Going Hog Wild in Arkansas : Razorback Fans Throughout the State Looking Forward to San Diego Holiday Bowl Matchup Against Arizona State

On the University of Arkansas campus, down jackets and gloves are in these days.

Anybody who decided to sell scarfs and wool caps could probably make a fortune.

It got down to nine degrees Sunday night, a record low for Dec. 1. And it hasn’t been above freezing since.

What can bring warm thoughts to people in such weather?

For the Arkansas football team, thinking of San Diego will do. The Razorbacks envision a sunny and warm San Diego on Dec. 22 when they meet Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.

“Coach (Ken) Hatfield mentioned the possibility of going swimming when we are out there,” senior linebacker David Bazzel said. “Most of the guys here have never been to the coast. We’re excited about warm weather. I’m shaking here with my coat on. If we couldn’t go to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl, we wanted to go to the coast where it’s warm.”

Arkansas had its bid for the Southwest Conference championship and a Cotton Bowl berth fall short when it lost to Texas A&M;, 10-6, on Nov. 16.

After that game, Hatfield let his seniors vote on which bowl to attend. They chose the Holiday Bowl because of San Diego’s climate.

A majority of the Razorback players are from Arkansas and have never been to the ocean. The nearest thing they have to a beach in Fayetteville are sandboxes at local parks.

Players already have plans for the real beach and other attractions after they arrive in San Diego on Dec. 18.

“I’m going to Sea World and the zoo,” said senior center Andy Upchurch, an Arkansas native. “And being on the beach will be fun. I’ve never been west of Oklahoma City. A lot of guys on the team are the same way.”

Traditionally, Arkansas has a big following when it attends bowl games. However, school spokesmen said they estimate only 1,000 to 2,000 fans will make the trip to San Diego.

Three factors were cited: high air fares; crowded flights during the Christmas season; and people who drive to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl may not make it home for Christmas.

Frank Broyles, athletic director, has talked about chartering planes but nothing is finalized.

Though traveling to the Holiday Bowl may not be first on the list of locals, Razorback athletics certainly are.

At a book store just down Dickson St. from campus, one poster tells it all. It features a man dressed with a Razorback hog hat, tie, pants, belt, shoes and even Razorback underwear.

All around town, fans have gone Hog Wild. It’s difficult to find a store that does not sell Razorback souvenirs or have their sports schedules posted.

“That’s all they talk about is the Razorbacks,” Broyles said. “Everybody wants to talk about them. In coffee shops, in stores, I mean everybody.

“It’s difficult. Our people expect too much. Writers cover us daily. Everybody wants to know the color of your hair. Everybody wants to know what tie you wear. Everybody wants to know what suit you wear. Everybody builds us up in their minds as being better than the other team.”

In most cases, the Razorbacks are better. They were 9-2 this season, losing to Texas by two points, 15-13, and Texas A&M; by four points, 10-6. If the Razorbacks win the Holiday Bowl, it will be their seventh 10-win season.

The Holiday Bowl will be Arkansas’ eighth bowl game in nine years since Broyles retired as football coach. And Broyles led the Razorbacks to 10 bowls in 20 seasons from 1957 to 1976.

Arkansas has a unique situation in that it is the only Division IA football team in the state. The Razorbacks played four of their six home games in Little Rock this season because it is located in the center of the state. The other two were in Fayetteville in the state’s northwest corner. Both games in the 52,860-seat stadium on campus were sold out by August.

Fayetteville is a quiet town in the Ozarks with a population of 36,604. A traffic jam is three cars waiting to turn left at a red light . . . except when the streets are overcrowded on game day.

“Where I came from, in San Angelo, Texas, I didn’t know what a Razorback was,” sophomore quarterback Greg Thomas said. “I’m sold on it here now. The fans are second to none. We sell out every game here and in Little Rock. There are supposed to be 36,000 people living here. On game days, you wonder where they all come from.”

The fans come from all over the state, according to Andy Upchurch, who grew up 65 miles from Fayetteville in Ft. Smith, Ark.

“In the state of Arkansas, Razorbacks are the big thing,” Upchurch said. “It’s like Nebraska, where there is only one sport in the state. It’s not like Texas with the Cowboys, Oilers, pro baseball and a bunch of colleges. Football is almost like a religion here. We’ll have people pull up here on campus Tuesday for a game, then they leave Saturday for the next game.”

Though David Bazzel is from Florida, his parents have become converted Razorbacks. Bazzel said his parents bought a van when he was a freshman and traveled to all but one of his games. They have driven 120,000 miles since their son enrolled at Arkansas, but will fly to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl.

Since enrolling at Arkansas, Bazzel has been as popular with the state’s citizens as with his parents.

“Nowhere do you find a state where one school gets so much attention,” Bazzel said. “Even if you are a bench warmer, people treat you like you are a king. If you are a Razorback, people look up to you. It’s really something. Kids even ask for your autograph.”

Richard Brothers, a starting cornerback from Wilson, Ark., was raised in the Razorback tradition.

“When I go back home, all of the little kids tell me they wish they could be a Razorback,” Brothers said. “They look up to me for coming here. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of coming here and being a Razorback.”

When Arkansas fielded its first athletic teams in 1895, they were known as the Cardinals.

Legend has it that the school became the Razorbacks after the 1909 season when Coach Hugo Bezdek referred to his team as “a wild band of Razorbacks.” Arkansas went undefeated that season.

In the 1920s, Razorback fans added the cheer, “WHOOO, PIG, SOOIE.” It has been known to drive visiting teams crazy.

