On the road is no place for Arkansas

Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles needs to get on the phone to his counterparts at Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State and try to negotiate deals to get those schools to move their home games with the Razorbacks to the Cotton Bowl.
Broyles can tell them how it will help their recruiting in talent-rich Texas, that Jerry Jones will let the teams sit in private boxes at Cowboys' games, that they can eat at Casa Dominguez as many times as they want for free -- whatever it takes to get them to play Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl.
Because the Cotton Bowl seems to be the only place outside the state where Arkansas can win.
Saturday's loss at South Carolina was Arkansas' seventh in a row in an SEC road game, and the Razorbacks are 2-7 in their past nine games away from home.
Arkansas' two victories in that span were at the Cotton Bowl, 26-0 over SMU in the 1999 season opener and 27-6 over Texas in the 2000 Cotton Bowl Classic.
The Razorbacks' last SEC road victory was 24-21 at Auburn on Oct. 31, 1998.

SNOUTIN' OFF
NOT A HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt turned 43 on Saturday but obviously didn't get the birthday gift he would have preferred -- beating South Carolina.
The way the Razorbacks struggled on offense, Nutt might feel more like 73.
Of course, as Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles would say, "That's young."

STRONG DEFENSE
South Carolina defensive coordinator Charlie Strong, who is from Batesville and played at Central Arkansas, didn't enjoy a happy homecoming last year when the Razorbacks beat the Gamecocks 48-14 in Little Rock.
Strong's defense put on a much better show against Arkansas on Saturday, keeping the Razorbacks scoreless until less than 10 minutes remained, holding them to 251 yards in total offense and getting four turnovers.
"Hat's off to Coach Charlie Strong," said Arkansas center Josh Melton, who also is from Batesville. "He did a great job getting his defense ready to play. ... They got the best of us this year."

MORE INJURIES
Arkansas had suffered a lot of injuries going into the South Carolina game, and the training room will get more crowded this week.
The injury list after Saturday's game included quarterbacks Robby Hampton (sprained right thumb), Zak Clark (sprained ankle) and Jared McBride (sprained knee); defensive back Derrick Johnson (sprained knee); and wide receiver Boo Williams (sprained shoulder).

FIRST PERSONAL LOSS
Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt had done pretty well in "personal games" before losing to Lou Holtz, his old coach at Arkansas.
That makes Nutt 4-1 in such games.
The breakdown for Nutt is 1-1 vs. Holtz, 1-0 vs. Boise State (Nutt's old school), and 2-0 vs. Tommy Tuberville (the coach who was Nutt's primary competition for the Arkansas job).
Nutt will get another shot at Tuberville when the Razorbacks play at Auburn on Oct. 28 after having an open date.

GOING BOWLING AGAIN
By winning Saturday, South Carolina (6-1) became bowl-eligible. Even if the Gamecocks struggle down the stretch with games against Tennessee, Florida and Clemson, rest assured South Carolina will get a bowl bid with its legion of fans.
South Carolina averaged 78,000 fans while going 0-11 last season, so bowls are drooling at the possibility of getting the Gamecocks.
South Carolina will be the sixth school Holtz has coached to a bowl game in the past 30 years, along with William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota and Notre Dame.
That accomplishment says two things about Holtz:
1. He's a heck of a coach.
2. He can wear out his welcome.

COULD HAVE BEEN ON ESPN
South Carolina junior cornerback Andre Goodman blew his shot to be on SportsCenter on Saturday night.
Goodman could have had a 90-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, but after picking up Fred Talley's fumble with an open field in front of him, Goodman didn't realize how close he was to the sideline and ran out of bounds at the Gamecocks' 15.
Not that it hurt South Carolina. Two plays later, Derek Watson scored on a 68-yard touchdown run.

ON THE MENU
The pregame spread in the press box made sure to represent both mascots. There was ham and chicken wings.

THE GOOD
South Carolina's defense, in which linemen may drop back and cornerbacks may blitz, kept the Razorbacks off balance all game.

THE BAD
Maybe the Razorbacks should stop putting someone deep after suffering a third fumbled punt return. They could rush 11 and hope for a blocked punt. If they don't block the punt, at least they'll get possession of the ball once it stops bouncing.

This article was published on Sunday, October 15, 2000

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