Most Arkansans have surely heard (or used) the expression "Thank God for Mississippi"…a self-deprecating way of noting that when we're ranked 49th nationally in a variety of statistics, at least we can rest easy knowing that our friends to the southeast would likely be bringing up the rear one place behind us.
Is Houston Nutt muttering this phrase to himself as he prepares for the game this week? Or does he realize that what once seemed like an interlude between the much tougher matchups before and after it could now wind up being another huge shovelful of dirt tossed on his coaching grave?
Ole Miss certainly hasn’t been a powerhouse lately, and in the preseason everyone couldn’t help but think that this would be one of the "gimme" games that would propel to the Hogs to a bare minimum of six wins this season. But the fact is, this year the Hogs haven’t won any more SEC games than Ole Miss has. And the Rebs came within a highly controversial instant replay call of possibly beating Alabama last week and they threw a major scare into Florida before that, so they're obviously tough at home.
Maybe this will be the week that the Razorbacks put it all together and live up to their potential (I'm not exactly betting on that, but hey - anything can happen). Or maybe the Hogs will lay another egg and fans will be waiting outside Nutt's house with pitchforks and torches. Either way, the days of "Thank God for Mississippi" - in a football sense, at least - seem pretty far away
