I-AA opener is what market will bear

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Major college football programs schedule NCAA Division I-AA teams primarily because they're a cheap buy.
In what amounts to as much a business arrangement as a football game, football's upper-class teams agree to pay the middle class an amount of money that's one-half to two-thirds less than they would have to give a Division I-A opponent for a nonconference game. In return, the I-AA team agrees to serve as a pinata.
So it is that Arkansas finds itself opening the season tonight against Southwest Missouri State, a I-AA team from Springfield, Mo.
At $150,000, the Bears are a blue-light special compared to the $425,000 Arkansas will have to pay I-A opponent Boise State to play Sept. 16 in Little Rock.
The money is guaranteed. The victory would seem to be, too.
Of course, that's probably what North Carolina thought before Furman embarrassed it 28-3 last year. It's probably what Auburn thought last year before it had to drive 77 yards and score a touchdown with 38 seconds left to beat Appalachian State 22-15.
Appalachian State defeated Wake Forest on Thursday, the third time in the last four meetings it has beaten the Demon Deacons. Troy State knocked off Middle Tennessee and Cincinnati last season. Northern Iowa is 5-8 against I-A teams since 1985.
Arkansas was 0-1 against I-AA teams in the 1990s.
When The Citadel stunned the Razorbacks 10-3 in Fayetteville to open the 1992 season, Coach Jack Crowe lost his job the next day.
Broach the subject with Athletic Director Frank Broyles now and a long pause follows before he answers in a barely audible voice. His eyes are fixed on the Reynolds Razorback Stadium field outside his window, perhaps replaying that loss in his mind.
"We knew The Citadel was a pretty good football team," Broyles said. "We didn't know we weren't going to be much better than we were. We had a lot of dropouts, discipline, lost 11 players before the season that would have started. But we were just a facsimile of the team that was supposed to be by the time the season started."
Comparing that team with this one is impossible, Broyles said.
SMS Coach Randy Ball agrees.
"There's a big difference between that Arkansas team and the Arkansas team we're playing," Ball said. "That Arkansas team was at the bottom of the SEC at the time. The one we're playing is at the top."
Not the tiptop.
Arkansas has finished first and third in the SEC West since Coach Houston Nutt took over. But the Hogs have been projected to finish at or near the bottom of the division in most preseason polls and publications this year.
If the predictions are right, then Arkansas will need to win all of its nonconference games to reach a bowl for the third consecutive season.
Teams need six victories against I-A opponents to be bowl-eligible, though there is an exception. A team can count a victory over a I-AA opponent toward its bowl-qualifying total once every four years.
Finding the proper motivation for tonight's game should not be a problem, Nutt said.
"I just think our players are going to know by the time we play them this is a Division I-counting game," Nutt said. "It's going to help you get to a bowl. That's what's important. I'm not worried about who we play. I'm more worried about us as a team."
Nutt has had to replace 13 starters. Sophomore quarterback Robby Hampton, one of the new starters, had trouble throwing at midweek because of a strained abdominal muscle but said he felt better late in the week. Cornerback Orlando Green (hamstring) and defensive end Randy Garner (suspension) are out. Wide receiver Sam Breeden's transfer is not complete, and he will not play tonight.
Distractions have been plentiful with Arkansas reporting NCAA violations, freshman cornerback Lawrence Richardson considering suing the NCAA to gain his eligibility and two potential contributors quitting the team.
And it was a long, hot preseason practice.
Still, that's not enough to lull the Bears into overconfidence.
"The only way you're going to have an opportunity to upset a I-A team -- I don't care what I-A team and what I-AA team you are -- is if they don't take you seriously or take you for granted," Ball said. "That's about the only way."
Southwest Missouri State has done it once in 15 tries against I-A competition, beating UNLV 31-24 in 1990 when former Arkansas player, assistant and administrator Jesse Branch was the coach. There have been several near-misses along the way, like a 23-20 overtime loss to Oklahoma State in '96 and a 28-24 loss to Arkansas State in '98.
Arkansas coaches expect the Bears to go for broke tonight, opening up their offense and testing the Hogs' secondary deep.
But the talent and depth disparity usually are too much for I-AA teams to overcome against a I-A opponent. Most I-AA programs pick from the recruits that I-A teams pass over, and they are allowed only 63 scholarships, 22 fewer than I-A teams.
Some of those I-A players wind up in I-AA when playing time, discipline or academic issues shake them from their original schools. Southwest Missouri State has 15 I-A transfers on its roster, which at least should help the Bears manage their nerves tonight.
"We're excited to play. We're not intimidated," said SMS fullback Demetrius Smith, a transfer from Michigan. "They're a team with a lot of great talent, but we've got talent, too. We're not going to go, 'Oh, my God, it's Arkansas!' "
That's not specified in the contract.
WHERE War Memorial Stadium (53,727)
WHEN 8 tonight
RECORDS Arkansas 0-0; SMS 0-0
SERIES Arkansas leads it 3-0, including the largest victory in school history, 100-0 in 1911.
LINE None
TV None
RADIO Arkansas Razorback Sports Network on 73 stations, including KARN-AM, 920, and FM, 101.7, and KKRN-FM, 102.5, in Little Rock; KKYK-FM, 103.7 in Little Rock, KXOW-AM, 1420, and KLAZ-FM, 105.9, in Hot Springs; and in Fayetteville-Springdale on KEZA-FM, 107.9, and KREB-AM, 1390, FM, 96.7 and FM, 99.5.

This article was published on Saturday, September 2, 2000

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