Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Whole Hog Sports podcast. And now, here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: On today's show, political football. The governor of Arkansas says she wants the Razorbacks in Arkansas State to play every year at War Memorial Stadium will weigh in. Also, the Razorbacks beat The Red Wolves 5614 on Saturday. We'll talk about our takeaways from the game. But first, a word from Kendall King.
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[00:00:48] Speaker B: Christina Long in studio with me. We were gonna. Christina and I had a conversation on the phone this morning about, I don't know, 7:40, going over what we were gonna talk about on the show today. And then, I don't know, a few minutes later we get this release that says the governor's put out a statement on. It's actually a letter that she wrote to the trustees of the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University board of trustees that says she wants a game at War Memorial Stadium every year between the Razorbacks and the Red Wolves. I'll read the full letter here for you real quick. It says, dear trustees, this week marked a historic moment for our state, the city of Little Rock and War Memorial Stadium as we hosted the first ever meeting between the Razorbacks and the Red Wolves on the football field. She called it a special and long overdue occasion that united the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University in a way that fans across Arkansas have dreamed of for decades. As trustees of your respective institutions, you share the pride and passion of your fan bases and you hold the ability to ensure this game is not a one time event, but the beginning of a lasting tradition. She goes on to say as governor, a native of Little Rock and a lifelong football fan, I'm calling on you to make this historic matchup an annual event at War Memorial Stadium in in the heart of our state. Generations of Arkansans have come to this stadium to cheer for their teams and witness some of the greatest moments in Arkansas sports history, but never before for a game like this. She says now is the time to change that. And she finishes with, I urge you to work together to secure this tradition for the people of Arkansas. She was on a media blitz today. She Put a. She had an opinion piece in the Democrat Gazette this morning. She's been on Little Rock radio promoting this idea to have a game between these two teams.
I guess where I would start, Christina, is.
I don't know how serious she is about this. I mean, the timing of it obviously is meant to capitalize on the, I guess, popularity of the game. It was a sold out stadium. I don't know how much people from either fan base really enjoyed the game on Saturday. Obviously Razorback fans are glad they won. They're glad they look good in doing so.
I, I don't have my thumb on the, the pulse of Arkansas State football enough to really know what their fans feel about how this game went. I guess, you know, as I look at this and I see that she says, I'm calling on you to make this historic matchup an annual event.
It's fairly ambiguous, but she's the governor of Arkansas and she appoints the trustees to the both UA Board of Trustees and the Arkansas State Board of Trustees.
And so I guess I wouldn't call it totally a nothing burger. I would say it's a something burger or potentially something, you know, more burger.
There may be something to this. It may be just a way to score some cheap political points. I don't know. I want to dive into this, but I wonder what your thoughts are as you heard this today.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: Two things. One, I'm unsure who this scores points with because like I would say three.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Quadrants of the state.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: You really think it's that widespread? You think it's just northwest Arkansas talking.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: To people this morning who, you know, are kind of spread out. The feeling that I get are the people who are just kind of your casual football fans in Arkansas.
They ate this up Saturday.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: I agree with that.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: The people who are Razorback fans, they went into it with, you know, probably a lot of apprehension and they're like, okay, you know what? You came over, we whipped you, little brother, and we don't have to do this again. But I think there are a lot of people who are both fans of Arkansas State and who are just, you know, maybe not just casual football fans who, they love this and they would love to see this happen quite frequently.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: But do you think that those casual football fans care enough about it to be like, wow, look at Governor Sanders. I am so happy. You know, like, I don't think they care that much. You know, like if they. That's, that's. That would be my thing. I don't think this is like changing anybody. I guess I don't think this is making anybody like throw this tremendous support behind her that they didn't already have, if that makes sense. I mean, is that a misread of the situation?
[00:04:56] Speaker B: I don't know. I really don't know. Yeah, I don't know how to read this. Yeah, a couple of thoughts that I had. Number one is Hunter Yuricheck told us last week that Arkansas could not schedule Arkansas State again until at least 2031.
The way they're going to do their schedule moving forward is they're going to have a Power 4 opponent every year. They're going to have a group of six opponent every year and they're going to have an FCS team every year. They've got the power four in the group of six scheduled through 2030 and they've got some spots left in some of those future years for FCS games. So if they want to play this game again, they can't do it until 2031. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, if she gets reelected next year, which I have no doubt that she probably will, but if she gets reelected next year and she serves a second full four year term, she would be term limited in 2030. And so you wonder about how much influence does she really have over this happening. If Arkansas is able to push this off until at least 2031, there are some people who think that she has bigger political ambitions than just the state of Arkansas or being the governor of Arkansas. There are senate elections that are coming up in 26 and 28.
Possibly she's in the mix for something there.
So I don't know. The governor obviously has a say in this, but I don't know that she's going to be the governor to have the biggest say in this. If Arkansas can push this off for at least six more years.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: And to that point, what is stopping her or anybody from saying no, you do need to play Arkansas State and you're just not going to play an FCS team in 2020.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: Probably nothing.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Probably nothing. I think I feel like we've been falling back on that. Oh, they couldn't play until 2031 and it's like they definitely could. Well, I mean and nothing's stopping them from doing that.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: And honestly the they won't want to. I don't know how much she wants to strong arm this issue but you know, you can break contracts. We've seen that happen.
