Zach Turner

Arkansas has the Southeastern Conference’s best offense, averaging 462.1 yards per game, mainly because of the aerial attack coach Bobby Petrino has developed during his four years with the Razorbacks.

However, when brilliant passing offense meets old school, tough defense, particularly in the secondary, who wins?

Well, the 2011 Razorbacks are beginning to show that the secondary is the one prevailing.

Arkansas is 2-1 in its three conference games thus far with wins coming against the SEC’s worst pass defense in Auburn and the worst overall defense in Ole Miss.

Auburn has never really been known for its secondary even while winning the BCS National Championship last season. They just happen to benefit from the nation’s best offensive and defensive player being on the same team at the same time.

Let’s look at the recent struggles of the Arkansas offense starting with Saturday’s nasty escape in Oxford, Miss.

The Hogs failed to score a passing touchdown for the first time all season against Ole Miss in the 29-24 win, this because of the strongest position on the Rebel squad, their secondary.

The Rebels’ starting cornerbacks Wesley Pendleton and Charles Sawyer were part of a secondary that held Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist Tyler Wilson to just 232 yards passing, while the junior completed less than half of his attempts.

Pendleton and Sawyer have combined for four interceptions this season and eight pass breakups this season. Although the tandem wasn’t able to pick off any of Wilson’s passes they did get four pass breakups and limit the highly-touted Arkansas starting receiving core to just six catches on the day.

If the Hogs think they escaped Ole Miss and now head Nashville to face a usual doormat of the SEC in Vanderbilt, they might be rudely awakened this year. Vanderbilt has what could be the third-best secondary in the conference behind the secondaries of unbeaten of LSU and Alabama.

The Commodores have an experienced group in the secondary and are bound to put up a good fight against the No. 10 Razorbacks on Saturday. With Arkansas focused on finding a consistent rushing attack after the big day junior Dennis Johnson had against the Rebels, don’t be shocked if Wilson’s stats look similar to last week at game’s end against Vandy.

Casey Hayward is a top-three cornerback in the SEC and has the stats to back it up. The senior has an SEC-leading five interceptions with one return for a touchdown. Pair Hayward with fellow cornerback Trey Wilson and the two have eight of the Vanderbilt NCAA-leading 15 interceptions.

Arkansas’ receivers have already been slammed by Alabama’s talented secondary bunch and shut down by Ole Miss’ group. If they don’t find their mojo from the past two seasons on Saturday in Nashville, then the Razorbacks starting slow for a fifth consecutive game might be inevitable.

Much of the blame for Arkansas’ slow starts has come on the defensive side of the ball where the Razorbacks have surrendered multiple big plays and been the victims of long opponent drives. However, the offense is as much to blame, since they have come out flat and aren’t able to sustain a drive long enough to keep the defense off the field.

Is it because until late in the first half against Ole Miss, Arkansas hadn’t seemed to find a consistent running game?

That could be it.

The problem, though, seems in direct correlation that Arkansas’ experienced receivers seemed to not be getting the job done against the better secondaries in the SEC.

With Vanderbilt looming, the performances against Alabama and Ole Miss have to have the Razorback coaching staff worried seeing conference rival and No. 1 LSU still on the schedule.

The Tigers’ secondary has swamped the college football highlights weekend after weekend.

Will the Hogs be up to the challenge?

Zach Turner is the assistant sports editor for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every Wednesday. Follow him on Twitter @zwturner.