Morning Slop: Petrino talks UF penalties; Nutt talks Hogs
October 19th, 2009
A couple of things to pass along this morning before we prepare to head out to Bobby Petrino’s afternoon press conference.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch Bobby Petrino’s weekly television show, you missed out on a couple of interesting comments from the Arkansas coach about penalties. He didn’t specifically mention the pass intereference call on Ramon Broadway or the personal foul hit by Malcolm Sheppard on one drive, but he did pinpoint a penalty which should have been called after an Arkansas run.
Dennis Johnson had a highlight reel rush to the left as Florida showed blitz, breaking two tackles and knocking down two more Florida defenders for a 25-yard gain near the end of the third quarter. Linebacker Dustin Doe pushed Johnson out of bounds at the Gators’ 32. But as Johnson was pushed out of play, safety Major Wright hit Johnson for what appeared to be a late hit.
No flags were thrown, however.
“When they hit you when you’re on the white, it’s supposed to be a late hit, a 15-yard penalty,” Petrino said, rewinding the clip and playing it again on his show Sunday. “Unfortunately, in Florida, they don’t call it that way.”
Arkansas was killed by penalties in its upset bid Saturday. The Hogs were flagged 10 times for 92 yards. The Gators? Three times for 16 yards.
Petrino was especially not pleased with the two, 15-yard penalties within three plays on Florida’s game-tying drive in the fourth quarter. Broadway was called for a questionable pass interference in the end zone on a Tim Tebow pass attempt to Deonte Thompson. Two plays later, Sheppard was called for a personal foul.
Petrino was short with his reaction on the two game-changing penalties after the game.
“I didn’t like them,” he said. “I didn’t think they were good calls.”
Petrino talked more about penalties on his weekly coaches show Sunday.
“It’s unfortunate that the fourth quarter there’s probably three plays that the officials made the difference in the game,” Petrino said.
Petrino wasn’t the only one disappointed with the penalties. Even NFL receiver Terrell Owens voiced displeasure on Twitter.
Refs r str8 CHEATING n this florida/arkansas game!! A phantom P.I. call on #26, personal foul on #96 & no OPI call on UF’s #11!
DEPTH PERCEPTION
We’ll have much more on the Razorbacks later today after Petrino’s press conference at 1:30 p.m., but here’s something to tide you over: a couple of depth chart moves that weren’t exactly unexpected.
Junior Andru Stewart is now listed ahead of Ramon Broadway at one of the cornerback spots on the depth chart this morning. It’s not too surprising, especially considering the 77-yard touchdown he helped give up against the Gators on Saturday.
Stewart did start against Florida, though, according to the participation chart.
Also, sophomore Elton Ford, whose career was seemingly over after cracking three vertebrae in his neck against Ole Miss, will start this week against — yep — Ole Miss. He replaces Tramain Thomas atop the depth chart. Ford, too, started the Florida game.
TAKING CREDIT?
Is Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt taking credit for some of Arkansas’ success this season?
The former Razorbacks coach had this to say about Arkansas during a press conference Sunday:
“(Ryan) Mallett is probably playing as well as anyone in the league right now. I had him in my camp since the sixth grade so I know all about him. He can really throw it, probably better than (Sam) Bradford and (Colt) McCoy as far as just throwing the ball. He’s so accurate and he has some good receivers that we signed when we were there. We know how good those players are.”
Nutt signed Arkansas receivers London Crawford, Lucas Miller, Reggie Fish and Carlton Salters, and tight end D.J. Williams. He was recruiting Jarius Wright and Greg Childs before he resigned as the Razorbacks’ head coach after the 2007 season. Receiver Joe Adams, who was leading the Hogs in receiving yards before a mild stroke two weeks ago, had his eyes set elsewhere until Bobby Petrino was hired as Arkansas’ coach.
Nutt also thinks he would have had Mallett as his quarterback if he had not been forced out at Arkansas. Mallett didn’t sign with Arkansas out of high school and went to Michigan.
“We would have signed him, but we went the Mitch Mustain route so (Mallett) went to Michigan,” Nutt said. “We felt from the calls we had gotten from him he would leave Michigan though and would come back home after a year at Michigan.”
— Brandon Marcello
I agree with Owens. The officials took that game away from Arkansas. I say that as a Clemson fan with no rooting interest for either team.