And again, the governor has a very large looming is a looming figure over university finances that go way beyond athletics. And so a million dollar buyout of a series with whoever or whatever the number is, and maybe the 4 million or whatever the number is that they lose by playing games in Little Rock versus Fayetteville. That might be a small drop in the bucket compared to the larger university picture and the finances that could be in play there. Again, if. If the governor wants to strong arm this, and that's all theoretical and we don't know, but those are just a couple of the things that stood out to me as I was thinking through this.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: And that was another initial thought when I saw she had written this thing. And I read the Democratic story that went up this morning about how she had sent the letter. I actually didn't know about the opinion piece until an hour or so after that. So first I just saw the story that she had sent this letter. They quoted the letter, whatever, and I texted you, and I was like, so does this mean they have to do it? And basically the answer is no, because so. So where I kind of, where I went with it when I first sort of was thinking about it was so there are things she could do to make them do it, but she is not doing those things yet, which makes me think it's not actually that much of a priority. Like, if. If she really, really wanted them to do this, and I'm not saying she's like, lying in the statement, but if she felt that strongly about it, she could make them do it, and she's not doing that.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: It could happen next year. I mean, for all we know, this is something certainly to watch moving forward. I did get a letter today from or a statement from Kelly Eichler, who's the chair of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees. She said they've received the governor's letter. She said, I know I speak for my fellow trustees and saying that we appreciate her leadership and passion for Razorback athletics. Eichler goes on to say Saturday's game was certainly a fun experience that reflected well in our capital city. And she says, as trustees, our role is to consult with university administration to determine the best course of action for Razorback athletics. And I'm sure with the governor's input, that will be a topic for a future board conversation worth noting. The UA Trustees meet again September 25th and 26th here in Fayetteville. That's the week of the Notre Dame game.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: It's just so interesting because we all know what is in, like, the best interest of the University of Arkansas or whatever the language was that they used there. We know what that is, and it's to not play at War Memorial. I mean, I guess there's kind of two things there, which is also like the Arkansas state of it all. And I'm like, if you want to play Arkansas State in Fayetteville, great. Like, I don't really feel like, I don't know what's the like, big argument against that? Just they fans don't want to play Arkansas State or like.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: And obviously I don't know that there is.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Okay. Because.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: But that's not what she's calling for here. She's calling for them to play every year at War Memorial.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: Right. And so we all know that that is not what is like quite literally in the best interest of the University of Arkansas.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: I'm not sure it's in the best interest of Arkansas State.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Well, yeah, they don't. Yeah, it does.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: I want to get into this. So this is in her opinion piece that was in the Democrat Gazette today.
I just pulled a few excerpts from this that I want to talk about. She says we can't let the first time these two great teams meet be the last. She goes on to talk about she grew up in Pine Bluff, Texarkana and Little Rock, and she says, quote, all of which are a multi hour drive from the University of Arkansas campus. For fans in South Arkansas or the Delta, going to a game in Fayetteville means spending more money on gas, likely having to book a room for an overnight stay, and the War Memorial game is often the most easily accessible all year. This perpetuates this old, I mean like decades old argument for keeping games in Little Rock about. Well, it's easier for people from this spot and this spot and this spot to come to the games.
But I would counter with what about what happened Saturday when the streaming didn't work and back in the day when this was really a legitimate argument, there weren't any games on tv. You might be lucky to get one game on TV in a year. And even as recently as when I was probably in middle school, junior high, you didn't even get all your games on tv. And like you might get four games on TV in a year or five, or, you know, if you were better, you might get more than that. But I just don't know that this is the argument that is to be made for playing games at War Memorial every year. She also says in this editorial, she says it's rare that our friends in Jonesboro can play in front of as many cheering fans as they did this past weekend. Okay, I want to get into this because I just, I Looked.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: Are you supposed to say, like, caught astray? Like, in this.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: I want to look this up now. In Jonesboro, they're not playing as many people. Like, that stadium can't hold as many people as well.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: It's just funny that it was like the way that it was like the most backhanded, like, oh, and good for them. They got to play in front of people.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: In the last 15 years, this is where Arkansas State has played. You tell me which one of these stadiums is smaller than or bigger or I'm sorry, which one of these is smaller than War Memorial Stadium? Illinois, Virginia Tech, Oregon, Nebraska, Auburn, Missouri, Tennessee, Miami, Southern Cal, Auburn, Nebraska, Alabama, Georgia, K State, Washington, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Iowa State.
Yeah, I looked this up. Since 2021, the last time that Arkansas State played a power team in front of fewer people than they did on Saturday was k State in 2020. That was in Manhattan. That was the COVID year when attendance was limited. It was 11,000 people. But in the year since then, these are the attendances for their Power 5 games or Power 4 games. Now. Washington, 58,000, Ohio State 100,000. Oklahoma 83,000, Iowa State 55,000. Last year at Michigan, 110,000 people were at that game in Ann Arbor. That's two times as many people than can go to a game at War Memor.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I just don't feel like it's something that, yeah, Arkansas State really probably benefits that much from or like, is that excited about doing. And like. And even just crowd size is high. People don't want to play at War Memorial Stadium because it is run down, it is old, is a bad facility. And it's. It was so funny. I, I told you this, but I'll say this on the podcast too. We went down, I went to the Butch Jones post game. Um, we had Ethan go to Sam Pittman. And so I was like, well, I'll go to visitor. So we go down. I've never gone down for this before, before. And it's next to. It's like near the visitor locker room. And it is quite literally a closet. Like, you go in, they have their little backdrop up there were probably, I don't know, six feet between the wall, the cinder block wall and the backdrop.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: I believe it.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: And we're all crowding in there and. Because, you know, normally that would, you know, UAPB last year, probably not a problem. You probably had a couple people in there to talk to the UAPB coach, Arneso State, there's a lot of media there. To talk to. But Jones, it's Arkansas State media, it's Little Rock media. It's, you know, people from east Arkansas. I go down there, you know, there's a lot of people trying to crowd in there. So they come in and they go, well, we gotta move to the fields. Like there's. We can't fit everybody and Butch Jones in here. So we go out and we do this grum on the field and everything. But as we were walking out there, I was, you know, I was with Arkansas mostly Arkansas State media people, they were like, this is crazy. Like, no wonder they're letting this contract run out. You know, like, it's just, they don't want to be there either.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: 18 years, I mean up till 18, when Petrino became the head coach, they changed where they did the post game because I guess he saw where they did it and was like, we're not doing this anymore.
