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College football: Week 7

You’re high on the Hogs again, aren’t you?

Just think how low you were at halftime of the Texas A&M game. You figured your beloved Porkers were headed to their second consecutive defeat, and you had resigned yourself to a 7-5 or 8-4 regular season.

Now, you’re talking 11-1 and a return to the BCS.

There’s really not much to complain about following the 38-14 win over the defending national champion. Arkansas has now defeated teams ranked in the Top 15 on back-to-back Saturdays. The only other time that happened was in 1999 (HDN’s second season at the helm) when the Razorbacks polished off No. 3 Tennessee (we never tire of hearing Paul’s Stoerner-to-Lucas call, do we?) and No. 12 Mississippi State.

Auburn’s 24-point losing margin was the worst in Gene Chizik’s three seasons at the helm.

And what about Gus Malzahn?

Since leaving the Razorback coaching staff, he has been associated with teams that are 47-11 outside Razorback Stadium. He’s 0-3 inside the stadium — Tulsa’s 2008 loss and Auburn’s 2009 and 2011 losses to the Razorbacks.

You had Joe Adams’ 92-yard touchdown jaunt, the second longest TD run in school history.

You had a defense that came up with three interceptions, the first time that has happened at Arkansas since the 2009 game against Troy.

You had Tyler Wilson completing 24 of 36 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns. He has now thrown for 594 yards and six touchdowns total in two games against Auburn.

Wilson had 14 consecutive completions against Auburn last year. He had 19 consecutive completions Saturday, the third longest streak of its type in the long, glorious history of the Southeastern Conference. Wilson started the game two of seven passing on Saturday but then completed his final 18 passes of the first half and his first pass of the third quarter.

You even had both of Auburn’s touchdowns scored by Arkansas products — a 55-yard touchdown run by Michael Dyer out of Little Rock Christian and a seven-yard touchdown run by Kiehl Frazier from Shiloh Christian (which finds itself 3-3 on the 2011 season without his services in Springdale).

Yes, there was a little something for everyone in Fayetteville on Saturday night.

You’ll have to get your football fix elsewhere this weekend since the Razorbacks have an open date. That gives them two weeks to prepare for ol’ HDN and his Rebel Bears. It should be a fun afternoon in Oxford on Oct. 22 as Ole Miss frat boys with heavy starch in their dress shirts drown their football frustration with Wild Turkey.

Meanwhile, Hugh Freeze’s Arkansas State program is showing signs of life. ASU has won back-to-back conference road games for the first time since 1985.

That’s right — 1985, the Larry Lacewell era.

The Red Wolves went to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Sun Belt Conference with a 24-19 win at Monroe against ULM. ASU also has this weekend off but must turn around and play a strange Tuesday night game next week against defending conference champion Florida International.

Freeze told the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday that he doesn’t care when games are played if it means national television exposure for his progam.

UCA evened its overall record at 3-3 and went to 2-1 in the Southland Conference with a 37-31 win over Nicholls State deep in the bayou country last Saturday.

After having won two consecutive SWAC games, UAPB has now dropped two consecutive conference games to fall to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the SWAC.

When it comes to the state’s Division II programs, there simply aren’t any strong teams in 2011. The Great American Conference schools went 0-5 against Gulf South Conference teams last week, and most of those games weren’t close.

Fortunately, the three-week period in which GAC teams must take on GSC teams has come to a conclusion.

We were 8-1 last week with our picks. Our mistake was to pick one GAC squad (Harding) to defeat a GSC squad (West Georgia, the weakest of the five remaining Gulf South teams). We forgot that the Bisons cannot hang onto the football in their option offense. They lost five fumbles in a 41-24 loss to West Georgia.

We’re 41-11 for the season and move bravely forward to make Week 7 picks:

McNeese State 38, UCA 32 — Saturday afternoon’s contest in Conway should be a good choice for those looking for a college football game to attend. The Bears are by no means a dominant team. They had to stop Nicholls State on fourth-and-one at the UCA seven with 1:16 left to preserve the victory over a squad that’s now 1-5. But if Nathan Dick has a productive day passing, the Bears could beat McNeese. Dick was 25 of 33 through the air for 306 yards and three touchdowns against Nicholls State. McNeese State lost at home last Saturday to Texas State, 21-14. McNeese is 3-2.

Southern University 29, UAPB 24 — It’s hard to tell from week to week which UAPB team will show up. The Golden Lions were not competitive last Saturday in a 48-10 loss at Jackson State. UAPB plays for only the second time this season in Pine Bluff against a Southern team that’s 2-4. The wins have come by scores of 21-6 over Alabama A&M and 28-21 over Mississippi Valley State. The losses have been by scores of 33-7 to Tennessee State, 28-24 to Jackson State, 38-33 to Florida A&M and 23-20 to Prairie View A&M. Prairie View won in Baton Rouge last Saturday on a 19-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining in the game.

Henderson 41, Southeastern Oklahoma 35 — Henderson has had two weeks to prepare for this game after finding its offense in a 50-30 win at West Georgia on Oct. 1. Southeastern Oklahoma started the season 2-0 but has now lost three consecutive games, including a 38-28 loss to Northeastern Oklahoma in Durant last Saturday. The Reddies should make it four consecutive losses for the Savage Storm.

Arkansas Tech 21, Southern Arkansas 20 — This is a battle between two 1-5 teams in Magnolia. Somebody has to win. Tech lost 44-10 last Saturday to No. 1 North Alabama in Russellville as the Lions rolled up 601 yards of offense to go to 6-0 on the season. West Alabama improved to 5-1 with a 38-10 win over Southern Arkansas.

East Central Oklahoma 30, UAM 27 — These two teams appear evenly matched. East Central defeated Southwestern Oklahoma 29-12 last Saturday to move to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the GAC. UAM fell to 3-3 overall with a 34-20 loss to No. 3 Delta State in Cleveland, Miss.

Ouachita 31, Southwestern Oklahoma 28 — Ouachita started the season 3-0 and moved to No. 25 in the Division II national rankings but has dropped back-to-back games to Delta State and Valdosta State. Those are two powerhouses, but the Tigers were not competitive in either game. Southwestern Oklahoma only made it to the red zone twice in its loss to East Central.

Northeastern Oklahoma 39, Harding 36 — Harding can gain a lot of yards but, as noted, the Bisons simply cannot hold onto the ball. Harding is now 2-4 after its loss to West Georgia. Northeastern State scored 17 unanswered points to start the second quarter in its win over Southeastern Oklahoma. The RiverHawks rolled up 429 yards of offense and held Southeastern to 288 yards.

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