What's the mindset of Hogs' Petrino ahead of first home game as interim coach?

"I'm gonna have to think about it," Petrino said Monday. "You just reminded me that. I never even thought about it till right now, so I'll spend some time thinking about it. It'll be fun. I'll enjoy it."

What he said next tells fans everything they need to know about where his mindset is. At the forefront is winning games, which he must do if he has any intention of having his interim tag removed going into the offseason.

He's not applying any more pressure than he usually has on himself. His desire is to improve each week while being in position to steal a win like the Razorbacks were at Tennessee last weekend.

"I’m not thinking of it as that," Petino said of not adding pressure on being the interim compared to the head coach. "I'm just going out there every day and trying to help these young men get better, help them understand that football is one of the things that helps you the rest of your life. And we've talked a lot about that in team meetings, and just trying to make it a better product out on the field.

"That's all my focus is right now. What happens after this happens, I'm not thinking about it one bit. I don't have any pressure on myself on that at all. I just want us to be a better football team on the field and find a way to win the game. We've been in them. We've had our opportunities, and we just haven't been able to finish and find a way to get the W."

There are no certainties for Petrino and athletics director Hunter Yurachek made it clear that his win-loss record will not be included on his resume as he auditions for the job over the next six games.

Petrino’s interim status allows him to strip away those layers that put the Razorbacks in this position and concentrate on what he refers to “making it a better product out on the field.”

That’s not just coach speak eithers, it's a return to fundamentals, something the Razorbacks struggled with over their first five games.

Missed assignments, missed tackles, bad angles, blocking concepts and the list can go on of all the things Arkansas struggled with previously. Most of the blame could be how bad the Razorbacks defense has been, but with the slate wiped clean, players responded even if the product was far from perfect.

"We had 12 missed tackles, we forced 19 missed tackles on [Tennessee]," Petrino said. "So that's a definite improvement for us."

Each game will be treated as if the previous never occurred which is a good teaching method in order to keep each individual's attention to getting better.

"We're moving straight ahead and going forward, and you got to get guys to the football," Petrino said. "The more guys you get to the football, the less room there is for them to miss tackles. One of the things that showed up the other night against Tennessee was we had some really good open-field tackles, and thank God we did, or they might have took it to the house.

"But our safety in the open-field did a really nice job of approaching right, breaking down right, making the tackle, and that allowed us to get to third down, the next time, the next series, and get them off the field."

He’s focused on execution, player development, and game-day performance, instead of building his legacy or positioning himself as a top candidate. Ultimately, it appears he will let his work to do the talking for him.

There are quite a few storylines swirling overhead such as Petrino's first home game as coach of the Razorbacks since Nov. 12, 2011. The school will also be recognizing, not retiring, legendary running back Darren McFadden's No. 5 jersey.

It would be a perfect day for an upset nobody on the national beat is talking with No. 4 Texas A&M in town for the first time since 2013.

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