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Jonesboro, AR – Contributed – After this game against Memphis at the newly renovated Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, I had to look back a little bit to see how our openers have been. Many of you will remember that I started this column as the result of an Oklahoma shellacking back in 2023. I went nuts because of what I thought was a lack of effort by the Red Wolves who showed up for that beating. To say the least, I was not happy with the coaching staff and the apparent lack of preparation.
Arkansas State’s openers have been very mixed. We’ve managed to pull out wins against FCS teams and have lost, sometimes very badly, to FBS teams. During that time, we have had the brakes beat off of us by the likes of Oklahoma and a bad Arkansas team.
So I came to this game against Memphis with no idea how we would look or if we could even compete, considering all of the advantages Memphis has.
However… I was pleasantly surprised. Trey Owens is going to be a good quarterback for Arkansas State. The receivers, by and large, did their job. The running backs did their job as well, and Kenyon Clay seemed to be set in his position. The most surprising thing was the lack of any penalties by either team. It was a very clean game.
It is really interesting putting a team on the field that has 70 new players. Memphis has a lot of new players too, but 18 of them came from Southern Miss with Coach Huff. There’s a lot of familiarity between those players from Southern Miss. Not so much with our newcomers.
And let’s talk a little bit about our new offensive coordinator. I liked the fact that he goes quickly into the huddle, sends his wide receivers out to their position, and spends a minute with the quarterback talking to the rest of the team. I haven’t seen a huddle at Arkansas State for maybe 15 years. As everybody could guess, our new offensive coordinator has placed a heavier emphasis on the run game. Memphis has a very good defensive line, and still we managed just over 100 yards of rushing.
And let’s not forget that Memphis has Power 4 money. Their top skybox goes for $1 million per year… or at least that’s what my Memphis friends told me. They have raised a lot more money through their large corporate partners than we can. They have a full complement of money to pay players, while we don’t. That is very important these days and makes them a yearly discussion for the Group of Six representative in the playoffs.
And let’s talk a minute about their facilities. The Liberty Bowl… now the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, is extremely nice. The old Liberty Bowl, which was owned by the city of Memphis for many years, felt like an old stadium. Now the University of Memphis owns that stadium and spent $100 million fixing it up, making it the premier stadium in the Group of Six.
Now this is no excuse for why the Red Wolves didn’t pull off a win. I think without the three interceptions, they would have been right there making a game of it for the final seconds. But this is our world. These days, in the Group of Six, the best talent will go where the most money is, and Memphis, apparently, has plenty of it.
That all being said, compared to the rest of the Sun Belt, Arkansas State is very competitive in the money game. And this team looks like a team that can compete well within the Sun Belt.
So am I disappointed that we lost? Of course I am. There have been some losses in our openers that, as a fan, have made me angry. This is certainly not one of them.
I am looking forward to watching this team develop. If they continue on the path that I think they’re on, this team has a chance to be better than just bowl eligible.