Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino is regarded as one of the country’s top offensive minds. His brother, Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino, has been with him almost every step of the way and has an impressive reputation, too.

But the Petrino brothers aren’t shy about complimenting South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier for his offensive mind.

Paul Petrino was asked last night what role Spurrier had in his development as an offensive coach. Petrino said he has never worked with Spurrier, but watching what the coach was doing — especially at Florida — had a big influence on his career.

“When I was a young coach, I always tried to learn from who you feel like is a great coach and I always felt he was,” Petrino said. “I remember back when we were at Utah State one year we got all kinds of cutups from Florida and studied them. I’ve always tried to look and see the things he does. When I was at the University of Idaho we went and spent, when i was actually coaching with (Arkansas special teams coordinator) John L. (Smith), we went and spent a week with (Dennis) Erickson at Miami and then drove up and spent three or four days at Florida trying to learn. Not a whole lot of it has ever been personal, but I studied them on tape a lot.”

Bobby Petrino had a similar story, saying he studied Spurrier’s offenses for years. He also admitted to “stealing”  a few things and implementing them in his offenses. Not that it’s uncommon in the coaching profession.

“When I was growing up in this profession we used to study Florida all the time and watch all the things that he did there and steal some of them and use them,” Petrino said. “He’s as good an offensive coach as there’s ever been in this game. I’ve got tremendous respect for everything he’s done since his days way back at Duke when he won back at Duke.

“There’s been a lot of coaches who have learned a lot of football from Steve Spurrier.”

Arkansas’ goal is to outduel Spurrier and the Gamecocks on Saturday night. The game features the SEC’s top two passers in quarterback Ryan Mallett (268.5 yards a game) and Stephen Garcia (232.7).

The Petrino brothers may have expressed their admiration for Spurrier this week, but not Mallett. When asked if he admired Spurrier’s offenses when he was growing up, he said: “Not really. They played the Hogs. So I didn’t like them too much.”