The winds of change, from what I can tell, appear to be blowing over War Memorial Stadium in connection to the Hogs' tradition of playing LSU there every other year on the Friday after Thanksgiving. You might have noticed that when Jeff Long and company put out next year's football schedule that locations were omitted. It just says "Home." Count me amongst those who would miss seeing LSU in Little Rock. And, yes, I am a ticket holder for the Little Rock games. But if a change is to be made, as it seems like it will be, which team would we want to have in Little Rock in place of LSU? That is the subject of today's poll question. And I am even adding the option of "None - Move Them All to Campus" just to see how many of you lean in that direction. I don't count myself amongst you, but I do acknowledge you and your arguments.

It stood to reason that after Saturday's emotionally draining win over ranked Michigan, these young Hogs would suffer a bit of a letdown. But, man, that first half was some letdown - the Hogs shot just 4 of 27 from the field before intermission. The eyesore that was the first 20 minutes prompted these two tweets, the first from Wally Hall and the second from Hawgs Illustrated (presumably written by Dudley Dawson):

That may have been the ugliest half of basketball in the history of Bud Walton Arena. Hogs shooting 14.8 percent from floor.

Over my 30 years covering Arkansas hoops, I have seen some really bad halves of basketball. This tops them all for both teams.

Fortunately, the Razorbacks were a good deal better in the second half (they shot 56 percent from the field in that time) but they never could put Auburn away, and the Tigers missed a last-second shot that would have sent the game into overtime.

B.J. Young led the way with 11 points (included in that total was a vicious dunk that he threw down with 20 seconds to play), and Rickey Scott (8 points) and Rashad Madden (10 points) had some big baskets in the second half. Not the easiest game to watch, but I'm not going to make too much of it. These guys are young, and they're undermanned: nights like this are going to happen. But they're also talented, and they're tough-minded: we've got some fun games ahead of us as well.

Let's get ready for the Crimson Tide.

The game is set for Indianapolis, and though for me it is a crying shame that New Orleans won't be there, the Giants and the Patriots do have on their rosters former Hogs that I am happy about them being there. Last year's Super Bowl had former Hog, Brett Goode, playing for the Packers. And this year we'll get two Hogs, # 70 Tony Ugoh and # 62 Mitch Petrus, for the Giants and more famously #15 Ryan Mallett with the Patriots. However, your chances of seeing a Hog actually on the field are much better with Tony Ugoh and Mitch Petrus, haha. I believe Ryan is sitting at third string quarterback right now. So even if by some bad fortune for the Patriots, Brady got hurt, it would be Brian Hoyer who would step in next. To go along with this post, here is a history, straight from the media guide, of the Razorbacks who have played in the Super Bowl over the years.

Lance Alworth (Dallas) vs. (Miami) in VI

Steve Atwater (Denver) vs. (San Francisco) in XXIV / (Green Bay) in XXXII / (Atlanta) in XXXIII

Ravin Caldwell (Washington) vs. (Denver) in XXII and (Buffalo) in XXVI

Mike Cherry (N.Y. Giants) vs. (Baltimore) in XXXV

Steve Cox (Washington) vs. (Denver) in XXII

Henry Ford (Tennessee) vs. (St. Louis) in XXIV

Ryan Hale (N.Y. Giants) vs. (Baltimore) in XXXV

Dan Hampton (Chicago) vs. (New England) in XX

Raylee Johnson (San Diego) vs. (San Francisco) in XXIX

Greg Lasker (N.Y. Giants) vs. (Denver) in XXI

Jim Lindsey (Minnesota) vs. (Kansas City) in IV

Brison Manor (Denver) vs. (Dallas) in XII

Dave Reavis (Pittsburgh) vs. (Minnesota) in IX / (Dallas) in X

Billy Ray Smith (Baltimore) vs. (N.Y. Jets) in III / (Dallas) in V

R.C. Thielemann (Washington) vs. (Denver) in XXII

Tony Ugoh (Indianapolis) vs. (New Orleans) in XLIV

Dennis Winston (Pittsburgh) vs. (Dallas) in XIII / (L.A. Rams) in XIV.

