MISSOURI AT ARKANSAS

Arkansas, Missouri make push on ‘new’ rivalry

Arkansas linebacker Brooks Ellis tackles Missouri running back Marcus Murphy during a game Friday, Nov. 28, 2014, at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo.
Arkansas linebacker Brooks Ellis tackles Missouri running back Marcus Murphy during a game Friday, Nov. 28, 2014, at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo.

FAYETTEVILLE -- It's rivalry week in the SEC, and in the northwest corner of the league's "footprint" Arkansas will host Missouri at 1:30 p.m. today at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

The teams will play for the first time on the Arkansas campus, one year after playing in Columbia, Mo., for the first time since 1906.

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Missouri at Arkansas

WHEN 1:30 p.m.

WHERE Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville

RECORDS Missouri 5-6, 1-6 SEC; Arkansas 6-5, 4-3

BETTING LINE Arkansas by 14

COACHES Gary Pinkel (118-72 in 10th year at Missouri, 191-109-3 in 25th year overall); Bret Bielema (16-20 in third year at Arkansas, 84-44 in 10th year overall)

SERIES Missouri leads 4-2.

TELEVISION CBS

RADIO Razorbacks Sports Network, including KABZ-FM103.7, in Little Rock; and KQSM-FM, 92.1, KEZA-FM, 107.9, KUOA-AM, 1290 and KUOA-FM, 105.3, in Fayetteville. Sirius 93, XM 190

Rivalry Week

• The SEC’s 14 teams are all engaged in rivalry games this weekend, starting with today’s Missouri at Arkansas game, the first between the teams in Fayetteville and the first with the Battle Line trophy at stake. Here are the weekend’s games, in order of years played:

RIVALS;FIRST GAME;YEARS PLAYED;SERIES EDGE;NAME/TROPHY

Clemson-South Carolina;1896;112;CU 66-42-4;Palmetto Bowl

Mississippi State-Ole Miss;1901;111;UM 62-43-6;Egg Bowl/Golden Egg

Georgia-Georgia Tech;1893;109;UGA 64-40-5;Clean, Old Fashioned Hate

Tennessee-Vanderbilt;1892;109;UT 74-30-5;None

Alabama-Auburn;1893;79;Bama 43-35-1;Iron Bowl

Florida-Florida State;1958;59;UF 34-23-2;Florida Cup

LSU-Texas A&M;1899;53;LSU 30-20-3;None

Kentucky-Louisville;1912;27;UK 14-13;Governor’s Cup

Arkansas-Missouri;1906;MU 4-2;Battle Line

As SEC rivalries go -- stacked against the likes of the Egg Bowl, the Iron Bowl and the 112-game series between Clemson and South Carolina in the Palmetto State -- the Arkansas-Missouri series, with six games in the books, is in its infant stages.

Maybe a rivalry tag is stretching it, but there is a shiny new trophy at stake, the 180-pound silver Battle Line trophy designed by former Arkansas linebacker David Bazzel. Bazzel also was the man behind for the creation of The Boot, the 170-pound gold-plated trophy that goes to the winner of the Arkansas-LSU game.

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema, whose Razorbacks retained The Boot with a 31-14 victory at LSU two weeks ago, was asked if the Missouri series could properly be called a rivalry.

"We'll make it that way," he said. "We do all right in trophy games."

Outgoing Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel, whose Tigers joined the SEC in 2012, won the first Battle Line game last year, 21-14, with a fourth-quarter comeback to clinch their second consecutive SEC East crown.

"I think this rivalry is going to become really, really big," said Pinkel, who is retiring after 25 years as a head coach because of health reasons. "I don't think there's any question about that. They're adjacent to us, just south, southwest of us. It's going to be a great, great rivalry."

The two campuses, separated by 308 miles, are the closest geographically to the other in the conference.