It was like a hollowed out shower next to the locker room where Houston nut would sit in there and everybody would kind of cram around him and if you were lucky you could get your camera on him. But it was, that's what they're dealing with on the visitor side.
So she says this. She says War Memorial stadium may be 75 years old or over 75 years old. That doesn't mean it's the same facility as it was in 1948. She talks about since the Department of Parks took over the stadium, the they've invested more than 6.3 million in improvements from replacing turf to renovating locker rooms, upgrading sound and light systems.
She says it's a historic stadium fitting two world class teams. I disagree. The infrastructure at War Memorial and look, you can talk all you want to about the finances, about everything you want to talk about at War Memorial. I just want to focus in on what I saw Saturday.
The infrastructure at War Memorial is not fit to host a big time event anymore. I don't care if it's SEC football, I don't care if it's Taylor Swift on the ERAS tour. It's not fit to host a big time event.
The inability to get in and out of the stadium in a timely manner and an organized manner is, is paramount to me. It does not exist. There is no organization.
It is, it is quite literally a free for all there. The lines that I saw Saturday to get into the stadium and I've talked to people who are in them, they said at some point people just quit scanning tickets and said just come on so you can get into the game, but you've got ticket scanners. You've got gates like these giant chain link fences up around the stadium that you've got to get through. You got to go through weapons detectors. I guess because of, it's a fallout from what happened that Bryant Benton Salt bowl several years ago or there was a scare that maybe somebody had a.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Gun in the stadium to go through a detector. I don't know. I mean you have to do that Razorback Stadium, don't you?
[00:16:06] Speaker B: We've got to do it. I don't know that fans do. I don't know. I mean again, I'm going to a.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: Game, I mean you do it like Bud Walton Arena.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: But what I'm saying is the way that they've, the way that they've got it set up there, it's a very narrow area for a lot of people to have to go through. I think.
I can't say exactly how many detectors there are to go through at War Memorial. It's not a lot. It's not a lot. So the infrastructure is not in place. You wrote last week, last year they had the plumbing issue and that from all indications was fixed this year.
But like we said last week, there's always something going on here, whether it be running out of water a couple of years ago on a hot day or the plumbing issue, clock issues, indoor. Well, that's yearly. They didn't have it this year, fortunately. But you know, this year the game by the way is sponsored by a high speed Internet company and nobody can get Internet in the stadium. Nobody can get a cell phone signal in the stadium. I don't know for sure. I suspect all the problems that we were having with Internet during the game probably was a contributing factor to what happened when the stream of the game cut out in the first quarter. It's just always something with the stadium and I get that they're trying hard. I mean, she says they've put 6.3 million in improvements there. That's a good start. But you know, based on seven year old surveys, eight year old surveys, the university and the War Memorial Commission found that War Memorial Stadium at that point in time, and we all know how much things have increased in cost since then, was in need of up to $27 million in improvement to remain a long term viable stadium to host major sporting events. Six, $6.3 million, that's taking care of some of it, but it's a drop in the bucket to what needs to happen there. And one more thing going back to the infrastructure, maybe two more things on War Memorial.
The concourses there were built for I think a 40,000 seat stadium in the, you know, like in the early years of War Memorial Stadium. I think it sat somewhere around 40,000 and then the bowls were filled in and then it became the capacity that it has now at 54,000. The concourses are a major issue there. I saw pictures from them the other day where people are just packed in like sardines. They can't move. You've got small concession areas. Again, it goes into.
This is not what other major programs have to deal with in their game day operations. And, and then every stadium has traffic. But I will say this. When I walked out of War Memorial on Saturday night, about two hours after the game ended. Have you ever seen the Field of Dreams?
[00:18:48] Speaker A: I actually haven't.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Well, there's a scene, parts of it. There's a scene at the end where everybody's coming to Iowa to watch the baseball game and there's cars for as far as you can see. That's what it looked like on the golf course on Saturday night, two hours after the game had ended. And imagine if it had been a game that had come down to the wire.
I mean, like I'm thinking, you know, I walked out of there at between 8:45, 9 o'.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Clock.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: There were probably people out there on the golf course that didn't get out of there till well after 10, 10:30, maybe even later.
It's just, it's become an issue where the infrastructure in and around that stadium has not really updated with the times.
And I think that's what's working against War Memorial Stadium. Before we ever get into the discussion about finances and recruiting and what's best for Razorback football.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean there's been a lot of like traffic discussion. I will say we didn't have any problems getting in or out really. Like we got there because you got there at 10:00am well, we left Fayetteville at 10 and we got there at 1:30.
[00:19:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Didn't have any problems. I mean there was like somebody annoying who stopped to talk to a parking person for like five minutes and it like held up, you know, so that.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: Was probably, I think.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: But we had, we left at 9 o', clock, had no issues getting out.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: It's like any, it's like any stadium if you know your way around.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: We don't know our way. We just followed your instructions.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: I gave you, I gave you directions. But if you, if you know your way around, you can usually get through in a fairly timely manner. If you're In Fayetteville and you get off on MLK on a game day, you're toast.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: If you're in Little Rock and you get off on Markham or Fair park on game day, good luck to you.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: So that. But getting out of the stadium, I think that that is a different, you know, discussion to have that.
