Nutt 2, Hogville/Wally/Beck 0

The know-it-alls in the media who were so vicious in helping to usher the exit of Houston Nutt are falling all over themselves to serve as public-relations agents for Bobby Petrino as he enters his second season.

In Friday's column, Wally Hall says a record of 7-5 would be "an acceptable improvement" and that "it has been more than a decade since there has been this much excitement and optimism among fans."

First, I find it funny in the midst of all the predictions of nine or 10 wins from fans on the talk shows and Internet that the statewide columnist feels the need to temper expectations to soften the blow to all these fans in what will most likely be a six-win season. Wally then goes on to tout how great it would be for the Razorbacks to make it to the Liberty Bowl.

Wow, where were those low expectations for Nutt, Wally? He did the same thing for Stan Heath after taking over for Nolan. It's almost like he has a computer program that spits these formats out whenever he gets a coach fired to talk up the replacement.

Second, there hasn't been this much excitement for Razorback football in more than a decade (which is coincidentally the tenure of the former coach)? Call me crazy, but the 10-4 season in 2006 that included a visit from ESPN Gameday and a trip to the SEC championship game was pretty exciting for most of us (for everyone other than the Springdale crazies), and it may be a long time before the Razorbacks win 10 games again.

The Friday column comes the day after Wally and his radio buddy Shawn Arnell spent a good 10 minutes trashing Nutt for touting new artificial turf at Ole Miss. Any excuse they can get to bring up Nutt and get their digs in, they take. Wally even criticized Nutt for pushing for new athletic facilities while he was at the University of Arkansas. What would Wally have said had the coach not wanted to constantly improve facilities??? He would have trashed him for that too.

What Wally and Shawn need to understand is that not everyone in their listening audience is one of these trolls on Hogville who wakes up every morning obsessed with their hatred for Nutt. That segment of the fan base is not representative of the majority. No wonder the ratings for Sports Rap are so low -- people are so tired of listening to that garbage from the callers much less the hosts.

Another guy who can't open his mouth without pumping up Petrino is Jimmy Dykes, the frequent guest on Bo Mattingly's radio program. Dykes, the self-proclaimed "guy who studies sports for a living" so we must accept that he is always right, recently said Petrino was "the absolute right hire even if he only wins five games this year." Again, where were these passes for Nutt from these people?

Dykes went on to gush about how "efficient" Petrino's practices are (after reminding us again that he has been to the practices and studies sports for a living) and that he will get everything out of his players there is to get. Oh yeah, isn't this what Nutt is heralded for by his coaching peers in the SEC and elsewhere? Again, this sounds like the Stan Heath lovefest all over again when the experts were telling us how great his practices were and how it is so nice to finally have a coach who stresses rebounding.

A better topic for Dykes to address on the radio show -- Has he ever condoned recruiting as athletic director at Shiloh Christian?

As the pundits in the media and fans in Arkansas do everything to trash Nutt, meanwhile everyone else outside Arkansas is talking about what a great coach he is and putting Ole Miss in various slots in the preseason top 10. The scoreboard at the end of the season will judge who is right.