Pivotal game for Arkansas, South Carolina

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — One team is trying to prove it will be threat in the Southeastern Conference. The other hopes to avoid another late-season swoon.

When Arkansas hosts South Carolina on Saturday in Fayetteville, both coaches will have plenty to be anxious about. The Razorbacks are playing well offensively but have only one SEC win to show for it. The Gamecocks started 5-1 before losing two of their last three games.

"It is a must-win for us," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. "We need to go out and execute and perform on the field on Saturday. I'm looking forward to it."

The Razorbacks were expected to improve after missing the postseason in 2008, and in many ways they have. Ryan Mallett leads the SEC in passing, and Arkansas has scored over 40 points in every home game.

Still, the Hogs (4-4, 1-4 SEC) have work to do if they want to assure themselves a bowl bid.

Earlier this season, Arkansas was at a crossroads after losing to Georgia and Alabama. The Razorbacks responded with convincing wins over Texas A&M and Auburn, and they nearly upset Florida. With a young core of offensive talent, Arkansas appeared to be moving in the right direction.

Then came an ugly 30-17 loss to Mississippi. Petrino juggled his starting lineup for last weekend's easy victory over Eastern Michigan, saying he'd have no patience for a lack of effort in practice. With three more home games coming up, the Hogs have a chance to finish strong.

"We've been through a lot and we've stuck together," Petrino said. "We've had our ups. We've had our downs. We've had guys that keep getting everybody together."

South Carolina (6-3, 3-3) started strong, but the Gamecocks could use a victory this weekend to avoid a familiar November feeling. South Carolina was 7-3 before losing its final three games of last season, and dropped its final five games of 2007 to finish 6-6.

"Right now we're just focused," receiver Tori Gurley said. "Some people like bringing up the past, but we can only worry about the present and that's Arkansas."

South Carolina lost to Tennessee 31-13 last week, but Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia threw for 300 yards. He is second in the league in passing behind Mallett.

"Hopefully we can play a lot better with fewer mistakes and take care of the ball a lot better and give ourselves a chance to win," South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. "We've won a lot of games this year when the other team messed up and had touchdowns called back. That's sort of what happened to us last game."

Arkansas welcomed back wide receiver Joe Adams last weekend. Adams had missed three games because of a mild stroke, but he returned to catch two touchdown passes against Eastern Michigan.

The Razorbacks expect running back Michael Smith, who missed the Eastern Michigan game with a bad hamstring, to play against South Carolina.

"I think we have so many weapons that they can't concentrate on just one or two of our guys," Mallett said. "We have 10 guys that can take it to the house at any time. That's a great thing to have, especially as a quarterback."

Both teams are in the midst of grueling schedules. Arkansas' open date was after its first game, so the Razorbacks are playing 11 in 11 weeks to finish the regular season. South Carolina has the opposite problem. The Gamecocks play their first 11 games in 11 weeks before finally enjoying a break.

"You have to play them all. Sometimes it happens however it happens," Spurrier said. "We feel like we can play a lot better than we've played recently, so we're going to try to do it."