Arkansas Razorbacks football coach Sam Pittman introduced with new coaching staff at Kentucky basketball game. — (Nelson Chenault / USA TODAY Sports)

Hogs' Sam Pittman Just Might Like Proposed SEC Schedule

Alabama doesn't care for it, but Texas, Oklahoma will and Razorbacks should smile

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Mar 7, 2023 5:55 AM EST
Original:
Mar 6, 2023

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

Missouri Tigers

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With this newest reported proposal floating around out there, a lot of it is starting to come together.

Apparently, the SEC is going to nine conference games every year with Texas and Oklahoma coming into the league in 2024 and everybody is speculating how that would look.

Importantly for Arkansas, that means winning three league games every year.

Considering the Razorbacks have only won at least three SEC games in a season five times since 2011, well, it is going to get interesting. Winning three is the average since the Hogs came into the SEC in 1992.

The proposal in the story has the Hogs playing nine conference games with three permanent opponents that's probably not that bad considering there's not a lot of recent national championships in there: Texas, Missouri and Ole Miss.

Before your first knee-jerk reaction is now Arlington against Texas A&M goes to every other year, that contract ends in 2024 so the league solved that pretty quickly. Play the Aggies there one last time the first year of this new schedule and then go home-and-home every two years.

There's probably going to be some imbalance. Alabama's Nick Saban is already squealing like a pig over having to face Auburn, Tennessee and LSU every year.

Yes, there may be years all three are really rolling high, but all three have been up and down over the last couple of decades like yo-yo's.

We have no idea what Hogs athletics director Hunter Yurachek or coach Sam Pittman might think of it, but the answer would probably be a shrug from both.

It wouldn't be the worst thing to happen. It could be Texas, Oklahoma and A&M every year. That would be tough, especially since they have to recruit a lot against those guys in the state of Texas.

Playing the Longhorns every year is something fans would love because of their hatred for the burnt orange and a recent downturn in football fortunes in Austin.

As things cycle in the world of college football, that will change sooner or later.

Never mind the league is obviously over-looking the obvious rivalry between the Hogs and Sooners that could approach some of the biggest really soon considering the geographic closeness of the two schools and neighboring fan bases.

If you don't believe that, just drive around in Northwest Arkansas, go south and look at license plates, window stickers and other stuff. There are a lot of OU fans running around here and living next door to diehard Hog fans.

That's something the league controls and it's not put to a vote for fans. They really don't care about that as long as you watch television. Apparently they can't use Google maps, either.

It doesn't matter. Getting the Longhorns, Tigers and Rebels on the schedule every year is a pretty good deal if it plays out that way (and we probably won't know anything resembling final until the annual spring tax write-off in Destin).

After all, it could always be worse.