An opportunity to capitalize on a regional rivalry that’s just itching to take off was sitting right there for the SEC commissioner and the conference schedule makers.
Fayetteville, Arkansas, is roughly 3 hours and 45 minutes away from Norman, Oklahoma. Arkansas is the closest SEC school to the Sooners by two hours. Arkansas‘ next closest matchup is the Missouri Tigers, a little more than an hour further from Norman.
Additionally, Fayetteville is just over two hours from Tulsa. Given its proximity to the border, the home of the Hogs is a stone’s throw from the Sooner State.
Managing to figure out an eight-game conference schedule with 16 SEC teams is no easy task. Yet, the simplest answer for the conference would have been to have Oklahoma and Arkansas meet in Fayetteville instead of the programs traveling to Auburn, Alabama, or Oxford, Mississippi.
Despite their proximity, the Sooners and the Razorbacks have met on the gridiron on only 15 occasions. The last was a 10-3 win for the Sooners in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2001 season. The last time the Razorbacks made the trip to Norman was back in 1926. Oklahoma hasn’t made the jaunt east to Fayetteville since 1919.
It’s a game that would generate a ton of local buzz for both states and provide a boon to the local economies. With the Sooners moving to the SEC and the future of Bedlam in doubt, a regional matchup like Oklahoma-Arkansas could be a rivalry in the making.
The Sooners and the Razorbacks will get their date to host one another down the road. However, the SEC should have broken the seal on the border war in 2024. Especially given the recent game between Arkansas and Texas. Sure, they’re old Southwest Conference rivals, but there’s no reason Oklahoma and Arkansas can’t create something similar. With the close proximity and the overlapping nature of the fan bases, the SEC had a chance to create a game on the conference schedule that just means more.
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