Pigskin Picture: It’s Time to Move Out of Jerry’s House

We could spend the Sunday after another loss rehashing a lot of the same storylines that have been talked about or will be talked about for the rest of the season.

About how the offense cannot get anything going for sustainable periods of time.

How a few difference makers on defense have consistently made plays only to be let down by the other phases of the game.

How it’s just such a great moral victory after they looked so bad but are now putting in enough effort to now only lose by single digits but somehow still listen to a coaching staff go on about how “best is the standard”.

How the coaching staff talked all week about how they were going to do all they could to fix a broken special teams unit and THEN GIVE UP A KICK RETURN FOR A TOUCHDOWN ON THE OPENING PLAY OF THE DANG GAME.

No, because all of that will be talked about ad nauseam, let’s talk instead about how this neutral site game has gotten so stale to the point both fan bases just want it back on campus. Last year was the lowest attended Southwest Classic, until this one cruised in at a smooth 9,000 lower than that.

When the series was first started, the two teams were in separate conferences and AT&T Stadium was shiny and new and a fully operational Death Star. It was new, it was unknown, and it was an event even though ticket prices were insane.

Now the ticket prices are still insane, AT&T Stadium no longer feels new or exciting no matter how many times Jerry walks in with his blazer and gives the camera the ol’ finger gun and wink. Really the biggest draw for Arkansas fans at this point is an excuse to get away from that godforsaken motorcycle rally in Fayetteville.

Then there’s the issue of it taking away a conference home game every other year. The athletic department has also decided that it’s a good idea to put the Missouri game in Little Rock, the same year Arkansas only gets three conference home games due to this matchup. That means in 2019, and every odd year this deal continues, Fayetteville gets two SEC games on campus. Next year’s Fayetteville slate will be Portland State, Colorado State, San Jose State, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Western Kentucky. After potentially a 2-win season, good luck selling season tickets for that. Having Texas A&M at home doesn’t solve all of that, but it makes it a whole lot better.

So what was initially a good and fun event has overstayed it’s welcome. Having only 55,000 in that mausoleum of excess shows that both fan bases are ready for this to move to campus sites. When this current contract is over it needs to die. It’s nothing unusual for college football, fan bases across the country are calling for neutral site games to be put on campus. Arkansas and Texas A&M is no different. Please put this matchup on campus.