At long last, the two best football programs in the Natural State will finally face off against each other.
Most because of a long-standing policy by former Arkansas athletic directors John Barnhill and Frank Broyles, Arkansas and Arkansas State have never met on the gridiron. They’ve also never faced off in the regular season in men’s basketball, at least not in the modern era. Their only meeting since 1948 came in the 1987 NIT, a game Nolan Richardson’s Hogs narrowly won.
Arkansas baseball coach Dave Van Horn has been the best diplomat in that regard, as the Diamond Hogs have scheduled the Red Wolves in midweek games each of the last five seasons. The 2023 matchup was canceled due to weather, although the Razorbacks, as expected, won the other five matchups.
But in September, Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman and A-State head coach Butch Jones will break down the wall and square off in War Memorial Stadium.
Yet before the rivalry can even ignite, it is at risk of burning out and becoming a one-off. The central Arkansas neutral ground of Little Rock was selected as the venue to heat up this cold war between universities located in the state’s two northern corners. But with the University of Arkansas’ contract at War Memorial Stadium expiring after this year, that leaves things up in the air.
Pittman was asked at SEC Media Days on Thursday if he would like the series to continue, and whether or not he’d like it to be in Little Rock or a home-and-home setup. The Head Hog put his foot down.
“No, no, no, I’m going to play ‘em in Fayetteville,” Pittman said with a grin, before the reporter could even finish his question. “If we’re going to play Arkansas State, I want to play ‘em at home…Whatever the governor decides, she decides, but right now we’re in our last year at Little Rock. So it’d either be there or here, but I’m not really interested in going over there and playing.”
But despite the game being a historic first – and potentially a historic last, too – the game has not yet sold out. Far from it, actually.
War Memorial Stadium Tickets Prompt Online Jabbing
Neither side has sold out their ticket allotment, which was to be expected for Arkansas fans. A-State is the second-worst opponent the Hogs will face all year, and there’s no point for Northwest Arkansas residents to drive to the state capital when there’s six true home games they can attend instead.
Even for Razorback fans based in central or south Arkansas, the poor gameday experience at War Memorial Stadium has driven many away from the Little Rock games.
“Last time I went to WMS for a game they ran out of water and ice, people were falling out from the heat,” one fan said on Twitter. “The bathrooms were horrendously dirty. I will never got to another game there, and I’m in Central AR.”
I can personally second that statement. I was in the Razorback Marching Band when the Hogs played Western Carolina in Little Rock two years ago. Every concession stand ran out of water and Gatorade, and lines to refill bottles at water fountains stretched around the concourse. I missed almost half the game trying to get a hot dog, but it was so hot outside I didn’t even mind.
With a 4 p.m. kickoff in early September, that same dynamic is likely to play out again.
“After all these years of talk about playing the game, it’s going to be embarrassing for the state of Arkansas (and the A-State fans who’ve clamored for it for a half century) if this Arkansas-ASU game isn’t a sellout,” said Jim Harris, a longtime Arkansas sportswriter and BoAS contributor.
That prompted a former Arkansas State star to chime in.
“Never thought I would have seen the day where it is up to Arkansas State fans to sell out a Razorback home football game,” replied Jacob Still, an offensive lineman for the Red Wolves from 2016-21 and a multiple time all-conference selection.
Well, my apologies, Mr. Still. I wasn’t aware the game had suddenly been moved to Razorback Stadium. I guess that makes the 750 words I just wrote pretty irrelevant.
A-State Fans Bailing on What They Begged For
While the week two clash will technically go down as an Arkansas home game, I think every honest broker can recognize that’s not really the case. It’s kind of like saying Mark Few is technically a great basketball coach, despite the number of national championships and annual basketball betting online odds on March Madness saying otherwise.
The Little Rock game in the last few decades become a sacrifice for Arkansas, playing nearly 200 miles from home in a venue with a lower capacity than Razorback Stadium. The benefit – in theory, at least – was the opportunity for fans from other parts of the state to be able to meet in the middle, geographically and metaphorically, for one game each season.
Boy, is that benefit waning though. From scoreboard malfunctions and a terrible playing surface, to the aforementioned concession issues, it’s becoming harder and harder to grin and bear these War Memorial tilts. The fact Arkansas plays cupcakes in the capital rather than SEC foes doesn’t help, but the program simply can’t afford to give up a true conference home game anymore.
War Memorial Stadium aging like milk adds more fuel to that dumpster fire. In many ways, it feels like the deep-pocketed Simmons Bank executives are the only people keeping Little Rock in the picture for Arkansas football.
The Arkansas State matchup seems like the last possible utility for the Little Rock game, allowing fans of the two programs to finally compromise and get a game on the books.
But that’s still not enough for the pack of Red Wolves, apparently. Of the 10,000 seats allotted to Arkansas State fans, a grand total of 1,876 tickets remain unsold through the A-State ticket office, according to research by Best of Arkansas Sports*. Hundreds more are available for resale on SeatGeek and Stubhub.
You can’t beg for a game for 50 years and then refuse to drive a couple of hours for it. This is a tuneup game for Arkansas. It’s the equivalent of Woodstock ‘99 for Arkansas State, or at least it should be.
If the Red Wolves won’t even show up for the compromise game, then Pittman is absolutely correct. Arkansas has no business playing A-State outside of Fayetteville.
Jonesboro? Yeah Right.
Some Arkansas State fans want the matchup to continue, but not on a neutral site. Rather, in the form of the home-and-home at which Pittman practically scoffed. Here’s a very high-tech proposal laying out the case:
A-State being an FBS team, however, doesn’t entitle it to a home-and-home against Arkansas. This isn’t the Iron Bowl or the Egg Bowl, and it’s not South Carolina vs Clemson or Georgia vs Georgia Tech. Arkansas is the only southern state with just one Power Four program – sorry, Missouri, but the census bureau says you’re in the Midwest.
While it’s unfortunate Arkansas doesn’t have the opportunity to have an in-state home-and-home rivalry with a fellow P4 school, that doesn’t mean the Hogs have to stoop down and travel to a Sun Belt school. That’s just not going to happen, especially not in the revenue sharing era.
You’re never going to hear Troy or UAB demanding that Alabama or Auburn come to their house for a game. Same goes for Georgia Southern or Georgia State with UGA, Southern Miss with Ole Miss and so on.
Former Arkansas State standouts can get snarky all they want. But if there’s even one empty seat on the Red Wolves’ side of War Memorial Stadium in September, then Arkansas shouldn’t even consider renewing its Little Rock contract.
Will Arkansas football ever step foot in Jonesboro? Maybe when pigs fly. Or, more aptly, when hell freezes over.
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*Note: Said ticket research involved me hitting the plus button 1,876 times on the A-State website. You might find me on the injured reserve next week with carpal tunnel.
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Arkansas Football Fans Chime In
“Most Arkansas fans I talk to couldn’t care less about playing ASU,” Jim Brewer wrote on Facebook. “The UA gains nothing by winning. In fact, if they don’t win big, it’s a loss perception wise. I have great memories from games at WMS but my last two experiences there were awful.”
Then, the floodgates open: “Poorly trained game staff, ticket takers that didn’t know how to use the electronic scanners, no water after the first quarter. And that doesn’t include the drunks who have turned the old golf course into the equivalent of a NASCAR infield. Time to play all the games on campus.”
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