It's just in the golf course plays a big factor.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: The parking is funny to me. I mean like, I don't have like, you know, major just like, I'm not like upset over it. It's just like, honestly kind of funny that like you go and we park in like a field and you have to like go off roading to get to. You have to drive across like a footpath and then down a hill. Ethan like busted up the front of his car. We watched a guy in like a n car, like a. I don't know if it was, I don't know, some kind of like sports car looking type thing. We heard this, we heard this like bang. And we turned and it's because they're sending him down to his parking spot down a hill and his. The front of his car just like scrapes the whole ground.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: If you're parking, if you're parking on the golf course, your car needs to sit a minimum. It was number of inches up off of the. Up off the ground. I like games at War Memorial. Like, like when the game kicks off in the atmosphere and you get the wave going around the stadium. 12 times during the third quarter, that.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Was the longest wave I've ever seen.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: I even contributed a couple of times. I was the only one in the press box. But, you know, you get the wave going and it's a fun environment there. It really is. It's just all of the things that people have to kind of put up with in order to get into the stadium and get to their seats.
These are the things. And you know, and then obviously there's the connectivity issue. You go to a game, nobody wants to go to a game now and be told, hey, you can't be on your cell phone for four or five hours.
Some networks, I think work better at the stadium on Saturday than others, but these are the things that keep people away from the game.
I'll say this too, about playing Arkansas State there every year. I think why it worked on Saturday was the novelty of the game and the thought that this was going to be Arkansas's last game at War Memorial. People wanted to be there to say, I was there when they played Arkansas State for the first time or I was there when they shut this thing down.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: It was like a send off. Yeah.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: If they keep playing this, it's going to turn into what happened with Arkansas and A and M in Arlington.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: Really good point.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: Because what happened there was that, you know, in the early years, like, hey, this is a really cool thing. But then once you've been once or twice, it's like, well, I've done this before.
And I think what's going to happen if they play Arkansas State in Little Rock every year? It's going to fizzle. You're going to get big crowds, but you're never going to sell the place out.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: And you're also going to run into a lot of the issues that the Razorbacks ran into when they were playing in Arlington, which were the recruiting issues, where you have this one weekend where you can't have people on campus to host them for recruiting. And if you say that's not a big deal, I would just say look at your schedule and start to think about, well, when could you be at a high school football game on a Friday night and get to Saturn or get to Fayetteville on a Saturday and you've only got six opportunities to do it and now we're going to cut it down to five. It becomes a big deal to have that flexibility to be able to get people on your campus for your football games. Not just for football, for other sports, too. Baseball is going to have a big recruiting here weekend when Notre Dame comes, basketball, soccer, you name it, track and field. They all have, like, their biggest recruiting weekends of the year are during Razorback home football games on campus.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's why Coach Pittman has talked about not really wanting to play a Little Rock anymore. It. Taking away a home game is a huge deal. There's all the money stuff, obviously that we've, you know, talked about a million times and laid out all the numbers, but there's a lot more to it, too. And yeah, I just think. I just don't understand. I don't feel like it's feasible. I don't feel like. I feel like even people that I would expect to really be carrying water for the warm oil thing, like people in, like fans in Central Arkansas, older fans in Central Arkansas that have great memories of going here. I feel like most of them even. And maybe this is just the people we hear from, maybe this is skewed, but most of them are even at the point where it's like this, we just need to stop doing this. This doesn't help like, this hurts the universe. This hurts the team that I care about. I've heard from people have come to that conclusion.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: I've heard from a lot of people who grew up going to the games down there, who may still live down there, who say, this was a great run, but I would much rather drive the extra 2, 3 hours to Fayetteville to watch a game than I would at War Memorial Stadium. It seems like that has become a lot more prevalent in the last few years. We ask on social media, do you agree Arkansas and Arkansas State should play every year at War Memorial Stadium? I'll read a few of the responses on Twitter or X User Joey Cranston says, while it's great to see WMS full again, it appeared that only a couple of thousand were ASU fans. Once the novelty's gone, attendance will wane. As in recent years, there are a number of reasons the facility is outdated and inadequate. And he says, also, I've had Little Rock tickets for over 25 years. We've got a user named Bezo knows he says yes, and move Arkansas, Arkansas State to the end of the season the week that other state rivalries occur. So that's kind of interesting. And then we've got a username. Joseph Blue Pulaski says, not playing Arkansas State, but the Razorbacks definitely need a Little Rock game every year against a premier opponent.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: That's just not happening. I'm sorry, I don't.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: I don't think so. Here's the thing.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: The reason they stop playing SEC games there.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Here's a few from our Facebook page. A fan named Nathan Nevolo says, no, not unless Little Rock puts some major money into the stadium and increases the capacity, which can mitigate the revenue losses.
Another user says, mad French only if someone puts serious money into War Memorial, maybe it could help the surrounding area economically.
If they do, maybe they can bid to host a Sunbelt championship game, maybe a bowl game and maybe other events. And then a username. Matt Webb says, yes, let's make this a tradition and give life back to the stadium.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: To me, it's like if you want, you know, cool idea of like a bowl game in Little Rock. Sunbelt championship game, Little Rock, awesome.
