MEMPHIS — A new year dawned today, and the way Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino sees things, it’s also the first day of the rest of the Razorbacks’ bowl lives.
“It’s important to motivate them to change the streak,” Petrino said.
The Razorbacks have been bombarded with questions about Arkansas’ poor bowl history, before and after arriving in Memphis for Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. Liberty Bowl game against East Carolina.
The depressing numbers: an 11-22-3 overall bowl record, that includes 10 losses in the Razorbacks’ past 12 postseason games. Only five schools among the Bowl Championship Series conferences have lower winning percentages than Arkansas’ .347.
None of those teams- Northwestern (1-6, .143), Iowa State (2-7, .222), South Carolina (4-10, .286), Texas Tech (10-21-1, .328) and Indiana (3-6, .333) - has played in as many bowl games as Arkansas’ 36.
The Razorbacks rank 14th on the list of teams with the most bowl appearances, but are No. 33 when it comes to bowl victories.
Arkansas’ only bowl victories since the 1985 Holiday Bowl have been a 27-6 conquest of Texas in the 2000 Cotton Bowl and a 27-14 victory over Missouri in the 2003 Independence Bowl.
“Arkansas has got a great bowl tradition, we’ve been to a lot of bowls, but we haven’t won a whole lot,” said running backs coach Tim Horton, who was 0-4 in bowls as a Razorbacks player and is 0-1 as an Arkansas assistant.
“Of course we want to start a new tradition here,” quarterback Ryan Mallett said. “That’s what it’s about right now.
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“We’re making the face of this program something to-tally different than what it’s been.”
Petrino said the Razorbacks are taking the Liberty Bowl game “very serious” because he knows where it can lead.
“I want to make sure they understand how important this bowl game is ... that we learn how to prepare for big bowl games, and hopefully we’re playing for a bowl game here in the near future where the stakes are very high and we’ve been through that experience,” Petrino said.
Frank Broyles, the former Arkansas Coach and Athletic Director, led the Razorbacks to a string of New Year’s Day bowls, including a victory over Nebraska in the 1965 Cotton Bowl that earned the school its National Championship. Overall, Broyles’ teams were 4-6 in bowl games.
“Getting to the bowl is what you play for all season,” Broyles said. “It’s a reward.”
Broyles said he didn’t keep up with the team’s bowl record and that earning the bid was most important. “When you go recruiting, it’s not so much how you did in the bowl, but being able to say you’ve been to 15 straight bowls or 18 in the last 20 years or whatever it might be.”
These Hogs hope to not only start a streak of bowl appearances, but also bowl victories.
“Let’s go ahead and start a new trend,” tight end D.J. Williams said.
“We’ve got a new coaching staff in here and that’s been the big theme, to win this game and get next season started and go on from there,” fullback Van Stumon said.
“You only get to savor the flavor if you win,” senior guard Mitch Petrus said.
UPS AND DOWNS
For rabid Razorbacks fans, there hasn’t been enough savoring, though there has been some super successes, such as the underdog 1977 team’s 31-6 domination of No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl behind Roland Sales.
“We’ve won some bowl games and been competitive in most of the ones we’ve lost, but we haven’t won enough,” said former Arkansas linebacker David Bazzel (1981-1985), whose teams went 2-2 in bowls.
Former Arkansas Coach Ken Hatfield played on the biggest bowl champion in school history, the 1964 team that defeated Nebraska 10-7 to win the Cotton Bowl and claim the National Championship.
“It was a miracle that those circumstances happened, us playing Nebraska and winning, and then cheering for Texas that night against Joe Namath, and Tommy Nobis making the great play, and the team we beat [Texas] then beat the only other undefeated team, Alabama,” Hatfield said.
Hatfield’s Razorbacks teams from 1984-1989 went 55-17-1 and captured two Southwest Conference titles, but they were 1-5 in bowl games.
“There’s only one or two where we really got beat soundly,” Hatfield said. “The one thing you recognize when you’re playing in a bowl game is that you’re playing someone who really had a good or great year.”
A variety of factors have played into Arkansas’ bowl record.
The Hogs have faced an array of top-shelf opponents, like an Alabama team gunning for a national championship in the 1980 Sugar Bowl. Arkansas’ record against SEC teams in bowl games is just 3-10-1, which lends credence to the idea that if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. The Razorbacks have been in the SEC since 1992.
“A lot of those years, Arkansas was playing the best or second-best team in the SEC,” said former Razorback player and assistant coach Louis Campbell. “But I’m surprised Arkansas’ record isn’t better than it is.”
OUTSIDE FACTORS
Bad luck has played a role too.
The 1988 team lost stars Wayne Martin and Freddie Childress to suspensions for the Cotton Bowl, and the Hogs lost 17-3 to UCLA.
This year’s club lost starting linebacker Wendel Davis and safety Matt Harris, the team’s second and third-leading tacklers, due to suspensions two days prior to the Liberty Bowl.
“I just think it’s kind of a roll of the dice, how you prepare the kids, where the game is, how far the players have to travel, the practice times, the weather,” Bazzel said. “I just think there’s so many variables that there’s not a perfect science to it.”
Take the 2007 Razorbacks. With Coach Houston Nutt departed for Ole Miss and a patchwork staff headed by Reggie Herring running the show, the Razorbacks ran into a highly motivated Missouri team angered that it wasn’t selected for a BCS slot. Add in the fact that star running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones perhaps had the NFL on their minds and the stage was set for a 38-7 Missouri beatdown.
Nutt endeared himself to Arkansas fans with a 27-6 triumph over Texas in the 2000 Cotton Bowl in his second season at the helm, but it was one of only two bowl victories in his 10-year tenure.
Nutt had a reputation for loosey-goosey bowl preparation that frustrated some fans.
Petrino is all business all the time, particularly in bowl preparation.
“Coach P brought that up ... that the school was 2-11 or so in [recent] bowl games, and it’s time to change that,” linebacker Jerico Nelson said.
“One thing me and the other seniors want to do is win a bowl game,” defensive end Adrian Davis said.
East Carolina is the two time defending champion of Conference-USA and a formidable opponent, but Arkansas was favored by a touchdown before Thursday afternoon’s suspensions announcement.
“We need to get on track and get a string of bowl wins,” Horton said. “We need to win this game because we’re favored. If we go out and play the way we’re capable of, we’ve got a great chance.”
Arkansas’ bowl future starts Saturday.
Bob Holt of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff contributed to this report
Sports, Pages 19 on 01/01/2010