All Hogs

This week should have been Hogs' fans uniting behind hatred of Kiffin, Ole Miss

Betrayal, insults, disrespect, history not enough to overcome Gov. Sanders' wedge between Arkansas Razorbacks' base
Kent Smith|
Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Taylen Green is tackled by Ole Miss Rebels defensive tackle Xavian Harris at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Taylen Green is tackled by Ole Miss Rebels defensive tackle Xavian Harris at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

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Arkansas RazorbacksOle Miss Rebels

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — This week should have featured a united Arkansas Razorbacks front fully focused on borderline hate of Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels football team.
But it's didn't.

Less than a year ago, Kiffin ran up the score on the Hogs, throwing the ball to the very end on the way to a 63-31 final score in a season where the Ole Miss head coach was well aware Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman and his staff were trying to hold onto their jobs.

That should have united Razorbacks fans this week in focusing on borderline hate of Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels football team.
But it didn't.

Just a few months ago, Kiffin flaunted his NIL cash and went out of his way to openly treat the Razorbacks as his farm team. He plucked three Hogs who were expected to be starters in 2025 and made no bones about his joy of being able to hurt Arkansas while feeling like he was helping his team in a win-win for him.

That should have united Razorbacks fans this week in focusing on borderline hate of Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels football team.
But it didn't.

Just prior to that, Arkansas offensive lineman Patrick Kutas, whom the Hogs really needed down the stretch, convinced Pittman to hold him out and limit him to four total games for the season so he could save a year of eligibility. Pittman agreed on the basis Kutas promised he was definitely coming back and openly said his offensive lineman better not burn him.

The extra year of eligibility raised Kutas' NIL value greatly and he bolted for Ole Miss as if he had colluded with Kiffin to take advantage of Pittman. It earned him the nickname of Patrick Judas after Judas Iscariot of Bible fame for his betrayal of Jesus.

That should have united Razorbacks fans this week in focusing on borderline hate of Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels football team.
But it didn't.

In a previous season a well-known Ole Miss Twitter personality went after beloved Arkansas super fan Canaan Sandy in the most disgusting of ways that generated a wave of defense and true anger from Razorbacks fans that eventually led to an apology. Hogs fans still send reminders they haven't forgotten just to keep the young offender in check.

That should have united Razorbacks fans this week in focusing on borderline hate of Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels football team.
But it didn't.

The Hogs have played Ole Miss since 1906 in its longest rivalry with an original SEC team. Despite the Razorbacks having a 37-30-1 advantage, many of those games have been close.

There's the seven overtime classic between quarterbacks Matt Jones and Eli Manning and, more recently, the last second touchdown by KJ Jefferson to pull Arkansas within one at 52-51 before the two-point conversion failed. The blowout last year was the largest margin of victory to add a little something to the drink.

That should have united Razorbacks fans this week in focusing on borderline hate of Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels football team.
But it didn't.

There are so many reasons Arkansas fans should be frothing at the mouth to take down Ole Miss in an SEC opener that many experts agree is the key catalyst to how this season is going to play out.

Win and eight to nine wins is a real possibility. Lose and the odds of four or five wins looks like more of a reality.

It's such an important game that should be engulfed in emotion. Instead, Razorbacks fans have been bitterly divided all week.

No one is calling into radio shows to voice hatred and frustration with Ole Miss and talk about how bad they want to take down the Rebels. They don't even realize that Kiffin is hinting former Arkansas tight end Luke Hasz has magically overcome a season-ending injury to possibly make his returnn against his former team Saturday.

Much like his playing down the injury to quarterback Austin Simmons, this could just be mind games from Kiffin, but it's not something Hogs fans want to talk about. Their e-mails to reporters and comments that flow out of their mouths when they encounter media members at restaurants and out picking up groceries is all centered on two intertwined topics — Arkansas State and War Memorial.

In a week where Arkansas should be its most united this season, it's instead heavily divided as people fight over whether there is any value in playing the Red Wolves on a regular basis, and bitterly divided over whether that should take place in an antiquated War Memorial Stadium after fans already said their goodbyes.

That's because Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee-Sanders used Monday morning as an opportunity to step in the spotlight to try to score political points with voters in East, South and Central Arkansas as their supposed champion. Never mind the extensive list showing how damaging playing in War Memorial another season in the current environment will be or the Razorbacks.

It was historically thought the one area Arkansans would always agree upon regardless of political affiliation or location in the state is what's best for Razorbacks athletics. However, politics has a single playbook now, which is divide and create hate for the other side and that's exactly what's happening.

Gov. Sanders has divided Hogs fans and turned them against one another when the team needs them most. Perhaps this fight will fade into the background and both sides will come back together again in support of the program, but it's an intentional political division that should have never happened.

Nothing about it was in the interest of what's best for the state of Arkansas or Razorbacks athletics. It was all about seizing a political opportunity.

Perhaps by Thursday fans will realize there's a game this weekend and recall all the things that have transpired. Maybe they will join together again in the face of a common enemy in a pivitol moment in the program's history.

All the loud in-fighting suggests they won't, but for the sake of the program, it's time to focus on a real rival and legitimate challenge rather than Arkansas State. Razorbacks fans need to unite behind Pittman getting the upperhand on Kiffin for his continued disrespect.

They need to stop fighting about dragging the corpse of War Memorial back out for a game after the beautiful funeral that took place Saturday and turning on fellow fans for the sake of a politician.

Razorbacks fans should have been united this week in focusing on borderline hate of Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels football team.
There's still time.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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