You're gonna have to build a new stadium.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: Like, and nobody wants to spend the 3,400 million dollars that it would take. And you don't even have to build a new stadium, but to renovate an old stadium like that to the level that it would need, you still have to be spending. You might, I don't know. This I'm not an architect. I don't live in that world. It might be cheaper to build a new stadium.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: That's what I'm saying.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: To be. To. To renovate this. I think the bottom line is that outside of preserving nostalgia, this does not benefit Razorback football, this proposal, in any way whatsoever. Playing Arkansas State every year in Little Rock, or you could even take it a step further and saying, playing anybody in Little Rock, it does not fit. It does not benefit the Razorbacks in any way other than preserve that tradition, that uniqueness that we've talked about here in the past of playing games in Little Rock. Two people that it helps, or the two groups of people are the ones who want to save a buck, go to a game and save a buck doing it, and the Central Arkansas leaders who are behind this, who want to see the Razorbacks win, but they don't want to see them win at the expense of it hurting their local economy with a big tourism weekend.
[00:27:29] Speaker A: Yeah. And, you know, the saving of buck thing, like, I get that, you know, and I think that is a fair thing to point out that there are people in other parts of the state that it is cost prohibitive for them to come to a game in Fayetteville because it's expensive to get tickets. You got to stay here, you got to drive up here. Like, I get that.
I don't have a solution for that. Like, I just. I don't think that. I don't know. I.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: That's not an Arkansas unique problem.
[00:27:52] Speaker A: No, not at all.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: I mean, like, find me 10 big time athletic programs that are centrally located in their state. And I understand the whole Arkansas is different from. I get that. I totally get that. Do you want to go to a Tennessee game in Knoxville and you live in Memphis.
[00:28:11] Speaker A: People locally are starting to get priced out of games, too. It's not, you know. Yeah, it's different. I understand that. But, you know, it's. It's expensive to do things now. You know, it just. It just kind of is.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: I thought this was behind us. Yeah, I thought this was behind us. And now we've got a big.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: I know. I thought we were going to talk.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: About all the story.
[00:28:29] Speaker A: And here we are.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: We got a big story to follow here on what happens. Is the governor going to try to strong arm the Razorbacks into playing Arkansas State every year at War Memorial Stadium? Certainly something worth watching. When we come back, we'll actually talk about football and what happened down at War Memorial on Saturday. But first word from Kendall King.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: At Kendall King. We're proud of over four decades of design.
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[00:29:13] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. I want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional, versatile if you're looking for a quality leader in Northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. You can come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at Bentonville glass.com A few notes before we start talking about Arkansas Arkansas State on the field Saturday. The Razorbacks are going to play Ole Miss this weekend. It's gonna be a 6 o' clock kickoff. That game is going to be on ESPN. The announce team will be Dave Pash on play by play. Dusty Dvorak will be the color analyst and Taylor McGregor, the U of A grad, is going to be the sideline reporter with. We also got word this morning that the Razorbacks are going to play Memphis at 11am next week. That game will be in Memphis? Not sure yet on the network. It'll either be abc, ESPN or espn. Two other games that are being considered for those slots on that day are Syracuse and Clemson and TCU and smu. So a decision will be made either late Saturday night or early Sunday as to which network Arkansas and Memphis play on next weekend. Or I guess it's next weekend on September 20th. Can we call this weekend next weekend? How does that work?
[00:30:31] Speaker A: That's this this weekend.
[00:30:33] Speaker B: So is this weekend.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: This weekend is Ole Miss.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: So next weekend is Memphis.
[00:30:36] Speaker A: Okay. That's how I think of it. All right. Last weekend was Arkansas State.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: I gotcha.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: That's how my brain goes.
[00:30:42] Speaker B: We're all clear now. Also announced today and we knew this was coming, but it's final basketball team going to play Houston on December 20th in Newark, New Jersey at the Prudential Center. This is where I believe the Devils play the hockey team. The Devils play where the Nets used to play.
[00:30:59] Speaker A: We thought this was going to be Barclay or.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: Yeah, Barclays arena in Brooklyn.
[00:31:02] Speaker A: We were gonna go maybe and then.
[00:31:04] Speaker B: I was like, well here's what happened. Well, we're still gonna send Anthony. Well, yeah, not you and me. You.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: Yeah, no, we were gonna go like, for fun.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: And yeah, no, we're not doing that.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: So. Yeah, this is gonna be. This is going to be in Newark, but the Razorbacks are going to play Houston on December 20th. That game will be on CBS. It's kind of funny. We know what networks the basketball games are going to be several months out, but we can't get Memphis until six days before.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: Stuff is so weird.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: All right. The Razorbacks beat Arkansas State 56 to 14.
Boy, what a thorough beat down by the Razorbacks. And it could have been worse.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: But they score four touchdowns in their first 14 plays. The players said they had an eight play script to open the game. They scored touchdowns on two of those eight plays. 53. It was just big play after big play. It was big runs, big passes. And I thought you could see the entire day what an SEC team looks like and what a Sunbelt team looks like. And it's a big, big difference when you get them on the field together.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I think if you were playing a good Sunbelt team, I think it might not quite look like that. I think when you're playing a middle bottom Sunbelt team, then, yeah, you got some problems. But I mean, I know USF's not Sunbelt, but like USF just beat Florida and they're at the top of their. What are they? The American? They're at the top of that. So, you know, and the American is only recently kind of Troy, who's in.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: The Sunbelt, they gave Clemson problems over the weekend, but for the most part it's a weak conference. And even Arkansas State, you know, people may take whatever, but like they built their reputation, whatever you want to say their reputation is when they had Malzon and they had Harson and they had Freeze and they had Blake Anderson by beating up on a weak conference. The Sunbelt Conference, in my opinion, bar none, is the weakest conference in the fbs. And you're talking about a team that is at the, you know, like you sat at the middle at best of that conference.
