Petrino aims for Arkansas to score touchdowns and not kick field goals

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – Asked Tuesday night what he thought about Arkansas’ field goal kickers, Razorback offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino noted he doesn’t watch them in practice and doesn’t really want to see them in games.

It seems last year’s dismal season at Texas A&M where Randy Bond missed 10 of his 36 field goal attempts scarred Petrino.

“I don’t watch the kicker,” Petrino said with a smile. “I quit watching kickers after last year’s experience. I don’t watch them at all. Not in practice. Not nothing. I don’t watch it.

“I ask them ‘did he make it?’ And they say yes or no. That’s all I know about kicking the ball.

“I have been around some great kickers. We had the (2006) Lou Groza winner at Louisville in Art Carmody and great one here (Zach Hocker) when I was here.

“But last year’s experience made me quit watching practice and hopefully they’ll just make it in the game.

“I know this – when it is a two-minute drive, we are going to ago try and score a touchdown.”

Petrino, speaking after the team’s 18th practice of camp, will get a chance to show off his new Arkansas offense next Thursday with the Razorbacks open the season with UAPB in Little Rock.

The game will have a 6:30 p.m. kickoff from War Memorial Stadium and will be televised by ESPNU.

It will be his first coaching trip back to Little Rock since he was the Arkansas head coach back and the Razorbacks hammered Mississippi State 44-17 on Nov. 17, 2011.

“Gosh, I wish I could think about it, but (Arkansas sas head) Coach (Sam Pittman) has been grinding us, man,” Petrino said. “I haven’t had time to think about it a whole lot. We’re here early in the morning and getting home late at night.

“…I’m looking forward to it. I’ve always enjoyed going down to Little Rock and playing down in Little Rock. I think it’ll be fun. I can’t wait ’til we get down there.”

He plans to be on the sideline and not in the press box.

“I’m going to be on the sideline,” Petrino said. “You’ve got the clicker now where you can talk to the quarterback in the ear piece and can’t do that from upstairs. I thought about it. I kind of liked it last year upstairs and calling the game and being away from all the elements down there, but I didn’t like not being able to see the quarterback’s eyes and how they were reacting and what was going on on the sideline. So I think it’s the right decision to be down.”

Petrino is pleased with the effort he has seen from the offense lately.

“I think this was a really good week for us and the week actually started on Saturday just because of the way we’ve been doing the schedule with a Thursday night game,” Petrino said. “We got into some game situation prep I guess you would say, some of the stuff you do in a game and it was fun to see our players react to it and learn it.

“Obviously we’ve still got another week to get ready for our game but this was really good for that and how you practice and how you prepare for it. So I was excited to see how we did there.”

Petrino is happy with his offense’s retention from them spring to preseason camp.

“So I feel good about the way we’ve installed our offense, the guys that learned it in the spring and how well they did with it and then what they did over the summer, I feel like we have some knowledge of it, or a lot of knowledge of it coming into this fall,” Petrino said.

“Then in the last week we’re in the phase of cutting it back and starting to refine and and starting to refine and understand who we are and what we do well and kind of putting some parts aside for later and working on other things that, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get this down.’ We’ve got to just keep working on it and get it down. So we’re certainly not where we want to be right now, but we continue to improve and the players have great attitudes and are extremely hard working.”

Petrino had noted earlier that his team was looking to establish an identity.

“We are still working on it,” Petrino said. “We have some time to work on it, but I feel better about understanding about what we do best in the run game.

“You know I have always been a flip the line guy and I know everyone knew we did that before when I was here. I quit doing that a couple of years ago, mainly for my assistant coaches. When they went and interviewed (so people) didn’t think they were crazy because no one else in the country did it.

“I did it to try and help young men do what they did best at a position – run right, run left, what we do with the tight end and we are still working on that and those parts of the identity.

‘I think we understand what we are doing in the run game, our protections have been pretty solid on that and it is just the aspects of the passing game that we like the best and we are getting closer on it.”

Arkansas expects to play in heat both in opener and the following week in an 11 a.m. game at Oklahoma State.

Petrino praised Razorback strength and conditioning coach Ben Sowders and his staff for their work.

“I feel good about our conditioning, because we’ve been working hard at that since all summer long,” Petrino said. “Our strength staff has done an unbelievable job on our ability to gain strength and size, and condition.

“It’s probably the most running I’ve been around as far as the way we condition and the way we’re practicing now, we’re taking longer racks. Going a little, very, very intense trying to make sure we’re in game-playing condition.

“But, you always worry early in the year when you get those hot, humid days and those come into play. We’ve got to continue to improve on our depth and especially in certain positions.”

Photo by John D. James

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24.