Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

9/7/2010 at 3:21pm

Image by Will Flowers

Dennis Johnson breaks free for a 49-yard run against Tennessee Tech on Saturday. Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino didn't like that Johnson only carried the ball with one hand and benched the junior back for the final 18:33 of Saturday's 44-3 victory.

FAYETTEVILLE — Dennis Johnson averaged 20.0 yards per carry for Arkansas in the season opener. His seven-yard run over left end provided the team’s first touchdown after a sluggish start and highlighted Johnson’s strength and speed as a runner.

Later, the Texarkana native burst up the middle 49 yards and with his first carry of the second half nearly matched the Razorbacks’ entire first half output. They managed just 51 yard on 13 carries in the opening two quarters and Johnson’s run seemed to provide a spark.

How was Johnson rewarded for his efforts? Did he get praise from his head coach? Did it move him into the No. 1 spot on the crowded running back depth chart?

Not exactly.

Johnson’s performance earned him a spot on the sidelines — more specifically, in Bobby Petrino’s doghouse — as the final 18 minutes, 33 seconds of Saturday’s 44-3 victory against Tennessee Tech ticked off the clock.

“Dennis kind of made me mad when he carried the ball in one hand. So his carries ended right then,” Petrino told reporters on Monday. “We have got to carry the ball properly.”

Johnson is the latest example of just how detail-oriented Petrino is. He wasn’t happy with Johnson or the Arkansas offense as a whole after the game.

Petrino wasn’t praising the 44 points. There was no celebration over scoring 44 points and racking up 508 yards of total offense. He didn’t care that Johnson continues to be the most productive back on the team when allowed to be on the field.

Quarterback Ryan Mallett completed 85.7 percent of his passes. Mallett now ranks second all-time in the SEC for single-game completion percentage.

None of that really mattered to Petrino when evaluating Saturday’s game.

Petrino was fixated on the sort of stuff most fans would ignore. Heck, many coaches would let a bad series or a reckless carry slide if the end result was positive.

Not Petrino.

Arkansas stalled on fourth down during an opening series that included a false start by senior tight end D.J. Williams. On their next possession, the Razorbacks were intercepted on a tipped ball.

Players fumbled three times. They recovered two, but had it been any other opponent, Petrino was concerned the mistakes would have been costly.

Petrino was not happy when the miscues happened on Saturday. Nor was he wiling to overlook them two days after the fact.

“We can’t do that to ourselves,” Petrino said. “We have a lot of things we have to work on and correct.”

How can you hear that and have any doubts about what kind of operation Petrino is running? Do you question for a second how demanding Petrino can be and how hard he is on his players or assistant coaches and operations staff members?

This is a great example of what it is like to play for (and work for) Petrino. And it isn’t easy.

Petrino demands perfection. Every detail — down to the way a running back carried the ball on the Razorbacks’ longest running play and second-biggest gain of the night — is something he concerns himself with when evaluating the team’s performance.

It probably seems a bit obsessive to some observers on the outside of the Arkansas football program. Shoot, some on the inside of the program probably find it to be over-the-top, but it’s part of Petrino’s plan. Every last detail has to be accounted for if the program is going to someday be winning an SEC title and, perhaps, a national title at Arkansas.

And should there come a time for Razorback players to celebrate and hoist a trophy from the SEC Championship or a meaningful bowl game, a word of advice:

Hold onto it with two hands.

Tagged: Bobby Petrino, Dennis Johnson, Ryan Mallett, SEC football