FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football fans conveniently forget the Razorbacks ranked No. 17 in total offense last season when they gripe about the team’s ranking of No. 112 in passing.

Under first-year Coach Bobby Petrino, the Razorbacks’ passing numbers are almost guaranteed to improve in 2008 despite heavy personnel losses among skill position players.

Arkansas’ total offense ranking next season ?

That’s anybody’s guess, but if Petrino’s college coaching history is any indication, the Razorbacks should be able to move the ball successfully on the ground and in the air.

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“There’s no question that our offensive philosophy is going to work,” Petrino said. “It’s how quickly we can get it implemented and get all the parts in the right places.”

Petrino took over a Louisville team that had gone 7-6 in 2002 and ranked No. 97 in total offense with 333 yards per game. The following season, the Cardinals racked up 488. 8 yards per game to rank fifth nationally in total offense.

Louisville struck a solid balance between the run and pass, averaging 228. 2 rushing yards and 260. 7 passing yards per game that season, levels the Razorbacks hope to pull off in the coming years.

“Oh yeah, it’s balanced, no doubt about it,” sophomore tight end D. J. Williams said of the new schemes. “People are wrong if they think he’s just going to throw it on every play. It’s balanced.”

Arkansas players think Petrino’s system should spawn big plays and strong offensive numbers.

“It’ll be very explosive, I can tell you that,” junior running back Michael Smith said of the Petrino system.

Quarterback Casey Dick, who completed 150 of 262 passes (57. 3 percent ) for 1, 695 yards with 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last year, will have to be more of a catalyst than he was under Houston Nutt if he wins the starting job.

“He needs to understand what our philosophy is and how he plays a part in the run game and the passing game and go out there and run the show,” Petrino said. “That’s what I have always believed is the quarterback’s responsibility.”

Dick said the starting quarterback’s job requires a lot more checks and reads than under Nutt.

“Once you figure it out and you read it right, it’s basically unstoppable,” Dick said. “You just go up and down the field once you figure it out and read it right.”

Petrino has been putting defenses on their heels for most of his coaching life. A graduate of Carroll College in Montana, Petrino paid his dues in several stops out West, picking up vital slices of offensive vision along the way. He said he culled a lot off his passing attack from the Dennis Erickson and Mike Price-style systems. The bruising “downhill” running game Petrino favors is partially a product of his years at Arizona State under Bruce Synder, who coached Eric Dickerson with the Rams.

Petrino arrived in Louisville as offensive coordinator in 1998 after 15 seasons west of the Rockies, ready to unleash his style of offense.

“When I went there as an assistant, we were able to have a sit-down and rewrite the entire playbook, get rid of all the things that were just there because that is how you did it back then,” Petrino said. “That’s when it really started to become a little bit different.”

That season, working with quarterback Chris Redman, the Cardinals set then-school records for points (444 ), scoring average (40. 4 ), touchdowns (62 ), passing yards (4, 498 ), passing touchdowns (33 ) and total yards (6, 156 ).

Petrino spent the next three seasons with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars before taking his first SEC job, as offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2002.

The Tigers were 9-4 that season with a modest offense, which ranked No. 38 in scoring (29. 9 points per game ) and No. 44 in total offense (387. 5 ), but the groundwork was laid with a young quarterback in Jason Campbell for bigger offensive numbers to come.

At Louisville, Petrino’s teams churned out video-game kinds of numbers.

More importantly, the Cardinals began winning big, posting a 9-4 record in his debut, jumping to 11-1 in 2004 while competing in Conference USA, then winning the Big East championship and the Orange Bowl with a 12-1 team in 2006.

Along the way, his 2004 team led the nation with 539 total yards and 49. 8 points per game, and his 2006 team ranked No. 2 with 475. 3 yards per game and No. 4 with 37. 8 points per game.

“There were a couple of years there — one year we had the [539 ] yards a game and another we were close to that — and I remember thinking, ‘We’ll never see this again,’” Petrino said.

His 2004 team scored fewer than 34 points only once all season — in a 28-0 shutout of Kentucky in the season opener — and its only loss was a 41-38 setback at Miami.

Petrino’s style, though not the wild, wide-open attack some fans might envision when they read the statistics, is one Arkansas fans have been thirsting for after years of unbalanced ball movement.

“I’m looking for a coach who can lead young men, who can coach football and can compete in the SEC,” Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said in a recent interview. “I think there are a number of offenses that can do that, but I certainly felt that his style and form of offense translated very well to the SEC and the kind of talent we could attract at Arkansas and succeed.”

Petrino understands the level of talent on SEC defenses will make it more difficult to duplicate his success at Louisville.

“I do understand the speed of the conference and that it’s a little more run-oriented at some schools you are going to face,” Petrino said. “You might not see those type of numbers, just because of the quality of the defenses and philosophies of some of the teams we play.”