Arkansas Razorbacks Football Schedule About as Near Perfect as Can Be

When it comes to the Arkansas football schedule, everyone seems to be giving it a bad rap.

Any time someone writes or talks about it, there's a tremendous amount of negativity thrown about. However, maybe that's because everyone is approaching it the same way. All they ever want to do is look at it and reduce it to nothing more than potential wins and losses.

Given how little anyone knows about the current Razorbacks football team and its total overhaul from players to coaches all the way down to light bulbs, there is really too little known about this team to have a true idea as to how these young men are going to feel like performing on the third Saturday in October, much less all these other rebuilt teams on the schedule.

Perhaps, instead, there is a better, more positive way to look at this schedule. In fact, if Arkansas fans will follow along, they may find this to be one of the more enjoyable schedules in quite some time.

That is because the Hogs have a schedule loaded with basically all of their jilted exes.

For instance, take South Carolina, the Razorbacks' opponent the second week of November. The Gamecocks were part of the original annual games Arkansas got to play.

They came into the SEC together, so the league decided the easiest thing to do was make them play every year, and from 1992 until 2013, these two played did just that. Not only was it fun for the fans because Arkansas often won, but it included rather interesting coaches at times when Steve Spurrier and Lou Holtz took the reigns in Columbia.

Another original was Tennessee. The Razorbacks ended their SWC hey-day under Ken Hatfield losing a tight Cotton Bowl to the Volunteers.

So, given the spunk the two teams had shown just a few years back and also their shared border, Arkansas and Tennessee went at it for a bit early on. The pair hooked up every year from 1992 until 2002 and have had several memorable games since.

There was the Stoerner fumble game, the revenge game the following year, the 6OT game and of course the huge upset under Pittman of the then No. 4 Vols.

In fact, until Tennessee barely squeaked out a three-point win last year, the Volunteers had only won one of their past six games against Arkansas.

Of course, there is LSU, which has been on the schedule since the Hogs joined the SEC. They return to their rightful Thanksgiving week slot after years of fans from both sides throwing a fit.

Throw in a pinch of Lane Kiffin just to make this a little more fun at a time when Arkansas fans usually struggle to want to turn on their TV for something other than basketball.

Then there is what will be an annual dose of the old Southwest Conference days with Texas and Texas A&M. While playing the Aggies will always be a big deal, especially now that the games are back on campus, playing Texas each year will also give the older crowd something to get excited about.

Of course, getting a shot at Arch Manning, assuming he is still the Longhorns' quarterback in late November, will be something for everyone to look toward.

Even Missouri and Auburn have their place in a well-rounded Arkansas schedule. Eli Drinkwitz's Tigers finally show up earlier on the schedule where they belong so people can actually care about the game and Auburn has always been on the fringe of Arkansas hate.

The two programs have always run parallel enough for it to always be interesting. When one is riding high, so is the other, hence Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson vs. Cam Newton.

Then, when they have been borderline dumpster fires, they both lit their personal matches at the same time, hence roughly the past decade. There's also the years of Gus Malzahn driving the Gus Bus while using the Hogs for raises, plus the whole locking Arkansas assistants in an elevator st halftime bit.

Just for good measure, quite literally, Vanderbilt shows up for its every decade or so check-in to see where these two compare to one another in their infinite rebuilding projects. Clark Lea without Diego Pavia against Ryan Silverfield while he tries to get on his feet should make for an entertaining measuring stick game.

Even the Utah game is intriguing. It feels a lot like the BYU, Texas Tech or TCU games of recent past. They are teams just good enough for it to be a big win for the Hogs if they pull it off, but strong enough Big 12 teams where it's not embarrassing to lose.

With it being so early in the season, it is a perfectly placed required non-conference Power Four game.

The only true drawback to this being a dream schedule simply based on past history and names alone is the Georgia game.

That game should be swapped out for Ole Miss. The Rebels are supposedly relatively comparable to the Bulldogs these days, but Arkansas has more history with them than perhaps any school ever at this point except maybe Texas A&M.

The two programs were yearly non-conference opponents back in the old days and went on to produce so many iconic moments as SEC rivals. Seven overtimes, the Henry Heave on 4th and 25 and also the college football game of the year with KJ Jefferson coming up just short going for two in a 52-51 regulation time loss in 2021 that kept the Hogs from earning double-digit wins.

So, don't look at the schedule and waste time wondering which team is going to win months from now. Instead, look at each name and imagine the media hype video that can be made talking about the history of the two teams and how they have related so well to one another over the years.

As written, other than the Georgia game, there really is no way to make a schedule more perfectly engaging to Arkansas football fans. Every team the Razorbacks have cared about as a rival in some form or fashion is there.

So, enjoy the story that is about to unfold. If there are wins, they will be that much sweeter because of who is on the schedule, so spend the upcoming summer nights peacefully knowing that is the case.

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