Different Rules, Circumstances Raise Questions with Petrino

Entire landscape of college football has changed that Razorbacks have to overcome

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas trying to re-invent the past with an entirely different set of rules and operations probably aren't being taken into account. Plus, he's not the head coach and, sooner or later, that will factor into the equation. It always does, regardless how friendly the two guys involved are.

Letting the rumors about Bobby Petrino coming back to run the offense excited the fan base on a day when a new NIL initiative was announced. How successful that actually turns out won't be determined for awhile.

Now fans have expectations, most of it based on what Petrino did over two very successful seasons in 2010 and 2011. That was a 21-5 run over two years the Razorbacks haven't come close to repeating. He is hitting the recruiting trail pretty hard with Sam Pittman, going to Southeast Arkansas to try and get Courtney Crutchfield to come here instead of (projected) Missouri.

Now you wonder what he'll do with quarterbacks. He's had one superstar in Lamar Jackson at Louisville, who had raw athletic ability he's still capitalizing on. That as a Heisman quarterback Petrino has on his resume. Other than that he had some guys pretty good but not really great.

Expectations from a lot of Razorback fans are this will launch them back to relevancy. Pittman even mentioned it when talking about Petrino previously. College football is different now with an entirely different set of rules and geared more towards the athletes.

If Petrino treated players now the way he did a decade ago, most of them would hit the transfer portal so fast the virtual thing would probably lock up. Besides, he's not coaching the whole team now, just the offense.

It's a very low bar for Petrino to clear with this past year, sort of the situation Travis Williams inherited. All he had to do was get the Hogs to being just a mediocre defense and a lot of fans thought they had made tremendous strides. That's facing the offense next year and it will probably be a different look than last year, but one Pittman can be completely comfortable with?

Petrino has said he doesn't have the patience calling plays to just grind it out on the ground, getting four yards at a clip. His football personality doesn't allow him to do anything like that. He didn't get his reputation by waiting on something to happen, flinging it deep and on his crossing routes or wheel paths by the running backs.

Fans might want to remember in Petrino's two best seasons as the head coach they won 10 games two years in a row and still managed to finish third in the SEC West in the final rankings. In 2010, they lost by four to Alabama, but were blown out in Auburn, 65-43. That was one of two games Petrino's offense put up over 40 points and still lost by double digits.

In 2011, maybe Petrino's best team didn't score enough points against Alabama and LSU (31) to win even one of the games. Both teams that played in the national title game that year beat the Hogs. The Tide won 38-13 and the Tigers had no problems in a 41-17 win over No. 3 Arkansas.

Maybe the fans have been so desperate to be mediocre they give Petrino a standing ovation at the basketball game tonight. Never forget the Razorbacks gave the football coach a ridiculous contract after a 6-6 year and a meaningless bowl win over Texas and repeated it again after an 8-4 season got a trip to Tampa for and Outback Bowl.

There was a time when coaches at Arkansas worried that just a 7-4 season would get them fired. These days, averaging 8 wins a year might result in a statue getting put up somewhere. In a league that's going to be ridiculously competitive next year, forget any thoughts of winning a title. Just getting to mediocre may be the goal.

They may have gotten so desperate they are going back to the past and hoping it'll work for the near future. Considering they won't know the players for a month or two that will even be around, that may be rather just a shot at hope.