It’s game day: Arkansas at Missouri. Grab some Thanksgiving leftovers and turn the tv set on to CBS. The game starts at 1:30. Can the Hogs to continue the winning ways and beat the Tigers?
Jim Harris will be posting his thoughts throughout the game here, so check this page often. (Scroll down about halfway and you’ll see the posts from Jim.)
And this report from Fayetteville. Not only is the conference generated “rivalry,” this one also has a name, and not just a name – a sponsor of the name. FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. –Arkansas will wear its all-Cardinal home uniforms for Friday’s Battle Line Rivalry presented by Shelter Insurance in Columbia, Mo. Missouri will also wear its black home jerseys. Friday marks the inaugural game of the Battle Line Rivalry and both teams have agreed to wear their respective home jerseys for the first two games of the series, including next year’s contest in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks are 2-0 this season when wearing the Cardinal helmet, Cardinal jersey and Cardinal pants combination. Arkansas wore all-Cardinal in shutout victories over No. 17 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss the past two weeks. The Battle Line Rivalry presented by Shelter Insurance will kick off at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28. The game between Arkansas and Missouri will be nationally televised on CBS.
Arkansas dropped 8, but Mauk showed NICE zip on a pass over the middle to Bud Sasser to the Hogs 48 to keep the drive going.
Maty Mauk gets Missouri’s initial first down on read option keep to the 37. He’s dangerous. But two swing passes to the left side have netted a loss of 2. Big third and 12.
Well, here we are in the pressbox after a nice brisk walk from the Mizzou Arena and our Hogzone show. To catch you up, Arkansas won the toss and deferred the choice to the second half. Missouri took the ball, Arkansas had the strong wind out of the south end zone (15-20 mph and gusting).
Arkansas forced a three and out on Maty Mauk with good pressure and not allowing Mauk to get much room to scramble. Jared Cornelius ably fair caught the punt at the 30.
Now, the Hogs have marched 70 methodically yards in 11 plays, capped by a 23-yard pass and run by Jonathan Williams down the left sideline. Williams sneaked out of the backfield as the underneath receiver with two receivers heading to the end zone, and was uncovered near the 20 and took it untouched. Arkansas ate up more than 6 minutes on its drive. Arkansas leads 7-0 with 6:48 left in the first quarter.
This is turning into a harum-scarum day already for your favorite (I hope) Hog blogger. We’re doing a pregame show starting at 12:30 on KTHV, Channel 11, The Hogzone to lead into the game. That will end at 1:29, and I’ll have one minute to walk about a half-mile, part of it serious uphill. Not making excuses, but don’t fret if I miss the first couple of touchdowns by the Razorbacks in the first quarter.
But I do hope you tune in to the Hogzone one-hour special at 12:30 with Clint Stoerner, Joe Adams, Mike Shepherd, Rick David, Mary Dunleavy, Phil Buck back at the station with Stoener, and myself as we preview this big tilt.
Arkansas looks to finish a surprising 7-5 and 3-5 in the SEC and on the way to a pretty good bowl (I consider the Liberty Bowl a pretty good bowl these days, plus it’s two hours from Little Rock.) Missouri, however, has bigger stakes on the line: an SEC East championship for the second year in a row and a spot in Atlanta against the SEC West representative, most likely Alabama. Missouri is 9-2, and shockingly its only two losses have been here at Faurot Field, to Indiana and Georgia.
Arkansas may be better off being on the road, believe it or not, based on that record.
More to come. It may be after the game starts, but I promise there is MUCH more to come. Stay tuned here, and on THV, and also you can follow my tweets @jimharris360. Comment here for the blog or on twitter if you so desire. See you in a bit
It’s supposed to reach a high of 52 degrees, but it’s very windy here now, up to 15-20 mph out of the south and is cooling things a bit. Brandon Allen may play, but the chill might make it hard to feel loose with a hip pointer suffered last week. Tight end A.J. Derby didn’t make the trip.
