You can't have your cake and eat it too.

[factchecker]

You know the difference between Arkansas and schools like Bama, Auburn, LSU, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State and a few others? Those schools SELLOUT their cupcake games!

We do too.... at least against Texas State:

https://twitter.com/ArkRazorbacks/status/776564916387917825

[factchecker]

You know the difference between Arkansas and schools like Bama, Auburn, LSU, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State and a few others? Those schools SELLOUT their cupcake games!

It wasn't too long ago that Michigan was GIVING tickets away for conference games:

[Hawgar The Horrible]

You know the difference between Arkansas and schools like Bama, Auburn, LSU, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State and a few others? Those schools SELLOUT their cupcake games!

Just like Arkansas. Tickets are all sold yet empty seats remain. Challenge me...PLEASE.

[Pig Worshipper]

I would prefer we play Alabama every week for 12 straight weeks with no bye weeks until we win one.

No, in that scenario we would be the Washington Generals.

[Piggfoot]

And your point is?

People are constantly talking about the 64 Arkansas team but they fail to mention almost 1/3 of the players were from Texas. My point is we need to increase our exposure and participation in the State of Texas for recruiting purposes.  We are takers and not givers. We want the Texas athletes but apparently we don't want to play in Texas as we once did, thus makng Texas parents have to travel to all games. I am from Arkansas and I am a fan but honestly if I lived in Texas and was from Texas without any Arkansas ties, and had a son good enough to play D1 ball what arguments does Arkansas use to tempt me to send my son away. I know his mother would want him to go to a school that she would be able to visit often or at least play some games at close schools.

[LRRandy]

since I was curious as to which conference has the best SOS

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2016-11-30

Top 10 SOS
SEC - 3
Big 10 - 3
ACC - 2
PAC - 1
Big 12 - 1

Top 25

SEC - 7
PAC - 7
BIG10 - 6
ACC - 4
BIG 12 - 1

there definitely seems to be more parity developing between conferences, except I don't think the big 12 can be considered a P5 conference anymore.

this helps to make my point. I'm not saying the sec is garbage. I'm saying it's not head and shoulders better than the other top conferences. All things being equal, when it comes to comparing resumes do you want to have a win against Florida A&M or a win against Oklahoma on your resume? Non conference scheduling matters if you want to play for national championships.

[LRRandy]

It wasn't too long ago that Michigan was GIVING tickets away for conference games:

i love that picture. Those were fun times. And yet, just a few short years later they are on the brink of a playoff birth and in the top 10. Amazing what the right coaching hire can do for a program.

[3Scoreand10]

I would prefer we play Alabama every week for 12 straight weeks with no bye weeks until we win one.

That's pretty optimistic on your part.
I mean only 12 games to win one!

[Wildhog]

i love that picture. Those were fun times. And yet, just a few short years later they are on the brink of a playoff birth and in the top 10. Amazing what the right coaching hire can do for a program.

Isn't it?

[PorkSoda]

this helps to make my point. I'm not saying the sec is garbage. I'm saying it's not head and shoulders better than the other top conferences. All things being equal, when it comes to comparing resumes do you want to have a win against Florida A&M or a win against Oklahoma on your resume? Non conference scheduling matters if you want to play for national championships.

I agree, but it is more important for some schools than others.  SEC champ is usually a shoe in, but one good OOC win will solidify the spot.  for non power 5 teams, OOC is very important,  they HAVE to schedule 3-4 strong OOC games or even going undefeated wont get them a shot.

[LRRandy]

I agree, but it is more important for some schools than others.  SEC champ is usually a shoe in, but one good OOC win will solidify the spot.  for non power 5 teams, OOC is very important,  they HAVE to schedule 3-4 strong OOC games or even going undefeated wont get them a shot.

very true

[Pork Twain]

this helps to make my point. I'm not saying the sec is garbage. I'm saying it's not head and shoulders better than the other top conferences. All things being equal, when it comes to comparing resumes do you want to have a win against Florida A&M or a win against Oklahoma on your resume? Non conference scheduling matters if you want to play for national championships.

If you go undefeated in one of the P5, it really does not matter who you played OoC, you are most likely in the playoffs.

[younghog]

Trolls gonna troll...

CLASSIC

[Piggfoot]

Classical Hogville. Take a thread and never directly address it and most often divert the original supposition or question to something entirely different. I'm positive some of you guys are lawyers or even worse than that...politicians. Probably both.

[Pork Twain]

This thread is still surprisingly close to being on the original topic.

[Wildhog]

I just want to talk about cake.

[PonderinHog]

I just want to talk about cake.

Edibles, mmmmmmmm.   

[LZH]

Catfish, cake, man we have it going on today.

[hawgfan4life]

We play one of the toughest schedules every year and fans want us to add to it with a bunch of tough non conference games.  Look at what playing in the SEC West does to good teams.  Ole Miss was playing at a high level and finished not even making a bowl game.  A&M starts out like a playoff contender every year and gets ground up in their schedule.  ETC...

