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Arkansas and SMU are set to renew an old Southwest Conference rivalry tonight in Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas, who owns the nation's 11th longest home win streak at 16 games, is a mere four point favorite over Larry Brown's squad. Offensively, the Mustangs like to get up and down the floor just as Arkansas does, and also preach balanced basketball (nine players average six or more points). All of your SMU game notes and info to get learned up for the game are here, courtesy of SMU.
The doors to the new $40 million Fred W. Smith Center were open to the public over the weekend, drawing fans of all ages from all over to check out the new 40,000 square foot football facility. I must say, each time I walk in the facility for press conferences I'm impressed. Youngsters were impressed with the life-size mannequins modeling the uniforms in the lobby (like I was), while others were sold on the modern look and fanciness of the center. All-in-all, the feedback from fans was very positive.
Remember at the beginning of the year when Alex Collins ran for 100+ yards in his first three games and people started comparing Collins to Darren McFadden? Yeah, well that conversation is back because we were bored during the bye week and needed something to talk about other than the secondary and quarterback issues. Collins, who leads all freshmen backs in rushing, is less than 200 yards from breaking DMAC's freshman rushing record. For real. Collins is the real deal, but I still don't want to start comparing the two. I mean... DMAC is.... DMAC, for Christ sakes.
I know lots of people are ticked that kickoff in Little Rock this weekend is at 11:21 in the morning, canceling out a lot of the tailgating activities on the golf course (WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US SEC THE GOLF COURSE IS SO FUN). As silly as it may sound, I became certain I wanted to attend the U of A after spending the day on the golf course tailgating (and touring the campus the week before) and watching the Hogs in front of a sold out crowd my senior year of high school. Tailgating is big for lots of fans, even in places you wouldn't expect. Check out a USA Today writer's tailgating rankings by state. ASU fans may get a kick out of this.