It's messy in Arkansas, but McFadden is running clean

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- You don't know who to blame here at Dysfunctional U.

Houston Nutt screwed up.

Darren McFadden has been a rock through rocky times at Arkansas. (Getty Images)

Maybe.

Mitch Mustain gave up.

Possibly.

Frank Broyles' time is up.

Definitely.

The parents, the fans, the incendiary e-mails ...

By this time in the Arkansas offseason saga, flamethrowers are optional.

"The worst part of it was really two weeks ago when it wouldn't stop," said Nutt, Arkansas' coach, lounging in a comfy office chair. "It was just ridiculous. It overshadowed those guys down there lifting and working at 5:30 in the morning. That's what bothers you."

You couldn't have written a screenplay to accurately chronicle Arkansas football the past two months. Mustain, the quarterback, transferred -- to where, no one knows yet. That was only after his former high school coach, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, left for Tulsa.

Broyles, the iconic AD, resigned (effective in December) under pressure. There was a rumor two weeks ago that Nutt was going to be bought out for $7 million. That's after winning 10 games and Nutt leading the Hogs to a Jan. 1 bowl for the fourth time in nine years.

That's where somebody, definitely, screwed up, because the best thing about Arkansas football is currently in that weight room at the crack of dawn.

The best thing about Arkansas football stood at midcourt last week at halftime of the game against Mississippi State.

The same day the best thing about Arkansas football sat at the back of a Springdale (Ark.) High School classroom, monitoring for an English class.

"No one even turned around," he said.

The worst thing about Arkansas football is that everyone has forgotten the best thing about Arkansas football.

Darren McFadden has done his penance. The left big toe he nearly severed in July, jeopardizing his career and the Hogs' season, is now lore. In fact, his recovery helped McFadden earn his status as the 2007 Heisman frontrunner.

Five weeks after a pin was inserted into the toe, McFadden carried the ball nine times in the season opener. A week later he torched Utah State for 184 yards. It wasn't until two weeks later, he was 100 percent. Alabama paid in an overtime win that thrust the Hogs into the thick of the SEC West race.

We all knew he was a great runner, sometimes returner and part-time quarterback finishing second to Troy Smith for the 2006 Heisman. We didn't know he'd end up being the best thing about a tarnished, tawdry program.

That was clear at the basketball game last week. Although McFadden had won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back, he'd never gotten to keep it.

The official presentation brought the loudest ovation of the evening. The third Hog ever to win an individual award, the first sophomore ever to win the Doak, brought down the house at Bud Walton Arena.

The crowd got greedy, chanting, "Two more years!

They'll probably have settle for one from this junior to be.

"It's always been a good thing to be the first person to do something," McFadden said. "It will be a great thing for me to be out there and win the first Heisman here at Arkansas."

That's not boasting. As the program has spiraled in absurdity, the Glue No. 5 held. Neither is this: "Right now I don't really see anyone I could compare myself to."

It's a realization of where he stands in the Arkansas universe. Basketball coach Stan Heath is about to be fired. Former freshman quarterback savior Mustain is a classroom reminder of what could have been. The biggest in-state recruit in Arkansas history is back enrolled in school while looking for his next school.

And just when things were blowing over, Nutt and his mother were passengers on an Arkansas plane that made an emergency landing in Fayetteville over the weekend.

Talk about a metaphor: In the middle of football's freefall, the plane's landing gear collapsed.

No truth to the rumor that McFadden towed the plane to the hangar himself.

"I was around Barry Sanders and Thurman Thomas as an assistant coach (at Oklahoma State)," Nutt said. "They all have the same ingredients: great competitors. The bigger the game, the bigger plays they make.

"But Darren is different because he's tall (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) with long arms and little skinny legs that can fly. He hits the crease, he has a chance to go the distance every time."

Nutt has seen his guy take out 240-pound linebackers with a titanium stiff arm. Urban Meyer took the unusual step of practicing the Gators in pads the week before the SEC title game, because of McFadden.

Veteran trainer Dean Weber says McFadden might be the best he's seen at Arkansas in 25 years. The last running back this good was Gary Anderson (1979-82), a first-round draft choice who played 11 years in the NFL.

"Clearly he loves to laugh and make other people laugh," said Weber who is frequently the butt of McFadden's barbs.

Like the time D-Mac called from Dallas at 4:30 in the morning just to wake up Weber.

Like the time he called from the streets of New York at the Heisman to remind Weber, "There's an old man down here, bald-headed, just like you."

Like the time, he dressed up like a clown on Halloween. Day-glo hair, big shoes, across campus and back. One teacher gave him extra credit.

Two more years? He has somehow lasted two. For good or bad, McFadden played the Capital One Bowl with a banged-up shoulder and a sore Achilles. How many would have gotten that far? The toe injury occurred on July 29 when McFadden tried to kick a man who reportedly was trying to steal a car.

McFadden's shoe fell off and his toe smashed into the pavement instead of a person. Arkansas' best runner in a quarter century looked down and saw exposed bone.

Twenty minutes later, on his way to the hospital, McFadden was texting Nutt, already apologizing.

"He texted me again," Nutt said. "The second text was, "I think I broke my foot.' I thought it was a prank at first."

"I knew I had messed up," McFadden said, "right from the jump."

He should know better. A tattoo on one arm salutes Willie Williams, a friend who was shot and killed after a high school basketball tournament 27 months ago.

He should know better. The Palace, where the injury occurred, is more or less a notorious place a few blocks from his house. McFadden says some of his brothers who were involved are in gangs.

"I still wonder to myself, to this day," he said of making it out of his neighborhood. "I don't know how I did it."

Other backs have had offenses built around him. McFadden had a position built around him. The quarterback was cut out of the equation at times during the 2006 season, for good reason. Mustain struggled at times. So did sophomore Casey Dick.

The strength of the team all along was McFadden (1,647 yards) and fellow tailback Felix Jones (1,168). Why not line them up in the now-famous "Wildcat" formation.

Cut out the middle man. Direct snap to the tailback. The defense knew what was coming, except they really didn't.

McFadden had played quarterback in high school so it made sense. So did seven-of-nine passing during the season, including three touchdowns.

At the Doak ceremony, former Cowboys greats Tony Dorsett and Drew Pearson lined up with Jones and ran the Wildcat. A salute, or preview? Both.

"I want him to stay grounded, stay focused," Nutt said. "He's going to be pulled and tugged at like no other (kid) has been pulled and tugged at."

The ceremony thing, McFadden has gotten used to. With the Heisman such a foregone conclusion last year, he was more of an observer in New York.

"Coming into this year there was a lot of pressure on me," D-Mac said. "With me it's just the same thing, do the same thing I did my sophomore year."

No, please, not entirely the same thing. This is Dysfunctional U.