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The last weekend of the regular season had very little drama, and that meant the bowl selection process went smoothly as well as far as Jeff Long is concerned.
The Hogs will take on Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl and there has been plenty of reaction to the decision already. First, learn a little more about the Wildcats. It's almost impossible to have a more streaky season than Kansas State's had. After starting 3-0, they nearly knocked off Oklahoma State and TCU but fell short. That started a six game losing streak that put them at 3-6, but won their final three games to end at .500. The Wildcats have also struggled in both passing and defending the pass this season, which doesn't bode well for this matchup.
If this game doesn't interest you enough (hey now Hog fans, if you paid attention to UT-Martin, you can certainly pay attention to this!) then you're in luck because there are 37 bowl games between now and the Liberty Bowl, which is a perfectly reasonable amount. Over at the mothership, SB Nation has a handy dandy schedule for all the bowl games, complete with predictions.
If you're deciding which games to watch, you're in luck! They also have ranked all the games based on their watchability, the ranking for the Liberty Bowl is, um, not great. They have it as the 32nd most exciting game, and in the bottom three of both evenness and excitement.
If you're a fan of banter, then goemaw.com is the place for you this December, a Kansas State message board known for not taking anything seriously. But if just reading is your thing than just checking out the preview at Bring On The Cats will also work. Their "Meet the Razorbacks" piece recaps the Hogs' season and the upcoming matchup. What should encourage Arkansas fans the most is the line, "Kansas State and its throwing-challenged quarterbacks." Especially those who were praying to avoid a spread team in the bowl matchup.
One of the top stories popping off the page in this game is the relationship Bret Bielema and Bill Snyder have. In Snyder's many many MANY years of coaching, he has had a lot of assistants, including Bielema, who was a co-defensive coordinator in 2002 and 2003. Both of those seasons the Wildcats had a top-10 defense nationally. The two still have a nice relationship, making jokes with each other in a conference call shortly after the announcement of the game.