Hey everyone, so I’ve been digging into this whole Arkansas vs. Alabama football thing. It’s pretty interesting stuff, you know? I mean, who knew these two teams had such a history? I started by looking up their overall record against each other.
Turns out, Alabama is way ahead in the series. They’ve got 23 wins, while Arkansas only has 8. That’s a pretty big difference! And the scores, man, some of these games were intense. Like, I found this one game from 2021 where Alabama just barely squeaked by.
Then I started looking into how this rivalry even started. It wasn’t always a big deal, apparently. See, Arkansas used to be in this other conference, the Southwest Conference (SWC). They had their own rivalries going on there, like with Ole Miss. They were close by, so it made sense. And they played each other a lot from the 1950s into the early 60s.
But things changed in 1990. That’s when Arkansas joined the SEC, where Alabama was. So, they started playing each other regularly. It took a while, but the rivalry started heating up. I read about this coach, Frank Broyles, who really turned things around for Arkansas football back in the late 50s. They even tied for the SWC title with Texas, another team they had a thing with. Speaking of Texas, Arkansas has beaten them 23 times in history! Their first win against Texas was way back in 1933.
Getting deeper into recent matchups
I also checked out some recent games. Alabama seems to have the upper hand lately. Like, in 2022, they beat Arkansas again. And just this past season, Alabama was undefeated and went to play Arkansas. They were ranked number one, so it was a big deal. And, well, you guessed it, Alabama won that one too.
So, that’s what I’ve found so far. It’s a pretty one-sided rivalry, at least in terms of wins and losses. But there’s definitely some history there, and some close games that made it exciting. Now Missouri and Arkansas have been playing against each other for a decade starting in 2014. These days, I guess that’s more of a rivalry for Arkansas than Alabama is. I might look into that next. Who knows what other rivalries are out there in college football?
Anyway, thought I’d share my little investigation with you all. It’s fun to learn about this stuff, even if you’re not a huge football fan. It’s like uncovering a little piece of sports history.
- Looked up the overall record between Alabama and Arkansas.
- Discovered Alabama leads the series 23-8.
- Explored the origins of the rivalry, finding it intensified after Arkansas joined the SEC in 1990.
- Read about how Frank Broyles revitalized Arkansas football in the late 1950s.
- Checked out recent matchups, noting Alabama’s recent dominance.
Keen to see what you guys think. Any other college football rivalries I should check out?
