1/ All is forgiven if we just beat A&M- a thread.

6 years ago I was living on campus at the University of Arkansas in Humphreys Hall. One Saturday morning I was woken up by the chatter of a massive crowd - each of its members dressed in maroon and white.

2/ They were chanting “Johnny for Heisman” at 8:30 AM, parading boisterously through our campus as though they were Romans settling lands just conquered. They had joined the SEC just one year earlier. By the way they carried themselves, you’d think they’d come from the NFL.

3/ A quarter or two into the game, Deatrich Wise sacked Johnny Manziel. I’ve never heard D.W. Reynolds Stadium get so loud. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had been offput by the fan antics that morning.

4/ We lost that game and we’ve lost every A&M game since. 3 of the last 5 in overtime.

Since that morning, A&M fans have done little to change the perception garnered when one gets woken up by invading, bombastic masses.

5/ Recently I met an Aggie fan and after mentioning that I’m an Arkansas alum, I joked that we could put the rivalry behind us for a day. “Rivalry?” He said, “What rivalry? We’re rivals with Alabama.”

3-9 is fine. Just beat A&M.