Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Some people would be thrilled to earn a knighthood but we’re betting Razorbacks fans won’t take kindly to the honor bestowed by SI.com writer Stewart Mandel in College Football Mailbag.

Mandel revisited his “program pecking order” in which he puts the BCS schools into four tiers of a feudal society. Just like in the Middle Ages, Mandel’s society has its share of gilded monarchs and filth-harvesting peasants.

Guess where Arkansas was placed.

No, not with “Peasants” like Temple, Wake Forest and Duke but one step above, with “Knights” like fellow SEC members Missouri and South Carolina. “The Barons” include SEC teams Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas A&M and “The Kings,” of course, feature Alabama and LSU as well as Florida.

Mandel points out he’s not trying to rank teams on winning percentage or national and bowl championships. His formula seems to be primarily based on a program’s recognition factor, how it is perceived by the public.

In other words it’s who has the shiniest armor.