• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 27, 2009

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Arkansas enters this week with the SEC’s best passing attack, averaging 310.3 yards through the air a game.

That’s helped the Razorbacks also top the league in total offense with 445.2 yards a game and scoring with 38 points a game. Arkansas has never led the SEC in scoring or pass offense.

Those numbers have the full attention of the LSU defense, especially a secondary that has carved a spot as one of the best in the SEC.

But the Tigers’ defensive backs haven’t gone unnoticed by Hogs coach Bobby Petrino, either.

“They’re very talented in the secondary and they do a real nice job to be able to play man and zone,” Petrino said. “They break on the quarterback very well and get a hand on the ball.”

Petrino also has his concerns with the LSU offense. The Tigers have languished at the bottom of the SEC statistics all season and come in ranked 11th with 308.2 yards a game and 128 rushing yards a contest.

The Razorbacks have had their struggles on defense, though. They rank last in the SEC in pass defense (258.4 yards per game) and total defense (408.7 yards) and give up 4.1 yards a rushing carry and 150.4 yards a game on the ground.

LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson has shown improvement all season and passed for 250 yards and a pair of touchdowns last week against a stingy Ole Miss defense. With the Tigers on their third starting tailback of the season, it’s also possible the Arkansas defense could get a steady diet of freshman Russell Shepard in the Wildcat formation.

“We’ve got to go into the game saying we have to defend Jefferson and what his strengths are,” Petrino said. “We certainly know they’re very good at running the ball with that very big offensive front. And we have to be aware of that little guy coming in because he’s very talented and very explosive.

“(Shepard) is a very capable runner and he’s executed the wildcat very well.”

A day later

Today marks the first time since 1995 the Tigers and Razorbacks haven’t played on Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving with a national television audience on CBS.

It’s only Petrino’s second season with Arkansas, but he isn’t a fan of the change to a Saturday night when the teams have to share the spotlight.