Arkansas football is debuting its new head coach this week against the Vols.
The Razorbacks’ interim head coach, Bobby Petrino, is gearing up for his first game back at the helm for the Razorbacks. The former offensive coordinator was promoted to interim head coach following the firing of Sam Pittman after their Week 5 loss to Notre Dame.
This is a familiar role for Petrino, who served as the Razorbacks’ head coach from 2008 to 2011. This weekend’s matchup against Tennessee will be his first test back. The Hogs (2-3, 0-1 SEC) are coming off three straight losses and are winless in conference play.
Shifting momentum under a new lead won’t be easy, though. Petrino and the Razorbacks will have to face off against the 12th-ranked Vols at Neyland Stadium. Petrino discussed the hostile environment and more in this week’s press conferences.
Here’s what Petrino had to say about Vol football ahead of this Saturday’s game.
Preparing for Neyland
As the sixth-largest college football stadium, Neyland is known for being one of the harshest environments to play in. Petrino knows what he’s up against and is taking it in stride.
“It’s awesome, you know, you always want to go into a hostile environment and have fun with it,” Petrino said.
Petrino has hope that the Razorbacks will handle it well, and this starts in practice. Petrino knows what it will take to prepare his team for Neyland loud.
“We’ve got to do a good job preparing for it, and what that says is that you come off the practice field with a headache every day because that noise you play out there is awful,” Petrino said.
The Vols have a 6-2 record at home against the Razorbacks and a 13-7 record throughout their history of playing each other.
Beat the run
Despite specializing in offense, Petrino has a clear game plan when it comes to his defense. They have to stop the run. The Vols’ rushing attack has been a concern for multiple opponents. In five games, the Vols have 996 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns. The team average is 5.1 yards per carry.
“The key to always playing Tennessee is to be able to have a way to stop the run and not give up big explosive plays running the football,” Petrino said.
Petrino said that the offense as a whole can be a challenge, but he still wants his team to focus mainly on the run game.
“They spread the field, but they want to run the ball. So the biggest challenge is how do you defend the pass and stop the run,” Petrino said. “So that’s something that we’re working hard at is being able to understand we have to stop the run first.”
Joey Aguilar
One aspect of Tennessee’s offense that could make stopping the run a challenge for Arkansas is quarterback Joey Aguilar. When asked about Aguilar, Petrino had nothing but praise.
“He’s a good player, you know, he’s got tons of experience,” Petrino said. “He understands defense and coverages, and we’ve got to try to make him uncomfortable.”
Aguilar has 1,459 passing yards and 13 total touchdown passes on the year. His deep ball ability could shake things up for a Razorback defense that is focused on the rushing attack.
