The LSU-Ark game has lots of potential. They are border states, they play at the end of the year, they play for a trophy and they sort of lack other "true rivals". Let's face it, Ole Miss and Auburn have true rivals with instate schools with a lot of history. To many of those fans LSU is a secondary rival. Arkansas does not play Texas every year anymore. The best thing for LSU is that LSU can potentially have two true rivals. With Tulane hopefully being around LSU has the instate rivalry game and a border battle. When you think about it, top programs have more than one true rival. Michigan has Michigan State, Ohio State, and Notre Dame; Florida State has Miami and Florida, if Florida would stop wussing out all three schools would have two true rivals. Texas has TAMU and Oklahoma; Oklahoma has Okie State and Texas. USC has UCLA and ND. Everyone who plays ND claims to be thier rival, but in reality they have true rivalries based on games and history with Purdue, Michigan, USC, Michigan State, and maybe Boston College. Minnesota, not a powerhouse program now, even has two true rivals in Wisconsin and Iowa. I think you can argue that the new big 12 has hurt Nebraksa since they end of the year Oklahoma--Nebraska game does not exist anymore. It would be good for LSU to have big rivalry games with Tulane and Arkansas each year. As far as new manufactured rivalries go with the expansion of conferences LSU--Arkansas has a chance to be as big as Ohio State--Penn State and bigger than Penn State--Michigan State.
Arkansas needs to put up a little more competition but it could eventually work into a rival...at least the media is trying to portray it as one.
Look, pal, Tulane is LSU's true rival. Just because we have whipped them into oblivion does NOT mean that we need to replace them with somebody else. Got it?
Fayetteville is just too far removed from us to feel like there's a rivalry. Just because we play them every year and they're not pushovers doesn't mean that a rivalry can really develop. I mean how much overlap is there between the population centers in both states? I don't know many Arkansas fans but I know plenty of fans of most other SEC schools, including some in the East, like Tennessee, Florida and Georgia. Arkansas should go back to the Big 12 and the SEC should shrink by two teams (Vandy should go, too.) There are some teams in the ACC (Ga. Tech, Florida State and Clemson come to mind) which would be better fits in the SEC than Arkansas. And I don't feel a need for a rivalry game. We have plenty of competition week in and week out and to add another hurdle like a psyched-up otherwise not-that-important team to play at the end of every season seems stupid to me.lefire: :geauxtige :crystal:
it isn't up to us whehter it turns out to be a rivalry or not, it's up to the players and how the game is played each year. time will tell. several years of hard fought games, with an SEC CG on the line...... could turn it into a rivarly, whether you agree or not. so stay tuned sports fans and realize your opinion don't mean jack...sh*t
In order for it to be a rivalry, both teams' players need to care. When we won, about 4 or 5 LSU players actually went to the "Boot"... picked it up, got themselves in a picture or two, and then put it down back on the table.... Had Arkansas won, they would have stormed that thing. They were much more motivated to win this game than LSU was.
Coming from a Hog fan, I really hope this game does turn into a real rivalry. We will have to step our game up, though. You guys are the class of the SEC, and we are a couple years and a coach away from being pretty darn good. The day after Thanksgiving timing could make it a big game nationwide if the Razorbacks can climb back to prominance. A few more years of hard fought games and close wins (both ways), and this can become a classic.
Yes, I said that LSU would be in good shape to have two true rivals. I said that Tulane was a rivalry and that Arkansas could be another true rival. Michigan is not hurting with three true rivals in ND, Ohio State, and Michigan State and neither is USC with ND and UCLA.
I don't think theres enough bad blood there for this thing to really take off. You need something other than 1 miracle win by Arky, to fuel it. Think about it, Ole Miss has good reason to hate us (Cannon in '59, Jones in '72, Eli's fall in '03) Bama, was Cholly Mac vs. the Bear, and an assortment of things between LSU and Auburn (that has permanently secured Auburn as the last school I will ever allow my two sons to attend...I'd pay tripe admission to ANY OTHER SCHOOL IN THE WORLD before I'd let them take an AU scholarship)
