Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

When Arkansas and South Carolina entered the SEC together in 1992 it made sense that the schools be paired together as cross-divisional opponents. Neither program had a particularly deep history with other SEC schools and pairing them together kept some long-standing rivalries intact.

Now league presidents and athletic directors apparently see splitting the two up as the move that makes sense with Missouri and Texas A&M set to join the league. The Tigers will join the SEC East Division and the Aggies will be part of the West, and South Carolina President Harris Pastides told The State, a South Carolina-based newspaper, that 13 other schools were in favor of making Arkansas and Missouri permanent rivals.

A vote hasn’t been held yet, but Pastides indicated members favored setting up an annual meeting between the Aggies and Gamecocks, something an online fan poll in The State confirmed was preferred among South Carolina fans.

Arkansas leads the series with the Gamecocks 13-7, including 7-3 over the past 10 games. In their most recent meeting, the Razorbacks won 44-28 in Fayetteville.

“We have great respect for Arkansas, but I think it’s fair to say our fans never developed the same kind of passionate rivalry about playing Arkansas that maybe some other university did playing their Western Division rivalry,” Pastides told The State. “I respect the fans. Fans are not often consulted on important decisions and ultimately administrators come and go and coaches come and go and athletic directors come and go and fans stay.”

Fans in Missouri and Arkansas would benefit from the change. Joining the two as permanent opponents would help cut down on travel. Fayetteville and Columbia, Mo., are separated by about 300 miles, making it the shortest road trip for either school.

Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long has been an advocate for Missouri to become part of the schedule. His solution was initially to have the Tigers join the SEC West.

“We would like to see Missouri in the West,” Long said at the time Missouri was announced as an incoming member. “We think that makes sense from our standpoint, having them in the West, playing them on a regular basis. ...Long-term I hope there is an opportunity to look at Missouri in the West."

“Again, that’s one school of 14's opinion, but I hope we look at that over time.”

Missouri and Arkansas have met five times with the Tigers leading the series 2-3, including a 38-7 victory in the 2008 Cotton Bowl. (HogDatabase.com has more history on the meetings.)

Recruiting battles between the two schools seem to have added some passion to the rivalry before it begins. Arkansas and Missouri were among the schools courting No. 1 receiver Dorial Green-Beckham. He ultimately chose the Tigers, though the Razorbacks flipped a pair of Missouri commitments during the recruiting process.

Arkansas and Missouri also competed for the services of basketball coach Mike Anderson. Anderson was with the Tigers when hired by Long and the Razorbacks in 2011.

Those factors could amp up the feeling of rivalry if league presidents do indeed vote to swap Arkansas for Texas A&M on the South Carolina schedule. Pastides seemed to indicate to that such a move and an announcement could happen within the next two weeks.

“If all goes the way I think it will, we'll probably be swapping Arkansas for Texas A&M in the fall," Pastides told the Columbia, S.C. ABC affiliate.