You could cut the humidity with a knife with all the excitement starting on Wednesday. The normal Friday migration into Fayetteville started early this year, with parents showing up to wine Wednesday on Dickson Street. “SEC Nation” showed up early in the week and started setting up on the Old Main lawn while classes were ongoing, building even more excitement. Needless to say that Fayetteville was ready for its top 25 matchup.

On Friday, the town was packed. Getting to class that morning was a ridiculous game of chicken. For those unaware, the University of Arkansas admitted more students this year than it ever has, leading to overcrowding on campus. This overcrowding was even worse on Friday as people who got into town early were walking or driving around campus.  

There was no sleeping on Friday night. For me, I stayed up making my “SEC Nation” sign to keep me occupied, but it seemed like the rest of Fayetteville was restless as well. My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. and I was out the door to “SEC Nation.” Arriving at 6:15, I was surprised to see a decent crowd already there. Last year at Alabama, I was one of very few people at 6:30 a.m. 

My sign (pictured below) was not allowed into the main standing area because it was considered an advertisement, despite it relating directly to what Sam Pittman said days earlier. Yet, I was still allowed to be on either side of the main stage so I joined a family friend, Rick, over at “Marty and McGee’s” set up and waited until show time.

Having experienced it before as an opposing fan, it was fun to experience it with other Arkansas fans. The energy and the love for Sam Pittman was incredible. He even saw my sign, which was a thrill. (Video below) We didn’t see any Cincinnati fans on Old Main lawn (where “SEC Nation” was held), which was surprising. I was surprised because there had been so many fans in town the night before. 

Afterwards, it was time to get to the game, and the traffic was insane. Fayetteville is not built to hold this many people at once, so it was rough getting to our parking area. Getting into the game took nearly four times as long as normal, which was unexpected by many fans. Even though we left our tailgate at 1:45 p.m. for a 2:40 p.m. kickoff, we didn’t get into the stadium until after 2:30 p.m. This was due to the addition of a metal detector that scanned people one-by-one. People around us were hot and upset with the change as they were missing pregame events like the band and the teams’ entrances. 

As the student line for the game started at 6 a.m. and by the time “SEC Nation” was over, the line had gone down to the far dorm (Adohi for our Razorback readers), so I did not go to the student section. Instead, I went in and sat with my season ticketholder parents. The season tickets are on the 50-yard line so I had a great view of the game and the student section. The sun got to many people around us and in the student section, leading to many people going to concessions just to get out of the sun. Even the student section reduced from full to about 75% by halftime. 

Other than the sun, the atmosphere was great. It felt like a more subdued Texas game. I don’t think anything will ever compare to the Texas game last year. The electricity in the air was still noticeable though, and the hostility definitely got to Cincinnati a few times. It was a great crowd for the season opener. 

I think that the postgame quietness was due to how the Razorbacks won. There were a lot of flaws and mistakes that fans saw during the game that contributed to the last post-win excitement. I know a lot of people on Twitter were happy but expected more from the team. Normally you can see or hear postgame shenanigans from the surrounding neighborhoods, but it was fairly quiet that night. We will see how this changes with the morning South Carolina game on Saturday.