Scheduling MI was dumb.  We don't need to play a top ten team out of conference.  Start the season with respect and a top 20 ranking and win the SEC games will get you in the playoffs.  We don't need to play the weakest team out there, but we darn well should be playing teams we will beat.

[hogsanity]

We play one of the toughest schedules every year and fans want us to add to it with a bunch of tough non conference games.  Look at what playing in the SEC West does to good teams.  Ole Miss was playing at a high level and finished not even making a bowl game.  A&M starts out like a playoff contender every year and gets ground up in their schedule.  ETC...

Scheduling MI was dumb.  We don't need to play a top ten team out of conference.  Start the season with respect and a top 20 ranking and win the SEC games will get you in the playoffs.  We don't need to play the weakest team out there, but we darn well should be playing teams we will beat.

look what the argument always is on this, Those who want these games always say stuff like " I don't want to watch those cupcake games " or something similar. They are the same ones who would whine about going 11-1 if all the games were 14-10 or 10-7 scores.

[Jim Harris]

We play one of the toughest schedules every year and fans want us to add to it with a bunch of tough non conference games.  Look at what playing in the SEC West does to good teams.  Ole Miss was playing at a high level and finished not even making a bowl game.  A&M starts out like a playoff contender every year and gets ground up in their schedule.  ETC...

Scheduling MI was dumb.  We don't need to play a top ten team out of conference.  Start the season with respect and a top 20 ranking and win the SEC games will get you in the playoffs.  We don't need to play the weakest team out there, but we darn well should be playing teams we will beat.

Arkansas should start with a Big Ten team like Minnesota or Illinois and beat them first before thinking about Michigan.

[Biggus Piggus]

Arkansas should start with a Big Ten team like Minnesota or Illinois and beat them first before thinking about Michigan.

Scheduling Michigan was not dumb a few years ago.

[The Hawg Marshal]

I have no problem with the schedule.

[Jim Harris]

Scheduling Michigan was not dumb a few years ago.

fortunes change fast. Scheduling USC in 2000 to play them in 05-06 didn't seem dumb either. Southern Cal made Nutt's teams look like what Rice was in the late 60s, 70s and 80s. USC 120, Ark 31 combined over those years. I'll never forget listening to the USC post-game call in show in 2005 after 70-17 and Hoop Hog calling in to it and trying to explain that this wasn't really what Arkansas football was about.

[jkstock04]

We play one of the toughest schedules every year and fans want us to add to it with a bunch of tough non conference games.  Look at what playing in the SEC West does to good teams.  Ole Miss was playing at a high level and finished not even making a bowl game.  A&M starts out like a playoff contender every year and gets ground up in their schedule.  ETC...

Scheduling MI was dumb.  We don't need to play a top ten team out of conference.  Start the season with respect and a top 20 ranking and win the SEC games will get you in the playoffs.  We don't need to play the weakest team out there, but we darn well should be playing teams we will beat.

Is Alabama dumb?

[Biggus Piggus]

Is Alabama dumb?

Alabama's 2017 schedule includes Florida State (neutral site), Fresno State, Colorado State and Mercer.

[jkstock04]

Alabama's 2017 schedule includes Florida State (neutral site), Fresno State, Colorado State and Mercer.

Seems like they always play a ringer to start the year off in the opening week.

People want to talk about getting the brand out there...that's for sure one way to do it.

[factchecker]

Seems like they always play a ringer to start the year off in the opening week.

People want to talk about getting the brand out there...that's for sure one way to do it.

Who knows where on the schedule the Michigan game would have been.  There is an upside and downside to playing a big time opponent week one. 

Upside- eyes on your program during one of the biggest weeks of the season, good way to gauge team's ability

Downside- could be an embarrassing loss (see USC in 2006)

I think what we are doing with TCU is a good option.  Week 2 usually has less marquee games to compete with.  People tend to forget that TCU was a favorite to win the Big12 before the season.  It was a marquee match-up between 2 former SWC opponents.  It would be cool to schedule a week 2 game against Baylor or Texas in the future.

[sowmonella]

Alabama's 2017 schedule includes Florida State (neutral site), Fresno State, Colorado State and Mercer.

Mercer is going to be loaded next year.

[GoHogs1091]

Is Alabama dumb?

Florida State will have the talent to be able to win against Alabama.

The question will be whether Florida State will have the coaching to be able to win against Alabama.

It should be a good game, but Florida State will need to get better overall coaching other than Fisher's coaching, and Florida State will need to get better on the lines-of-scrimmage.  If they get those two aspects like they need to be, then they could hand Alabama a 2nd loss in-a-row.

[SpaCityHawg]

What good is cake, if you can't eat it?  :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:

[Biggus Piggus]

What good is cake, if you can't eat it?  :razorback: :razorback: :razorback:

You can't have it after you eat it.

