Hogs to play LSU in Fayetteville
by February 17, 2012 11:06 am 80 views
Arkansas will play Rutgers in a home-and-home non-conference football series set to begin on Sept. 22, 2012 at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, according to a press release issued Friday (Feb. 17) by the University of Arkansas Athletic Public Relations Office. (See schedule box at end of story.)
The two-year series will see the Razorbacks travel to Piscataway, N.J. to play the Scarlet Knights on Sept. 21, 2013. The series will mark the first time Arkansas and Rutgers have met on the football field.
“We are pleased to add a quality non-conference opponent like Rutgers to our 2012 football schedule,” Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long said in the statement. “The additions of Texas A&M and Missouri and the delay in the release of the conference schedule posed some specific scheduling challenges for the 2012 season. We know that many other events around the state are contingent on the Razorback football schedule and we appreciate the patience of our fans as we worked through this process. In the end, we believe we have put together a competitive 2012 schedule for our nationally ranked football program and some exciting games for Razorback fans.”
Arkansas’ 2012 schedule features eight in-state games. In addition to the Rutgers game, Arkansas will host Jacksonville State (Sept. 1), Alabama (Sept. 15), Kentucky (Oct.13), Tulsa (Nov. 3) and LSU (Nov. 24) at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. LSU will return to Fayetteville for the second time after playing the Razorbacks on campus in Arkansas’ first SEC season (1992). The Arkansas-LSU game is expected to be moved to Friday (23rd) when preliminary television selections are made later this month.
“Playing the LSU game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium directly benefits our program in a number of ways including most importantly providing an additional 20,000 Razorback fans an opportunity to cheer on our team and in this great rivalry game,” Long said. “By re-arranging the rotation and playing the regular season finale in Fayetteville, it will also prevent our team from a competitive disadvantage of traveling three straight weekends in the most crucial part of the season. Playing on campus will also allow our football program the recruiting advantage of hosting prospects for a game that has traditionally carried conference and national implications.”
The Razorbacks will host Louisiana-Monroe (Sept. 8) and Ole Miss (Oct. 27) at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Arkansas has hosted Ole Miss in Little Rock on 15 previous occasions including the first meeting in 1913 and the most recent meeting at War Memorial Stadium in 1992.
Since joining the SEC, Arkansas has played nine of the 11 SEC members (prior to the additions of Texas A&M and Missouri) in Little Rock including Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Only Florida and Georgia have not played at War Memorial Stadium since Arkansas joined the SEC.