arkansas' annual Groundhog Day, the point in the schedule that has, without fail, come to forecast the remainder of the season.
Arkansas plays 24th-ranked South Carolina and, using history as a barometer, the outcome should reveal whether the Razorbacks are headed to a bowl or bust.
The last six times these teams have met, Arkansas has gone 3-3 and each game has reflected the rest of the season. When the Razorbacks won in 1995, 1998 and 1999, they went on to regular-season records of 8-4, 9-2 and 7-4 and played in bowls. When they lost in 1994, 1996 and 1997, they finished 4-7 each time.
Coach Houston Nutt has built up the importance of this game. But he has stopped short of selling it as all or nothing because, if it's a loss, the Hogs (4-1, 1-1 SEC) still have a chance to break from recent history and qualify for a bowl.
"Every game from here on in is important, starting with this game," Nutt said. "As far as people saying this is the make or break, every game we try to win the best we can."
This has been a swing game because past Razorbacks teams seem to have built on the momentum, winning the game after each victory over South Carolina. And they have let down, losing the game after each loss to the Gamecocks.
If the Razorbacks lose, the pressure mounts to reach that sixth victory that would make them bowl-eligible, and the remaining schedule is always rough. This year, home games against Ole Miss and LSU and road games against Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State await.
But it might be an even more meaningful game for South Carolina (5-1, 3-1).
Besides needing one more victory to become bowl-eligible, the Gamecocks feel they have a score to settle from last year, when Arkansas dominated them 48-14. It was the lowest point for a feeble team in a winless season.
Former defensive coordinator Keith Burns sent the first team back on the field in the fourth quarter. Afterward, Coach Lou Holtz snubbed Nutt and Burns, who both played for Holtz in college.
During a lighter moment before the game, Holtz and Nutt had shared good will and reminisced briefly. As Holtz turned to walk away, he ended the conversation by half-jokingly telling Nutt not to run up the score.
Nutt emptied his bench early and the offense only scored one second-half touchdown. He said he didn't celebrate on the scoreboard at his teacher's expense.
The 34-point margin of defeat was the largest by a Holtz-coached team since Nov. 16, 1985, when Michigan beat Minnesota 48-7. Notre Dame's largest losing margin during his 11 years there was 25 points to Texas A&M in the 1988 Cotton Bowl.
As he often does, Holtz spent this week downplaying his team's chances of winning because, he said, Arkansas looks big and mean again.
"After the way they beat us last year, if we can find a way to beat them, I would personally tear down the goal posts," Holtz said. "I don't need any help."
Holtz might not have as much help as he'd like during the game. Strong safety Rashad Faison bruised his shoulder and might not play. If he does go, it's unclear how long he'll last. Faison is the team's second-leading tackler and the attacker when South Carolina zone blitzes.
Injuries reduced Arkansas' strength in several areas the last three weeks, but good news arrived this week with the return of bandit Derrick Johnson, tailback Fred Talley, fullback Adam Daily and left tackle Shannon Money.
Brandon Holmes will start at tailback and Talley will rotate with him. Coaches are hopeful that Talley's speed and Daily's blocking can reopen the outside run that has been virtually nonexistent since Cedric Cobbs went down with a shoulder injury in the Alabama game.
What timing for the players to return, too.
This is the week when the conference's East and West division races begin to take shape. South Carolina is one of three East teams with one loss. Every West team has one loss except LSU, which has two.
Two losses push a team to the edge of elimination for that coveted spot in the SEC Championship Game. Only once in the eight seasons of divisional play has an East team advanced with two league losses. It has happened four times in the West.
"From here on out, we have to play every Saturday with no layoffs," Arkansas cornerback D'Andre Berry said. "A lot of unpredictable things are going on and we want to be part of that. If we win this, it will open a lot of eyes."
A victory would be significant enough that Nutt, who celebrates his 43rd birthday today, would feel like tearing down South Carolina's goal posts himself. Of course, he wouldn't act on that impulse, would he?
"We'll think about that," Nutt said.
Either way, history says the outcome will be a sign of things to come.

WHERE Williams-Brice Stadium (80,250), Columbia, S.C.
WHEN 11:37 a.m. today
RECORDS Arkansas 4-1, 1-1 SEC; South Carolina 5-1, 3-1
SERIES Arkansas leads 5-3 and has won the last two by scoring 48 and 41 points. No team has won more than two in a row in the series.
LINE South Carolina by 51/2
TV Jefferson-Pilot
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, October 14, 2000

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