Arkansas Razorbacks interim head coach Bobby Petrino will do something on Saturday against the Tennessee Vols that he hasn’t done in a few years.

Petrino will operate as the head coach on the sideline on Saturday in Neyland Stadium while also calling plays.

The 64 year old football coach admitted this week that calling plays while handling the responsibility of being a head coach — specifically when it comes to dealing with officials — could be a challenge for him.

“I’ve been down on the sideline and called plays for years and years,” said Petrino. “I went upstairs this year. I thought maybe I could get a better look at it. And to be honest with you, to get away from the officials and just be able to focus on offense.

“So I’ve got to do a good job of just keeping my poise on the sideline and focus on calling the plays and seeing the defenses and really understanding what’s going on out on the field.”

“There’s a lot more to do, that’s for sure,” added Petrino of the extra responsibilities of being the head coach. “Especially like meeting with the trainer, meeting with special teams, understanding who’s going to get on the bus, who’s going to get on the plane. Sometimes, it’s a lot easier just to call plays and coach the quarterbacks. But that’s part of it.”

Petrino has nearly two decades of experience as a head coach, so it’s not like the new responsibilities are foreign to him. But it’s still been a little while since he’s called plays and been a head coach (and it’s been even longer since he’s done it in the SEC…14 years, to be exact).

It’s reasonable to expect the veteran coach to have some rust on Saturday when his Razorbacks take on the Volunteers in Knoxville.

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel shares his thoughts on Bobby Petrino

Vols head coach Josh Heupel was asked on Monday about his thoughts on Petrino.

Heupel had plenty of praise for his counterpart in Fayetteville.

“Bobby’s done it at a really high level for a really long time,” said Heupel. “He’s done it inside the scope of this league. It’s a good football team. I said that at the very beginning of this press conference. They’ve played well. They’ve maybe been on the wrong side of the scoreboard here a little bit, but it’s a really good football team.

“And I think for everybody inside of our program, you understand that we’re going to get their best — and their best is really good so we’ve got to get prepared and go play really good football.”

Tennessee and Arkansas are set to kick off at 4:15 PM ET on Saturday.

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Zach Ragan