A very familiar face will lead the Arkansas Razorbacks onto the field on Saturday in Neyland Stadium for the program’s matchup against the Tennessee Vols.

Arkansas fired head coach Sam Pittman late last month and promoted offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino to interim head coach.

Petrino, of course, was the Razorbacks’ head coach from 2008 to 2011.

The timing of the move — Pittman was fired after a 2-3 start — was a surprise to some fans and folks in the media.

On3’s Andy Staples has an interesting theory on why Bobby Petrino’s first game will be against Tennessee

The feeling around college football is that Petrino is angling to become the permanent head coach at Arkansas.

Petrino has some support in Arkansas, but not everyone thinks he should get a second chance to lead the Razorbacks’ football program.

On3’s Andy Staples thinks Pittman may have been fired sooner than expected so Petrino would have to face the toughest part of the schedule — which would hamper his chances of being hired as the full-time head coach at Arkansas.

“It’s interesting, because you talk to different people about the Petrino situation, and some people say, ‘Oh, they fired Sam Pittman when they did to give Bobby Petrino a chance,’” explained Staples. “And I know Bobby Petrino has a significant amount of support among influential Arkansas people, but I think there also is a group that would rather he didn’t get the job.

“And I think the timing of Sam Pittman’s firing was so that he would have to face this gauntlet (upcoming schedule), and that it would keep him from getting the job. But what’s interesting about that is it’s essentially the ultimate test, because if he’s good, by all means, like, if you can beat the teams we’re talking about — if you can beat a Tennessee, or a Texas A&M, or a Texas, or an LSU, like you should get the job. And then if you can’t, they’ll go find somebody who they feel like can. I think that’s the fairest way to do it. He’s going to have a shot, and it starts at Neyland Stadium this weekend.”

I don’t think anyone at Arkansas will be pulling for the Razorbacks to lose in Knoxville this weekend. But if Arkansas isn’t able to pull off the upset, the anti-Petrino folks in Fayetteville probably won’t have any problems finding the silver lining in the loss.

Tennessee Volunteers News

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Zach Ragan