How would this week feel if Bobby Petrino hadn't gone on that motorcycle ride?

[bonedaddy401]

Where would our heads be if Arkansas was a top 10 team? Or even a top 15 team? Coming off three straight losses including two skull drags, would we be faced with impeding program doom this week had Bobby P not laid er down?

It doesn't look like Davis is the same back and I'm not sure their defense would be much better...

But still, John L vs. Bobby P.... We would be looking at our 4th straight assumed loss if he had stayed. I'm not sure this team could weather that going into Oxford. They wouldn't have 5 wins either but it is interesting to think about what this week would feel like if Petrino was still at Arkansas.

Kind of puts into perspective where we are as a program right now.....

 

[NCDawg.sixpack]

They still have a lot of those players back that clobbered us pretty good in Little Rock last year. Just watched some of the highlights of the game on Utube and we could get little, if any, pressure on Wilson and he burned us all game long. Hope that doesn't happen again this year.

 

[Railin Jemmye]

Much different. It's all about the confidence the coach inspires....

....and there was an article about this a while back. Something about the 'touchdown play' or something as Petrino called it.

They wouldn't have lost to ULM, Rutgers or Ole Miss so seemingly they'd come to Starkville 7-3 at a minimum. I'd like to say they'd have given Bama, aTm and Carolina a game, but damn they got beat down so it's hard to think the coach makes THAT much difference.

We were never able to stop the Petrino offense so I see no reason why we would this year.

 

[FlabLoser]

How would Petrino feel if we had signed Jason Croom?

I hate hypotheticals. Things are as they are. Petrino is where he is. If a frog had wings...

 

[LandArchDawg]

Imagine a world without hypotheticals.

nm

 

[patdog]

So if Arkansas was the 4th top 10 team in a row we faced, we'd probably be looking at our 4th straight loss. No ****. As for putting into perspective where our program is right now, it's not a top 10 program. It's somewhere around a top 20-25 program. And that's pretty damn good. Hopefully, it will improve slightly in the next few years. But you people expecting to beat top 10 teams consistently are just delusional. It might happen occasionally (and I think it will), but those wins will always be rare for us.

 

[bonedaddy401]

Sorry I made you think...

I was simply pointing out how different the circumstances would be solely based off of what happened to Petrino. If you hate Hypotheticals so much you should probably not waste your time and reply to posts that include them.

 

[bonedaddy401]

Easy killer...

So if Arkansas was the 4th top 10 team in a row we faced, we'd probably be looking at our 4th straight loss. No ****. As for putting into perspective where our program is right now, it's not a top 10 program. It's somewhere around a top 20-25 program. And that's pretty damn good. Hopefully, it will improve slightly in the next few years. But you people expecting to beat top 10 teams consistently are just delusional. It might happen occasionally (and I think it will), but those wins will always be rare for us.

I don't expect us to beat top 10 teams. Don't know where you got that.

I was pointing out that if they were a top 15 - 10 team and beat us this weekend I don't think this team could bounce back and beat Ole Miss. That makes us 7-5 and limping into a bowl game. Conversely in reality we are hopefully looking at 9-3 and plenty of momentum heading into bowl practice and recruiting. I just thought it was interesting how Petrino's accident pretty much made that possible. Crazy how things work out sometimes.

 

[patdog]

I think you're overestimating the impact each game has on the other games. Usually, when a team is "hot" and when it is "cold" has more to do with the schedule than anything else. We could very easily lose the Egg Bowl to Mississippi in Oxford any year. But if we do, it wouldn't be because of the Arkansas game the week before.

 

[bonedaddy401]

So you don't think a win the week before the Egg Bowl would be better than...

suffering our 4th straight loss? That would be EXACTLY what you are trying to argue. A team coming off 4 straight losses is "cold". The loss to Ark would be nothing new but losing 4 straight would be.

What point are you trying to make again?

 

[maroonmania]

All I can say is thank goodness for Jessica Dorrell...

Where would our heads be if Arkansas was a top 10 team? Or even a top 15 team? Coming off three straight losses including two skull drags, would we be faced with impeding program doom this week had Bobby P not laid er down? It doesn't look like Davis is the same back and I'm not sure their defense would be much better...But still, John L vs. Bobby P.... We would be looking at our 4th straight assumed loss if he had stayed. I'm not sure this team could weather that going into Oxford. They wouldn't have 5 wins either but it is interesting to think about what this week would feel like if Petrino was still at Arkansas. Kind of puts into perspective where we are as a program right now.....

she definitely made this week a much more winnable game that it would have been otherwise.

 

[engie]

I was pointing out that if they were a top 15 - 10 team and beat us this weekend I don't think this team could bounce back and beat Ole Miss.

We have entered the Egg Bowl on at least a 2 game losing streak in each of Mullen's 3 years on the job, including BEAT DOWNS at the hands of Alabama and Arkansas in 2 of the 3 years(and a beat down and heartbreaker in the 3rd). This hypothetical of yours goes against every shred of evidence that we have at our disposal...

