LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Razorbacks Athletic Director Jeff Long said Thursday night that UA plans to play a game in Little Rock next season, which will fulfill its contract with War Memorial Stadium.
There has been speculation the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville might offer a buyout to not play in Little Rock.
"Just to be very clear, you know we have the contract through the game in 2018," Long said in a pregame interview with Arkansas radio play-by-play announcer Chuck Barrett. "Never have there been any discussions about not playing and fulfilling that contract."
Long said he has studied games at Little Rock during his 10 years as athletic director.
"What it means to our program. What it means to the state," Long said. "We're in a time period now where the chancellor [Joe Steinmetz] and I will need to be making some decisions about the future.
"We haven't made those yet. But we certainly expect to complete the contract at the very least in 2018."
The Razorbacks have played at least one game annually in Little Rock since 1933.
Thursday night marked Arkansas' 259th game in Little Rock, where the Razorbacks have a 168-67-4 record. They're 151-60-4 in War Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1948.
Arkansas' contract with War Memorial Stadium stipulates the Razorbacks play an SEC opponent in Little Rock next season. The Razorbacks' conference home opponents are Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Alabama and LSU.
Clary starts
Ty Clary, a true freshman from Fayetteville, started at right guard for Arkansas. He is the first true freshman offensive lineman to start a season opener for the Razorbacks since tackle Mitch Smothers against Missouri State in 2011.
Junior Johnny Gibson, a former walk-on who started the final five games at right guard last season, started at right tackle in place of Brian Wallace.
Wallace, a junior, started the final 10 games at right tackle last season.
Along with Clary, other Razorbacks making their first career starts were senior nose guard Bijhon Jackson, sophomore tailback Devwah Whaley, sophomore wide receivers La'Michael Pettway and Deon Stewart, sophomore defensive end T.J. Smith, and sophomore linebacker De'Jon Harris
Wardrobe malfunction
Florida A&M lost four timeouts -- one to start each quarter -- as a penalty for officials ruling the Rattlers wore illegal jerseys.
The Rattlers wore white jerseys with white numbers that had orange trim, making them difficult to read.
NCAA rule 1-4-5-c states:
"The number must be of a color that itself is clearly in distinct contrast with the color of the jersey, irrespective of any border around the number."
Less than 50,000
The announced crowd Thursday night was 36,055 -- the fifth time in the past six games Arkansas has played in Little Rock that the attendance was under 50,000.
Last season's Arkansas-Alcorn State game drew 46,988, with 49,591 for the Razorbacks' game against Toledo in 2015.
In 2014, the Arkansas-Georgia game drew 54,959. Attendance for the 2013 games were 47,358 for Samford and 45,198 for Mississippi State.
Thursday night's attendance also was the second lowest at War Memorial Stadium since Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992. The lowest was 22,329 against LSU in 1996.
Pulley hurt
Arkansas starting cornerback Ryan Pulley left the game with 1:09 left in the second quarter with what was announced as a strained pectoral muscle. He didn't return.
True freshman Kamren Curl replaced Pulley.
Toliver scores again
Senior cornerback Henre Toliver scored his second career touchdown in War Memorial Stadium when he returned a fumble 18 yards to give the Razorbacks a 28-0 lead with 13:57 left in the third quarter.
Toliver scored on a 70-yard interception return against Alcorn State last season.
In the zone
Arkansas freshman tailback Chase Hayden and sophomore wide receiver Deon Stewart scored their first career touchdowns. Hayden scored on a 5-yard run and Stewart on a 16-yard pass from Austin Allen.
Tailback David Williams, a graduate transfer from South Carolina, scored his first two touchdowns as a Razorback on a 4-yard run and 1-yard run. He had five rushing touchdowns for the Gamecocks.
Rattlers injured
Florida A&M played without two starters from the Rattlers' 29-7 victory over Texas Southern on Saturday.
Sophomore quarterback Ryan Stanley didn't play because of an injured left ankle, and senior defensive end Calvin Darville was out because he ruptured his left Achilles tendon.
Nice teamwork
Blake Johnson's 42-yard punt in the second quarter was downed at the Florida A&M 1 thanks to good hands by defensive backs Kevin Richardson and Henre Toliver.
Richardson caught the ball at the 1 and before going into the end end zone tossed it back to Toliver.
Jackson a fan now
Keith Jackson had a different vantage point for an Arkansas game Thursday night for the first time in 18 seasons.
The previous 17 seasons, Jackson was in the press box as the color analyst for the Razorbacks' radio broadcast. He resigned from that position this season so he'd be able to watch his sons -- Koilan and Kenyon -- play college football.
Koilan is a freshman receiver at Arkansas; Kenyon is a sophomore defensive lineman at Illinois.
Keith Jackson watched Thursday night's game from the stands.
"Being able to see your sons play, that's really nice," Jackson said. "It's just great being a parent of a football player when you were a football player."
Jackson starred at Little Rock Parkview, was an All-American tight end at Oklahoma and played nine NFL seasons with Philadelphia, Miami and Green Bay.
Jackson and his wife, Melanie, get the added bonus of seeing both sons play this weekend because Arkansas and Illinois have their games two days apart.
After watching the Arkansas-Florida A&M game, Keith and Melanie Jackson will drive to Champaign, Ill., today for Saturday's Illinois-Ball State game.
"I tell people all the time for the last 17 years I got paid to talk about sports," Keith Jackson said. "From here on out, I get to talk about sports and not get paid."
Thursday games
Arkansas has played more games on Thursday than you might think. The Florida A&M game marked the 53rd time the Razorbacks played on Thursday.
The first time was in 1894 -- Arkansas' inaugural football season -- when the Texas Longhorns beat the Razorbacks 54-0 in Austin.
Arkansas ended last season by playing on Thursday and losing to Virginia Tech 35-24 in the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, N.C.
The Razorbacks' most recent Thursday night game in the regular season was a 28-6 victory over South Carolina in 2003 in Little Rock.
Arkansas' last opener on a Thursday night was in 2001 in Little Rock when the Razorbacks beat UNLV 14-10.
The Razorbacks are 26-23-4 all-time in Thursday games.
Flag bearers
Arkansas junior cornerback Ryan Pulley carried the U.S. flag and senior safety Josh Liddell carried the Arkansas flag when the Razorbacks ran onto the field.
For openers
Arkansas improved to 100-20-4 in home openers and 97-23-4 in season openers.
Sports on 09/01/2017
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Photos by Staff
Photos by Staff