Darren McFadden News

Position-by-position matchups

OFFENSE Quarterbacks Arkansas Chattanooga Tennessee-Chattanooga’s Antonio Miller has thrown five touchdown passes in the past two weeks. He has thrown for 505 yards this season and completed 54. 2 percent of his throws. Miller is also the team’s third-leading rusher. Miller missed the second game because of injury, and freshman Tony Pastore completed 10 of 19 passes for 171 yards and 1 touchdown with 4 interceptions. Miller led the Mocs to their first victory at Georgia Southern two weeks ago with three scoring passes. Arkansas’ Casey Dick completed 57. 1 percent of his passes and threw for three touchdowns in a 66-7 rout last week, and it could have been higher if not for drops. Dick’s accuracy has been on the rise since the first couple of weeks, and his command of the offense has been solid. Running backs Arkansas Chattanooga Erroll Wynn is the undisputed top rusher for the Mocs with his 74 carries making up more than half of the team’s total carries. Wynn has 277 yards and two scores, but hasn’t been a breakaway threat, with a season-long run of 23 yards and an average of 3. 7 yards per carry. No other Chattanooga player has rushed for more than 69 yards this year. Darren McFadden and Felix Jones are the top rushing tandem in the country with their 268. 8 yards per game. Darren McFadden needs 154 rushing yards in front of his hometown fans to break Ben Cowins’ Arkansas career record. Razorbacks runners have amassed eight 100-yard games this season, with Darren McFadden and Jones topping 100 together three times. Odds are in their favor to do it again tonight. Brandon Barnett joined the fun last week with his first 100-yard game, and he moved ahead of Michael Smith on the depth chart. Receivers Arkansas Chattanooga Chattanooga’s Blue Cooper had nine receptions last week and leads the team with 25 catches for 319 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s caught scoring passes each of the past two weeks. Clint Woods has proven to be a big-play threat, with a 63-yard touchdown on a quick screen in Week 2. He has 11 catches for 128 yards. The Razorbacks’ receiving corps continues to take its lumps, with an ankle injury to starter Robert Johnson making him questionable tonight. If he’s unable to go, Reggie Fish will join London Crawford as a starter. Crawford is the de facto go-to receiver now with five catches, including a touchdown, and an average of 23. 4 yards per catch. Other than Crawford and Johnson, the healthy receivers have accounted for eight catches for 90 yards. Line Arkansas Chattanooga The Mocs have experience, with three senior starters and two juniors, and plenty of beef up front. On the right side, Sam Bentley and Brandon Bellamy go 327 pounds apiece. Bellamy switched from left tackle to right tackle two weeks ago, and Joe Hudgins moved out from left guard to the allcritical left tackle spot. Center Garrett Windham has good size at 6-6, 288, but the Mocs have not been an overpowering running team, averaging just 3. 0 yards per carry and 97. 5 yards per game. Arkansas makes good use of its size, with an offensive line that plows the way for an NCAA-best 359 rushing yards per game. The Hogs have proven equally adept running to either side, and their interior linemen have excelled at pulling. Teams have stuffed the box, making the between-the-tackles yards harder to come by.

DEFENSE Line Arkansas Chattanooga The Mocs’ three-man front is anchored by nose guard Charles Profit, a team captain and secondteam preseason All-Southern Conference pick. Profit has 18 tackles and two sacks. End Neil Brown, who has 20 tackles, originally signed with Auburn, while the other end, Jason Vincent, transferred from Moorpark (Calif. ) College. The Razorbacks’ four-man front underwent yet more change this week, with Malcolm Sheppard likely to get more playing time at end than tackle after dropping to 260 pounds. Sheppard leads the team with 6 / 2 tackles for loss. Arkansas coaches are looking for a spark from senior Marcus Harrison, who is back inside with Ernest Mitchell. The Razorbacks are building a deep rotation at end, with Antwain Robinson joined by Adrian Davis, Chris Wade, Damario Ambrose and Sheppard. The line must start getting more pressure and sacks. Linebackers Arkansas Chattanooga Chattanooga’s Joseph Thornton has been extremely active at and behind the line of scrimmage with 12 tackles for loss, a figure that leads all of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA ). Rugged outside linebacker Steven Mills, 6-3, 241, leads the linebackers with 18 unassisted tackles, including 7 1 / 2 for loss. Undersized Edward Sawyer, 6-0, 205, and Chris Johnson man the inside slots, and they have 25 and 23 tackles, respectively. Arkansas’ linebackers will be happy to face a more traditional offense, which will allow all of the starters to get on the field at the same time. Weston Dacus h