Worth noting, Jerry Jones, Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson, all former Hogs, had a thing or two to do with three Super Bowl wins by Dallas in the 1990s. You could add Washington's Joe Gibbs (coached in four Super Bowls) in there as a former assistant coach for the Hogs. All this to say, that the Hogs have some not insignificant history with the biggest game in American sports. And either Ryan Mallett or Mitch Petrus and Tony Ugoh are going to get Super Bowl rings this year. Personally, I hope it is the Giants, for I had to root against Ugoh the last time he was in a Super Bowl, when they played the Saints. No offense taken, I hope, Ryan.

Back by neither popular nor critical demand, it's another edition of our Hog Call Podcast. This episode features an interview with Blake Eddins, who played basketball for the Razorbacks from 1999 to 2003. His career in Fayetteville spanned the last three seasons of Nolan Richardson's tenure and the first year of Stan Heath's.

Blake discusses yesterday's nail-biting win over Michigan, compares and contrasts Mike Anderson and Nolan Richardson, and discusses his Razorback career with great humor and insight. He talks about the most exhilarating wins and most depressing losses, details how the drug arrest of an AAU player put in motion the events that led to him signing with the Hogs, and recaps Richardson's final days as Arkansas' coach. Oh - and he also explains why his freshman year media guide says he "gives a good massage."

To hear all of these entertaining yarns and much, much more, hit the play button on the widget below. Download the episode and subscribe to the podcast by visiting TalkShoe or iTunes.

Many thanks to Blake for his time (and, btw, you can follow him on Twitter by clicking here).

Game highlights:

Post-game press conferences and The Four Factors breakdown of the game after the jump.

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Whew!

A game that produced pure joy in the first half was something close to pure agony down the stretch, as the Razorbacks' offense came to a halt - they scored only 20 points after halftime - and the Wolverines kept chipping away until they were down by only two and had the ball for the final shot. I'd be lying if I said my life didn't flash before my eyes when Trey Burke fired his last-second three-point attempt: it looked good when it left his hands and went as far down the hoop as it could without falling all the way through.

Still, I'm not going to let the ugliness of the second half spoil my afternoon too much: This was a big, big win for a young and undermanned Arkansas squad (one that may be even more undermanned after Marvell Waithe's apparently serious injury). Michigan is a fine team, and Hog fans shouldn't be surprised that the Wolverines mounted a nerve-frying comeback.

On another note, it was great to see Bud Walton rocking again. Indeed, with Nolan Richardson in the building, the Hogs scoring in bunches in the first half and Bill Rafferty thoroughly getting on my nerves, I sometimes felt as if I had traveled back to 1994 or 1995. I think many more fun afternoons of Razorback basketball are on the horizon.

Some notable Razorback news from the past few days:

Tis the season for NFL try-out games. I always enjoy seeing that Razorback helmet out there amongst the scattering of other helmets, so I thought you too might want to know where you can find our seniors this year as they try to impress the scouts. Count me already impressed with all of them! One post-national championship game has already been played. You might have missed ( I did) seeing Broderick Green put on a Razorback helmet one more time at the Casino Del Sol College All Star Game, which was in Tucson on January the 16th. If anybody caught that and saw Broderick, please give us a report. Here are the other games and which Hogs are scheduled to suit up for them.

EAST WEST SHRINE GAME: January 21st in St. Petersburg, Florida, 4 PM Eastern on the NFL Network. Greg Childs, Jerry Franklin, and Jarius Wright.

BATTLE OF FLORIDA: January 21st in Baco Raton, Florida, 8 PM Eastern on Fox College Sports. No Hogs in this one. If there were any, I am sure some SEC ref would blow a call to make one of our players look bad. I haven't forgotten our last battle in Florida. No, sir. But Stephen Winning Garcia will be there. I wonder if they let him use his South Carolina helmet?

SENIOR BOWL: January 28th in Mobile, Alabama, 4 PM Eastern on the NFL Network. Joe Adams and Jake Bequette are scheduled to appear in this one. Some SEC players that I think we are all happy to see move on are appearing as well. Marquis Maze, Courtney Upshaw, Mark Barron, and DeQuan Menzie will be in attendance. This game by far has the largest number of former SEC players at twenty-three.