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UA schedule difficult without UT Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - The just-announced 10-year series between Arkansas and Texas A&M is a downer in only one way. Officially adding the Aggies in 2009 means Arkansas is one over the 12-game limit and it is assumed that Texas is the opponent that will disappear. In two years, the Longhorns' Colt McCoy will be a senior and covering the Razorbacks in '09 was going to provide a Heisman Trophy voter with a personal measuring stick for three of the best quarterbacks in the country. That year, Florida's Tim Tebow, who already has a Heisman socked away, will be a senior, same as Georgia's Matthew Stafford, and both should still be around since neither is a surefire NFL quarterback. In '09, Arkansas plays the Gators in Gainesville and the Bulldogs in Fayetteville. Tebow won the bronze because he threw for 29 touchdowns and ran for 22 and the total of 51 was better than that of 87 Division I-A teams. By 2009, Stafford could be ahead of Tebow in the most important category of all - victories. Stafford was an efficient 14-of-23 in the Sugar Bowl as Georgia completed an 11-2 season with a rout of Hawaii. Florida was 9-4 this year, Tebow's first as the starter. In January, Sports Illustrated's absurdly early look at the Top 10 of 2008, had Georgia No. 1 and Florida No. 4. With those two opponents from the Eastern Division of the SEC, plus A&M and Texas, Arkansas' 2009 schedule was going to be the most difficult in school history. Considering the expectations and talent at Gainesville, Athens and College Station, it still might be. With Texas, Tebow and the Western Division of the SEC, 2008 will be right up there. Looking back through Arkansas' football media guide, NR is the common denominator for non-conference opponents. Those two letters denote "not ranked," and not once in the past 50 years have the Razorbacks played two ranked non-conference opponents in one year. With both Texas and A&M on the schedule, that was going to change. When Frank Broyles arrived at Arkansas in 1958, Ole Miss was the non-conference headliner for four years and the Rebels were ranked Nos. 6, 4, 2, and 9 at kickoff. The Rebels won all four and disappeared from the schedule. From 1962 through 1969, Arkansas did not play a non-conference team that was ranked at the time. Then, Broyles went West. Stanford was No. 10 in 1970 and USC was in the Top 10 for three straight years, but the other non-conference opponents were always unranked. Maybe, that was a prerequisite. Throughout Lou Holtz's regime, Arkansas played two ranked non-conference teams during the regular season - No. 15 Oklahoma State in 1977 and No. 11 Tulsa in 1979. The Razorbacks won by 22 and 25. Ken Hatfield also had a three-year breather before losing badly to No. 5 Miami in 1987 and losing barely to No. 3 Miami in 1988. There was another Miami rout in 1991, but the Razorbacks joined the SEC the following year and the non-conference schedule was mostly SMU and some forgettable others. Houston Nutt went through a long series of unranked opponents before beating No. 5 Texas 38-28 in 2003 and losing to the seventh-ranked Horns in 2004. USC exposed the Razorbacks in 2005 and 2006, and the 2007 scheduled included the cupcake limit of four. It is intriguing that after a fling in the NFL, both Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino and A&M coach Mike Sherman will be in their second year when the series begins on Oct. 3, 2009. Publicly, Petrino nailed the pluses of the Arkansas-A&M series, including a mention of the Razorbacks' fan base in Texas, and recruiting. The series, Petrino said, "will ... allow us to tell prospective student-athletes that when they come to the University of Arkansas, they will have an opportunity to play each year in the best National Football League venue in the nation." Privately, he might whisper a "thank you" when the Longhorns' exit becomes official. ---- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
