Exciting news: the all-knowing folks at ESPN have crunched the numbers and have scientifically determined that the Arkansas Razorbacks are the 19th best college football program ever. Yes, we'll be the first to admit that such things are essentially meaningless, but we're also happy to report anything not related to the basketball team at this point.
How did they come up with such a ranking you may ask? Their complete methodology is here, but the gist of it is that they devised a complex system assigning (or removing) points based on things like national championships, final rankings, number of all-Americans, time spent on probation, etc. (We're assuming that recent bowl history wasn't too crucial a factor, otherwise the Hogs certainly wouldn't have cracked anyone's top 20.)
In their breakdown of the Razorbacks, they give credit for the program's success in the 1950's and 60's and also point out that we still haven't won the SEC Championship yet (ouch). They also note that Arkansas had a string of non-losing seasons that lasted from 1968 to 1989...longer than any such streak by LSU (in other words: suck it, Tigers).
Of course, you're probably wondering where the other SEC schools are, right? Here's a quick rundown of the relevant competition (be sure to click here to start reading the full list):
#1: Oklahoma
#6: Alabama
#7: Texas
#12: Tennessee
#13: LSU
#14: Georgia
#15: Florida
#21: Auburn
#24: Ole Miss
In other words, completely indisputable, totally accurate and utterly scientific proof that the Hogs are on a higher overall level than Auburn and Ole Miss, and not far behind Tennessee, LSU, Georgia and Florida. The numbers don't lie, folks.