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FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas’ basketball team will take on Seton Hall on Wednesday at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky.

The game, which is part of the SEC-Big East Invitational, will tip-off at 6 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2. It will be the first time the Razorbacks have played in the event, which isn’t expected to be renewed for another season.

The event will be somewhat of a homecoming for Arkansas coach John Pelphrey, a Kentucky native. The fourth-year Razorbacks coach played six times at the arena as a collegian at the University of Kentucky.

“It will be good going back there,” Pelphrey said. “It’s a great place to play. It should be a great environment.”

Arkansas (5-1) enters the game on a two-game winning streak following double-digit home wins over Oklahoma and Troy. It will be the Razorbacks’ first game out of the state this season.

Seton Hall is 3-3, but the Pirates will be without leading scorer Jeremy Hazell (24.0 ppg), who suffered a wrist injury earlier this month in a win over Alabama.

“I think they’ve played well at times and obviously they’re going to get better with that as time goes by,” Pelphrey said. “It’s pretty difficult to replace 24 points a game, though.”

The game will be the first of two inside Freedom Hall on Wednesday. Kentucky and Notre Dame will follow.

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - Former Arkansas coach Danny Ford will speak at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club on Wednesday. Lunch begins at 11 a.m. with the program following at noon. The touchdown club meets at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale.

Ford, who was fired from the school in 1997, has made only three trips back to the state since his coaching tenure. His last trip was for the announcement of the Burlsworth Trophy in August, named for former Arkansas player Brandon Burlsworth. Ford is one of the members for that trophy’s board.

The club will also honor the area’s player of the year, coach of the year and newcomer of the year, which will be presented by ARpreps.com.

Player of the year finalists are Fayetteville quarterback Brandon Allen, Springdale Har-Ber offensive tackle Brey Cook and Shiloh Christian quarterback Kiehl Frazier. Allen and Cook are both committed to Arkansas, while Frazier is committed to Auburn.

West Fork coach Rodney Selph will be given the coach of the year award after helping lead his team to an 11-3 record and an appearance in the Class 3A state semifinals.

Bentonville running back Tearris Wallace will be given the newcomer of the year award. Wallace rushed for five touchdowns in his team’s win over Fayetteville last week in the Class 7A State Championship Game in Little Rock.

Tickets for club members are $15 at the door. Tickets for non-members are $25.

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - Former Arkansas coach Danny Ford will speak at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club on Wednesday. Lunch begins at 11 a.m. with the program following at noon. The touchdown club meets at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale.

Ford, who was fired from the school in 1997, has made only three trips back to the state since his coaching tenure. His last trip was for the announcement of the Burlsworth Trophy in August, named for former Arkansas player Brandon Burlsworth. Ford is one of the members for that trophy’s board.

The club will also honor the area’s player of the year, coach of the year and newcomer of the year, which will be presented by ARpreps.com.

Player of the year finalists are Fayetteville quarterback Brandon Allen, Springdale Har-Ber offensive tackle Brey Cook and Shiloh Christian quarterback Kiehl Frazier. Allen and Cook are both committed to Arkansas, while Frazier is committed to Auburn.

West Fork coach Rodney Selph will be given the coach of the year award after helping lead his team to an 11-3 record and an appearance in the Class 3A state semifinals.

Bentonville running back Tearris Wallace will be given the newcomer of the year award. Wallace rushed for five touchdowns in his team’s win over Fayetteville last week in the Class 7A State Championship Game in Little Rock.

Tickets for club members are $15 at the door. Tickets for non-members are $25.

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - When Arkansas meets Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, a pair of Razorbacks coaches will get a chance at retribution

Offensive coordinator Garrick McGee and special teams coordinator John L. Smith each spent four years coaching in the Big Ten prior to their arrival at Arkansas. McGee was a position coach and offensive coordinator at Northwestern from 2004-07, while Smith was the head coach at Michigan State from 2003-06.

Though the two went a combined 1-7 during their tenures against the Buckeyes, the familiarity should help in preparation for the Jan. 4 game.

“The memories come back of how they execute and what their style is, and you take those things and present them,” said Smith, now in his second season at Arkansas. “Things haven’t changed, even though some schemes might be a little different. Basically they’re going to play the same. They’re not going to do a billion things. They’re going to be very disciplined and very physical.”

