Petrino wants disciplined approach from ‘fast’ Arkansas team

Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino sees the defensive front as a big reason the SEC has dominated in recent years.

“I’ve always believed, since I was in the conference as an assistant, then coached in another conference as a head coach, that the thing that separated the SEC from everybody else in America was the defensive front, the speed, athleticism on the edges, athleticism inside,” Petrino said. “I found that out when I came back as a head coach in the league that that was true.”

And Petrino’s Arkansas team must compete in the strong SEC West—a division that boasts national championship contenders LSU and Alabama. To deal with that tough situation, Petrino hopes to improve his team’s road play and second half performance.

“I think it’s real important for us that we’re disciplined, we understand how to play on the road, and we know how to find a way to win in the fourth quarter,” Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino said. “I think that’s something we tried to build on from last year, is you go back and you look at the fourth quarters, the big games we won in the fourth quarter, take something from that – not only as a player, but the coaching staff.”

Petrino pointed to the team’s mindset as an important part of this year’s team.

“I’m very impressed with our football team’s mindset. I think that’s the thing we need to carry over from a year ago, is the experience that we have, we have a bunch of guys that really understand what it means to prepare, to prepare for practice and to prepare for a game, go in the meeting room, work hard, concentrate and get better,” Petrino said.

One other important thing that Petrino sees in this year’s team—speed.

I really feel like we’re a fast football team,” Petrino said. “The speed we have at our skilled positions, particularly on offense, at wide receiver and running back, give us an opportunity to be a special offense.”