Arkansas Coach Would Prefer Razorbacks' Home Game Be In Fayetteville

No. 16 Arkansas is 3-0 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville this season, including a 40-21 upset of No. 15 Texas on Sept. 11.

The Razorbacks "host" No. 7 Texas A&M (3-0) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on CBS, but the game will be at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys and 350 miles from Fayetteville.

That is part of a contract that Cowboys owner and mega Arkansas financial supporter Jerry Jones, a former Razorbacks player, arranged more than a decade ago. The contract has the Hogs and Aggies playing in Arlington every season through 2024.

The game last season, though, was moved to Texas A&M's Kyle Field because of scheduling changes due to COVID-19, and the Aggies won their ninth straight, 42-31.

Most are excited about the matchup this year, but many Razorbacks aren't thrilled with the venue.

"I don't feel great about it, to be honest with you," Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said Monday. "I get the situation. I understand last year, but going over there and then going neutral? But we're in a contract."

A boisterous crowd of 74,531 at Razorback Stadium helped Arkansas beat Texas. Fans stormed the field, and the goal posts came down. The Razorbacks beat Georgia Southern, 45-10, on Saturday after winning their home opener, 38-17, over Rice.

"I believe that if we're in this stadium, we're hard to beat because of our fans," Pittman said. "I feel very confident we can go in and play well at Dallas Cowboy Stadium. I do. But would I rather have them in here? Yes."

Arkansas' last win over the Aggies was 42-38 in 2011 in Arlington.

"They're ranked seventh for a reason," said Pittman, who was 3-7 in his first season as with Arkansas last year. "But we'll do our best to get prepared and go down there and see what happens."

The three games before last season were each decided by a touchdown or less, including a 24-17 win by the Aggies in A&M coach Jimbo Fisher's first season in 2018. Three games from 2014-17 featured overtime with the Aggies winning 50-43 in 2017, 28-21 in 2015 and 35-28 in 2014.

"We've had some battles," Fisher said. "There have been some great games come down to the wire. This game's a rivalry game, and they do a great job of getting up for it. This Arkansas team is playing very well. It is a very seasoned team. I mean, very seasoned. We're definitely going to have our hands full."

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Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.