Smith, who also serves as the Razorbacks inside linebackers coach, said Big Ten ball is different than the style played in the Southeastern Conference. Much of that, he said, has to do with the colder climate in the northern states.

“They pride themselves in run the football, run the football, run the football,” Smith said. “I think it’s more of a wide-open game in the SEC. I think the people in the SEC pride themselves on speed, speed, speed, as to where back in the Big Ten they pride themselves in muscle, muscle, muscle.”

That doesn’t mean the “Big Ten is slower” stereotype is true.

“I coached in the Big Ten for four years so I know about (Ohio State),” McGee said. “They run different schemes, but they have athletes on the SEC level.

“You hear people say that the Big Ten is slow, but I know exactly about the speed they have. They will be athletic and fast. Anyone who thinks they are slow is wrong.”

The two coaches’ histories with Jim Tressel go back further than just their days in the Big Ten. McGee (Northern Iowa) and Smith (Montana) were assistants in Division I-AA (now FCS) while Tressel was a four-time national championship winning coach at Youngstown State.

“It wasn’t a good result,” Smith said. “He beat us then, too.

“Coach Tressel does a great job. I don’t think he’s going to give his kids a million and one things to do. They’re going to keep things as simple as they can, but those kids are going to be very disciplined and execute the things they’ve been taught to execute. They’re going to pride themselves on being good enough to beat you one-on-one.”

Arkansas’ resources aren’t limited to just Smith and McGee. Illinois offensive coordinator Paul Petrino and tight ends coach Chip Long each spent the previous two seasons with the Razorbacks. Paul Petrino is the younger brother of Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino.

The Buckeyes beat the Fighting Illini 24-13 earlier this season.

“I’ll try to get as much as I can from Paul,” Bobby Petrino said Sunday. “Certainly they spent an entire week preparing for (Ohio State), but they also watched them throughout the year. You learn a lot about a team when you watch them play the other opponents you’re trying to prepare for.”

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - Six Arkansas players earned first- or second-team all-SEC honors Monday, as voted on by the Associated Press.

Tight end D.J. Williams, running back Knile Davis and offensive tackle DeMarcus Love were voted to the first-team, while quarterback Ryan Mallett, defensive end Jake Bequette and safety Tramain Thomas were voted to the second team. Williams, a senior who is also a finalist for the Mackey Award, was a unanimous selection.

“It means a lot,” Williams said. “A lot of postseason accolades and awards have started coming out and it goes back to hard work, not just in the summer, but from the first time I stepped foot on this campus. I’m very humbled about it and appreciative of it.”

The Mackey Award winner will be announced on Wednesday in Orlando. While there, Williams will also be presented the Disney Spirit Award.

“It’s going to be a fun experience,” Williams said. “The greatest part about it is my family has never been to Disney World. It will be their first time and I feel like I get to take them, like the man of the family. It’s something I’m very proud of.”

Love, a fifth-year senior, was a preseason all-SEC selection, but Davis was the one who turned the most heads this season. After Arkansas struggled to run the ball effectively when Dennis Johnson went down with a season-ending injury, Davis began to get most of the workload.

Davis responded with as impressive of a season as any back in the league, rushing for 889 yards and 12 touchdowns in the final six games alone.

Mallett was the preseason pick at quarterback, but finished second to Heisman Trophy front-runner Cam Newton. The Razorbacks signal caller passed for 3,592 yards and tied his school record with 30 touchdowns in the regular season.

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - If you had any doubt Bobby Petrino was an elite college football coach, there should be little doubt anymore.

The third-year Arkansas coach has the Razorbacks in a BCS bowl for the first time in school history. In doing so, Petrino – who won the Orange Bowl at Louisville in 2006 – joins Nick Saban (LSU, Alabama) and Urban Meyer (Utah, Florida) as the only coaches to earn BCS bids with two different programs.

“We know a lot about Coach Petrino because he was up this direction at Louisville and had some fabulous football teams,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said Sunday. “He did some extraordinary things in the Big East. We know the quality of that.”

Year three has become the bar for coaches to get their program to a BCS bowl. Saban, Meyer, Les Miles (LSU), Mark Richt (Georgia) and Gene Chizik (Auburn) are SEC coaches who have done so.

Meyer, Tressel and Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops won the national championship in their second year at their respective schools. This year’s national championship game features two second-year coaches in Chizik and Oregon’s Chip Kelly.

