Stop Talking About It. Arkansas Isn’t Leaving The SEC

Recently, Arkansas has been given flack about leaving the Southeastern Conference for one where they can win more in football.

Monday, this article was published on another site that stated Arkansas should leave the SEC: https://theathletic.com/2631894/2021/06/07/why-the-sec-hasnt-been-right-for-arkansas-and-why-the-big-12-would-be-better-for-razorbacks-fans-ubben/

Quit talking about it because it’s not going to happen. Why? Because more things matter than football.

Money matters more and the SEC is the highest revenue league in the country. It doesn’t make any sense for Arkansas to leave the riches of their home now only to go somewhere like the Big-12.
The whole reason the GOAT, Frank Broyles brought Arkansas out of the Southwest Conference was to:

A. make more money.

B. get away from Texas.

C. have Arkansas seen on the National scene

Look at the state of the Big-12, when Texas A&M, Missouri, Colorado and Nebraska left for greener pastures it nearly crippled the conference. These teams were all tired of being in the shadows of the Texas Longhorns (much like Arkansas did 20 years earlier).

Leaving the conference makes zero sense and going to the Big-12 will get your zero exposure. Also, why be an also-ran with the Longhorns again like it’s the 60’s, 70s and 80s again?

Winning in the SEC is much more gratifying than going 6-2 every year in the Big-12. It literally means nothing for the team who finishes third in the Big-12 while the team that finishes in the top-three of the SEC West sometimes receives a New Years Six bowl bid.

So, why give any of that up?

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Its been a tough decade for Razorback Football with only three winning seasons since 2011 but things are looking up. However, the Hogs are really good at a lot of other sports.

We can say the SEC doesn’t respect Razorback Athletics (and there may be some truth to that) but they have made the conference proud this spring.

Men’s Basketball: Elite Eight appearance.

Women’s basketball: upsets of Baylor and UConn with a NCAA Tournament appearance.

Softball: won the SEC regular season, hosted regional and super regional

Baseball: Won the regular season and SEC Tournament Championships, the third team to do so (LSU 2012 and Vanderbilt in 2017). Arkansas also received their first overall number one seed in program history. They also won every single series they have played this season including all 10 conference series.

Track and Field: Swept the SEC in both men’s and women’s conference championships.

Soccer: Made another appearance in the SEC Championship game and also made the SEC Tournament.

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When it comes to football though, Arkansas has competed nationally. Even when Bret Bielema served as head coach from 2013-2017 Arkansas still competed and defeated several ranked teams. LSU (twice), Ole Miss (three), Florida, Auburn and TCU.

The Hogs had studs before that helped them to three SEC Championship appearances from 1995-2006. They achieved one BCS Bowl appearance coming one scoop and score on a dropped punt from taking the lead late in the Sugar Bowl in the 2010 season.
Arkansas was in the National Championship picture plenty of times, too. 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2011 were all-time teams that just came up short.
Heck, all the 2011 team needed to do was defeat LSU on the road to go to the National Championship game when the Razorbacks were ranked third in the country. The Tigers were ranked first. Arkansas was on top early 14-0 before the Tigers stormed back to win.

For the first 19 seasons in the SEC, the Arkansas Razorbacks were not scared to hit the field each Saturday. Playmakers like Darren McFadden gashing vaunted defenses each week, Matt Jones running and passing all over opposing defenses and Ryan Mallett making what seemed like impossible NFL-type throws each day made for great times on The Hill.

Arkansas belongs in the SEC because there is more to Razorback Athletics worth to its conference than just its football team. Although, if football returns to its former state Arkansas would make the total package for its storied conference.

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