[00:32:56] Speaker A: Right now you feel like it's weaker than like Conference usa.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:59] Speaker A: Okay, interesting.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: I think so.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: I think that's like a hot take. Like, I don't think like most people feel that way. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not saying you're wrong, but like, I'm just saying I think I've never like heard people say, I feel like the Sunbelt typically. I think the American has kind of eclipsed them in recent years. And I think the American. You know, the American's been strong, but I think most people kind of regard the Sunbelt and the American is like kind of the. The upper level of that G5 now. Really six type of thing. Yeah, I think so. I mean, maybe I'm crazy.
[00:33:25] Speaker B: I mean, I think the American is like a step.
[00:33:27] Speaker A: Yeah, the American. Yeah, yeah, the American.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: Because that's kind of the minor league. That's where everybody's pulling when they want to add teams.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:33] Speaker B: And even the Mountain West. Say what you want to, but, I mean, when the PAC 12 reformed, it went and raided the Mountain west, and now those are. They're not going to be considered power teams anymore, which is kind of interesting. What do we consider Washington State and Oregon State? Because they were power teams, but now, like, they're this weird kind of. Well, they're independent now, but they're going to be in the Pac 12 next year.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: Yeah, the reformed Pac 12.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: Let's quit chasing this rabbit.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Anyway, I think I'm probably equating the Sunbelt and the American too much. I think you're right. I'm probably, like, putting them closer together than they really are. But anyway, I think this was. This went better than I thought it was going to. I think I had kind of bought into the, like, Arkansas State anxiety. The, like, what if you lose to Arkansas State? Like, that would be the worst possible. I think I, like, bought. I didn't think they were going to lose. I'm not saying that, but I think I thought Arkansas State was going to fare better than they did. I thought maybe Arkansas State would, like, come out stronger. And like, I think I described. Maybe it was on the show or on the radio or something. I think I said. I thought it would maybe be the kind of thing where Arkansas State kind of comes out swinging and you go, you know, kind of like Alabama A and M and you go, oh, crap. Like, what's happening? People, you know, that aren't people outside of Arkansas go, oh, shoot. They see the score on their ESPN app and go, oh, I want to turn this game on. And then very quickly, it, you know, Arkansas puts it to bed and moves on, whatever. And that's not what happened at all. So it didn't play out the way I thought it was going to.
And I think, you know, this. This is what they needed to do. They needed to not kind of leave any doubt, and that's what they did.
[00:34:53] Speaker B: Maybe I'm thinking of going back to the Sunbelt conversation. I'm looking at the old. Like. Like sometimes I'm not totally up with the times. I will totally. I will 100% admit that.
What a shocker.
I look at what the Sunbelt was when Arkansas State was really running that conference and what it is now, and I think there was some middle ground here. When you look at App. State's been added, Coastal Carolina's been added, Texas State's been added. It is a stronger football conference. It's gone through a lot of things than it was 10, 15 years ago.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Definitely. It's changed a lot.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: Taylor Green looks pretty good.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: But you know, I will say I'm still not totally sold on him and maybe I'm being way too critical. The two interceptions bothered me because they're at a point in the game where you got your foot on their neck and all you got to do is twist the ankle and this thing's done. And he throws two interceptions and then all of a sudden it's 28 to 14, Arkansas goes down and scores. Give him credit. He led that drive at the end of the half to make it 35 to 14. And then he was really good in the third quarter.
The turnovers, when they face better competition, like, that's the one thing that bothers me the most with Taylor is the turnovers. I said it last year. I said it in the preseason. He's got to be able to take care of the ball better.
And Arkansas State's defense is nowhere near the ability of what they're going to see when they play Ole Miss this week or what they see when they play Notre Dame in a few weeks.
That's got to get cleaned up. I just thought. And a lot of times with him, it's not just the turnovers. It's the timing of the turnovers that has an ability to really change the complexion of a game. We saw it last year at Oklahoma State when he threw the pick six. Totally changed that game.
The strip sack against Ole Miss, against LSU last year. I mean, there's these critical moments where. Where against Arkansas State you can. You can out athlete them and overcome those mistakes, but you can't do that against the better teams.
[00:36:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:51] Speaker B: And that's got to get better with him.
[00:36:52] Speaker A: I've kind of been in wait and see still. Because I think, you know, we kind of had the same sort of thing last year and that's kind of how the early season goes when you don't have a big game opener on the. On the schedule. Right. And I think so. I've kind of been waiting to see Because I do think the interceptions. I kind of feel like we're not talking enough about the interceptions. I don't mean like you and me, but I mean like we as a society. Society or not, like we moved on from the interceptions too fast. And I understand you want to walk that line between like not overreacting to one game and a game against Arkansas State. But like, that's like, like you said, that's concerning. They're going to play way better defenses than this. The first one. He just like, didn't see that guy, which, like, sure, mistakes are going to happen. College quarterbacks are going to do things like that. But I'm just like, I don't know, like that's the kind of thing that he was doing last year that we've been worried about. I saw him miss another wide open receiver. Again, college quarterbacks especially, they're going to do this. Mistakes are going to happen, whatever. But like, there was one. He missed a very, very open middle of the field. Braylon Sharp just didn't see him and you know, took a shorter gain. It was fine. It didn't like, cost them. I don't think it was like a third down or anything like that. Like, it didn't, it didn't cost them, but it could have given them more. And so when you get into game situations where things like that, you said can, can kind of make or break or, or kind of win the margins a little bit more, I think that's really important. And so I'm, I'm waiting and seeing and I think this weekend is going to teach us a lot.
