What now? Petrino aims to get Hogs to forget about what if

FAYETTEVILLE — Gone with Saturday’s excruciating 24-20 loss to No. 1 Alabama is Arkansas’ best-case scenario season.

The Razorbacks cannot be the undefeated national champions.

Outside of that, everything’s still in play. And that includes a title game appearance, as long as the right somebody or two out there can beat Alabama.

Right now, however, the Hogs can’t worry about that. They are likely cycling through the classic stages of grief about now, though it looked like receiver Greg Childs shot right past “denial” and into “anger,” based on his facial expression while heading to the locker room.

The “depression” part of the Hogs’ suffering might last awhile, but if Coach Bobby Petrino’s past is any indication, he’ll have his team focused on the next opponent - Texas A&M - quite thoroughly in due time.

“The one thing I always tell our football team is any time you have adversity like that, it doesn’t necessarily build character, but it certainly does reveal it,” Petrino said.

“Now we get to find out what we’re made of as a football team and as an individual.”

By their own admission, the Razorbacks put an enormous emotional outlay into the Alabama game. Had they held on to their lead, which was 20-7 with 16 minutes remaining, the Hogs would be the talk of college football and the buzz would have lasted into next week.

Instead, they’ll have to battle back from a No. 15 ranking and struggle with the collection of what-ifs that piled up in Saturday’s setback:

As in, what if:

Isaac Madison had been able to see and react quicker to the Greg McElroy pass in the right flats that hit him in the arm in the first quarter;

Ryan Mallett had taken some heat off a third-down pass he threw behind Joe Adams at the 5-yard line on a first quarter field goal drive;

Lavunce Askew had been able to wrap up the McElroy fumble forced by Tenarius Wright that bounced out of bounds inside the Alabama 35 in the first quarter;

The Razorbacks had scored on the second quarter series that ended on a Mallett interception in the end zone;

The officials had called a penalty on the early contact by DeQuan Menzie against Adams near midfield early in the fourth quarter;

Mallett had gotten more zip on his throw-away pass that was intercepted by Dre Kirkpatrick;

Those plays and others might have reversed the outcome.

Now that it’s done, Arkansas can only go back to work, beginning with today’s practice.

The big picture still presents the Hogs with opportunity, even though Petrino and his coaches will keep the team’s focus dead ahead on Texas A&M. Three of the last four SEC champions navigated their way to the national championship game with at least one loss.

Should the Razorbacks keep winning, their schedule will afford them the chance to be in the national title hunt at the end. Consider, Arkansas still has games against teams currently ranked No. 10 (Auburn), No. 12 (LSU) and No. 20 (South Carolina) in the Associated Press poll.

Since two of those games are on the road, the Razorbacks will get additional boosts by winning in Auburn, Ala., and Columbia, S.C., if they win out.

Arkansas’ heartache is understandable and it’s OK, but the season still has much more to offer.