Yahoo! Sports Does Not Smear Good Name of John L Smith Era In SEC Bombshell

Bombs, or whatever metaphor you prefer for brand new bad news, were dropped across the SEC today courtesy of Yahoo! Sports investigative reporter Charles Robinson, which is always a scary proposition.

The full SB Nation write-up can be found here.

The report alleges former Alabama offensive lineman DJ Fluker, Mississippi State players Chad Bumphis and Fletcher Cox, and former Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray - as well as current Vol Maurice Couch were given a total of more than $45,000 by former Alabama defensive end Luther Davis, who was given the money from agents.

But fear not, Arkansas fans. The John L Smith era's good name has not been included in these allegations of impropriety.  The Razorbacks' big victories over Auburn, Kentucky, Tulsa and Jacksonville State are not under threat of being vacated.

The record books remain pure, for now.

The good news is that there is now a possibility that the Hogs' 52-0 loss last season could go the way of the 2011 Sugar Bowl (i.e. the loss would stay on the books, but the win would be vacated. Don't worry, we don't think it's supposed to make sense). So we've got that to hope for.

Interestingly, the Razorbacks have quite an impressive roster of games in which the Hogs lost but the win was later vacated and/or forfeited, including another candidate for worst loss in program history: the 2005 USC game.

Here's the full list since joining the SEC, according to the Arkansas football media guide.

2011 Ohio State (Sugar Bowl)

2007 Alabama

2005 Alabama

2005 USC

1993 Alabama (this was actually a forfeit victory for Arkansas. For some reason, the NCAA rarely forfeits nowadays, choosing to vacate victories instead, so this is the only one of these games Arkansas can technically count as a victory)