Matt Hayes

SANDESTIN, Fla. - They come to the white sand beaches in the Florida panhandle every year to wrap up one season and begin another. Technically, this is downtime. A chance to settle in and soak up before the grind begins again in August.

This time last year, Houston Nutt couldn't turn the corner at the swanky beach resort without being reminded of Ole Miss' rock star status for the coming season.

"Things are a little different," Nutt said, "when that target is on your back."

It is here where we introduce Arkansas, this year's — for lack of a better way of explaining it — Ole Miss.

The Razorbacks soared into the offseason after a huge second half — five wins in their final six games of 2009. They have the SEC's best quarterback, the league's brightest offensive mind, an improved defense and enough momentum from last season to carry this boatload of what-ifs.

What if Arkansas does the unthinkable and wins the SEC?

"There are more than two teams that can win this conference," Georgia coach Mark Richt said matter-of-factly.

We heard the same things last year when Ole Miss, coming off a Cotton Bowl thumping of Texas Tech and winners of its last six games in 2008, was the hot pick to possibly surpass Florida and Alabama as the best team in the best conference in America. Or, as they like to say here in the Ess, Eee, See, the best team in the nation.

So Ole Miss, which hasn't won the West Division since the conference expanded in 1992, was suddenly rubbing elbows with the SEC elite. And now Arkansas, which Nutt guided to the SEC championship game twice in 10 seasons in Fayetteville, is the latest sexy name being pushed on the runway. Like it or not.

"We've got a long way to go before we can start thinking like that," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said.

Not as far as you'd think. Even Petrino admits that questions about the Razorbacks' defense are the only thing keeping this program from making a significant move. Don't think he hasn't used that as motivation the last five months.

"The defensive players all hear and read everything that everybody says — that the question mark is how good we are on defense," Petrino said. "We have to face that straight on, not shy away from it and go and prove ourselves."

Nutt thought the same thing, even allowing the Versus Network to film training camp because he thought it would immediately give the team a sense of urgency with everyone watching their every move from Day 1. While Petrino will be more guarded this fall, the similarities between the two teams and the two seasons are eerie.

• Ole Miss found out in Week 3 — after two nonconference cupcakes — what it was all about with a road loss at South Carolina, a game the Rebels were expected to win. After two nonconference cupcakes (Tennessee Tech, Louisiana-Monroe) Arkansas gets a key road game in Week 3 at Georgia, a game the 'Hogs, considering Georgia's new quarterback and new defensive scheme, should win.
• A week after losing to South Carolina, Ole Miss lost to Alabama at home two weeks later to end any hopes of winning the SEC. A week after playing at Georgia, Arkansas comes home to play defending national champion Alabama.

"We have two games prior to the Georgia game where I think we have to do a great job of planning and seeing how we'll work that," Petrino said. "We'll lift a little harder early in camp, we'll condition more early in camp because it is important that you're hitting a peak and going in the right direction that Week 3 and Week 4."

• Ole Miss began the season with the league's hottest quarterback. Jevan Snead was even seen by some NFL scouts as a quarterback that could eventually play his way into the first overall pick in the NFL draft. Snead regressed under the pressure of last season, left school as a fourth-year junior and wasn't drafted.

Ryan Mallett begins his fourth-year junior season as one of the game's blossoming superstars, a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate and a player already seen by NFL scouts as the potential first pick in next year's NFL Draft.

• Like Ole Miss in 2009, Arkansas will play its two toughest West Division games (Alabama, LSU) at home, and doesn't have to play Florida in the league's schedule rotation.
• And finally — and almost fittingly — Petrino and Arkansas are trying to do what Nutt and Ole Miss couldn't with more than a handful of key starters Nutt recruited to Arkansas.

"We're all chasing (Alabama and Florida); that's just the nature of the league right now," Nutt said. "But I've been around this deal long enough to know strange things happen."

Especially when the target is on your back.

SportingNews.com Lots of hype, hope _ and Dion Lewis _ for Pitt 6 teams with something to prove Rutgers looking for bigger and better bowl in 2010 After the fall, a new subdued era at USC It's what's up front that counts for Buckeyes

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