CECIL HURT: Hogs not above trickery as a diversion

There have been great running back tandems in the Southeastern Conference in the past. Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown, for instance. Bobby Humphrey and Gene Jelks, to cite another example. Bo Jackson and James Brooks. Herschel Walker and the Georgia guy who stood on the sidelines and cheered for Herschel.

Arkansas has a pair that equals almost any of them.

Darren McFadden and Felix Jones present an array of problems for any opponent, and have done so for two years now. They give the Razorbacks speed, power and versatility, and Arkansas coach Houston Nutt maximizes their capabilities in creative ways.

“McFadden gets between the tackles and runs up the middle a lot,” said Tide defensive tackle Lorenzo Washington on Tuesday. “Felix gets on the edge more. I’m not saying he can’t run up the middle, because he can, but they seem to have a different type of style.”

While Arkansas will run many plays from basic I-formation power sets, the Razorbacks aren’t above trickery to create confusion and allow even more one-on-one opportunity for both of the big, tackle-breaking backs. McFadden is 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds with a long reach and a powerful stiff-arm technique. Jones isn’t much smaller at 207 pounds.

The wrinkle that has attracted the most attention is the one that Arkansas coaches have nicknamed “Wild Hog.” At least that’s the name for it this year — it was originally called “Wildcat,” when Gus Malzahn, last year’s Arkansas offensive coordinator and Mitch Mustain’s high school coach, invented it. Now Malzahn, Mustain and “Wildcat” are all gone — but “Wild Hog” remains. It’s a formation where McFadden lines up at quarterback and can either keep the ball himself, option it off to either Jones or Peyton Hillis or, on occasion, pass it. (He threw for three touchdowns out of the formation last year.)

Alabama is doing its best to replicate all that in practice, primarily using Jonathan Lowe as the stand-in, although as Nick Saban noted in his Monday press conference, “If [Alabama] had somebody who could do all the things that McFadden does, we’d be playing him on offense.”

“It’s hard to create what he does, but other than the Wildcat, it’s pretty basic stuff,” Washington said. “They run the power stuff like LSU and Georgia, but we see a lot of that every day from our own offense.

“We are getting prepared, but football really comes down to hitting and tackling. They’ve got two backs who can make big plays in the running game, so the first person who comes into contact with them has to bring them down. If not, then you hold on and try to strip the ball and gang tackle. It’s really the same as any game.”

Washington’s prescription is simple, but Alabama’s defense still has to administer the right dose. Solid performances against two less-powerful offenses in the Crimson Tide’s first two games have quelled doubts about the Alabama front seven, but McFadden and Jones pose serious problems for defenses with a lot more experience than Alabama will put on the field.

“It will be time to step up,” Washington says. “We know that.”

If Alabama can do so, then expectations for the season will suddenly get a lot higher. It wouldn’t be fair to say that Saturday’s winner will become a front-runner in the SEC West – LSU has that territory pretty much to itself at this early juncture. But if Alabama shows that it can stop McFadden and Jones – or if Arkansas shows that the Crimson Tide can’t – then someone will come out of Bryant-Denny Stadium as a much more confident team on Saturday night.

Cecil Hurt is sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Reach him at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225