College football has become a huge business, in which nearly all of the major decision-makers will throw away tradition in favor of making more money.
This is most obvious in conference realignment, as schools jump from conference to conference in an effort to make the maximum amount of money possible.
When Texas A&M left the Big XII last year, they ended a rivalry with Texas that began in 1894 and had been played every year since 1915.
Of the 118 meetings, 63 were played on Thanksgiving Day, and the game inspired traditions at both campuses. An Aggie Bonfire at Texas A&M and a Hex Rally at Texas occurred the week prior to the game every year.
These traditions essentially ended, although Texas now holds their Hex Rally before the TCU game, when the Aggies jumped conferences.
Of course, this isn’t the first rival Texas has lost to conference realignment. In 1992, Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference, ending what was one of the fiercest rivalries in college football.
The 1969 matchup was nicknamed the “Game of the Century” and was attended by Billy Graham, President Richard Nixon and U.S. Representative and future President George H.W. Bush.
Texas won the game and the National Championship, marking the third time during the ‘60s that the winner of the Arkansas-Texas game went on to win the national title.
While many UA students aren’t old enough to remember the Arkansas-Texas rivalry, they do know about the “Battle for the Golden Boot” tradition. Every year since 1992, Arkansas has played LSU in their regular season finale.
The “Golden Boot” trophy was introduced in 1996 and the game has become a highly anticipated matchup, no matter what Arkansas’ record is at the time of the game.
Highlights of the series include two “Miracles on Markham” in 2002 and 2008, a triple overtime thriller in 2007 and a Sugar Bowl berth-clinching victory in 2010.
However, the traditional Thanksgiving weekend game will be no more in 2014. Instead, the SEC opted for a Texas A&M-LSU game that weekend, leaving Arkansas to play Missouri.
The reasoning is pretty cut-and-dry: the SEC wants to tap the Texas market on that marque weekend and LSU is a premier program.
Arkansas isn’t completely losing the tradition, as they will continue to play LSU every year and still compete for the “Golden Boot,” but it won’t be the same.
Playing LSU at the end of the season gave the Razorbacks a chance to make a final statement for a high profile bowl game.
In seasons where bowls were out of the question, Arkansas fans viewed the game as one last hurrah before a nine-month hiatus from college football. It gave them hope for the upcoming season.
It will be hard to create that type of anticipation and excitement for a Thanksgiving weekend game against Missouri, which has never really been a national power.
I see this as an unnecessary change to tradition.
The Texas A&M-LSU game could have been made a permanent opening-weekend game. At that point of the season, the entire country is salivating for the return of college football and this game would be a top-notch SEC game to get the year started.
Plus, the SEC could keep Arkansas-LSU at the end of the season, which is a game that has proven to be extremely competitive.
As for Texas A&M, they could pick up a nonconference opponent, possibly a former Big XII rival or create a new rivalry with another top program. It isn’t uncommon for teams to end the season with a nonconference game (see: Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech).
Until then, it appears that Arkansas fans should accept the loss of this tradition and try to turn the Missouri game into a rivalry as intense as the LSU game. But they should be wary of getting too attached; who knows what college football will look like in five, 10 or even 15 years.
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