Arkansas is as hot as any team when it comes to playing at home in front of its fans, even with a loss smudging their home record.

It’s especially true for the Razorbacks’ offense, which averages 210 yards more at home than on the road. You read that right. The Hogs’ production is bumped by more than 200 yards when playing within the state’s borders.

And it all goes back to quarterback Ryan Mallett, just as we mentioned here yesterday on the Slophouse. The redshirt sophomore completed 70.2 percent of his passes at home and has a quarterback rating of 187.95 while throwing 11 touchdowns and ust one interception.

So what is it about playing at home that gets Mallett and the Hogs’ offense revved up?

“I don’t know. I couldn’t even tell you,” Mallett said Tuesday. “Maybe it’s being at home in front of the home fans or just being in a stadium I always wanted to play in. I don’t know what it is, but we always seem to connect and be more in sync. But what we’ve got to learn as a team is, when we go on the road, to play the same way.”

Mallett has completed 37.5 percent of his passes in three road games this season, and the offense averages just 14.7 points a game on the road. The Hogs average 45.8 points a game at home, including their 52-41 loss to Georgia in their SEC opener.

Perhaps there is something to playing at home.

“I’ve adopted this home, so I feel comfortable. You just feel more comfortable when you’re at home,” said tailback Michael Smith, a Tallahassee, Fla., native.

“… He can, at any point, look up in the stands and he see his family and just be re-assured,” Smith said, further explaining his belief in why Mallett is so dangerous passing the ball at home. “A lot of guys do that, but to be able to have everybody here and just knowing the whole state is behind you because you are from Arkansas and you chose to play here, I think is a good feeling for him.”

Mallett sits at 2,477 yards passing and is 152 yards away from breaking Clint Stoerner’s mark for passing yards in a season. The redshirt sophomore, who set the record for completion percentage in a game (85.2 percent) last week against South Carolina, has also thrown 123 pass attempts without an interception. He’s 11 attempts away from tying Stoerner’s mark that was set between the 1997-98 seasons.

Mallett, who grew up in nearby Lincoln before moving to Texarkana, idolized Stoerner. The two talk football today. Chances are, if the quarterbacks chat Saturday night after the Troy game, they’ll be discussing Mallett breaking Stoerner’s two records.

“It’d be a great honor, especially being from the team you’ve always grown up being a fan of and watching,” Mallett said. “Going back to Clint, I think that’s the last time we really had somebody that threw it around the yard.”

Several players believe Mallett and the Hogs’ improvement at home can be traced to their consistent work during practice inside Razorback Stadium. The Hogs rarely practice inside the stadium until this year, when the UA installed an artificial surface.

“You know you’re running routes on this field everyday. You’re diving on the field, going to catch low balls,” senior receiver London Crawford said. “… I feel like it’s not hard to be able to come out and do the same thing when you’re in a game.”

The Troy game also gives the Hogs an opportunity to finish their season in Fayetteville on a good note after they opened it bitterly against Georgia. Arkansas is 3-1 in Razorback Stadium this season, and a win Saturday against Troy would give the Hogs their best win percentage in Fayetteville since 2006.

Coach Bobby Petrino talked plenty during the preseason about going undefeated at home in order to play for an SEC championship. After the Georgia loss, though, that motto changed.

“He preached to us to start a winning streak at home,” sophomore receiver Jarius Wright said. “We plan on keeping it up this Saturday. It’s our last home game here and we’ll try to keep it up next year.”

NOTABLES
— Quarterback Brandon Mitchell left the team last week to join the Razorbacks’ basketball team. Don’t worry, the true freshman will be back in a football uniform in the future — even if he did score 8 points in 8 minutes in an exhibition game last week.

“I saw his dunk on the news. It was pretty nice,” Mallett said. “He still can’t hold me (on the basketball court), but it’s OK. He can’t hold me. He knows that, so when he’s done with his season we’ll have to see.”

— Broderick Green is certainly improving as of late and even leads the team in carries with 67 for 303 yards and 8 touchdowns. Who would have thought the transfer from Southern Cal would be leading the Hogs’ backfield in carries and touchdowns before the season?

Green has certainly been one of the mid-season surprises for the Razorbacks.

“He’s starting to run like that 240-pound back that everybody wanted him to run like,” Smith said. “Pretty much every time he gets down in the red zone, he calls it the ‘Green Zone’ now. He’s going to cash in.”

For much more from practice today and all the latest Razorbacks news and commentary, pick up a copy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and check out WholeHogSports.com.

— Brandon Marcello