Poor weather causes spring game cancellation

Mother nature has made the final decision on the fate of the annual Red-White game for Arkansas. The university announced in a press release Saturday morning that the game was canceled after previously canceling the pregame festivities Friday.

The autograph session that was originally planned in lieu of the Red-White game should weather become a factor has also been called off.

Rain and lightning in the area has already wreaked havoc on the schedule of events for multiple Razorback teams this weekend at home with the baseball team playing a doubleheader Friday against Texas A&M and Saturday's softball series finale against Colorado State canceled.

A spring game has been a long-standing tradition of college football, but top programs recently began bucking the trend. Texas, USC and Nebraska all announced early there would be no spring game this year.

With the spring portal in full swing and open until April 25, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule mentioned the possibility of other teams watching a team's spring game and then attempting to "poach" them in the subsequent portal window.

"The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore,” Rhule said at a press conference. “It’s just an absolute free open common market. I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.’”

Coach Sam Pittman questioned whether the spring game actually had that drastic of an impact of losing a player.

"They ain’t waiting on the spring game to look at it," Pittman said on poaching players. "They already got him.

Arkansas has already had movement one player leave the portal in freshman defensive back Quentin Murphy and gained a commitment from linebacker Trent Whalen. Whalen last played at Kent State.

Last year, Arkansas got contributors on both sides of the ball in the spring window in running back Rodney Hill and linebacker Stephen Dix Jr.

Pittman landed on the other side of the debate and remained in favor of a spring game. Here's what he had to say about a potential spring game in early March.

"I think we owe the state of Arkansas the opportunity to come see their team play," Pittman said. "So, nah, it never crossed my mind. The other thing is, I think you can get better. When people are in the seat, you find out a little more about your team. The spring game is a way to get people in the seats and see what we really have out there."

That sentiment was echoed by the players ahead of Saturday's 1 p.m. scheduled kickoff

"We owe it back to you guys [the fans]," offensive lineman Fernando Carmona Jr. said. "You guys don’t get football for another few more months. We want to show you guys the product that we’ve been working on for these last 14 practices. We want to show you guys what we have in our arsenal and what it’s going to look like next year. You guys are going to be happy with the product on the field."

Fans will now have to wait over five months to see the Razorbacks play in its season opener against Alabama A&M on Aug. 30.

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