Kirby Lee-US Presswire

When people said that the University of Arkansas wasn’t a top flight coaching job in the country, I laughed. They have a tremendous recruiting pipeline, top of the line facilities, a solid history and a place in the best conference in college football.

So, when it became apparent that interim head coach John L. Smith had given his final tirade of madness, people immediately started to ponder which coach would consider this their dream job.

Related: College Football Rumors: Arkansas Preparing Offer for Les Miles?

And tonight it is being recorded, according to Hogcountryonline, former Boise State head coach Chris Petersen is the top choice of the Razorbacks and if rumors are to be believed, Petersen is ready to make the jump as well.

Petersen has an excellent resume’, having been the head coach of the Broncos for 8 seasons, averaging just over 10 wins preseason during his tenure, and only 8 losses. He has BCS Bowl wins, and his teams have been BCS busters seemingly every year. His offensive system is unique and potent, scoring lots of points against all defenses.

My take: The choice of Petersen makes perfect sense. He’s been able to become a tremendous recruiter at a commuter school the past 8 years. If he’s able to access the channels he already has in addition to those he’d gain access to as part of the SEC, he’d be able to pull in the perfect players for his system and add such a dynamic offensive element to the defense heavy SEC.

The Broncos season isn’t over yet, so I don’t expect to hear anything formal until after this Saturday’s game against Nevada. Depending on the verbiage of Petersen’s contract, they may need to wait until after his bowl game, but for a coach like him, I assume the Razorbacks will wait, and in that make all the other potential candidates wait as well. But the way college football works, once that game ends, I expect the wheels to start turning quickly. The Razorbacks need to right the ship in a hurry, and try and salvage a recruiting season and get as much good press for the university as possible.

Is this a lock? At this point no, but a little research after reading the hogcountryonline article give me the feeling the university of Arkansas firmly believes Petersen will accept the job. But of course anything is possible, so in cases like this expect the unexpected.

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