Breaking down reality that faces Arkansas Razorbacks as Petrino era begins

Hogs have much to fix, but so much to gain with effort, focus, fundamentals

Arkansas Razorbacks running back Mike Washington runs against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Bobby Petrino era technically begins today with his first practice as interim head coach at Arkansas.

In his initial press conference, he addressed the defense a great deal because that's the angle from which most of the questions came, and for good reason. Petrino's response was he planned to get his team back to the basics of tackling, running to the ball, and thinking of itself as a part of the Razorbacks and not its own separate team.

There was also that dreaded word, "simplify." For the third straight week an Arkansas coach sat before the media talking about the need to take away things the defense needs to think about so they can attack, fill gaps and cover defenders using their God given athleticism, placing natural instinct over scheme.

While fixing the defense over the next two weeks is a definite reality that must be addressed, there are other realities facing this team with both positive and negative aspects.

Don't overlook offense needing swift kick in the backside also

There is a lot of hemming and hawing about the defense and how it gave up against Notre Dame with the exception of one series, which is valid. However, the offense is in a lot of trouble right now also.

It's been 92 football minutes since a skill position player scored a touchdown for the Razorbacks. Now, that may not seem like much in the real world.

It's the typical length of a movie, but in terms of football minutes, it's an eternity. That's more than a game and a half and probably at least 40 Arch Manning and Dr Pepper Fansville commercials.

Was it fun to see offensive lineman Shaq McRoy plow across the goal line against Notre Dame to make it 14-10 early in the second quarter as the Hogs put good old SEC smash mouth football on full display? Sure.

Was it fitting that the only touchdown scored in Sam Pittman's final game was by a 6-fot-8, 344-pound offensive lineman? Absolutely.

But overall, it's troubling. In addition to skill players not putting up production in an exceedingly long stretch, when the game kicks off against Tennessee, Arkansas will have scored a single second half touchdown in 35 days.

For those needing help with the math, that's essentially a month and a week with only one touchdown in the second half. The Hogs have to find out what's going on.

Are these players running out of gas? Are they running out of mental focus? Are teams able to simply draw up a counter and shut down whatever has been working for Arkansas?

Either way, there are serious concerns on that side of the ball. If this had been resolved, the Razorbacks would have been a Top 15 team heading into that Notre Dame game and players might have given a much better account of themselves.

What's truly out there for this team?

While fans decided the season and the entire program were lost after a couple of one-possession losses to No. 4 Ole Miss and playoff bound Memphis where the Razorbacks were headed in for winning scores with little resistance, the truth is, it wasn't the end of the world.

In fact, even though the entire country believes things are officially over for Arkansas, Petrino has an easy argument that it's not. Every goal this team had when the season started is still on the table.

Every player on this team has a good reason to play at his highest possible level whether he intends to eventually stay or go. The Ole Miss game proves the Hogs can compete with the nation's elite without question.

The Hogs only have one SEC loss. If they get on a run and finish 7-1 in conference, which admittedly is a tall task, Arkansas goes to the SEC championship game.

If they win there, they not only go to the College Football Playoffs, but they take a fairly high seed. The reality is it's still OK to dream of a playoff game in Razorback Stadium.

The first step on that path to see whether the players get the message will be on full display Saturday, Oct. 11. The ESPN network jumped on the chance to soak up a prime afternoon audience wanting to take in the day Petrino officially rides again with a 3:15 p.m. slot on the SEC Network.