Hog Calls

Arkansas staff isn't getting carried away

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema watches warmups before the first quarter of an NCAA college football game against Nicholls in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema watches warmups before the first quarter of an NCAA college football game against Nicholls in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Many a football team has fancied itself turning a major corner only blindly to crash into a brick wall and crumble.

Just review last Saturday. Southern California hurdled major Pacific-12 rival Stanford two Saturdays ago, only to be upset by Boston College, which previously had been punctured by Pittsburgh

Virginia Tech defeated Ohio State two Saturdays ago in Columbus, Ohio, then lost at home to East Carolina.

Forty years ago the Arkansas Razorbacks opened the season in Little Rock with a dominating 22-7 victory over eventual 1974 UPI national champion Southern California. Oklahoma State routed the Razorbacks 26-7 the next week in Little Rock.

Yet coming off Arkansas' 49-28 victory on Saturday at Texas Tech, talk abounds about these Razorbacks "turning a corner."

That's understandable. Trouncing Tech, a member of the Big 12, is about the best Arkansas has achieved since the scandal-revealing motorcycle accident in April 2012 that led to the firing of Bobby Petrino.

Disaster followed.

Arkansas endured a 4-8 flop in 2012 under John L. Smith with a senior-laden team picked among the top 10 in the preseason before Bret Bielema inherited the bewildered leftovers and went 3-9 in 2013, including 0-8 in the SEC.

So naturally Bielema and his staff swell when they see Arkansas pride swell again. Nevertheless, they cast a wary eye about "turning the corner" with the Northern Illinois Huskies planted in their path Saturday in a nonconference game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

To the casual fan, Northern Illinois may sound like one of those rent-a-victory directional school games. Avid football folks know better. The 2012 Mid-American Conference champion Huskies went 12-2 and played Florida State in the Orange Bowl. In 2013, quarterbacked by since graduated Heisman Trophy finalist Jordan Lynch, NIU went 12-2 again.

NIU is 3-0 this season without Lynch, which includes a victory at Big Ten member Northwestern. NIU also flaunts into Fayetteville having won 17 consecutive regular-season road games, which leads the nation.

That's why Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney handled a "turned the corner" question Sunday night more delicately than a live grenade.

" I don't know," Chaney replied. "That corner thing with college young men? We're real proud of how they played and performed. Move on. I'm comfortable where we're sitting, but I know this is a performance-based business. It's time to go on."

Bielema said he smiled late Sunday night while driving home after reviewing Arkansas' film and watching film of NIU when he heard a fan from Fayetteville on a national sports talk radio hyping the Hogs. Driving to work Monday morning, Bielema said his radio resounded with another "Woo Pigging" very early hours and that it was "kind of cool."

But Bielema knows NIU is capable of converting "kind of cool" into stone cold.

He believes his Razorbacks see that, too.

"Just put on Northern Illinois film," Bielema said. "They get after people."

If the Razorbacks don't see that, Bielema guarantees he will show them the light.

"One of the greatest roles we have as coaches is as humbler," Bielema said. "We'll make them very humble."

Sports on 09/17/2014

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