For once Arkansas finds itself with an advantage over rest of SEC

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas interim head coach Bobby Petrino has a lot to lose this weekend.

If the Hogs can't pull off a win over No. 4 Texas A&M, he stands to lose a good portion of his players mentally regardless of what speeches and drills he has cooked up.

Additionally, numerous Razorbacks fans have made it clear that if Arkansas loses again, especially by a large margin, which has been a recent home trend, then they are moving forward to basketball. The stands will be light for back-to-back SEC home games despite the scrimmage against Cincinnati next Friday night being at Bud Walton for a convenient double-header situation.

With players checking out and fans not showing up, it's almost a guarantee Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek will start working out an agreement in principle with whomever the next head coach will be. He simply can't afford to keep hanging around waiting for Petrino to pull it together.

He has to get a coach solidly in line before the competition starts to increase. Right now he has an advantage.

The Hogs fired Pittman at the perfect time. Because Arkansas had played five games. most players couldn't demand a red shirt.

Also, because they didn't wait until a few days ago, they avoid being subject to a new rule that says if Yurachek hires a coach now, players can hop into the portal after five days.

Arkansas players have to wait until January regardless of when they name a coach. Technically, they could jump in shortly after Pittman got fired, but because of the timing, there was nowhere to go with rosters already full.

However, if Yurachek lands a coach Texas week, players can't flood the portal and leave Petrino short-handed against Missouri.

Meanwhile, if Auburn fires Hugh Freeze this Sunday, if they hire a coach the week before the Iron Bowl hoping to get a jump on recruiting, the Tigers could have half of their roster available to take on Alabama.

Just not a problem for Arkansas.

Even if Auburn waits until the season is over to name a coach, he knows he only has five days to evaluate and save his players in the midst of trying to rebuild the freshman recruiting class on the fly.

That's not an issue at Arkansas. The new coach gets to focus on the Class of 2026, then put in film time on the current team and have a plan in January as to who needs to move on, who needs to be recruited to stay, and what the needs will be when shopping the portal.

The difference in stress and disorganization between the Hogs situation and Auburn is drastic. If both choose to go after UNLV coach Dan Mullen, for once, Yurachek will have the edge.

Mullen has a much better shot to hit the ground running at Arkansas than Auburn and it's all the result of firing Pittman at the right time. Considering how a chaotic signing season can compound the following season by having to recruit on a worse record than the coach would have under the circumstances at Arkansas, it gets much easier to envision success in Fayetteville.

If the Razorbacks can get respectable money in order for Yurachek to dip into to offer the new head coach and his impending staff, then there is a much greater chance than when the job last came open to land a known, high quality coach to take the reins.

Considering rules surrounding money paid to coaches differs greatly to the rules regarding UIL money, Arkansas has access to funds from major boosters who can't contribute to paying players. Of course, that is provided Yurachek knows how to properly play the game when it comes to heavy hitters who will need their egos stroked quite a bit.

His efforts alongside mega-booster John Tyson that helped bring John Calipari to Fayetteville to coach basketball shows this is possible. However, this time it's going to take multiple big fish to make a huge splash on the football side.

Everyone will have to wait and see. Meanwhile, there's comfort to Hogs fans knowing for once they have a slight edge, something that's not come often in the SEC.

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