But because the Tigers were placed in the Eastern Division of the SEC, and perhaps because the Razorbacks have just come off an exhilarating run of games against SEC West rivals Texas A&M, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, LSU and Mississippi State, there is a different feel going into today's meeting. The Razorbacks and Tigers are the only cross-divisional game in the SEC this weekend.

"I guess it's a rivalry," Arkansas tight end Hunter Henry said. "I don't know. I guess people kind of growing up and the fans and people from the outside world kind of make it into a rivalry too.

"We're close and we're bordered together. I think it's slowly developing into a rivalry."

Arkansas defensive tackle DeMarcus Hodge said last year's loss to the Tigers, combined with last week's 51-50 loss to Mississippi State, should be all the motivation Arkansas needs for today's game.

"We're trying obviously to earn some respect from the rest of the conference and them," Hodge said. "So really we need to get back and do what we need to do to get this win.

"Not just to make up for last week, but to try to make up for last year as well."

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen admitted its tough to talk about turning a new series into a rivalry.

"You start playing, saying it's a rivalry game, but I think with time and more games played, you go back and forth a bunch of different times, I think it will turn into a really good one," Allen said. "Any time you lose to a team and you get a chance to play them again the next year, there's always kind of a grudge match. ... This is our shot at redemption against them."

Missouri center Evan Boehm took a simple approach to the Tigers' first SEC meeting with the Hogs: "If the SEC calls you a rival, you've got to be a rival."

At least now the teams have one competitive game as SEC rivals.

Last season Arkansas took a 14-6 lead into halftime behind Jonathan Williams, who caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Allen in the first quarter and finished with a team-leading 72 yards, but the Razorbacks couldn't hold on in the second half as the offense stalled with Allen nursing a strained oblique muscle in his right side.

The Tigers scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to pull out a 21-14 victory.

"Shoot, we figured out a way not to finish," Arkansas defensive backs coach Clay Jennings said. "They had a good team last year, and they've got a good team this year."

Arkansas tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr., who knows about new beginnings as a quarterback during the Razorbacks' first four years in the SEC in the early 1990s, said the Missouri series has the feel of a burgeoning rivalry.

"I tell you, it had a great feel last year," Lunney said. "The environment, the crowd, what was at stake and all that.

"That's how you develop a rivalry game, when both teams or at least one team's got something they're playing for that's at stake, and there's a lot at stake this Saturday. They're playing for bowl eligibility and Coach Pinkel, and we're playing to strengthen our postseason opportunities and our SEC finish and all those things."

Arkansas center Mitch Smothers said he could sense the Tigers were playing for the SEC East title last year.

" I could tell their fans took a lot of pride in playing Arkansas and being in the SEC," Smothers said. "I think it's a rivalry that's only going to continue to grow the next few years."

The Tigers are 5-6 heading into today's matchup and need the victory to secure bowl eligibility. A victory also would likely secure more practice time with their popular coach, Pinkel.

"If we win at Arkansas, more than likely we're getting to a bowl game," Missouri quarterback Drew Lock said "No matter what, we want to finish on a win."

Bielema said ongoing recruiting battles with Missouri should heighten the rivalry.

"Obviously the storyline of [Coach Pinkel] and everything he's going through right now takes precedence, as it should," Bielema said. "We recruit against Missouri quite a bit, to be quite honest. Of all the schools in the East -- obviously in Florida we're against Florida a bit -- I would say everything in Texas, St. Louis, Kansas City and Louisiana even, even here in Arkansas, we go against Missouri quite a bit.

"We both look for the same type players. Kids that do things right. Kids that are project-type kids that are developmental players that do well in our programs. I always consider it a badge of honor when we go into a recruiting battle with them and we're able to have some success."

The Razorbacks didn't enjoy success in last year's matchup, but a victory today could put another shiny rivalry trophy in the Fred Smith Football Center.

"I hope we can see it a little longer than just a glance," Arkansas offensive line coach Sam Pittman said.

Sports on 11/27/2015

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