FAYETTEVILLE -- Tennessee-Martin is continuing its SEC tour Saturday at Arkansas.
When the Skyhawks (5-2, 4-1 Ohio Valley Conference) play Arkansas (3-4, 2-2 SEC) at 3 p.m. at Reynolds Razorback Stadium, it will mark the fourth time UT-Martin has faced an SEC team in its past 20 games.
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Skyhawks vs. SEC
• Tennessee-Martin is 0-6 going against SEC teams heading into Saturday’s game at Arkansas. It will be the first time the Skyhawks have played the Razorbacks. Here is a rundown of Tennessee-Martin’s SEC matchups:
SEASON;OPP.;RESULT
2008;at Auburn;L, 37-20
2010;at Tenn.; L, 50-0
2011;at Miss. State;L, 55-17
2014;at Kentucky;L, 59-14
2014;at Miss. State;L, 45-16
2015;at Ole Miss;L, 76-3
UT-Martin (5-2, 4-1 OVC)
DATE;OPP;RESULT
Sept. 5;at Ole Miss;L, 76-3
Sept. 10;Bethel;W, 73-10
Sept. 26;Jack. State;L, 48-41
Oct. 3;at Tenn. Tech;W, 31-17
Oct. 10;Tenn. State;W, 28-14
Oct. 17;at Austin Peay;W, 44-14
Oct. 24;Murray State;W, 52-45
Oct. 31;at Arkansas
Nov. 7;E. Kentucky
Nov. 14;at E. Illinois
Nov. 21;at SE Mo. State
Last season the Skyhawks, who play in the Football Championship Subdivision, lost 59-14 at Kentucky and 45-16 at Mississippi State. They opened this season with a 76-3 loss at Ole Miss.
Jason Simpson, in his 10th season as the Skyhawks' coach, said the program needed to play four SEC teams in two seasons to help finance a $6.5 million project for its stadium that will include a new press box, the addition of club level seats and renovated bleachers.
"We needed that guaranteed money," Simpson said.
No financial figures have been released by Arkansas or UT-Martin regarding Saturday's game -- the UA declines to divulge its guarantees for any nonconference games and its opponents tend to follow that policy -- but teams in the FCS, based on recent reports, tend to receive about half as much as teams from lower-rung FBS schools.
Arkansas, according to newspaper reports in Ohio, paid more than $1 million to get Toledo to play at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock earlier this season. Toledo won that game, 16-12.
ESPN.com's Darren Rovell, in a Aug. 29, 2014 report, wrote that five teams from the Big Ten paid FCS teams South Dakota, Western Michigan, Northern Iowa, Youngstown State and Jacksonville State between $525,000 and $620,000, while Michigan and Nebraska paid FBS teams Appalachian State and Florida Atlantic right at $1 million.
But Simpson said the Skyhawks look forward to playing SEC teams on the road despite being huge underdogs.
"Our kids dream about playing in those type of stadiums in that environment," he said. "It's a plus for us in recruiting."
UT-Martin is 0-6 against SEC teams, with all the games being played since 2008, when the Skyhawks lost 37-20 at Auburn.
This season's senior class has helped UT-Martin go a combined 26-16, tying the four-year mark for most victories in the program.
"I just really appreciate this team for not complaining and lining up and playing and helping this program in so many ways," Simpson said of the SEC-heavy schedule. "Not just for the last four years of this program, but for the next 30 years."
UT-Martin fell behind 27-0 in the first quarter at Ole Miss and ended up being outgained 662-290 in total yards.
"We want to play a lot better than we did in the opening game against an SEC opponent," Simpson said. "Obviously, we didn't play very well against Ole Miss and they had a lot to do with that, but we had a lot to do with that as well."
Two other OVC teams nearly pulled SEC road upsets earlier this season.
Auburn had to rally to beat Jacksonville State 27-20 in overtime after the Gamecocks took a 20-13 lead with 3:06 left in the game. Kentucky beat Eastern Kentucky 34-27 in overtime after the Wildcats came back from a 27-13 deficit with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter.
Simpson said his players can draw encouragement from those games.
"It's not like the World Series where you're trying to go and win four out of seven," he said. "My comment to the team was, 'We've only got to beat them one time.' "
UT-Martin is 1-19 against FBS teams with the victory coming at Memphis, 20-17, on Sept. 1, 2012.
"Not to say that's the same Memphis team they're playing with today and certainly not this Arkansas team, but we've experienced that," Simpson said. "It was a great feather in our cap."
Simpson said Ole Miss took a high injury toll on the Skyhawks and he didn't hesitate to answer "yes" when asked if he was worried about the physical risks of playing Arkansas before the final three OVC games.
"You've got four quarters to play," Simpson said. "These are lifelong memories for these kids. You can't hold back anything. You can't be cautious. That's not fair to the players. That's not fair to the university.
"This is one of your 11 games, and you fight your way through it."
Sports on 10/28/2015