 

[engie]

So if Arkansas was the 4th top 10 team in a row we faced, we'd probably be looking at our 4th straight loss. No ****. As for putting into perspective where our program is right now, it's not a top 10 program. It's somewhere around a top 20-25 program. And that's pretty damn good. Hopefully, it will improve slightly in the next few years. But you people expecting to beat top 10 teams consistently are just delusional. It might happen occasionally (and I think it will), but those wins will always be rare for us.

Once again, this is my viewpoint exactly. Seems a high percentage of our fans are getting/have gotten caught up in the "hype" instead of the reality of what we are and where we are as a program...

One or two additional wins are great, don't get me wrong... but it doesn't change what we are as a program, which is top 20-top 30 right now. Thanks to the end of this schedule and a likely easy bowl win, we could easily sneak back up inside the top 20 in the final rankings...

 

[bonedaddy401]

How many of the past 3 years have we been 7-0 and then lost 4 straight?

I'll hang up and listen.

 

[MedDawg]

If Arkansas were Top 10, then A&M and/or Bama wouldn't be, but yeah, we'd be a lot more nervous.

But it still wouldn't be a deal-killer. It would be just like 2010--4 losses to Top 15 teams, with A&M replacing Auburn. The difference would be that the losses would be all in a row after starting 7-0.

 

[bonedaddy401]

If Arkansas were Top 10, then A&M and/or Bama wouldn't be, but yeah, we'd be a lot more nervous.

But it still wouldn't be a deal-killer. It would be just like 2010--4 losses to Top 15 teams, with A&M replacing Auburn. The difference would be that the losses would be all in a row after starting 7-0.

Exactly... still could be just much less likely now thanks to Jessica D.

 

[was21]

..wouldn't be counting the chickens until the game is over.

 

[engie]

I'll hang up and listen.

I think you're overestimating the impact each game has on the other games.

This.

You are trying to make a hypothetical without supporting evidence. Sorry, but that makes it a bad hypothetical. Show me some "momentum" patterns under Mullen? Can you? We beat every team we are better than and lose to every team that is better than us. The arrangement of the games is negligible information as long as the previous holds true. This has been reflected in every year-end ranking thusfar. "Momentum" in the manner you describe has played an infinitesimally small role under this regime. 48 games worth of winning as favorites and losing as underdogs is a pretty good sample size too...

Under Croom or Sherrill, you would have a legit point. Not so much under Mullen...

 

[bonedaddy401]

Don't try so hard chief.....

It doesn't take a thesaurus expert like yourself to realize losing 4 straight after a 7-0 start would be bad for this team. Any team really. Winning Saturday would be much more beneficial to this team going into the Egg Bowl than losing. Bobby P not being there anymore makes that more likely.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

So if we lost to Arkansas but instead of Mississippi we had Alcorn last, would you feel like we were in trouble then because of the momentum?

 

[bonedaddy401]

Are you proposing that Alcorn is an equal opponent to Ole Miss?

 

[DawgatAuburn]

No, are you? If losing three in row has an impact, then according to your theory the opponent should not matter. If the opponent matters, then where's the line? Would we lose to Kansas State in that situation because we had lost three in a row, or because they are better than us? Would we beat Alcorn in that situation in spite of the momentum, or because we are better than them? So there's a big gray area in the middle obviously, and I suspect your response might be the ones in question are the similarly skilled teams, in which case I would defer to Engie's favorites/dogs position.

 

[bonedaddy401]

I'm talking about in regard to this team this season....

If this team had to play a Bobby Petrino coached Arkansas team we wouldn't be looking at this week or our season the same. I think the team we are the type of team mentally right now that needs a win badly. We are favorites this week but probably wouldn't be if Petrino is still there. That's what my whole topic/point is. This week is so much different this year than it could have been.

 

[engie]

If this team had to play a Bobby Petrino coached Arkansas team we wouldn't be looking at this week or our season the same.

Who all do you think you are speaking for on this? This statement should read as "I" not "we".

I would feel the exact same about this team and season in either situation. Exact same. That is because I base my feelings on how good we really ARE, not on a hollow win/loss record. Would this team suddenly be worse if we had to play Petrino this week? No. Still the same team. We were blessed with a good schedule this year and thus have the chance to win 10 games. That does not make THIS team any better than it would have been with 8 wins and a more difficult schedule.

This entire thread reads as the problem with much of our fanbase... the failure to look at things as they really are, but instead allows factors outside of our control to determine your outlook. This whole things reads like a USM fan arguing they were the best team in state last year and pointing to their w/l record as the reason...

 

[patdog]

The point I'm making is that teams usually beat teams that are worse than they are and lose to teams that are better than they are. Most of the difference between "hot" and "cold" teams is the schedule. All losing steaks are broken, and usually they're broken when the schedule gets a little easier. That's not a coincidence.

 

[Dawg_Nation]

Maybe I'm the only one, but I think we would have a chance to win this game if Petrino was there. Our chances are definitely better with him not there. Maybe I'm just an optimists.