FAYETTEVILLE -- Following Saturday's 38-35 loss to Mississippi State there's even more uncertainty on who will be the next head coach at Arkansas.
Many supported Arkansas taking the interim tag off Bobby Petrino when he replaced Sam Pittman following a one-sided loss to Notre Dame. But it was generally believed that Petrino would need to win some games for that to happen. His two besti chances may have just slipped away against Auburn and Mississippi State. Both schools earned their first SEC win against Arkansas in Razorback Stadium.
It is fair to say Mississippi State had some serious help in defeating Arkansas. In the first three games Petrino coached in place of Sam Pittman, Arkansas was flagged a combined 13 times for 93 yards. They had one penalty for 10 yards against Tennessee, nine for 71 yards in Texas A&M game. Against Auburn, Arkansas committed three penalties for 12 yards.
That all changed on Saturday, Arkansas was flagged 18 times for 193 yards. Their opponent? Mississippi State was called for four penalties for 30 yards. So much for homefield advantage. Petrino was asked following the game if players losing control following some scuffles caused the flags?
"I think you just have to watch it," Petrino said. "You know, I can’t talk say a whole lot. I know from upstairs, there’s a few of those calls, they said no, that should not be called. We’re hitting the quarterback as the ball’s coming out of his hand, it’s a roughing call. So I don’t know what to say. I’ve never had that in my entire life, and I do know this. If you look back at our games, we’re not a highly-penalized team. We have done a nice job all year long of not having a lot of penalties."
Quarterback Taylen Green was hurt on Arkansas' last offensive play of the game. He was helped off the field though walking under his own power.
"I don't think he's doing really well," Petrino said. "He's with the doctor right now, and we'll just have to see how everything comes out. But it was– it didn't look good. Ugly looking play."
Arkansas does have a bye week Saturday prior to heading to LSU on Nov. 15. LSU is having its own issues with firing of the coach and director of athletics. Petrino laid out his plans for this week.
"Yeah, take tomorrow off and bring them back in on Monday and watch the video," Petrino said Saturday night. "Take a deep breath, come out and work a couple days during the week. Give them some time off and come back and get going again on Sunday night."
The run defense Saturday was much better. They limited Mississippi State to 106 yards rushing on 38 carries. What led to the improvement?
"Yeah, I thought our D-line made a difference in not having any gaps and holes in there," Petrino said. "And then I thought our linebackers did a really nice job of coming down and tackling. I thought they did a nice job against the run."
For the first time in several weeks the Razorbacks also had all three defensive tackles available. Ian Geffrard has played each game, but Danny Saili missed a few games before returning last week. Cam Ball missed the Auburn game, but looked good on Saturday.
"Oh yeah, Cam's a really good football player, and I feel bad for him," Petrino said. "He's been here a long time, and he's given us tremendous amount of leadership and competitive spirit. And he played extremely hard today."
If Petrino isn't promoted who are some of the early believed front runners for the job? Among the names are James Franklin, formerly with Penn State, South Florida's Alex Golesh, Memphis' Ryan Silverfield, North Texas' Eric Morris and numerous others. SMU's Rhett Lashlee was believed to be one of the favorites, but extended for two years with the Mustangs late last week. UNLV's Dan Mullen was mentioned earlier. A name who keeps coming up is Minnesota's PJ Fleck who coaches former Fayetteville quarterback Drake Lindsey.
