FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks will pit their SEC-leading third-down offense against one of the least-productive third-down defenses in the country on Saturday.

The Razorbacks rank No. 10 in the nation with a 50 percent conversion rate (25 of 50) on third down. South Carolina ranks No. 114 among the 130 FBS teams by allowing 36 of 79 (45.57 percent) third-down conversions.

"We've got to do a better job on third down," South Carolina Coach Will Muschamp said. "You look back at Kentucky, a little bit of A&M, we didn't get off the field on third down."

Arkansas went 9 of 13 on third-down conversions in last week's 42-24 victory over New Mexico State after going 5 of 13 in a 50-43 loss against Texas A&M.

Go loud

Arkansas has practiced indoors the past two days due to rain in the area, and the Walker Pavilion has been rocking with music and crowd noise as the Razorbacks work on nonverbal communication to prepare for the normally raucous crowd at South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium.

"Obviously the music's playing, the echo in the indoor's loud, so yeah, we have to use a lot of hand gestures, stuff like that and communicating around the horn," cornerback Henre Toliver said. "If one person gets it, the whole defense gets it. So it's been pretty good. I mean we've had really good practices the last two days."

Said outside linebackers coach Chad Walker: "It forces you to communicate, for sure. You use your hand signals and if there's verbal communication, it forces you to use your voice, right? The louder your voice is, it usually reflects confidence. It's provided an environment in there where the guys want to fly around and guys want to play fast."

Carolina moves

Coach Will Muschamp and defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson run a large variety of coverages and call a big array of pressures.

"They play a different coverage every snap it seems like," Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen said.

"Shoot, coach does everything, man," Arkansas receivers coach Michael Smith said. "They play Cloud, they play man free, play some zone, Cover 3. We're going to get an array of looks from the back end."

Curl routes

Senior cornerback Henre Toliver said his freshman counterpart Kamren Curl is hanging in strong on the other side after starting the past three games in place of the injured Ryan Pulley.

Curl has given up a couple of long passes, but he has shown improvement each week.

"Kamren's doing great man," Toliver said. "He's no regular freshman. I mean he's handled it well with Pulley being out.

"I mean you can't really ask him for more. Like he's out there tackling, good, good coverage, big, big corner. He's doing perfect."

Hurst vs. Hunter

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville linebacker Dwayne Eugene said South Carolina tight end Hayden Hurst reminds him of Hunter Henry, the former Razorbacks All-American who now plays for the Los Angeles Chargers.

Hurst, 6-5 and 250 pounds, is a junior who pitched in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization before giving college football a try. He has career totals of 73 receptions for 943 yards in 30 games.

"They target him a lot," Eugene said. "He has really great hands. He has a big body, and he blocks well."

Walker on Will

Outside linebackers coach Chad Walker worked with South Carolina Coach Will Muschamp at LSU from 2003-2004, and in 2005 with the Miami Dolphins.

Walker was a defensive assistant for Muschamp, who was defensive coordinator under Nick Saban in both spots.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Will," Walker said. "He is an intelligent guy. The players flock to him. I really learned a lot about bringing enthusiasm and bringing energy every single day to the football field. I learned that watching him."

Leach in LR

Washington State Coach Mike Leach, asked at his weekly news conference this week whether Oregon's Autzen Stadium was the loudest venue he could remember, threw a curve ball.

"Little Rock, Arkansas, that's the loudest place I ever played," said Leach, likely referencing a 1998 game at War Memorial Stadium when he was offensive coordinator at Kentucky. "Entirely concrete structure. It's as if you had a football game in the neighbors' basement and all the kids were yelling louder than hell. You could tell when you were starting out, you could clap your hands and you would hear it five times.

"You figure there are 45,000, and you multiply that by five, that equals approximately 250,000. That's a lot of people, and there are no stadiums that hold 250,000 people. So 250,000 people are a lot louder than 100,000 people."

Bested by West

South Carolina has lost seven consecutive games against SEC West teams, including 24-17 at Texas A&M last week.

The Gamecocks last topped the West in 2013 when they beat Arkansas 52-7 and Mississippi State 34-16.

No Deebo

The Razorbacks will not face South Carolina receiver and return man Deebo Samuel, who racked up two kickoff return touchdowns, a rushing touchdown and three receiving touchdowns. He still leads the Gamecocks with 474 all-purpose yards despite breaking his leg in Week 3 against Kentucky.

Arkansas defensive end T.J. Smith said tailback David Williams, a former Gamecock, has apprised the team of the strengths of South Carolina players, including Samuel.

"We were talking about their offense, and he said they have an explosive offense," Smith said. "He talked a lot about Deebo Samuel. Apparently we got a lucky break because I heard he's a hell of a player."

D-linemen on show

Senior nose guard Bijhon Jackson and sophomore end T.J. Smith will join Bret Bielema on his weekly radio show On the Air with Bret Bielema tonight at 7.

Skai back

South Carolina linebacker Skai Moore has returned to the starting lineup as a fifth-year senior after redshirting due to a neck injury last year.

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said the Razorbacks recruited Moore, who is from Cooper City, Fla.

"Skai Moore was a guy that visited here," Bielema said. "We were on him hard to try to get him to come here. I thought we had a shot. So I've always kind of watched his career from afar just because I like the kid.

"And then obviously to persevere through what he did last year, it's a neat story to see unfold because he's a really, really talented player."

Moore led the Gamecocks in tackles with 56, 93 and 111 from 2013-2015. He's second this season with 40 tackles behind sophomore linebacker T.J. Brunson, who has 46.

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Sports on 10/05/2017