Down, but not out?

Alabama 24 Arkansas 20

This, too, shall pass.

Unfortunately, when it needed to most on Saturday, Arkansas could not.

With number-one ranked, defending national champion Alabama on the ropes, down 20-7 with just over five minutes left in the third quarter and a record-setting crowd of 76,808 in a frenzy, the Razorbacks needed one, final knockout blow.

Instead, UA quarterback and Heisman hopeful Ryan Mallett and the rest of the Hogs offense left themselves open for a counterpunch, and the Crimson Tide delivered.

While Mallett and company sputtered in the second half and failed to convert a single third down, Alabama reverted to its trademark, smash-mouth offense, and capitalized on a couple of gifts from Mallett, who showed that he (like most QBs) hasn’t quite shaken his tendency to make critical mistakes under pressure from a pass rush.

But, chances are, if you are reading this, you already knew all of that.  If not, you, have at the very least heard plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking around the water cooler, as legions of Razorback fans have already begun to revert to old, seemingly reliable Hog-fan maxims like, “we’re still a few years away”, “they tested our team’s manhood and it failed”.

While those refrains may provide handy crutches on Mondays like today, they don’t happen to be true, in this instance.

Arkansas isn’t a few years away from being a championship caliber football team. It is few plays away. The Razorbacks went to-toe with the Alabama– #1 team in America that hasn’t lost a regular season game in over 2 years–and led nearly wire-to-wire.

The Hogs had the same number of yards (421), more sacks, and one less turnover (Both 3 to Bama’s 2) . And, they did so without coming close to playing a perfect game.

Saturday’s near-miss was not the result of some confluence of magical, improbable events. Alabama did not make a string of critical mistakes to hand Arkansas its golden opportunity.

And, while Alabama drew a holding penalty (it’s 2^nd in the last 54 quarters it has played) the Tide didn’t shoot itself in the foot with penalties that gave Arkansas a viable chance to emerge victorious.

Arkansas almost won despite a fairly uneven performance. The Hogs committed some crucial penalties and their potential All-SEC receivers—Greg Childs and Joe Adams–didn’t help Mallett at all in the second half by dropping routine, drive-sustaining passes.

The difference in the game was that Alabama’s superstar—2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram– churned out yards (157 on 24 carries) when he had to, and Arkansas’ superstar—Mallett–for seemingly the only time in his career—took too much off of a pass (that he intended to throw out of bounds), capping a disappointing second half.

But let’s not make this something it wasn’t. It was not a poor effort by the Arkansas defense (or offense, for that matter).

The Arkansas defense held Alabama to 20 points (despite Alabama being given a short field on Mallett’s second interception) and gave up the same number of yards (including a stat-skewing, 53-yard run by Trent Richardson at the end of the first half) as the Alabama defense that is often spoken about in reverential tones, nationally.

Those who wish to pin the loss on Arkansas’ manhood, or more subtly, on its inability to shut down Alabama’s rushing attack should realize that the Crimson Tide rushes on everyone, just as Arkansas (as it proved Saturday) passes on everyone.

Bama has a massive, skilled offensive line and two extremely good running backs (who will both play and play well on Sundays).  The Tide averaged 5.7 per rush against Arkansas. Last year, Ingram averaged 6.1 yards a carry and Richardson averaged 5.2. In 2009, Bama averaged 5.5, 4.6 and 4.7 yards per rush against Virginia Tech, LSU and Florida–probably the three best defenses they played.

So, if the loss was a matter of manhood, Bama has been playing against boys (and in the case of Mississippi, girls) for a long time, now.

But, Arkansas didn’t lose because it wasn’t “man enough” to beat Alabama. It lost because, while Bama did what it does well in the second half, Arkansas didn’t.

The good news is that contrary to the opinion of the inherently inferiority-complex plagued Hog fan base, Arkansas showed Saturday that it is a Top 10-caliber team. It just lost to a better Top 10 team. It happens. There is no shame in it.

Another silver lining of sorts is that by SEC standards, the Razorback schedule will now soften a little.  But, it won’t be easy. Arkansas should be favored in most of its remaining games (with road games at Auburn and South Carolina being the exceptions, and both of those games should be tossups) but will have to play well to escape Jordan-Hare and Williams-Brice Stadium.

That is when the Hogs’ manhood actually will be challenged–when they have to set aside this bitter loss and try to run the table.

Chances are, this will either (depending on the outcome of those 2 games) be an exciting, tantalizing and somewhat frustrating 9-3 team, or it will prove to be a resilient, program-changing 10+ win squad.

With one of the best offenses in the country, an improved defense, and an uber-talented quarterback that came back to school to prove his mettle in big games, the Razorbacks should show the nation they are more than a passing fancy.

And when they do, this, too, (even as painful as it is) shall pass.