Arkansas was brand new to the SEC in 1992 and the Hogs’ start was, well, inauspicious.
The Citadel, a Division I-AA team, came into Fayetteville for the first game of the season and knocked off Arkansas, 10-3. The Razorbacks would ultimately win just three games that season, leading to the introduction of Danny Ford as coach in 1993 and a measure of stability in the years that followed.
The year 2023 is not the year 1992, though the Hogs will host another Southern Conference team with an upset on its mind to kick off the season. Western Carolina, a team better than The Citadel for most of the last 30-plus years, will enter War Memorial Stadium at noon on Saturday hoping to duplicate their conference mate’s outcome those 31 years ago.
The odds are long. The Catamounts were picked to finish fifth in the SoCon in 2023. And the league isn’t exactly a powerhouse of FCS. They’re a team that hasn’t even made the FCS playoffs since 1983.
That matters little to Arkansas faithful, esepcially those who were old enough to have lived through that game against The Citadel. Nothing is guaranteed.
But Saturday has to feel practically such. A healthy KJ Jefferson at quarterback, Rocket Sanders at tailback and plenty of experience on the offensive and defensive lines should be more than enough to keep the 2023 Razorbacks from suffering the same fate as the 1992 Razorbacks.
Of course, it’s Little Rock, though. Anything can happen.
Just don’t bet on it.