Jim Harris: From Fayetteville to El Dorado, Weekend Offers Fans Plenty of Football Delights

This just in: Michael Dyer has announced that he will announce later when he will commit to the school he might sign with in February.

So, while you're stopping everything you're doing and waiting with bated breath and Michael Dyer's next announcement of his possible college destination - where he might actually live up to such high expectations of a highly decorated running back or might spend most of his career a backup before transferring to a Division II  school or something in between - maybe the true college football fan should examine the opportunity he or she has this weekend in our backyard.

What a great day, in fact, to have all these games as part of National College Football Day, which celebrates the 140th birthday of the sport.

The 11:21 a.m. start of the Arkansas-South Carolina game in Fayetteville gives Central Arkansas football fans the opportunity to catch that game, grab a bite at my favorite burger joint - C.J.'s Butcher Boy in Russellville - or whatever else you might long for, and then reach Conway in time for the Central Arkansas-Texas State game at Estes Stadium.

The nightcap of that football doubleheader kicks off at 6:05 p.m. More than 10,000 fans are expected. It will afford fans who have yet to see UCA play this year the opportunity to watch an outstanding quarterback in Robbie Park. Hog fans heading that way might wonder, in fact, what happened to Nathan Dick, who at this time last year suddenly was thrust into action by UA head coach Bobby Petrino and would start the last two Razorback games of 2008 in place of his brother, Casey.

UCA coach Clint Conque said Nathan Dick, a sophomore in eligibility, was competing for the Bears quarterback spot last spring and in preseason, but missed two weeks in August and that set him behind this fall. He's currently running third team. He has plenty of time to learn Conque's offense with the outstanding Park running the show for now. UCA has lost three of nine games this year by a total of 12 points. 

Texas State, meanwhile, has a passer who stands about 6-foot-7 -- like Arkansas' Ryan Mallett -- and can throw the all downfield. It should be a shootout in Conway.

For fans only exposed to how Bobby Petrino runs an offense, they might want to compare it with Conque's varied offense of running and passing and the Bears' execution. Fans will also see one of the best defensive players in the state in UCA end Larry Hart.

Fans in south Arkansas who wouldn't dare attempt to make an 11:21 kickoff in Fayetteville have a treat offered by the city of El Dorado: the first of an annual Boomtown Classic between Southern Arkansas and Arkasnas-Monticello. It marks the first college football game played in El Dorado since the early 1930s.