Arkansas was overdue for a Thursday night game. After watching teams like South Carolina and Mississippi State (Cincinnati, for some reason, is the team I mostly associate with Thursday night college football) play several of these unfortunate games, the networks finally came calling for the Hogs.
In many ways, Thursday’s game is about getting things out of the way. It resets the clock on Thursday night games (“See, we just played one back in 2017!”). It takes care of the annual War Memorial game without putting anything serious on the line. The place has been cursed for half a decade: since Bobby Petrino’s untimely firing, Arkansas is 0-5 against FBS opponents inside the once-friendly walls of Little Rock’s stadium.