I like Mike Slive, or whoever put together the SEC bowl matchups.
You have Tennessee not in Memphis, LSU not in Louisiana, Georgia not in Georgia, Auburn not in Alabama, Florida not in Florida -- all those schools have bowl games in their home states -- and most important, Texas A&M not in Texas. That's where the Arkansas Razorbacks will be, in Houston, to take on the Longhorns of the University of Texas.
The one team the Razorbacks Nation will always love to beat more than any other, except maybe for Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Texas A&M, who are their SEC West opponents every year now.
The disdain for the burned oranges of Texas was decades in the making.
Sunday, sitting in Felix's in New Orleans, eating oysters with sisters Sue Fisher and Lola Hall, and my friend Monica Timpani, a text was received from Jilly Jolly. It was the logo for the Advocare Texas Bowl showing Arkansas vs. Texas, with a frowny face.
Jill is a Texas graduate.
Her husband Rob is an Arkansas graduate. They are very close friends of mine, but I wouldn't want to sit between them when the Hogs and Horns face each other.
They met while in college at an Arkansas-Texas football game, and while Jill has a lot of Razorback red blood running through her veins now (three daughters go to school in Fayetteville, but no one is clear if any had a choice to go to Texas), she still loves her Longhorns, except when they play the Hogs.
In games when Arkansas falls behind or loses to Texas, Rob is not a happy camper. The long-time Razorbacks season ticket holder is 100 percent Hogs fan.
There are probably many households like theirs in both states.
Yet, for yours truly, this is a great game, except for the blasted start time. Football was not created for night, especially 8 p.m. kickoffs.
Houston has some of the greatest Mexican food in the state of Texas.
True, it has smog and traffic jams. It has some high-crime areas and the airports can be slow, but this is not just a bowl for the Razorbacks. It's a game against Texas in Texas, where the Hogs want to recruit, and there's great Mexican food, too.
On the subject of bowls: Yes, in a way, the Big 12 got hosed because it has 10 teams and doesn't have a conference championship game.
Baylor and TCU got left out of the College Football Playoffs, but you could see the selection committee positioning itself to kick them in the knees two weeks ago when they moved The Ohio State ahead of Baylor for the first time. All Baylor had done to slide in the rankings was win.
Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long, a native of Ohio, knew as the chair of the committee he was going to be targeted for criticism, and while that isn't fair, he has gotten off a lot easier than Baylor and TCU. In fact, the Horned Frogs dropped from No. 3 to No. 6 after beating Iowa State 55-3.
You win by 52 points and fall three spots? Come on committee, make those votes public.
And let's not forget the last time OSU went to the Sugar Bowl, against Arkansas, and the Buckeyes used a lot of players, who produced about 85 percent of their offense in the victory, who should have been ineligible. But under pressure from ESPN and the Sugar Bowl, the NCAA allowed the players' punishments to be served thenext following season.
The good news Sunday, besides the oysters being big and juicy, was Arkansas is going bowling and it is a game a lot of the country will watch because of the history, but also a bowl and matchup in which every high school player in Texas should be interested.
Sports on 12/09/2014