The Arkansas Razorbacks Football team has a long tradition of athletic excellence. A prominent and dominant member of the competitive SEC conference, the program has had thirteen conference championships and forty-five All-American honorees. In terms of overall winning percentage, they are ranked number twenty-three with a record of 667 wins, 450 losses and 40 ties. Currently, the head coach is Bobby Petrino, who is in his third year at the helm of the program. They have claimed the national title once and have yet to have a Heisman Trophy winner. This team has its roots all the way back to 1894, when Latin professor john Futrall started it.
As the Southwest Conference was being eradicated, teams were being switched over to the SEC conference. After a rocky period of having coaches hired, fired and contract extended, Houston Nutt would take the helm in 1997 to succeed Danny Ford. In only his first year, the Razorbacks went nine and three and shared the SEC Western Division Title. They were invited to the Citrus Bowl and lost to the Michigan Wolverines where they ended being ranked at sixteen. Over his course of ten seasons, Nutt compiled a record of 75 – 48 and went to eight bowl games. Nutt resigned during a press conference on November 26, 2007 after they beat number one ranked LSU.
After Nutt left, Coach Bobby Petrino left the Atlanta Falcons to coach in college again. While struggling to transition into a new team and staff, Petrino managed to salvage the next few years and pull off winning records. In 2010, the Razorbacks lost to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl by a narrow margin of 31 – 26. This was the first BCS Bowl for Arkansas in the new BCS era. Petrino’s strong coaching style developed great players like Ryan Mallett, who broke many school records for passing.