FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said he does not like the idea of the Razorbacks losing LSU as their seasonending football opponent, a move which appears to be in the works.
Officials from LSU are pushing to play their annual game against Texas A&M on the Thanksgiving weekend, which would replace the playing date Arkansas has shared with LSU since joining the SEC in 1992.
Long, speaking at the annual Razorback Golf Scramble at Paradise Valley Athletic Club on Thursday, said he has not spoken with any SEC officials about changing the Arkansas-LSU playing date.
“To my knowledge, it has not happened,” Long said. “To me, our LSU game at the end of the year is one of the traditions, of very few, that we’ve established since coming into the SEC.
“That’s something that, playing them at the end of the season, is a tradition that we would like to hold on to. I’m not aware of any plans at the conference level to change that.”
The SEC office has the final say on the playing dates of conference games, and Larry Templeton, the SEC’s special consultant for scheduling, said nothing has been set.
“We’re in all kind of conversations with our TV partners, but no decisions have been made and no decisions will be made until those institutions have the ability to give us some input,” Templeton said recently at SEC media days.
LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva said this summer he expected the Tigers to begin playing Texas A&M in the season finale as early as 2014.
“Arkansas will be in the middle somewhere,” Alleva told The Advocate of Baton Rouge.
LSU Coach Les Miles, asked specifically about his preference for a season-ending opponent at SEC media days, straddled the fence.
“Arkansas certainly has been a very, very competitive game for us the back end of the season,” he said. “Recognize that Texas A&M and LSU have a great history, several years.
“But I think the reality of a season that plays in the Western Conference of the SEC, there’s plenty of rivals to go around. ... I don’t know how we could play both Arkansas and Texas A&M on the same weekend, so ...”
Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin, who is new to the league and in his first year as Aggies head coach, did not state a preference for when he’d like to play LSU.
“We’ll see,” he said. “I think just from a proximity standpoint, a neighboring state, the things that go on in recruiting, the people that know each other, certainly that will be an extremely important game and could replace a game as a big-time rivalry game.”
Arkansas will pick up Missouri as its permanent rival from the SEC East in 2013, with the site of that first game not yet determined.
Long said he is aware of speculation that the Arkansas-Missouri game might make for a good neutral-site rivalry, but he hasn’t discussed it with Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden.
“Just off the top of my head, I don’t see how that would be beneficial to Arkansas,” Long said.
Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson was asked about the Arkansas-Missouri series at SEC media days.
“I think it potentially could be a pretty good rivalry,” Wilson said. “Now we talked about the Battle of the Boot with LSU. ... I’m not sure if LSU really feels the same way we do about it. But I think there could be a rivalry there in the future with Missouri.”
Arkansas has an 8-12 record against LSU since joining the SEC, including a 2-2 mark under Coach Bobby Petrino the past four seasons.
Sports, Pages 21 on 07/27/2012