Tag: Arkansas Texas A&M

Let’s have a bit of fun. Let’s call it Blind Resume. In the next two paragraphs, you will find the resume for a particular college football coach. You have to determine which one is on the hotter seat.

Coach No. 1 is two games above .500 overall. During the coach’s tenure, the team has 12 more wins in its last 40 games than it had in the previous 40 games before the coach started. His team is seven games below .500 in conference play. The school plays in a power conference and has received bowl invitations in 100% of his completed seasons.

Coach No. 2 is 20 games above .500 overall. During the coach’s tenure, the team has three more wins in its last 64 games than it did in the previous 64 games before the coach started. His team is six games above .500 in conference play. The school plays in a power conference and has received bowl invitations in 60% of his completed seasons.

You read the headline, so you know the two coaches are Arkansas’ Sam Pittman and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher. Both of them have found themselves the subject of their school fan base’s ire lately. Fisher more last year when the Aggies went X-X. Pittman more this year with the Razorbacks 2-2.

While Saturday’s game in the Southwest Classic – a game Texas A&M has won 9 out of the last 10 times – won’t see either of them lose their job in the immediate aftermath, the game will likely be a harbinger of the things to come. The SEC isn’t exactly, even in this, a down year, an easy slate of games.

Pittman sees the similarities in their mutual sitations.

“I like Jimbo Fisher, I do. I do. He’s a good man. He’s a good coach,” Pittman said. “He’s getting killed down there by their people. That’s just the nature of people. Not all people. Just a few people.”

The Aggies have beaten the teams they were supposed to this year and as a near-touchdown favorite against Arkansas, they’re expected to Saturday. Arkansas has lost just one game it was expected to win, Week 3 against BYU.

With that in mind, and with those resumes facing you, which seat is hotter?

Bobby Petrino and Sam Pittman. Two men seemingly at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to coaching college football, but they do have something in common other than just being Arkansas head coaches.

They’re the only two Arkansas coaches to beat Texas A&M since the two teams began playing every year in 2009.

Incidentally, the two coaches will face each other Saturday: Pittman as the Arkansas head coach in his fourth season and Petrino as the Texas A&M offensive coordinator in his first season.

Arkansas snapped a nine-game losing streak to their former Southwest Conference rival in 2021 when Pittman led the Razorbacks to a 20-10 win and a No. 8 ranking. The Aggies picked up their revenge and kept the Hogs winning streak to one game with a 23-21 victory last year.

“It’s a series where the game is going to be close,” Pittman said. “Obviously another trophy game, things of that nature. In all honesty, in these close games we’ve come up disappointed more times than not. We’ve got to play with the same amount of passion we had last week, but smarter.”

When Pittman beat Texas A&M two seasons ago, he was literally the first since Petrino beat the Aggies – better put: he beat Mike Sherman – three straight years from 2009 to 2011. John L. Smith failed. Bret Bielema failed. Chad Morris failed.

Now, Pittman could really use another win. After consecutive losses to Brigham Young and LSU, Arkansas fans have begun to turn on him. Not that he needs them, per se, but a victory would go a long way in making everyone – including his boss, athletic director Hunter Yurachek – feel more confident.