Razorback Scatter Shooting: Store logos for Hire, Stacks of Cash, Bad List Complaints

NCAA make decisions that will impact Hogs in 2026, plus where is this Arkansas star?

Arkansas Razorbacks offensive lineman Fernando Carmona (55) celebrates with fans after the Razorbacks beat the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. | John Reed-Imagn Images

There have been a couple of key NCAA decisions handed down this week that are going to impact the Arkansas Razorbacks next year. Also, there is a new list out that deserves a little bit of griping and complaining, so we best hop to it.

Here's the SEC edition of scatter shooting from the Hogs' perspective.

Did Hogs have at least one Top 100 player last year?

Things were pretty down for the Razorbacks last year. A record like 2-10 doesn't just happen even if the Hogs did put out the greatest 2-10 team to ever take the field.

Still, it felt like Arkansas had at least one Top 100 player in college football, but ESPN didn't agree. A quick scour of a recent list put out by the organization revealed not a single Razorback up for consideration.

That's a little surprising considering how much attention Fernando Carmona drew along the offensive line. He consistently popped up for awards and on various lists.

Sure, he wasn't going to show up in the top half of the rankings, but his performance as the gritty anchor of the Hogs offensive line certainly warranted one of the latter spots. In the end, 14 offensive linemen made the list, but Carmona wasn't among them.

NCAA uniform patches about to open pandora's box

The NCAA recently approved teams to sell a little advertising on their jerseys. Specifically, next football season, programs can offer two patches to be featured in prominent spots on the jerseys so long as they don't conflict with sponsors the NCAA already works with.

For instance, Arkansas could roll out next season with a JB Hunt and Tyson Chicken logo slapped on their uniforms. However, by doing this in an effort to help schools drum up a little extra cash to supplement their revenue share, the NCAA is setting itself up for misery.

Everyone knows the first thing that is going to happen is some player, probably for LSU, is going to show up with a few extra patches and the NCAA is going to throw a fit. They will try to keep the athlete from playing, his agent will arrange for a lawsuit, and next thing you know, the uniforms look like the outside of a NASCAR.

Top Razorbacks will be on the field sporting ads for Wright's Barbecue, some sort of boat, at least one camouflage company and an e-bike patch. The door's open now, so there's no stopping it.

Playoffs to stick to 12 teams

It doesn't necessarily pertain to Arkansas directly a whole lot, but college football has decided to stick with the 12-team format.

While the Razorbacks aren't much of a threat to crack the playoff list for the first time in school history, it will affect the overall bottom line when it comes to revenue sharing. Each SEC school that makes it to the playoffs has to hand the Hogs a slice of the pie it receives for participating.

Because of the number of teams that made it this past year and the Cinderella run by Ole Miss, Arkansas made out pretty well financially. When it comes to the playoffs, teams get $4 million for the first two rounds and $6 million for each of the last two rounds.

They also get travel expenses, which are fully for that team's budget to use as needed. The SEC had four teams in the first round, three in the second and Ole Miss managed to slip into the national semifinals.

In total the conference brought in a total of $38 million in playoff revenue excluding the expense payments because Georgia roped in $4 million for sitting at home on its bye week.

For every team that reaches the first round, conference members split $1 million and for the second round, $500,000 is split per team. The money really ramps up for the non-qualfiers in the third round where the SEC takes $2.25 million and divides it up among the masses.

That means the conference took $5 million for the first round, $3 million for the second round, and $2.25 million for the third round this season and handed it out to its members. That means if the funding formulas that are publicly posted are accurate, the Hogs should have taken in just shy of $850,000 for sitting at home watching the playoffs.

However, despite having three teams that legitimately could say their performance showed they could have given Indiana a tough championship game in Texas A&M, Georgia and Ole Miss, the SEC's reputation took quite a hit. It's looking like the Big Ten and ACC are in line to get extra bids next season, which greatly reduces how much potential money Arkansas stands to take in next year.