Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Mark May, one of ESPN's main college football analysts, said Monday at the Little Rock Touchdown Club that if he were Arkansas State Coach Gus Malzahn facing Oregon and Nebraska in Weeks 1 and 3 of this season, he'd treat those big payday games the way the NFL deals with exhibitions — he'd play his starters the bare minimum, maybe a quarter at the most, and keep them healthy for the Sun Belt Conference slate.

May sits in the cozy chair behind a desk in a studio in Bristol, Conn., on Saturdays and his biggest worry is whether his TV sidekick, Dr. Lou Holtz, might come totally unglued some night during one of their debates.

Gus Malzahn has the pressure of a being a first-year head football coach who is attempting to take a mid-major college football program to the proverbial "next level." Arkansas State may be receiving a big check to play at Oregon and Nebraska, but he's not planning on emptying the bench early and rest his regulars, he said Thursday to a gathering of central Arkansas ASU boosters, including Gov. Mike Beebe, on the club level of War Memorial Stadium.

"I know Mark and he's a great competitor ... that's TV talk," Malzahn said, and the crowd roared to that response and more. "I know if he was coaching he'd roll his sleeves up like he did when he played, and we're going to do the same thing."

The Oregon game will be nationally televised by ESPN starting at 9:30 p.m. Central Time. Malzahn and his staff have geared some practices at Jonesboro to simulate that start time for the players (yes, the game's start will still be 7:30 p.m. on the West Coast, but the Red Wolves, who will fly to Eugene next Friday, will still feel like it's later to them, especially when the game winds down).

And Arkansas State can't make any kind of impression to the TV audience playing it like an NFL exhibition game.

So, no matter how how it turns out against the No. 5 Ducks, the exposure should help Malzahn's developing program in the eyes of recruits and in building fan support.

"When we play well, [the exposure] will be really huge," he deadpanned in response to a questioner about the ESPN exposure, again drawing a big laugh from the supporters.

Then seriously, he added, "I will say this, people around the country, they know who we are. That started last year with Coach [Hugh] Freeze and his group. And, really, [former coach] Steve Roberts laid the foundation for that. TV exposure, especially nationally TV exposure, you're thinking recruiting, you're thinking 'Bring your profile up.' And that's all part of it."

That's why ASU will also play two Thursday night conference games for ESPN cameras this fall. Frankly, having journeyed to Jonesboro for Tuesday night games the past couple of years, moving these midweek games to Thursday is a plus.

"The first thing you look at is getting a national TV game," Malzahn said. "Is [Thursday night] the best situation for us? No."

But he's well aware that it's the price a mid-major pays for additional exposure. One of those weeks is a short one — a five-day gap between a Saturday game and a Thursday matchup — which adds to the preparation challenge for the players and coaches.