Think we'll, I think we'll finally be this weekend into the territory of we can properly react to this and not consider it an overreaction because they're actually going to play an SEC game and they're going to play an SEC team that, you know, I think there's some areas where they're kind of evenly matched with them. I think they're really similar at running back.
You know, I think I, I worry about. And this is a different subject than, than the Taylor Green conversation, but I'm, I am worried about the defense against Ole Miss.
[00:38:33] Speaker B: We'll get there.
[00:38:34] Speaker A: Very concerned. So I think we're going to learn a lot. And that's why I'm like, I'm so excited to finally get into a game that I feel like I can actually have takeaways from that I don't have to couch and like, well, but they're playing this person and it's still so early and we can, we can learn things this weekend for sure.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: The way the offense started the other day was electric. I mean, 290 yards to 18, I don't care who you're playing. And the defense has a lot to do with that too on, you know, holding them to 18 yards. Now, there was a special teams touchdown that contributed to that number, but that was a huge discrepancy with Taylor. 390 yards, five touchdowns, four touchdown passes. The touchdown run, a 64 yarder. He had the most rushing yards with 151 by an Arkansas quarterback since 1985, Mark Calcagni out of the flexbone against Rice on much, much fewer rushing attempts, by the way. Taylor had the quarterback.
I'm not looking for perfection out of them, but I am looking for ball security.
Ball security, that's important. And I think Back to like 2011 is the year that everybody's striving to get back to for Arkansas. Tyler Wilson in 2011 played in 13 games. He threw six interceptions, six interceptions.
And I don't think, I'm pretty sure he didn't fumble the ball that year.
So that's the type of ball security I think that you've got to have from your quarterback in order to have that type of season.
[00:40:05] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. I agree. And I think that's why the interceptions were concerning to me.
I do think. One thing I want to point out is we talked a lot in our kind of preseason discussion of him and we both kind of. You mentioned it and I agreed with you about. There's all the conversation about like, well, he put up so many yards. It's like, okay, call me when you turn them into points. They are turning them into points.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: They've done a good job.
[00:40:27] Speaker A: Okay, Arkansas State, Alabama and M. I get it. He is producing at a significantly higher level, the offense as a whole. But as far especially him, touchdown passes wise, I mean, this was something I wrote about a little bit yesterday was he threw 15 touchdown passes in 13 games. He has 10, 13, you know, like he is. They are turning it into points. They are being efficient in a way that we haven't seen them be even against. You know, when they opened against UAPB last year, they scored a gazillion points. A lot of that came on the ground. That's not to say it's because they couldn't pass the ball or anything, but it's worth noting against a comparable opponent, he was not throwing crazy numbers of touchdown passes. And now he, you know, so there is something to it. And I Thought that was interesting.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: I would love nothing more than come on this show next Monday and talk about what he did against Ole Miss and say, look, okay, you've convinced me. I got to see it against a good opponent. Sam Pittman, by the way, he said the other day about his running.
He said when he takes off, you just know you're going to get a first down and then whatever happens after that is quote, extra gravy. Not just gravy, extra gravy. Which if you've ever got the biscuits and gravy, you know, the extra gravy is what you desire.
Defense, like, like you said, you know, they only give up one touch. It's very. Maybe we're being too critical of the defense because they've only given up one touchdown in two weeks, but they also gave up these really long sustained drives where they could not get Arkansas State off the field until it got, you know, to literally the, the end of the field. They gave up the long touchdown in the second quarter. Long touchdown driving. It was like 14 plays. Then there was a 15 play drive in the third quarter that ends or the maybe third quarter into the fourth quarter that ends at the one yard line where Arkansas made a nice goal line stand. Another long drive toward the end of the game that ends on, on downs inside the red zone.
So I don't know, I tend to think they're going to struggle when they play better offenses. I just feel like Ole Miss this weekend, this is the real test and it doesn't mean your season's over if you lose it, but this is the real test that says, okay, how much of what we saw the first two weeks was real and how much of what we saw the first two weeks was because of the type of competition they were playing.
[00:42:46] Speaker A: I am concerned about giving up big plays this weekend especially.
Ole Miss killed them with explosive plays last year. Obviously different team personnel, totally different in a lot. All those key spots. It's the same offense. And I do think, you know, Austin Simmons isn't Jackson Dart. He also, he left the game late.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: He was hurt.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: I think he's not that hurt. I, I think he's okay. They, you know, Kevin said on Sunday he could have gone back in okay. Coaches say stuff like that. I think he's fine. Arkansas coach Pittman today said that they're preparing for him and the backup because I'm sure Ole Miss is going to kind of play the game of like, well, you don't know. He's probably gonna be fine. So they're gonna do all that I. It doesn't. The impression I have gotten at least early in the early going here is that he's not that hurt, that he's fine. You might see a different version of him then if they're trying to limit him a little bit to kind of keep him healthy. But I do think I am worried about the explosive play potential because I think Ole Miss just is. They still have it even with these new players, even with this different personnel that they're bringing. And big plays have been a problem for this defense so far. It was a problem in scrimmages. I think this offense is good at explosive plays and I don't think this defense was very good at keeping them from. It is what we heard about when they would give us the scrimmages and it's, you know, they're reading off the highlight plays and you're going awesome. And then you're going, oh my God. The 30 year old had like five plays of 45 or more yards or whatever it was.
And either Monte Harrison is the greatest receiver they've ever had or like maybe there are some issues here.
Monte Harrison, who broke his foot and is potentially done for the year, at least for a while. Coach said.
But so that is what kind of my number one concern defensively going into this. Is Ole Miss gonna be able to kind of kill them with. With big chunk plays again?