[HamSammich]

We are playing New Mex St, Coastal Carolina, and Florida A&M  for purely selfish reasons. Our ticket buying fans demand more home games.
Do playing these teams help our effort? Maybe. They do possibly add three wins getting us half way to six and bowl qualification. But they have no positive effect on team building through recruiting.
I would support one rent-a- win but not three.
We need to continue our series with TCU and replace two of the rent-a-wins with home and home games with a Florida team and another Texas team.

This is a futile post man. The sheep are going to come out and smother you.

[Hoggish1]

Eventually we will play 9 conference games.  When that happens, you'll have two weak opponents, one tough out of conference and a 9 game meat grinder. 

You are right.  But to truly get a breat we need to have those three games fall in the beginning, middle and late in the year as they do for Bama Auburn, Florida and the rest of the good ole boy teams...

[Pig Worshipper]

You can't have it after you eat it.

Well, if you have GERD you can have your cake and eat it too.

[Jonteviosk]

Michigan having the audacity to cancel on us lol. They should be greatful that we scheduled them being an SEC team would have looked good for their SOS instead of the lesser teams they schedule. Wouldn't expect anything else from a Joke 10 team though. Unless your SEC or ACC then your irrelevant.

[Inhogswetrust]

Proof that the Razorback Athletic Department can control the average fan's bank account.

More proof you don't have a clue. Fans control their own bank accounts. It is all their choice just like any "purchase" they make. They can spend as much as they want on athletics or not spend any at all. Either way it is the fans choice as to how much or not. Nobody at the Athletic department has a signature on your bank account and can withdraw funds out of it.

[HoggyCat]

We'd still be loading up on the subdivision teams with or without Michigan. There's ZERO reason to play an FCS team.

Bielema needs all the easy wins he can get. Especially in '17, which in his words we were "gonna be really, really good".

[HoggyCat]

Just like Arkansas. Tickets are all sold yet empty seats remain. Challenge me...PLEASE.

The empties are the ones from fans that bought tickets early just knowing Bielema would all of sudden not be.... well, Bielema. Once they realize he's always gonna a 6 or 7 win coach here every year, they don't show up. But then he'll give a hoorah presser, the presstitute media will bite and swallow the hook, then it all starts over again. By week 5 or 6 this fall, it'll be right back to the usual.

[EastexHawg]

We play one of the toughest schedules every year and fans want us to add to it with a bunch of tough non conference games.  Look at what playing in the SEC West does to good teams.  Ole Miss was playing at a high level and finished not even making a bowl game.  A&M starts out like a playoff contender every year and gets ground up in their schedule.  ETC...

Both of those teams were incredibly overrated.  A&M is overrated every year.  It's always the same story.  They beat us and the "they are one of the best teams in the country, maybe better than Alabama" talk starts on this board.  Then they play the better teams on their schedule and are exposed.  Since Johnny Manziel's breakout year in 2012 they are 15-17 in conference, meaning they are 11-17 against everyone not named Arkansas.

Ole Miss got stomped by Vanderbilt and humiliated by Mississippi State. 

[elviscat]

These are called rent a win, sometimes they bite you in the butt. This just increases the won- lost numbers.

[OutlawHawg]

Pretty sure Bret will find a way to have his cake eat it too maybe even eat someone else's cake.

[Hollywood870]

We'll need every "precious" win we can get next year.

[NotSoFastMyFriend]

Let's just play Arkansas State in LR and Memphis in the Liberty Bowl and then everyone wins, amirite?

But seriously, first things first stop playing A&M in Dallas.

Second - I would do a home and home with La. Tech if I were Arkansas just to recruit those fertile grounds. Game would be interesting too. They are no creampuff but they aren't Michigan either.

Or maybe let's see the Hogs play K-State at Arrowhead in 2018.

How about Illinois in the dome in St. Louis the next year?

Northwestern at Soldier Field in 2020?

There are plenty of lesser programs out there that, while they could beat the Hogs, they could make for interesting games in interesting spots that you could sell to potential recruits. Walk in the home of a recruit: "Hey, we're playing at Soldier field next year. How would you like to walk down the tunnel with us?" and everything else that goes into the recruiting pitch.

I agree with the get rid of cupcakes crowd as long as the Hogs keep one. I will say, however, that the cupcake the Hogs keep should be a lower-tier FBS and not an FCS school. They may ask for more money but the cost can be recouped on tickets and possibly more exposure (better TV slots) as well as a better game for a recruiting visit.

There are tons of UTEPs and ULLs and ULMs out there that are just like Morgan Freeman in the movie Hard Rain:

[Hogwild]

Arkansas should start with a Big Ten team like Minnesota or Illinois and beat them first before thinking about Michigan.

that didn't work out so well when we scheduled Rutgers