Thursday night, the Razorbacks completed a historic win against UAPB. Arkansas had ten offensive possessions and scored a touchdown on every single one. This year's team is the first squad at Arkansas to accomplish the feat and the first FBS to do it in the last 20 years. It was also Arkansas's highest margin of victory since 1928.
But was it too much?
One random person — a Mississippi State fan — on X (formerly Twitter) was upset with Arkansas's final touchdown. "Classless punching that last TD in with 36 seconds left," wrote the account's owner. But which is more classless: punching in the last touchdown or depriving the third string/walk-ons playing from experiencing what was likely their only TD of the season to spare UABP's feelings, even though 63 points had already been hung on them?
Classless punching that last TD in with 36 seconds left
— dedwards (@DylanEd78433990) August 30, 2024
Arkansas did what it should've done; it pulled its starters and dialed back the play calling and even shortened the second half by ten minutes. How is a coach supposed to look a walk-on in the face and tell him not to go hard in his one shot to play as a Razorback that season? He can't. On the other hand, how disrespectful is it toward UAPB to tell third-stringers to back off? It's embarrassing enough to lose by 70, but knowing that the other team had to call off their backups to protect their feelings is much worse.
Moreover, if UAPB can trash talk, it can take whooping it received. Earlier in the week, JaVonnie Gibson commented that the Razorbacks' secondary was "big but slow." While everyone loves a little trash talk, and you have to respect the confidence, you must face the consequences if you bite off more than you can chew.
So, no, Arkansas didn't go too far. They played with a purpose, let their backups have their moment, shortened the game, and respected UAPB as a program.