Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

I remember where I was when I found out. Like so many other followers of college football, I am not and have never been content to enjoy the sport for a mere four months and then put it back upon the shelf.  Since the Internet awarded me the opportunity, it has been a year-round interest bordering on obsession.

Thus, nothing was out of the ordinary on that offseason morning on which I woke up in my apartment in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Little Rock, just up the hill from War Memorial Stadium, and logged on to find out what had happened, if anything, in the world of college football since I had last checked, more or less eight hours before.

The news, I'm sure you recall, was staggering. Shocking. Terrifying.  How did it happen?  How serious was it?  What was the severity of the injury?

As we found out more, the tone of the questions changed. How could he be so stupid? So selfish? How could he allow his own pride and ego to jeopardize the team's season? HIS team's season? How could someone with so much talent show so little discretion with so much on the line?

I don't know about you, but I was SO ANGRY at Darren McFadden.

That episode in 2006, and the Heisman-worthy campaign that McFadden put up following The Palace Fiasco when he injured his toe in a nightclub incident, has served well in steeling me against any ledge-jumping urges that strike during offseason drama in the tumultuous years since.

Just think, since that season, Razorback fans have had to deal with the outgoing transfer of one highly recruited quarterback, the arrival, arrest, leg surgery and subsequent scooter rides of another, the season-ending injury of *another*  Heisman candidate running back, and unfortunately, a slew of Fulmer points garnered for multiple and varied violations of statute. All during the offseason.

Of course, the offseason of 2012 takes the cake. Bobby Petrino gone.  John L. Smith back. John L. Smith broke. Missouri replacing South Carolina as a permanent opponent. The LSU game moving to Fayetteville for the immediate future, and potentially moving to a pre-Thanksgiving date. A trio of players that may or may not be on the team when practice rolls around in August.

It seems logical that a sharp journalist might, at SEC Media Days in a few weeks, ask John L. Smith just what continuity, if any, the Razorbacks can fall back on during a grueling 2012 season that is bearing down on them with the voracity of this summer’s sun. I know that I would have an answer ready.

I would mention that the Razorbacks return with the best playbook in the league.

The same plays that won 11 games in 2011 will fill the offensive quiver in 2012, and I believe that is an important point to belabor. Bobby Petrino is gone, and gone with him is a font of football knowledge, an obsession for preparation, an unyielding desire to compete and win, and an uncanny knack for anticipating the actions of his adversaries. His playbook remains, however, as well as the one person most capable of utilizing it to its fullest.

Coordinator Paul Petrino knows this offense better than any person on the planet not named Bobby Petrino, and is equipped with the usual arsenal of speed and talent at all skill positions. Many will disagree, but results notwithstanding, I preferred the play calling of 2009 over any other year in the Bobby Petrino Era. Even though the Razorbacks had more success over the past two seasons, I feel that Paul Petrino provided something that the offense has been lacking since he left.  I'm not sure exactly what it was, but in my mind I envision that Paul was the pitchfork-wielding devil sitting on his brother's shoulder, daring him to push the envelope.