Thank you, Marshall. Man! I have lost track of the sheer number of fans from other teams who have voiced their disgust with the way Arkansas was jobbed in the Florida game. I, for one, really appreciate the support. especially since I, and others who feel as I do, have had to put up with more than a few Hog fans 'blaming the victim' on this issue as well. Great to see Petrino speaking out although he may get chastised for it later.
Hootie better watch out for those guys he didn't sign this weekend before they run his team right off the field!
Hawgfan100, I hope the SEC office has the decency to apologize to Arkansas. You guys wuz robbed!
As an Arkansas native and fan I was disgusted with the calls that were made throughout the entire game. It's true we made our mistakes, but without the crooked refs the game would've been ours. I've never seen such obvious favoritism on the field. But, we showed we're a great team and Florida shouldn't be #1. They know we won that game.
Great Game Hog Fans...you guys have a great team and Mallet is going to destroy the SEC next year. Don't let a superb effort get overshadowed (or reduced) to complaining about penalties. There were definitely some phantom calls (that call against #96 was mind blowing) but keep in mind that none of those calls cost you the game. They didn't get any scores called back and none of us know for sure that your D would have stopped Tebow & co. without the bad calls. Tejada makes that kick and penalties or not, you guys are in the drivers seat.
It's part of the game, the most unfortunate part. Trust me, I have seen plenty of phantom calls against my Gators and we all have our teams of officials that we abhor.
Great game.... glad to see Petrino in the SEC - we are truly the best conference in the country by far.
I hope MORE Fl. fans will have the "guts" to come out say how out-played they were on Sat. The Hogs showed how really over... rated Fl. is. Yes I said it ..OVER.... RATED. Fl is living and playing on reputation. Supposedly the worse Defense in the SEC sacks T-bone-head 6 times? Ark. came to play and Fl. just showed up, and, had their arse handed to them. Momentum is such a big part of college football, so it more than a shame the "officials" { I use that term loosely } had a say in the outcome of the game. Are the "best" officials assigned the games with the No. 1 ranked team? If so, this is the "best" the SEC has to offer? OMG !!! I will even go as far as saying that officials have bad games too, but somewhere replay has GOT to step up here and take out these phantom calls. Changes NEED to be done for the sake of the game.They {bad calls} hurt everyone, including Fl. Instant replay was put in cause " tape don't lie" and it's the Fair thing to do. Use the "tape" to it full capacity and root out bad calls no matter who made them!! So what if the game is longer, we teach our kids to get it right, do it right, do unto others as ..... so why is that not good enough for the adults too?
I'm curious...since HDN is so eager to take credit with the Hogs, will he give credit to Ed Ogeron? He's a goober. I hope we take it to him this Saturday and I hope Petrino takes his comments personally.
Great point. How many Ole Miss players are Nutt recruits?
I would assume the full compliment of freshmen were signed under Nutt. So they would be his. The only other ones he would be responsible for, would be the ones who left Ark. originally to go to Ole Miss instead of Ark. cause he { Nutt} was there!! More than a few good players left the state cause they did not want to play for him !! Don't get me wrong tho. I like Coach Nutt as a person. I just do not think he is the top notch coach he is made out to be. Maybe in time he will mature into that top notch coach, but right now I am glad we {Ark} got the coach we have. GO HOGS !! BEAT OLE MISS !!!
Nutt never really annoyed me until he left to go to Ole Miss. And that didn't even bother me until he started making these types of comments. Like the "I should have stayed with my niche" comment, and then you have these slew of comments. I think a simple "no comment" would suffice in these situations. There is no need for HDN to act as if he is the reason for Arkansas's success or players, or that he somehow had a shot at Mallet (if he REALLY did, then Mallet would be at Ole Miss right now); it's crass and self-promoting. Let the record speak for itself.
This is why I now think that Gus Malzahn has more class in his pinky finger than Nutt has in his entire husky body. To his credit, Malzahn still refuses to comment on the fiasco of 2006. Nutt wants talk about "getting out of his niche" and "going the Mitch Mustain route," as if he wanted Mallet all along and someone strong-armed him into recruiting Mustain. Dude, you were the HEAD coach; stand by your record and results and quit trying to blame other people for your failures.