The Expectations Have Changed At Arkansas

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Last season, Bobby Petrino led Arkansas to a 10-win season and a #12 national ranking.  Even without star quarterback Ryan Mallett leading the way in 2011, Petrino wants his Razorbacks to keep improving.

“I was taught that if you have a goal and you can’t verbalize it, then you’ll never achieve it,” Petrino said in an ArkansasSports360.com season preview.  “So we talk about it.  We want to win a national championship.  That’s what our goal is.  That’s what drives us.”

Receiver Jarius Wright says a lot has changed since Petrino arrived three seasons ago:


“It’s just different the way people talk about Arkansas now.  When I first came in we didn’t make a bowl game.  Now we’re talking about national championships.  A lot has changed in three years.”


During the Houston Nutt years, Arkansas would step forward — and then backward — in two-year cycles.  Nine-win seasons would drop off to five-win campaigns.  Then four-win seasons would birth 10-win years.

If Petrino can keep the Hogs moving forward this season — without Mallett at QB — it would signal a step toward true consistency.  And that might lead more people outside of the Ozarks to mention “Arkansas” and “national championship” in the same breath.