Arkansas 56, Arkansas State 13 | Green’s Day: Quarterback had the time of his life as Hogs
In first-ever meeting, Arkansas routs Arkansas State
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LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas made it look easy as the Hogs defeated Arkansas State, 56-14, on a breezy and cool afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.
Announced attendance for the game was 54,224 and that’s greater than the capacity of the stadium’s listed full house of 54,120. That attendance number doesn’t reflect the number of people who were tailgating outside the stadium as that looked to be in the thousands.
That also doesn’t reflect the number of people still stuck in traffic after kickoff happened at 4:02 p.m. That was surely in the hundreds, if not thousands, just sitting on Markham, or in the vicinity, idling.
It wasn’t clear when but at some point during the day, the Little Rock Police Department declared parking at the stadium “full” and were turning away even those with parking tags issued by the University of Arkansas. I should know as I was a credentialed media member for the game and was told to keep rolling.
More on that in the halftime sidebar below.
As for the game, Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green was unstoppable as the senior passed for 239 yards and four touchdowns on a 17 of 26 night. He also rushed for 151 yards and one touchdown on just nine carries. Green averaged 16.8 yards per carry in the win.
Arkansas State (1-1) seemed genuinely perplexed by Green’s combination of arm strength and mobility.
Arkansas (2-0) was led by Green’s day, but as a team then finished with 630 yards of total offense in the first-ever meeting between the Hogs and Arkansas State.
While the series may continue, games at War Memorial seem unlikely given the changes to the schedule next season for SEC teams. The league is mandating nine conference games starting next season, and also a single game against a powerhouse opponent. That leaves only two non-conference games and it seems extremely unlikely one of those would be in Little Rock. There’s zero chance an SEC game or the mandated game against a powerhouse would be played here.
If so, good riddance. It was far past time for the War Memorial Stadium tradition to continue. There’s no doubt that some memorable games have been played there but, for the most part, the most recent stretch has been forgettable at best.
In some ways, it was a real shame, I wasn’t able to be in the press box as I was going to keep a running tracker of scoreboard failures, clock miscues and if we were able to use the toilets as running water hasn’t always been a thing there.
The real draw of War Memorial has always been its convenience to those in central Arkansas and from the parts of Arkansas that aren’t in the northwest corner. The availability of games on television, essentially every Arkansas game is broadcast in some form or fashion, has ended that. Sure, you might need a teenager handy to figure out the SEC+ broadcast on the ESPN app, but it was there if you could properly input the codes confirming access.
An easy drive also isn’t helpful if LRPD is going to be a horse’s ass about parking.
Anyway, on to next week.
Arkansas travels to a ranked Ole Miss team next Saturday while Arkansas State will host a ranked and undefeated Iowa State team in a 2 p.m. game on ESPN2.
The game time and broadcaster for the Arkansas-Ole Miss still hasn't been announced, and should be released on Monday at the latest.
Click here for complete stats from the game.
GameDay Gallery | By Jaison Sterling
Half-time report: Welcome to the Sh*tshow
If this was the last University of Arkansas football game at War Memorial Stadium, it was a fitting end to a historic run by the Hogs.
In more ways than one.
On the good side, Arkansas, facing Arkansas State for the first-time ever, is just absolutely demolishing the Red Wolves, 35-14, at halftime on a breezy and cool Saturday afternoon in front of what looks to be full stands.
Key to the Arkansas effort has been quarterback Taylen Green, who has passed for 144 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 134 yards and one touchdown as the ASU defense seems perplexed by Green’s combination of arm strength and mobility.
As for the crowd, official attendance hasn’t been released at halftime, but whatever that number, the attendance won’t reflect the thousands gathered at the stadium tailgating on the former golf course. Nor does it reflect the hundreds – thousands? – stuck in traffic in and around the stadium as parking had been deemed “closed” by the Little Rock Police Department.
Which gets us to the bad. Despite having a media parking pass issued by the University of Arkansas, I was denied entry into stadium parking as the cop working the corner in front of the stadium declared what I had wasn’t media parking and told me to keep driving.
Because a 55-year old man, wearing a buttondown, traveling solo with a backpack loaded down with electronics is often faking it? I don’t know what they thought. But it doesn’t seem like thinking, or taking in context clues, is a prerequisite for police work.
To be clear this is entirely on LRPD. Attempts to contact them and also Arkansas State Parks, that manages the stadium, after the fact were not yet successful.
If any responses are received, they will be included in the post-game report. EDITOR’S NOTE: No response from any of the relevant agencies was received.
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