Analysis of the Enemy: Arkansas Razorback Offense

Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino runs one of the most versatile and dangerous offenses in all of college football. Ross will bring you the schematic breakdown of the Razorback offense tomorrow, but we're going to take a look at personnel and some statistical analysis today.

Impressive production all around.  Arkansas received a bump in both S&P+ and FEI for playing a difficult schedule, improving upon their unfiltered total offense rank by six spots. The yards per play figure is especially revealing of the offenses' ability. Arkansas gets their yards in chunks, even outpacing the mighty Oregon offense that Ohio State faced in last years' Rose Bowl.

Quarterback Ryan Mallett earned early Heisman buzz before being injured against Auburn in October, and if he stays healthy and wins that game over Cam Newton and the Tigers, there's a good chance he's the one with the Stiffarm Trophy on his mantle right now.

Mallett's greatest attribute is his arm strength, but his accuracy is not too shabby, either. He improved his completion percentage by eleven points-- to 66.5%-- from his sophomore season and threw for 3,582 yards and 30 touchdowns. He does have a tendency to force throws, though, and has 11 interceptions to prove it. Almost all of his interceptions are a result of trusting his arm strength too much, and it gets him into trouble against strong competition. Against the two best defenses he played this year, Alabama and LSU, Mallett threw multiple picks, with a number of other throws closely contested by defenders.

It's a good sign for Ohio State that Mallett's interceptions aren't evenly distributed. With his picks occurring much more frequently against great defenses, it bodes well for Ohio State's chances to affect him in the Sugar Bowl.

The Razorback offensive line deserves more credit than it's getting in the press. Granted, offensive linemen are always overshadowed by skill position players and quarterbacks, but the 2010 Hogs are really doing work. Three seniors and two redshirt freshmen combine to form one of the SEC's best, and biggest, units. Senior DeMarcus Love mans the left tackle spot and will have to contend with Nate Williams off the edge. Love is a mountain of a man (6''5, 315) but has enough agility to deal with speed rushers. He's not entirely dominant, however, and has had difficulty with some of the better SEC defensive ends. The battle between Williams and Love will be one of the most important ones in the Sugar Bowl, and likely one of the more entertaining.

The rest of the Arkansas offensive line is big, as well, but they come in a little shy of the Wisconsin Badger line that Ohio State had to contend with in the regular season. Arkansas averages 314 pounds a man, with the Badgers coming in at 320 pounds a brute. The teams play roughly similar styles, but the Razorbacks run more zone blocking than Wisconsin. Ohio State's linebackers are going to deal less directly with the Arkansas linemen but will need to shift through the Hogs, nonetheless.

Bobby Petrino has done a nice job recruiting skill position talent to Fayetteville, with many of the players from his first two classes now performing in the spotlight. Juniors Jairus Wright, Joe Adams, and Greg Childs lead the Razorbacks with over 650 receiving yards each, and sophomore Cobi Hamilton also adds over 600 yards in receptions. Childs tore his patella tendon on October 3oth against Vanderbilt, but the other receivers stepped up. The Razorbacks don't have a dominant receiver per se, but the entire group is more than capable.

Ohio State's defensive backs will be challenged, and you can expect to see a lot of Travis Howard as a nickelback. His performance will be key, especially when Petrino goes four wide in his formations.

Surprisingly, though, with Petrino's reputation as a passing guru, the single biggest development for the Razorback offense this season was the emergence of running back Knile Davis. The sophomore received limited carries up to the Texas A&M game, and after a double digit effort, Davis's role in the offense steadily increased. The chart below contains the run/pass distribution of the Arkansas offense in 2010.

Knile Davis's impact on the offense is particularly evident in the last four games of the season, where he ran for over 100 yard in each respective game. Of note, Arkansas totally flipped the script by its final game of the season, against LSU, running 67% of the time.

The newfound star tailback provides options for Bobby Petrino and his offensive coordinator, Garrick McGee. Defenses must be gap sound at all time, or they run the risk of being gashed for yards on the ground. This limits the opportunities for a defensive coordinator to blitz with fire zone and other creative blitzes.

My initial impression of the Razorbacks has only been strengthened by more research. They will be the best offense Ohio State has played in the past two seasons, and Ohio State will need to engage in a strategy of containment instead of dominance. Arkansas will gain yards and score some points-- they are too good of an offense not to. But by limiting big plays, causing some turnovers, and having a strong offensive game, Ohio State can certainly perform as well as Alabama did against the Razorbacks.