ESPN College Football

Given all of the names that had been linked to the Arkansas job, and all of the folks who supposedly turned it down, I think the Razorbacks lucked out by landing Bobby Petrino. That said, I do think it's pretty bizarre to have a 10:30 p.m. press conference for anything. To me it's the equivalent of an offense that was really struggling all day, but then hits a big play, and then the coaching staff suspects that their receiver really never had a foot in bounds, so they frantically try and rush to get the next snap made so no one can overturn it.

Petrino may be the kind of coach who gets slammed by many of his former staffers for an alarming lack of people skills and integrity, but the guy is one of the best offensive coaches the college game has seen in a long time. He took a solid Louisville program and turned it into a legitimate powerhouse. Anyone who doubts his skills in preparing a team only needed to watch this season's version of the Cardinals, who were lacking that focus and attention to detail and were plagued by sloppiness all season long. Word is the little things that Petrino harped on previously at Louisville rarely seemed to be a priority. Also, the hiring will go over well with recruits. Just listen to Cruz Williams, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound local receiver rated as the nation's No. 43 wideout by Scouts Inc:

"Oh my god, when I first heard Petrino was going to be the Razorbacks' coach, I freaked out," Williams told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. "I was eating and I just threw my stuff out of the way and I started saying, 'Are you serious?' I just started jumping up and down. I was very excited. He was at Louisville and they ran the Spread offense and they were known for throwing the ball. He can bring some of that Louisville and the NFL and the Atlanta Falcon experience to the Razorbacks. I'm ready to play for him."

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