Battle of the Boot strikes someone’s fancy
The Arkansas-LSU rivalry has existed for only 15 years. But someone out there already thinks it’s one of college football’s best. The Slophouse is not really buying The Battle for the Golden Boot as a must-see event.
It’s been too lopsided over the years. Since 1992, the Tigers have won 10 of the 15 meetings with the Razorbacks, not eight of 11 as the author of the article writes. In fact, LSU has scored victories the last four times they’ve played.
If that wasn’t enough to discredit The Battle of the Golden Boot’s inclusion on the list of college football’s best yearly matchups, then the startling omission of the Iron Bowl from it should. There isn’t a bigger game in the South than the annual showdown between Alabama and Auburn. The fan bases for both teams think about that in-state matchup 364 days a year. Arkansas and LSU’s rivalry seems contrived and trivial in comparison.
4 Responses to “Battle of the Boot strikes someone’s fancy”
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Although the current LSU-Arkansas rivalry dates back to 1992, the Golden Boot was not introduced until 1996, hence the notation of LSU being the winner in 8 out of 11. Even though we have owned Arkansas and Nutt as of late, the last two years were pretty close, competitive games. I would agree that this rivaly pales in comparison to some of the others listed in the article (and certainly Auburn-Alabama), but it has not really had as much time to develop as some of the others. Who knows, maybe in another 10 or 15 years, it might be more of a “must-see” event.
Good points. I think it has the potential to be a good rivalry. But right now it’s not quite on the level of some of the other big showdowns that take place every fall.
There’s no comparison in the 2 teams.LSU is way above UA every yr.As long as Nutt is coach we will never reach LSUs level.You have to have top teams to really be a good rivalry like UA and UT were in the 60s or instate teams,which UA is scared to death of.
Well, thanks for that compliment, I guess. I would have to agree that Nutt is not big time enough to make the UA a top tier SEC program, but I don’t figure that he’ll be around much longer, and certainly not into the next decade or so. If the UA has the vision to get the right guy, then this border rivalry may take on some significance. Until then, we’ll probably still take 3 or 4 out of 5.
One other thing worth mentioning is that this game is always played on Friday (after Thanksgiving). I used to abhor that, along with the afternoon kickoff (you know most of us Tigers love Saturday night!), but it’s kind of grown on me, somewhat from recent success. Still, the unique date and time might help toward fueling the rivalry, Nutt’s tenure notwithstanding.