FAYETTEVILLE -- It's Arkansas and Texas set to battle Saturday and it will give the Razorbacks a chance to beat the school its fans hate the most.
Arkansas (2-8, 0-6) isn't going to a bowl this season and will find out who its new coach is after the season. Texas (7-3, 4-2) started the season with high hopes of a national championship, but now them even getting into the playoffs seems a longshot. To have any chance they've got to beat the Razorbacks and then Texas A&M next Friday while getting some help from other teams.
Bobby Petrino feels his team is ready to head to Austin. Texas is coming off a 35-10 loss to Georgia. Does Petrino feel maybe he's catching them at right time?
"You really don’t worry about things like that," Petrino said. "We just get on the practice field, try to improve our team and get energy back. We’ve had a pretty long stretch here where we’ve put a lot into it and haven’t gotten the reward from it yet. So we’re really working hard at making sure we keep the same energy and attitude and togetherness."
In a 20-10 loss to Texas last season, Petrino's offense was held to 231 yards including only 82 on the ground.
"Yeah, they play good defense," Petrino said. "They’re very sturdy up front. Their inside guys are big and physical and they’ve got good speed on the edges. They do a good job of mixing up their coverages. They probably play more coverage than a lot of teams we’ll play all year long with the combination of man and pressure and the different zones they play. So we’ve got to be on top of it as far as understanding the coverage and going through our progressions and being patient and then also being able to take it down the field when it presents itself."
Petrino went on to explain what Texas does well on defense.'
"Well, there's speed on the edges, and they do a good job of trying to get you to have to block that guy one-on-one with their schemes," Petrino said. "So the combination of the athletes that they possess, and then the schemes that they use to, present your problems. They're very well-coached, defensive football team."
Texas Coach Steve Sarkisian considers Arkansas a dangerous team. They are 0-5 under Petrino, but they have lost those games by a combined 19 points.
"I’m not sure what that means to them," Petrino said. "I think we’re a team that if you interpret it it might be the fact that we’ve been in the games and we’ve had opportunities to make plays to win the games and just haven’t been able to follow through with it. So I guess that’s how I would interpret it."
The players now weren't alive when the Hogs and Horns faced each other in the Southwest Conference. Does these players know the history of Arkansas and Texas?
"Not yet," Petrino said. "Not yet. We’re trying to educate them. My father was a history teacher and a football coach, so I’m trying to see if I can be as good a history teacher as he was."
Sarkisian is also trying to teach his players the days of the Southwest Conference and its history.
"Well, it's huge," Sarkisian said. "When you think about what this game meant for decades and going back to Coach (Darrell) Royal and Coach (Frank) Broyles and some of those great teams and great games that they played, No. 1 versus No. 2 for a national championship, and so on and so forth. I think that that's very important.
"I think history lessons are really good for our players and for our youth in general. We live so much in the now, right now, and what's next that sometimes we need to take a step back and look at how we get here, and how the university get here. Part of how the University of Texas get here is because of the rivalry with Arkansas and some of those great players and coaches and teams and so, we definitely take the time to honor and recognize what this game has meant for so many decades in the past."
Sarkisian knows the importance of these next two games if his team wants to have any shot at the playoffs.
"Yeah, you know," Sarkisian said. "A: I do think it's a great challenge. And not only two SEC games at the end of the year, but two rivalry games. So much talk was made when conference realignment started and teams moving from one conference to the next, and people losing rivalries, long-standing rivalries. The reality of it is we gained two back. The rivalry with Arkansas has been historic. Obviously, the rivalry with A&M has been historic, and we get to play OU (Oklahoma) in the middle of the season. So we've got three great rivals that we get to play. It's one of the beauties now of being in the SEC."
In Petrino's first season at Arkansas he remembers well the only time he has taken a team to Austin. The Longhorns beat Arkansas 52-10 that day.
"I don’t know," Petrino said. "I remember looking up at the scoreboard toward the end of the first quarter and going, ’28 times 4 is what?’ Because it was bad. I mean, they just really got… They had a really good quarterback who had a phenomenal year that year and against us he just hit everything."
Sarkisian is known for explosive offenses much like Petrino is.
"Yeah, I’ve been following him for a long, long time, when he was the offensive coordinator at USC for Pete Carroll," Petrino said. "Then he went to Washington as the head coach. It seems like everybody — well, not everybody, but a lot of people I know either worked with him or worked for him. So he’s been one of those guys that you always look and see what they’re doing. He’s a phenomenal offensive coordinator obviously. Really, really good screen team guy. He’s always been great with the screen, so we’re going to have to be on top of the screen game and make sure we don’t give up big plays on screens. Then he’ll try to get you with some shots down the field off of bubble plays or fake receiver screens, so we have to make sure that we’re disciplined with our eyes and don’t let them hit the big plays off of their screen game."
Quarterback Arch Manning is who that makes the Texas offense go. He has completed 195 of 311 passes for 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also has rushed 74 times for 186 yards and six more touchdowns.
"I mean, he’s a really good, talented player," Petrino said. "A lot of times as a quarterback, I always tell my guys, it’s an occupational hazard. When things aren’t going as well as they should do, you’re going to take more blame than you should take. A lot of times, when you execute well and you play well at quarterback it’s because all 10 other guys out on the field are doing a great job and doing their job. It’s a hard position to play. You’re certainly going to be the one that takes the criticism. You have to have big shoulders and understand I chose to play this position, and that goes with it."
and Texas will kickoff at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and televised on ABC.
