Fayetteville, Ark. — Everywhere you looked there was red.
Almost every car we passed in town or on the highway had at least one Hog logo, most had many. The biggest thing I took away from the trip was the immense pride, even in a down year, the locals had for their Arkansas Razorbacks.
What a football team does for a community is give it something to cheer for. It’s something to band together over, and win or lose, support with all your might.
Gators leave Hogs in their tracks
The No. 12th ranked Florida Gators (4-1, 2-1 SEC) arrived in Arkansas still feeling the affects of a stunning 31-30 defeat at the hands of Ole Miss last Saturday. They leave with a renewed sense of confidence headed into a huge game next week against conference rival LSU.
With reigning Heisman trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow running the show, the Gators trounced the lowly Razorbacks (2-3, 0-2 SEC) at Reynolds Field 38-7. A fourth-quarter surge from Florida put the game out of reach after three quarters devoid of much scoring.
Florida got on the board first with a long drive and a Brandon James touchdown. Arkansas moved the ball well but couldn’t muster any points. After forcing Florida to punt, Arkansas return man Michael Smith fumbled the ball deep in Razorback territory and the Gators recovered. Florida was penalized twice but despite the loss of yardage, Jeffrey Demps went 36 yards around the left end on 1st-and-30 practically untouched and into the end zone. The heavily-favored Gators took a 14-0 lead into the break.
Arkansas’ offense finally got on the board in the third quarter with a touchdown run from Smith to cut the Gator lead to 17-7 to the delight of the Razorback faithful. After Arkansas linebacker Jerry Franklin intercepted Tim Tebow, the crowd could feel the comeback and was ready to explode.
The possession failed to net any points as the Hogs let a precious chance slip away, and the quarter ended 17-7.
The fourth quarter was all Gators. While the Arkansas defense had been able to bottle up all but a couple of big plays in the first 45 minutes, the Gators ran wild in the final frame. Three long plays turned the final score into a blowout.
Percy Harvin caught a 21-yard pass from Tebow to run the score to 24-7. Adding insult to the defeat, freshman Chris Rainey and Demps scampered 75 and 48 yards, respectively, to bring the final score to 38-7.
In all the Gators racked up 514 yards of total offense and an impressive 278 on the ground.
With the calendar turned to October, the leaves in Northwest Arkansas have slowly began to change. The fortunes for Arkansas amidst a changing of the guard have not. The Razorbacks are mired in a brutal four game stretch where for the first time in school history they face four ranked opponents in a row.
First-year coach Bobby Petrino has preached patience thus far. After all, last year’s studs are gone. Darren McFadden and Felix Jones were taken in the first round of last spring’s NFL Draft and the heroics of 2006 star Mitch Mustain are less than a nostalgic memory than agonizing for Hog fans, as a bitter dispute between some coaches and players resulted in his transfer to Southern California.
Casualties in that battle were not limited to players. Also gone is coach Houston Nutt, who now coaches at Mississippi. Former offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn is at Tulsa, where the Golden Hurricane lead the NCAA in points per game scoring with a whopping 56.4 ppg average so far this season.
Petrino is playing 18 freshmen in a conference where red-shirting reigns. Coaches and fans alike hope the experience these young Hogs get this year will pay dividends soon.
The cupboard is far from bare. Last year’s recruiting class was good and this one looks to be even better. The biggest and most beloved school in the state is still a beacon for the best talent the state has to offer. The key for Petrino will be following through on out-of-state recruiting one of Nutt’s biggest pitfalls.
Arkansas is on the road to face Auburn and Kentucky the next two weeks before returning home to face Nutt and Mississippi and then Tulsa and Malzahn in the homecoming game in consecutive weeks. Tensions will be extremely high, especially for the return of the much-maligned Nutt.
Long Beach State is often labeled as a commuter school and efforts to stir up school spirit seem to fall mostly on deaf ears. A football program changes all of that. Fall Saturdays are meant for football and college towns across America embrace it with all that they have.
This isn’t some hackneyed attempt to bring back a team to The Beach. It’s just to simply say, we are missing out.