The Razorbacks Finally Break Through: Arkansas 31, LSU 23
by cocknfire on Nov 28, 2010 2:23 AM EST
in SEC Football
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PrintFew people -- well, few people outside of Oxford -- have been more critical than Bobby Petrino and Arkansas fans' expectations of Houston Nutt and their program than your humble correspondent. So, in a way, it's probably time to say that I'm wrong.
To be clear: I still wouldn't want my program associated with Bobby Petrino in any way. But Petrino has done something that Houston Nutt never did: Barring a South Carolina upset of Auburn in the SEC Championship Game or a major surprise in the BCS standings over the next week, Arkansas will go to a BCS bowl for the first time.
And the Hogs locked up their spot in surprising fashion, by shelling the league's best defense for 31 points and 464 yards. That's almost twice as many points and 200 more yards than LSU has allowed against the average team on its schedule all year. The game marked the second-highest point total (after Ole Miss) and second-highest total yardage (after Auburn) that the Bayou Bengals allowed all season.
Ryan Mallett completed 13 passes -- for 320 yards. Three of those passes went to Cobi Hamilton, who had a jaw-dropping 164 yards, and average of 54.7 per catch. (And one of those passes actually lost a yard; Hamilton had touchdown receptions of 80 and 85 yards.) Knile Davis continued a great year that has balanced Petrino's attack, carrying the ball 30 times for 152 yards.
So congratulations to Arkansas and to Petrino. Whether you think the head coach deserves it or not, Arkansas' fans and players do.
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I look forward to the day...
When people are no longer incredulous that Petrino quit the Falcons with a couple games left in an already-dead season about 5 years ago, as if he had helped plan the Holocost (is there a Derek Dooley joke hidden somewhere here? I think so!). I know that this will kill all of those “job-hopping” jokes, but I don’t think you (or anyone else) will have to worry about Petrino coaching your program in the near future. (Knock on wood… just to be safe.)
Thanks for your sorta-kind words, I guess.
Of course Petrino deserves it.
He’s not out to win popularity contests, he’s out to coach football. Seems to me he’s doing a pretty good job of that.
There is a whole lot more to the story
of Petrino leaving the Falcons than was reported by ESPN/ArthurBlank/HomeDepot/CollegeGameDay.
And while I don’t expect anyone who isn’t an Arkansas Razorback fan to acknowledge that, it’s true.
But the silver lining of the perception/conventionalwisdom/narrative about Bobby Petrino is that Arkansas is likely to have him for a good long time.
So we got that going for us, which is nice.
The other great part of it all, is that we are vindicated about Houston Nutt, who has driven the Mississippi program straight into the ground in less than three seasons.
Good times.
Awww. c'mon girl.
There's almost no excuse for leaving a team during the season
Period.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
You might be right
and I acknowledge that is the most common opinion.
Like I said, there is a lot more to the story than is commonly known, and it isn’t as cut and dry as a superficial understanding of the situation would have you believe.
But honestly, fighting that perception would be counter-productive, so you hold onto your narrative and I’ll shut up about it.
Awww. c'mon girl.
Not to be too picky, but it's not a difference in narrative
It might be a difference in opinion over whether a coach should resign in the middle of the season, but the simple fact is that he did resign in the middle of the season. That’s not a narrative.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
Well, not to be too picky
Yes, it’s a fact that he resigned before the season was over, but there is nothing ‘simple’ about the facts that forced that decision.
Awww. c'mon girl.
Point of clarification - 13 games into a 16 game season
Isn’t leaving in the “middle of the season.”
I get it though, without BP serving as some sort of metaphorical villain, no one would have much to write about him or us. Never mind that he’s run nothing but a tight ship since he got to UA (3 years ago BTW), which has been a complete 180 from the circus that was our previous staff. That’s too boring.
And yes, it is a narrative. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be a focus of your piece.
by trip andrews on Nov 28, 2010 5:01 PM EST up reply actions
The comment was deleted for breaking no-partisan-politics rule
But here’s the basics of what T-towner said:
Liars Will Always Justify Themselves——So Do Murderers, but I digress
This is not a fact, but rather some commentary from folks that know the details. Petrino asked permission to discuss the Arkansas job with the implicit understanding that he would see the miserable, pitiful season out.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
My response
He was under contract with the Falcons, which gives them the right to bar him from talking with someone else. It’s a basic part of any contract and something that the vast majority of people under such contracts have no trouble following.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
Ah. yes...the 'our coach can do no wrong' part of the honeymoon
I have to agree with cocknfire. It was inexcusable for him to leave like he did. But, seeing as he’s never done anything similar before or since, it’s well past time for people to give him another chance—other than Falcon fans, that is. It should hardly have been a career-defining decision.
Actually, as a Falcon fan, I’m glad he left. We ended up with Mike Smith, who is now guiding the Falcons through their third winning season in a row. They had never had two before him, and are now seen as serious Super Bowl contenders.
But I would quibble with the idea that the move was out of character or unusual for Petrino. In fact, it’s been his MO throughout his career. He has spent more than three seasons at the same place once, and talked to three teams while at Louisville before he took the Falcons job. That came a few months after signing a contract extension and talking about how much he loved Louisville and never wanted to go anywhere else. (Coincidentally, one of the jobs he interviewed for was at Auburn. That was after he served as Tommy Tuberville’s offensive coordinator, and very much before Tommy Tuberville had officially been fired, as we all later found out.) It was nothing new.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
'I’m glad he left'
This isn’t about settling scores. I’m absolutely convinced that Atlanta would be in a worse position if he’d stayed. But if it makes you feel better about your arguments to ascribe some ulterior motive to me, be my guest.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
I'm not saying it's an ulterior motive
but it does explain the heat.
Let me ask you, do you feel the same way about former Gamecock Coach Lou Holtz, who left the Jets before the season was over to, coincidentally, come to Arkansas?
Awww. c'mon girl.
He should not have left in the middle of the season, no
Of course, I’m also not the biggest Lou Holtz fan among South Carolina fans, so you’re not really asking me one that cuts too close to the heart there.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
One more thing
I was also highly critical of Nick Saban for leaving Miami for Alabama — I cheer for or against neither of those. But at least he left after the season.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
I have never been a fan of midseason firings unless the coach broke his contract or was sanctioned by the NCAA or something like that.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
One time it did happen that sticks out in my mind
Jack Crowe, fired from Arkansas after dropping the season opener to Citadel. I guess that’s not exactly midseason, but it wasn’t a contract violation or sanction offense.
Yes, I know Jack coaches Jax State these days.
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