Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

10/22/2010 at 4:08pm

If you follow this space regularly, you will get the headline above this notebook. Just in case you might need refreshing, though, we learned that taking Mike Dyer to task for his repeated words about not getting enough Bobby Petrino recruiting love a year after his recruitment was over brought out the comments both pro and con, plus a few that took a tangent, this time last week.

So, who's it going to be next week? Who will be the next former recruit, player, coach, NFL owner or ESPN columnist who crossed paths with Bobby Petrino and now decides to rake him over the coals? This week it was Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, who parted ways with Petrino when Petrino left the Atlanta Falcons for the Arkansas job. Zimmer said earlier this week that Petrino ruined lives when he abruptly left Atlanta for Arkansas with three games left in the 2007 season. Please.

Zimmer's had a very difficult four years of his life, both on the field and off it. Some of it tragic. His parting with Petrino was not among the tragic occurrences, as Zimmer had a contract and also was able to find work with Cincinnati.

Lives were ruined by Hurricane Katrina. Lives are ruined daily in Haiti, in the aftermath of an earthquake and now a cholera epidemic in a country with no money.

Petrino's departing of Atlanta didn't ruin anyone's lives. It's amazing how bitter Arthur Blank could be at the time, and yet his franchise has probably been better off with different direction. Who couldn't see, either from Petrino's side or the owner's, that the college-oriented discipline Petrino brought to the Falcons would never cut it with professionals?

I'm trying to find any old quotes from 1976 on whether Lou Holtz was accused of ruining lives when he told the New York Jets owner that he was going back into college coaching after 11 uncomfortable weeks dealing with the likes of Joe Namath. I don't think there are any. Holtz was told he didn't have to stick around for the Jets' last three games of a 14-game season that year.

But, for some reason, an owner who had fired another coach before Petrino was crushed that Bobby P. didn't want to hang around for three more miserable weeks in Atlanta, promises broken. It saved Blank millions, and yet all he did was lead a crucifixion of Petrino through his friends and PR contacts via his previous ownership in Home Depot.

Then, three years later, Zimmer is asked about returning to Atlanta for the first time in three years, this weekend with the Bengals, and goes nuts over Petrino and lives being ruined. Surely the Cincinnati management and the NFL front office have explained to Mr. Zimmer that while he may have built-up grievances with his former head coach in Atlanta, he didn't need to air them in a press conference, three years after the fact.

Petrino, to his credit, was asked about Zimmer's comments and didn't go there. He never does, though he has admitted that he could have handled things differently when departing Atlanta. Petrino absorbed a brutal assault from any ESPN and NFL columnist or TV personality willing to write or talk about him in late 2007 and early 2008. About the nicest thing said about him was that he was "disingenuous" in his dealings with the University of Louisville or the Falcons. Most diatribes read like bitter screeds. Some, such as a few zingers from Sean Salisbury, were unprofessional.

Even before Zimmer's shots across the bow of the SS Petrino, Sports Illustrated Peter King was tweeting some 140-character anti-Petrino blather, while not acknowledging that the guy had donated $1 million to charity.

Hey, he's not an easy guy for some of the daily media folks in Fayetteville to cover, and he's apparently not an easy guy to play for or work for. We get that Petrino, like Nick Saban, turned his back to the NFL before the NFL kicked him out on the street, and returned to college football. Apparently, NFL hides are thin and sensitive. And Mike Zimmer has had a tough go of his life, even if he hasn't wanted for a job, and had a lot of frustrations pent up that suddenly came roaring out. With the money flowing over these days, the NFL surely can provide him with some help there, no?

You just never know when some of these columnists or outbursts such as Zimmer's aren't fueled by rival coaches with connections who would love to continue to poison the recruiting well for Petrino in those talent-rich areas the Hogs staff are mining these days.

THE FIRST MUST-WIN FOR PETRINO: While it's also been three years since Petrino left Atlanta, he's had three years to build his program at Arkansas.

The Razorbacks should be at a point, even if it's temporary, that they are headed up while Ole Miss has fallen down. Houston Nutt has won two games from Petrino -- in 2008 the Rebels were the better team and held on for a 23-21 win at Fayetteville, while last year the Rebs sprung a Dexter McCluster do-it-all surprise on the flat Hogs, unfocused after a controversial lost the previous week at Florida. Again, though, Ole Miss had more players.

Not so this year. Saturday's game with the Rebels is a must-win for Petrino. It's time for Arkansas to have focus and for its better players to defeat Nutt's program. If Arkansas can't beat the Rebels this year, when will they? Nutt's second recruiting class at Ole Miss was as good as Petrino's, and last February's clearly outclassed the group the Arkansas' staff brought in.

At that rate, there will be only a short window where Arkansas can field a superior and more experienced team that the Rebels.

However, the question begs: With Petrino so detail-oriented and the Hogs among the top three teams in the Southeastern Conference in returning lettermen, why is this team so undisciplined? Arkansas remains the 12th-ranked team out of 12 in the SEC in penalties following the 65-43 loss to Auburn. Senior leaders across the offensive line have been culprits as much as anyone. Plus, the Hogs have had their share of uncalled for, hot-headed moments, such as Joe Adams' personal foul penalty in the heat of the fourth quarter at Georgia, or Knile Davis' mouthing-off penalty at Auburn last week. Arkansas overcame Davis' mistake with a touchdown drive led by sophomore quarterback Tyler Wilson last in the second quarter. Ryan Mallett showed frustration even unusual for him with a fourth-quarter personal four against A&M.

A team dreaming iin the preseason of SEC championship glory does not make these kinds of errors. Some penalties are going to happen because of effort, and maybe because of the stadium noise factor. Arkansas hurts itself in areas it could have controlled with more poise.

The devil-in-the-details failures trickled out of the offense and into the kicking game last week as well, with Arkansas decidedly whipped in every phase except for the routine extra points. The defense's lapses in discipline with their technique were costly against an amazing talent such as Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.

None of it makes much sense with a head coach who we know focuses on every single detail in every single area of the game and demands something close to perfection in all aspects of the program.

Tagged: Bobby Petrino