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The Battle Line Rivalry game is going down this Friday in War Memorial Stadium and as the weeks of this season have slowly gone by, the excitement from both sides of the "rivalry" has dwindled.
For Missouri fans, their hopes of a bowl game officially went out the door Tuesday when PowerMizzou broke the news that the NCAA has denied the Tigers' probation appeal.
For Arkansas fans, this particular end-of-season game was originally going to be an interesting matchup between Missouri quarterback Kelly Bryant and the staff he entertained, but ultimately scorned, for his commitment. However, twelve weeks, one head coach and nine losses later, Arkansas is now just hobbling to get to the finish line. But that's not how interim head coach Barry Lunney wants his team (and the fans) to see it.
"Even though people are gonna say, 'there's not a lot to play for, you are 2-9, it's the last game of the year and you've got an interim coaching situation'–I would beg to differ," Lunney said Monday leading up to the game.
The former Razorback then went on a rant for several minutes, getting pretty fired up, about all the different things the team has to fight for this Friday, starting with the series history against Missouri.
Arkansas hasn't beaten the Tigers since 2015 when Alex Collins led the Hogs to a 28-3 victory with three rushing touchdowns. While Arkansas does have several redshirt seniors who watched that game on the sideline, there isn't a player on the roster currently that's beaten Missouri.
While Lunney didn't mention this aspect of the rivalry, the 2015 win over Missouri was coincidentally the last game for the Tigers' last head coach Gary Pinkel. Now, four seasons later, head coach Barry Odom is very much on the hot seat coming into this game.
The interim head coach then went into all the work that the Hogs put into getting ready to play just 12 games a year.
"You go all summer, all winter, 6 a.m. workouts and you can't get ready to play one of your 12 games?," Lunney asked rhetorically before shifting to what this final game means for the seniors.
The Hogs will say one last goodbye to the 17 seniors that spent (most) of their college career at Arkansas, as well as Ben Hicks, and Lunney wants to make sure it's a game they'll remember fondly–unlike the stomping they received against Western Kentucky on the official senior day in Fayetteville.
"We're not gonna do the dog and pony show, but we'll acknowledge them," Lunney said. "It's important that they get acknowledged and we get a chance to do this Senior Day over again. That's important for me and for them. If you care about these seniors you'll go all in on this game."
While playing at War Memorial Stadium can still be a very contentious topic amongst the fan base, for those who can't travel to Northwest Arkansas, the game in Little Rock means a lot. Playing regular season games there just every other year, Arkansas hasn't actually won in front of that crowd against an SEC team since 2011 when they toppled Mississippi State 44-17.
Arkansas has the opportunity to end that streak and the 18-game SEC losing streak in one fell swoop on Friday and Lunney thinks that should be more than enough to get his guys going.
"Pick up whichever of those (reasons) you want to pick and let's get ready to go play Missouri because I know Missouri is gonna be ready to play. I feel confident we're gonna be ready to play as well on Friday afternoon.
"My vision for Friday afternoon is for us to put aside the last three years and for us to unite for three and a half hours on Friday afternoon in Little Rock. For us to have a moment as a program as one Razorback across the state."
