By Ronald Sitton

I sat in my recliner yesterday watching football and pondering the fates that force me to forego dairy products and fats during my favorite feasting time of the year. (Fie!)

Apparently stress and gluttony sour the stomach. My mind says, “Fix it now and feel better later;” my stomach screams, “Birthday! Thanksgiving! Christmas! Feast, feast, FEAST!” My wife reminds me she wants to grow old with me ... I guess I’m dieting over the holidaze.

Tanya immediately tested my resolve by leaving me alone for hours watching the wacky world of Southeastern Conference football. My stomach turned over watching Alabama fall to Mississippi State 24-16, though I’m happy Sylvester Croom finally got a quality win. I thought MSU would be the easy game remaining on Arkansas’ schedule, now I’m not so sure as the Bulldogs snapped a 23-conference-game losing streak on the road.

Also prior to the evening’s festivities, Kentucky beat Georgia 24-21. The first Wildcat win since 1996 leaves the Wildcats one win shy of bowl eligibility. While the Bulldogs are eligible, it’ll be interesting to see if they’ll want to go bowling after games like this.

The main appetizer for the evening involved Louisiana State and Tennessee, my alma mater. I pull for UT when the Volunteers are not playing Arkansas. Unfortunately, the defense could not stop JaMarcus Russell and LSU silenced the orange-clad crowd 28-24.

About this time, the fact I hadn’t eaten the majority of the day registered in my head and stomach, calling me to check out the pantry. Evil … chocolate Little Debbies and leftover peanut-butter cups stared at me from the shelves, calling out “It’s only a little, Ron … you won’t feel a thing.” For a second I thought about cereal, but Dr. J recommended skim milk or soy milk – I’ll pass.

And there before my wandering eyes … popcorn. Why it’s genius! Something that truly goes along with football and it’s low-fat and tasty and … I’m not the biggest fan of popcorn. Remember back when everyone gave decorative cans of the tri-flavored popcorn for Christmas? I got five or six cans of popcorn that year and resolved to hold a dirty Santa party on Christmas night forevermore.

But to tell you the truth, the popcorn looks damn good right now. So I chow.

Jim stops by to watch the Hogs play the Gamecocks. I point out when Mitch Mustain gets pulled after his interception that it goes against common sense to change horses midstream when your starting quarterback is undefeated. I’ll give Houston Nutt credit for sending a message about taking care of the ball. That said, if he loses, the critics howl.

Casey Dick looks good throwing the ball 11-for-19 for 228 yards and obviously relies on Marcus Monk, who grabs nearly everything while catching a career-best 192 yards. Darren McFadden motored along to a career-high 219 yards and two touchdowns, while cracking the 1,000-yard-barrier for the second straight year. The only problem with the offense is sometimes it scores too quickly.

After watching the defensive line limit the Gamecock running game, I made the mistake of telling Jim that our defense looks like a complete SEC unit for the first time in years. Voila. Quarterback change and our defensive backs looked spotty as South Carolina moved the ball at will for a 92- and a 99-yard drive. Senior Darius Vinnett stepped in front of Blake Mitchell’s one mistake to save the game.

While Arkansas improved to 8-1 with the 26-20 win on the road and beat the Old Ball Coach for the first time in history, it lost Michael Grant, the safety who stepped up in pre-season to solidify that position. Money says Tennessee looks to exploit the secondary next weekend in Fayetteville.

Most likely, though, the fans and the media will focus on the quarterback situation. Though he only played a series, Mustain moves to 60-2 as a starter since the 8th grade. Can Arkansas effectively use two quarterbacks? Will Mustain take one for the team and learn from this experience to become one of the best Razorback quarterbacks in history? Does it matter who’s behind center as long as the offensive line opens holes for the best set of running backs in the country?

After the LSU loss, a couple of Volunteers got in trouble with the law, including starting running back Arian Foster. Combine that with the deflating LSU loss and the uncertainty surrounding starting quarterback Eric Ainge, and Arkansas should be favored going into this game even though the Hogs have only won twice in the 14 meetings between the two teams.

Tennessee vs. Arkansas gets me antsy and I have one peanut-butter cup. Ouch. Where’s the Prevacid? I cannot believe they’re relegating this game to ESPN2. Arkansas remains the only undefeated SEC team, yet CBS picked up South Carolina at No. 6 Florida at 3:30 p.m. since Steve Spurrier’s headed back to the Swamp to coach an opposing team for the first time since he left. No. 5 Auburn hosts Georgia on Lincoln Financial Sports at 12:30 p.m. as Tommy Tuberville patiently waits for the Hogs to stump their toes.

SECsports.com promotes the Hogs-Vols as “a nationally-televised contest;” should that make Hog fans feel better to be on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. instead of on ESPN at 7:45, when LSU hosts Alabama? I need to calm down and take one for the team. The best thing that could happen to Arkansas is to fly under the radar and let the wins take care of the standings. At least the undefeated conference record pushed the Hogs to No. 11 in the Associated Press poll, just ahead of No. 12 LSU and No. 13 Tennessee.

With all the craziness that IS SEC football, I can only wait for next weekend to see if the Razorbacks can finish what they’ve started. By that time we’ll also know who’s going to hold all of these offices after the midterm elections and we’ll find out about the consequences for the real battles overseas. Between SEC football and midterm elections, why would anyone’s stomach be upset?