Three Arkansas players, including two consistent starters on defense, will not play in the Liberty Bowl after violating team rules.

Senior linebacker Wendel Davis, senior safety Matt Harris and junior receiver Marques Wade were the players suspended.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Coach Petrino statement
• Brandon Marcello: Petrino: Decision to suspend players hurt heart
• Robbie Neiswanger: Three Players — Two Starters — Suspended for Liberty Bowl, Petrino on Suspensions
• Chris Bahn: Liberty Bowl: Petrino Suspends Two Starters, One Reserve for Rules Violation

In recent days, Bobby Petrino and Willy Robinson have raised some eyebrows by demoting two starters to second team.  Are they still searching for linebackers at this late date, or is this a motivational ploy?

Starters from last season like Wendel Davis and Jerry Franklin have spent a good bit of the last two days on the second team.  Sophomore Bret Harris and redshirt freshman Tenarius Wright jumped into the first team fray.  Harris is a recently converted strong safety, while Wright has the size (6-2, 238) the coaches covet.

“We’re going to be competitive,” Petrino said. “You’ve got to come out and practice hard every day and do what you’re coached to do, run to the football. If not, then the guy behind you is going to move up.”

Our guess is Davis and Franklin will get the message and answer the call, and this is just a way for the coaches to get their attention.  If coming off a season where the Hogs ranked dead last in the SEC on defense wasn’t motivation enough, maybe playing second fiddle for a few days will be.

ArkansasRazorbacks.com: Carolina takes advantage of miscues

South Carolina scored on its first two possessions of the game and added another score to open the second half on its way to a 34-21 win over Arkansas on Saturday in front of 80,290 at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Also:

• ArkansasRazorbacks.com:  Game Stats (PDF), Post-game Notes, Hogs fall at South Carolina (Video)
• ESPN.com: QB combo carries South Carolina over Arkansas
• ArkansasSports360.com: Gamecocks Too Much for Razorbacks, 34-21, Two-Minute Drill

RazorBloggers Network

• TipsterHog:  The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — South Carolina

Razorback Central

• Alex Abrams: Interception Helps South Carolina Turn Tide
• Robbie Neiswanger: Arkansas Offense Loses Smith
• Kurt Voigt: QB Rotation Sparks Gamecocks
• Harry King: Defense dominates; interception hurts

WholeHogSports.com

• Tom Murphy: Confounded in Columbia
• Bob Holt: Gamecocks hit best stride near finish, Instant replay
• Rob Keys: Smith tops 1,000, injures shoulder, No Carolina curtain call
• Chris Givens: Doing the Spurrier shuffle
• Wally Hall: Arkansas’ mistakes make bowl game tall order
• Nate Allen: Flat busted

Other Sites and Blogs

• The State: Switching arms is a charm for USC
• The Greenville News: Gamecocks earn holiday trip with win over Arkansas, Lindsey helps Gamecocks corral Razorbacks, McKinley rises to the top

Updated 11/9/08 10:20 a.m.

The Good

• Where would this team be without the play of running back Michael Smith?  The 5-foot-7 junior had 182 all-purpose yards on Saturday and showed a toughness and determination that impressed everyone.  After the game, Paul Petrino said Smith is giving “everything he’s got,” while Urban Meyer made a point of calling Smith “a heck of a player” in his post-game interview.
• For three quarters, the defense and tackling were better.  Simplifying the scheme looks to have helped the Hog defense execute faster.
• Along those lines, Wendel Davis was back at middle linebacker and tallied 11 tackles on Saturday.  Moving Davis allowed Jerry Franklin to slide over to outside linebacker…a position he looks more comfortable playing.
• The hurry-up drive right before halftime was going great…until the interception.  Still, the mere ability to execute a decent two-minute offense is something we’ve begged for on this site for years.  (And the catch made by Joe Adams during that drive was spectacular.)

The Bad

• The key drive of the game was after the Hogs intercepted Tim Tebow late in the third quarter.  After an ill-advised deep ball attempt to London Crawford on first down, two passes were completed short of the first down yardage.  As hard as the defense had played up to that point, they really needed the offensive players and coaches to produce more than a quick three-and-out.
• The Razorbacks are still looking for that elusive first quarter score.  They trail their opponents 41-0 collectively this season after one period of play.

The Ugly

• This team is not good enough on either side of the ball to overcome being penalized as much as they were on Saturday.  And speaking of not scoring in the opening quarter (see above), if you look at the Hogs’ first quarter drives on Saturday, they both stalled out after false start penalties.
• Unlike the rest of the team, special teams took a step back on Saturday.  In particular, the short kickoffs, blocked field goal and muffed punt.  (Luckily, a kickoff returned by Florida for a touchdown was called back after kicker Jeremy Davis took a block in the back ‘for the team.’)  After five games, Arkansas has not played a team this season that hasn’t had a superior special teams unit.

Walking on Sunshine also contributed to this post.

We were not disappointed.  What a pleasure it is to watch a Bobby Petrino team practice.  Organized, fast-paced, attention to detail…it was all there.

Here are a few of our casual observations made while watching the two hour practice:

– Freshman wide receiver Jarius Wright and running back De’Anthony Curtis were expected to impress…and did not disappoint.  Both look like major contributors.

The newcomer that really surprised me, though, was freshman running back Dennis Johnson of Texarkana.  Johnson (5-7, 195) is cat quick and showed an elusive burst that is going to make him hard to bring down.  For those who have not seen him, just imagine a younger, less experienced version of Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Chip Gregory also looked much improved at running back after his injury-hampered spring.  Running hard and breaking tackles with strength is not a problem.  Hanging onto the ball, however, continues to be as Gregory fumbled again during one of the Hogs tackling drills.

– As for the quarterbacks, Tyler Wilson and Jim Youngblood are good prospects.  Both have strong arms and showed flashes.  But both probably need to redshirt if the Hogs can get by without playing them.

Wilson needs to improve his strength (especially in his lower body) and Youngblood needs to improve his mechanics.  Both of those deficiencies, of course, are pretty typical for most incoming freshman quarterbacks.

Ryan Mallett is just off the charts.  He will be a superstar when his time comes.

Finally, while other units were running their drills, quarterbacks coach Garrick McGee was taking two five-minute periods to work with all the quarterbacks on making the proper pre-snap check (audible) after a defensive shift.  Very interesting and fun to watch.

– On the defensive side, I felt a little better about the linebackers after getting a closeup view of Ryan Powers, Jermaine Love, Jerry Franklin, and Freddy Burton.  These four along with senior captain Elston Forte might be okay as a group, but they are so ‘smallish’ by SEC standards that it’s still an area of concern.

Some of the tackling drills on Saturday seemed to indicate that true freshman Tenarius Wright (6-2, 230) was taking a small step back for the moment.  It’s obvious that junior Wendel Davis needs to get healthy again over the next few weeks.

Heavy rains in the Fayetteville area forced the Hogs inside for the second practice on Saturday.  Expect some shakeups (like the move of Wade Grayson to first team) after the coaches review the film of Sunday’s scrimmage.  It should be a fun week to watch the depth chart.