[00:44:24] Speaker B: Arkansas State the other day, Rayner, their quarterback, 21 of 33 for 125 yards.
I thought that was good numbers for Arkansas. You take away the sacks and I want to talk about the sacks. 11 rushes for 72 yards when adjusted for the sacks. But they did get four sacks on him and they got 10 tackles for loss that I think contributed to something like -42 yards. And that was encouraging because that was something they didn't have the week before. And I think it really started with the way that Xavian, sorry, played. He. Everybody says he didn't play well the first week. He looked really good the other day, like the type of player that you need at that linebacker position to have a good defense.
[00:45:01] Speaker A: Yeah, he made an enormous leap really across the board.
It was, you know, stats wise, it came out well. I looked at the PFF grades, you know, for, for people that are into that and it was, you know, huge strides. So yeah, I think that was exactly what you needed to see. I'm still worried about the defensive line. I'm still worried about the interior. That was something coach Whitman mentioned today. He kind of touched on the fact that they want more production out of the interior, which we know tackle is the problem. We know that's where they don't have depth.
They've had to kind of get creative in how they've lined up there to compensate for that.
But those are. That's kind of the main concern to me and I'm very interested what Ole Miss is going to be able to do here.
[00:45:38] Speaker B: It happens every year, early in the year, whether it be football, basketball, baseball, whatever. Like the SEC dominates the poll. There's 11 SEC teams in the poll this week. It's the most that any conference has ever had in one week. There were 14 SEC teams that received at least one vote this week. The only two that didn't receive a vote were Arkansas and Kentucky. Even Memphis is getting a vote, by the way, this week in the AP poll.
I don't know that the SEC is necessarily as strong as it looks right now, but they look pretty good in a lot of their out of conference tests. And I thought they looked really good this weekend in the prominent ones, whether it be OU in Michigan or Vanderbilt going to Virginia Tech and just smoking the Hokies.
[00:46:22] Speaker A: I was the only one of us that picked Vanderbilt.
[00:46:25] Speaker B: Congratulations.
[00:46:25] Speaker A: I couldn't believe this. I was like, it really made me second guess myself. When I got. When everybody else sent me their picks for Game Day Extra in the newspaper and everybody sent me their picks and everyone had picked Virginia Tech. I was like, am I insane? I have held to it.
[00:46:37] Speaker B: I have. Vanderbilt. Itis so many years where you pick Vanderbilt and they don't perform.
[00:46:44] Speaker A: I. That might happen to me this week because I am tentatively. I have tentatively put down Vanderbilt against South Carolina this weekend.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: The point being the SEC looks pretty good on paper and so now you're through the, you know, the pastry season and now it really is going to start to pick up. And how are they able to do against these teams that look pretty darn good?
[00:47:04] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. I'm. I'm still looking at Memphis next weekend. I'm still. I'm still concerned about that a little bit. I don't know. I don't know how. I don't know. I don't think Memphis is. This is obviously not the Memphis of.
[00:47:14] Speaker B: Last year, but Memphis plays Troy this week. Troy just had the game against Clemson.
It's in Troy. So I'm sure that they'll probably have a big crowd relative to their stadium.
That might be a good gauge for, for how this goes.
[00:47:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess.
[00:47:31] Speaker B: At least for like how good Memphis is.
[00:47:32] Speaker A: Right. Because yeah, this is not the Memphis of last year that, you know, could have made the playoff maybe if they hadn't lost at the end there. I think I just. It's one that I don't think Arkansas can afford to overlook, if that makes sense.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: Well, I mean, I think a lot of people have been telling them all year or all off season, like. Like, watch out for Memphis. Watch out for Memphis. Have you seen what they.
I think they know.
[00:47:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:53] Speaker B: You know, I'm most interested to see with Memphis. What's it look like in the Sands? Yeah, like, we thought Arkansas State. Arkansas might be a little bit more divided than it was.
[00:48:02] Speaker A: I'm sorry, I'm not going because the Liberty. The press box situation at the Liberty bowl was so bad we couldn't see. Ethan's going and I'm not. So I'm going to. I wonder if Ethan will get a.
[00:48:09] Speaker B: Better seat, just so people know. And I don't think people like to hear.
[00:48:13] Speaker A: I know media. Oh, boo hoo. You know, I get it.
[00:48:15] Speaker B: I'll just say, like, they tore down the old press box, and what they've done is they have. They've literally taken a suite and they put a black dividing curtain. Like, we could hear everything that was being said in the UA chancellor's box.
[00:48:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:28] Speaker B: During the game, I was like, do.
[00:48:30] Speaker A: They know that we're all over here?
[00:48:31] Speaker B: Yeah, we know what was said. No, nothing bad.
[00:48:34] Speaker A: Nothing crazy.
[00:48:35] Speaker B: But Christina and I and Ethan all, like, were up on top of these high rise chairs on our knees so that we could see down enough in order to see the field.
[00:48:47] Speaker A: I could see the field well.
[00:48:49] Speaker B: And then there was, like, part of an end zone that was totally obscured. So if anything happened over there, we just had to kind of see.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: I just, like, pulled the game up on my laptop. I was like, why am I even here? I can't see. I'm just watching it on TV anyway. Which I get it. Nobody wants to hear whine about our situation.
[00:49:01] Speaker B: If you think War Memorial's rough, go to Memphis. That's all I'll say. They're trying to improve it, but right now it's not a great situation, and we found that out at the Liberty Bull. All right, we appreciate everybody being with us today. We'll be back with another show tomorrow. Hope that we see at our website, wholehogsports. Com. Until then.
