Petrino's 'play everyone' for Razorbacks' mentality needs reset

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Unless anyone has been living under a rock for most of the last six years, Arkansas lost another one possession game it could have won due to a variety of reasons.

Officiating certainly wasn't one even if the Razorbacks interim coach needed to "play everybody" during before going to the locker room ahead of halftime.

“We’re gonna have to play EVERYBODY!”

-Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino is heated going to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/QX7IiyeuZs
— Jacob Davis (@JacobScottDavis) November 15, 2025

Coaches are fairly limited to what they can actually say about officiating in public and Petrino made short order of a softball floated to him.

"Yeah, that’s defensive pass interference, 'so?'," Petrino said.

He was asked again moments later, but gave repeated the same reply.

Even if it was a bad no call or not, blaming officiating while not commenting on the same issues week after week is elementary.

Big time players make big time plays in big games.

Losers, well, they make excuses 100% of the time.

Much of the last decade Arkansas fans have dealt with excuse making under two separate regimes which has been exhausting to say the least.

For the record, Arkansas was only penalized six times Saturday for just 55 yards. Most onlookers probably wondered when Petrino would be flagged for creating new phrases during sideline tirades toward any official who would listen.

LSU Tigers quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. (11) scrambles out the pocket against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the second half at Tiger Stadium. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Poor execution on critical downs, coming away empty on several possessions in the redzone and three turnovers killed any hopes of Arkansas coming away victorious for the first time since September.

There's a rather loud majority of Arkansas fans who clamor for Petrino to have the interim tag removed because what's happened on the football field this season isn't his fault.

Most are willing to ignore Arkansas' numerous shortcomings in one score games because this isn't a team Petrino recruited. Thus, wipe his slate clean and not hold anything that's happened this year against him.

Here's something to light in a pipe; the offense has committed 41 turnovers since Petrino arrived at Arkansas as offensive coordinator last season. During the first four seasons of fired coach Sam Pittman, the Razorbacks turned it over 60 times.

To Petrino's credit, he won't put his players under the bus in this situation since the team's mentality psyche is more fragile than ever losing by one possession for the seventh time this season.

"That’s a hard one to figure out," Petrino said about his team losing another close game. "Just got to keep working at it. Got to find a way to win. We’ve had, like you said, different ways that we’ve lost games. These guys are not going to quit though, they’ll keep fighting."

The same issues continue to occur each week which ultimately can be chopped up to coaching and players going through the motions.

Defensively, the Razorbacks have loafed around each week giving bare minimum effort, issuing love taps to opponents and being run around like they have cinderblocks for feet.

Even with special teams blocked punt and holding LSU's offense to 14 points there appears to be issues with fragility. It seems anything that can go wrong will with this group and they can't put an end to its losing culture.

Arkansas Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek on the sidelines during the game with the Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss. | Ted McClenning-allHOGS Images

It's likely to take a complete rebuild at the end of this season to see anything change moving forward.

This mindset comes from the start as athletics director Hunter Yurachek inadvertently admitted the Razorbacks football program can't compete for championships.

From the 1960's through the 1980's Arkansas was considered a player on the national scene with numerous conference championships and two national championships (claimed and unclaimed). There was a time that winning eight games was considered a disappointing season in Fayetteville.

Now, the fanbase has been conditioned to believe winning eight regular season games is worthy of a contract extension.

If a school is willing to pay coaches for mediocre results, then it can figure out a way to pay above market value for an established coach instead.

Big time programs spend money.

Losing programs make excuses.

It's only a matter of time before everyone figures out what Arkansas is willing to be.

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