Texas A&M football: Was Jimbo Fisher holding Bobby Petrino back? Hog fans say yes.

Arkansas fans proclaim that Jimbo Fisher held their new OC Bobby Petrino back with Texas A&M football. Are they correct?

The arrival of Bobby Petrino, so recently the OC for Texas A&M football, to the same position in Fayetteville has Hog fans puffing out their chests a little bit. To be fair, it indeed is irrational optimism season for every fanbase, but given everything that's gone on for the Razorbacks recently, they're really feeling themselves.

This is all despite the fact that the offense for Texas A&M football, coordinated by Petrino, was widely ridiculed last season. What gives?

Well, clearly, it must be that Jimbo was holding Bobby back! Right?

The clip I linked above, which is being cited by Hog fans as proof that Jimbo stunted the full glory of Petrino's offense, is him registering a complaint about the terminology that Jimbo was using. Of course, Nick Saban famously kept the same terminology for every defensive coordinator that came through the doors at Alabama for the sake of continuity on the players' part.

The concepts Bobby was running were his—that's something that's been well-documented. There was no dramatic shift in the offense from the Mississippi State game through the final two games (though there was a shift from the Ole Miss to the Mississippi State game; of course, that was due to Jaylen Henderson taking the reins at QB).

The Aggies ran Petrino's offense last year. To think that Jimbo took over playcalling in the middle of the year and suddenly made it worse is one of the more risible examples of conspiratorial thinking in recent college football history. It couldn't be, you know, that the quarterback got hurt and they started playing better defenses. No, Jimbo started calling plays!

Petrino might work out fine in Fayetteville. He really might! But to act like what happened to A&M's offense last year wasn't on him is just not realistic.