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FAYETTEVILLE — When Arkansas takes the field Saturday, it will likely do so in front of the largest crowd it’ll experience this season.
Attendance restrictions because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have limited most SEC venues to a capacity of 25 percent or lower, but Texas A&M’s Kyle Field has been accused of skirting those guidelines.
Based on pictures shared on Twitter, social distancing did not appear to be used in the Aggies’ last home game a couple of weeks ago and Florida head coach Dan Mullen told reporters he felt there “must have been 50,000 going crazy behind our bench.”
Texas A&M’s average announced attendance for its games against Vanderbilt and Florida this season is 24,391, which is 23.7 percent of Kyle Field’s capacity. Asked Monday what he expects for his team’s game there Saturday, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman echoed Mullen’s comment by saying “at least 50,000 people, probably.”
The Razorbacks are preparing for such a crowd this week. After experiencing crowds of 13,564 and 17,490 at Mississippi State and Auburn, respectively - as well as 16,500 at its two home games - Arkansas will be simulating crowd noise at practice.
“We are cranking up the volume and we are going inside today,” Pittman said Monday. “As far as past that, I don’t know. We can still crank up the volume outside, as well, but we’re going to go inside today and crank it up.”
Quarterback Feleipe Franks downplayed the importance of crowd noise when speaking to the media after Tuesday’s practice, saying it wasn’t too big of a factor. However, the fifth-year senior did admit that he has always preferred playing road games because of the “everybody’s against you” aspect.
The numbers seem to back that up. So far this season, Franks has completed 72.4 percent of his passes for 530 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions in Arkansas’ two road games. In the two home games, he’s completed just 57.1 percent of his passes for 444 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.
For his career, Franks has a 159.0 quarterback rating with 17 touchdowns and four interceptions in road games and a 130.7 quarterback rating with 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions at home. His completion percentage is nearly five percentage points higher on the road than at home, too (63.7% vs. 58.8%).
“I love playing home games, but I love playing away games if I’m going to be completely honest with you,” Franks said. “I think the more (fans), the better. I think it’s fun. It’s a fun environment to be in and a fun environment be a part of. Going out there and having a successful day makes it even better.”
Even though most of the fans in College Station on Saturday will be supporting the Aggies, the Razorbacks seem to be excited about playing in front of a larger crowd. It’s a luxury they likely won’t get in any other game during this unusual 2020 season.
“I think it’s going to be fun playing at College Station,” linebacker Grant Morgan said. “They have great fans. Can’t wait to hear the roar. I feel like we’ve been missing that this year with so little crowds, but I’m excited for it and looking forward to playing there.”
Sitting at 2-2, Arkansas will be trying to get above .500 in SEC play for the first time in five years and snap an eight-game losing streak against the Aggies.
To accomplish those things, though, the Razorbacks will have to not only deal with No. 8 Texas A&M, but also a hostile environment at Kyle Field.
“I just think it’s a really big challenge and I love challenges,” Franks said. “I think it’s just a really great opportunity to everybody on our team to go out there and play against an opposing crowd, an opposing team at their home stadium.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.