While Arkansas has yet to make it to that level, the Razorbacks were one of the best teams in a conference that perennially puts its champion in the national title game. That bodes well for the future as long as Petrino stays at the school. The UA must lock the coach into a long-term deal following the season – or even perhaps before the bowl game – as other schools are sure to be intrigued by the Razorbacks’ success.

It’s a testament to the improvement made under the current coaching staff and the quality of leadership it has. From 5-7 to 8-5, to 10-2, Petrino and his staff have proven their worth and ability in the right time.

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - The University of Arkansas has already sold out its allotment of 17,500 tickets for the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4.

The school received more than 24,000 pre-orders during a two-week span. Donors to the school’s athletic foundation and season-ticket holders should all receive tickets to the game, according to a press release, but all others will likely be left out in the cold.

“The demand for tickets to the Allstate Sugar Bowl has been far greater than the tickets we were allotted by the bowl game,” Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long said in a release. “We appreciate the tremendous response from the Razorback fans.”

No tickets are listed for sale on the Sugar Bowl’s official website, though several online ticket sites such as StubHub.com have tickets listed for the game.

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - One interesting side note heading into this year’s Sugar Bowl will be Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett getting another shot at Ohio State.

Mallett, who transferred to Arkansas in 2008, spent his freshman season at Michigan. Mallett backed up Chad Henne for most of that season, though he did start three games because of an injury and saw action in 11 contests.

That included a 14-3 loss in the rivalry game with Ohio State. In that contest, Mallett completed 1 of 3 passes for 8 yards and was sacked one time.

It will likely be a different story this time around, though, as Mallett has rewritten the Razorbacks record books and helped lead the school to its first BCS bowl bid.

“We are very familiar with Ryan Mallett from his time at Michigan,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. “We hoped we were done with him when he transferred and here we are getting him at the height of his career.”

Mallett has passed for 3,592 yards this season and tied his own school mark with 30 touchdowns. The redshirt junior said leading Arkansas to a BCS bowl was a top priority when he decided to turn down the NFL Draft and return to school last winter.

“Everyone knows ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a part of an Arkansas team in a game like this and I’m thrilled for the opportunity,” Mallett said in a release. “I know our fans will be in New Orleans to support us.”

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas is going to the Sugar Bowl.

The No. 8 Razorbacks earned the school’s first ever Bowl Championship Series bid Sunday. Arkansas will face No. 6 Ohio State on Jan. 4 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.

Arkansas has already sold out its allotment of 17,500 tickets. The university received more than 24,000 pre-order requests through its website during the last two weeks.

Both teams enter the game with impressive resumes. The Razorbacks (10-2) won six consecutive games to end the regular season, including three wins against BCS Top 25 opponents in the final month.

Ohio State (11-1) is going to its sixth consecutive BCS bowl game and eighth in nine years. The Buckeyes finished in a three-way tie with Wisconsin and Michigan State for the Big Ten championship, but by virtue of the BCS rankings, Wisconsin earned the league’s automatic berth to the Rose Bowl.

Arkansas hasn’t played in the Sugar Bowl since a loss to undefeated national champion Alabama following 1979 season. The Buckeyes last played in the bowl following the 1998 season, but met LSU in the Superdome in the BCS National Championship Game three years ago.

The Razorbacks have played in the game five times, with each contest coming against an SEC opponent before joining the conference. The Hogs’ only win in the bowl came over Georgia in 1969.

It will be the first meeting between Arkansas and Ohio State. The Razorbacks are 1-5 all-time against the Big Ten, including 0-3 in bowl games.

The Buckeyes are 0-9 all-time against SEC opponents in the postseason, with BCS National Championship Game losses to Florida (2006) and LSU (2007).

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

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FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas is likely going to earn its first Bowl Championship Series bid tomorrow, thanks to Auburn’s 56-17 win over South Carolina in today’s SEC Championship Game.

The No. 7 Razorbacks are the odds-on favorite to receive an invitation to represent the SEC in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4. That spot is reserved for the SEC champion, but No. 1 Auburn will instead play in the BCS National Championship Game.

No. 6 Ohio State (11-1) will likely earn the other invitation to the Sugar Bowl.

Arkansas (10-2) won six consecutive games to end the regular season. The Razorbacks have not played in the Sugar Bowl since Jan. 1, 1980. Arkansas is 1-4 all-time in the game.

The official bowl announcements will be made Sunday afternoon.

For more visit WholeHogSports.com. You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.