Ken Hatfield was in Fayetteville when Arkansas had its best team ever. He was a defensive back for the undefeated 1964 Razorbacks, who were voted No. 1 in the nation after winning the Cotton Bowl.

Hatfield was an assistant high school coach in 1965 and a college assistant from 1966 to 1978. When Bill Parcells left the Air Force Academy after 1978, Hatfield was named the Falcons’ head coach.

In five years, Hatfield turned around what was once a pitiful Air Force program. His last two Falcon teams concluded their season by winning bowl games.

After returning to his alma mater in 1984, Hatfield led Arkansas to a 7-4-1 season that ended with a 21-15 loss to Auburn in the Liberty Bowl.

From the first day of practice last year, Hatfield has stressed one four-letter word: T-E-A-M. His philosophy to the players was simply that the team comes first.

Among Hatfield’s rules is that no player is allowed to drink alcohol during the season. Hatfield suspended receiver James Shibest and running back Bobby Joe Edmonds for one game when they were charged with driving while intoxicated. And he suspended nose guard Tony Cherico and running back J.R. Brown for one game when they were caught with beer in their rooms.

“I respect coach for what he did,” said Cherico, a starter. “Some coaches would have suspended a third-team player but not a first-team player. Coach lives by his rules and practices what he preaches. It kind of pulled the team together when we were suspended. There were no problems after that.”

Hatfield is a professed Christian. Though he talks to players about religion, players that were interviewed said he does not push religion on them.

Each week, Hatfield begins his local television show by reading Scripture.

Fayetteville is located in the Bible Belt of the southwest. While driving on country roads outside of town, one notices that there are more churches than stores.

Players respect Hatfield for his religion and openness among them. Holdover players from the previous coaching regime note that Hatfield is an opposite of Lou Holtz, who left Arkansas for Minnesota and left Minnesota for Notre Dame.

“Not to demean Coach Holtz, but he’d run out in front of the team,” Bazzel said. “Coach Hatfield puts the team first and lets the team run out first. Coach Holtz was a good coach, but he’s not in the same class as Coach Hatfield when it comes to player relations. Coach Hatfield’s a real good people person. We know we can talk to him 24 hours a day, and we know where he stands.”

Locals often wondered where they stood with Holtz. Before Holtz was fired, he received substantial criticism in Arkansas because some people thought he spent too much time with money-making speeches and too little time recruiting.

Holtz also drew criticism from players for his long practices.

“I guess you could say Coach Holtz was from the old school,” Upchurch said. “It was kind of like a job. He’d have long practices and would yell at you.

“Coach Hatfield gets on you, but he never yells or cusses. He makes college football a lot of fun. It’s not like a job. He realizes there are things more important in life than football, but when you are playing football, it has to be the most important thing on your mind.”

This week, recruiting is on Hatfield’s mind. He and assistant coaches have been on the road since Sunday.

Before the 1985 season, the Razorbacks signed 14 of the top 16 prep prospects in the state. The other two players went to Oklahoma and Memphis State.

“A great recruiting year in Arkansas is 16 to 18 players,” said Rick Schaeffer, the school’s sports information director. “The whole population of our state is 2 1/2 million. There are more teams in Houston than in our state.”

Going into the season, Arkansas’ biggest priority was finding a quarterback to replace Brad Taylor and Danny Nutt. Thomas and fifth-year senior Mark Calcagni were the candidates, with Thomas winning the job after Calcagni suffered a shoulder injury in preseason practice.

When the Razorbacks opened their season at Mississippi, Thomas became the first black quarterback in school history. He led Arkansas past Mississippi, 24-19.

“Coach Hatfield told me to remember everything I saw that day,” Thomas said. “He said it was the only time in my life I would have the chance to be the first to do something. It kind of had me worried going down to Mississippi and being the first black quarterback at Arkansas. As I put on the pads and the game approached, all of that stuff subsided.”

Arkansas won its first five games before losing at home to Texas, 15-13, when the Longhorns kicked five field goals. The Razorbacks won their next three, including a 20-14 win over Baylor that knocked the Bears out of the Southwest Conference race. The Razorbacks completed just one pass, a 50-yard game winner to tight end Luther Franklin with six minutes remaining.

After losing the next week at Texas A&M;, the Razorbacks concluded at home by beating Southern Methodist, 15-9.

Arkansas had a balanced offense last season out of the wishbone, but it ran a majority of the time this season.

“We’ve been pretty successful at controlling the ball,” Upchurch said. “That’s some of the reason why our defense has done so well.”

The Razorbacks had the nation’s sixth-best scoring defense, allowing 11.7 points a game. In the running-oriented Southwest Conference, Arkansas did not allow a rushing touchdown. It allowed just two rushing touchdowns all season.

Believe it or not, the Razorbacks’ biggest defensive player is tackle Rodney Beachum, who weighs 245 pounds. But that’s the way Fred Goldsmith, defensive coordinator, prefers it.

“He likes strength and quickness and speed rather than a guy who is overpowering,” Cherico said. “We do a lot of gang tackling. We’re in great shape in the fourth quarter with smaller guys. Bigger teams die out in the fourth quarter.”

Around Fayetteville, Hog Fever is not dying out, even if the Razorbacks don’t have any players big enough to be called hogs.

“People here are just crazy about the Hogs,” said Angie Schaefer, a senior cheerleader from Little Rock. “It’s something in your blood. When you see other schools cheering, they are not that excited. When you come here, people go nuts.”