I also recall Petrino talking in the offseason about games in the ACC routinely "going into the 4th quarter". Translation? Be ready for close games that are down to the wire.
Could be various reasons he said that... He could be trying to compliment our conference brethren, although I don't recall too many opposing fans remarking about Petrino doing his best imitation of Lou Holtz. Could be covering for himself in case things didn't rev up quite as fast as planned. Or he could be appropriately recognizing the strength of our opponents even if our fans continue to disrespect them.
If you look back at Petrino's last and best season at Arkansas and take out the first three nonconference games (Missouri State, New Mexico, and Troy), his Arkansas team finished the last ten games at 8-2 and played in and won the Cotton Bowl. Over those final ten games, Arkansas averaged just 8.6 ppg better than its competition. Again, that's while winning 80% of those games.
Petrino has experience playing in a good conference. Ours is very limited. If you wanna regard games like Missouri State and New Mexico as games that matter, you have no business playing in a big boy conference. We wanted this, and now we're getting it...