Arkansas: Big Orange Has Hogs Seeing Red
By: GUEST BLOGGER TipsterHog from RazorBloggers Network
Arkansas and Tennessee are no longer permanent opponents in the SEC. That short-lived series only lasted from 1992-2002. But for many Razorback fans, Tennessee is the closest thing now to that other Big Orange program, the one we love to hate down in Austin.
This year, the 11th ranked Razorbacks (8-1) are favored, ESPN College GameDay is headed to town for the first time and Fayetteville is buzzing with excitement.
Unfortunately, the Hogs are a woeful 2-8 against the Vols since entering the SEC. But both of those wins -- as well as one of the losses -- are games that are still vividly remembered by many in the Natural State even today.
Fresh into the Southeastern Conference in 1992, the Razorbacks visited Tennessee with an interim coach (current Alabama defensive coordinator Joe Kines) and a loss to Division I-AA Citadel just a month earlier. There would be only three wins that year, but one of them would be in Knoxville against the #4 Volunteers.
After that, it was a struggle. The Hogs would lose six straight to the Vols, including one of the most devastating losses in school history. With a record of 8-0 and visiting Knoxville in 1998, Razorbacks quarterback Clint Stoerner fumbled late in the fourth quarter and the #1 Volunteers would go on to win the game and to an undefeated national championship season.
Gosh...I remember the "Stoerner Stumble" like it was yesterday. Painful, just painful.
But redemption was sweet. And the Hogs and Stoerner got it in 1999 when he found receiver Anthony Lucas for a late touchdown and a 28-24 win over the #3 Vols.
We tore the goal posts down that sunny day and carried them 1 1/2 miles to the all-night party on Dickson Street. And the names Stoerner and Lucas would go on to live forever as legendary Razorbacks.
But after three more losses, including a 63-20 thumping in 2000 and a six overtime loss the last time these two programs met in 2002, Hog fans have been left hungering for another chance.
Now this year, with a nationally ranked team playing in front of a raucous home crowd, there may not be another opportunity like this one for quite some time.
And so it certainly won't be the burnt orange of Texas out on the field against the Hogs on Saturday night. But for many of the Razorback faithful, it'll pretty much be the next best thing.
Arkansas and Tennessee are no longer permanent opponents in the SEC. That short-lived series only lasted from 1992-2002. But for many Razorback fans, Tennessee is the closest thing now to that other Big Orange program, the one we love to hate down in Austin.
This year, the 11th ranked Razorbacks (8-1) are favored, ESPN College GameDay is headed to town for the first time and Fayetteville is buzzing with excitement.
Unfortunately, the Hogs are a woeful 2-8 against the Vols since entering the SEC. But both of those wins -- as well as one of the losses -- are games that are still vividly remembered by many in the Natural State even today.
Fresh into the Southeastern Conference in 1992, the Razorbacks visited Tennessee with an interim coach (current Alabama defensive coordinator Joe Kines) and a loss to Division I-AA Citadel just a month earlier. There would be only three wins that year, but one of them would be in Knoxville against the #4 Volunteers.
After that, it was a struggle. The Hogs would lose six straight to the Vols, including one of the most devastating losses in school history. With a record of 8-0 and visiting Knoxville in 1998, Razorbacks quarterback Clint Stoerner fumbled late in the fourth quarter and the #1 Volunteers would go on to win the game and to an undefeated national championship season.
Gosh...I remember the "Stoerner Stumble" like it was yesterday. Painful, just painful.
But redemption was sweet. And the Hogs and Stoerner got it in 1999 when he found receiver Anthony Lucas for a late touchdown and a 28-24 win over the #3 Vols.
We tore the goal posts down that sunny day and carried them 1 1/2 miles to the all-night party on Dickson Street. And the names Stoerner and Lucas would go on to live forever as legendary Razorbacks.
But after three more losses, including a 63-20 thumping in 2000 and a six overtime loss the last time these two programs met in 2002, Hog fans have been left hungering for another chance.
Now this year, with a nationally ranked team playing in front of a raucous home crowd, there may not be another opportunity like this one for quite some time.
And so it certainly won't be the burnt orange of Texas out on the field against the Hogs on Saturday night. But for many of the Razorback faithful, it'll pretty much be the next best thing.
posted by NCAA Football at 9:30 AM
2 Comments:
Could someone please find Arkansas a rival? Tennesse is already taken with Alabama, so try to find another team Razorback fans. Maybe Arkansas just can't find a rivalry, because no one really cares about the Arkansas Razorbacks.
When Arkansas plays Tennessee the Razorback fans may get bent out of shape, but the Vols fans don't honestly care and have that passion or hatred built up.
A Razorback fan wants to try to rally that state's team to a National Championship and with the departure of Frank Broyles, the weakest link in the Arkansas program that should've been elimated decades ago, it could happen.
To play it up to being the color orange, goes to show the stupidity of this blogger and that their understanding isn't beyond a 1st Grader.
Tearing down one's own goalpost's is a mark of true Arkansian intelligence that undermines the whole state, but then again that's not an argument you'll hear from an Arkie either. They'd rather talk about being color blind, than having any depth or intelligence.
So in the future, take that sports rage that drives a Razorback fan into assnine behavior and reflect on what jackasses the rest of the college teams see yourselves as.
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