There's No Way Around It, Razorback Fans Couldn't Care Less About the Liberty Bowl

Whether it's bitterness about the season's end, disinterest in Kansas, lack of appeal in Memphis, or just basketball season, Arkansas fans are openly avoiding the game

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – It is borderline impossible to make Arkansas fans care about the Liberty Bowl.

Razorback fans are so disinterested that we had a meeting to discuss whether to ignore it because our clicks fall off so far when the second we type the word Liberty Bowl that it's doesn't make good fiscal sense to put time into it. 

The numbers literally fall below what is generated by a Sunday night Arkansas women's basketball.

Not even the tale of covering the Liberty Bowl with the actual Elvis Presley was enough to invite a click if it meant acknowledging the Razorback football team has a game in Memphis this week.

But don't take our financial reports for it. Look at the Liberty Bowl itself.

Go online and try to buy a ticket. Not only are there plenty of them, but they are available on the main Liberty Bowl purchasing site. 

And that's AFTER Christmas. With prices nearly half what it costs to go to a game in Fayetteville.

For those who don't purchase big event tickets on the regular, finding anything other than maybe one or two single seats on the actual event ticket site is always a bad sign. Those tickets are usually scooped up by second-hand sellers and immediately marked up because of demand.

Yet, there's the Liberty Bowl with 56 degrees and sunny in the forecast for an afternoon game with a vastly neglected segment of the Arkansas fan base so close that travel by horseback would be reasonable transportation and giant swaths of unbelievably cheap tickets are available all around the stadium roughly the same size as War Memorial Stadium.

The game is three days after Christmas, and, at worst, someone would have to take off work a little early to make it, but no one is buying.

So why?

Is it because fans who came into the year with unreasonably high expectations feel let down and just want to be done with the season?

Is it because Memphis has all the tourist allure of a Denny's next to an abandoned K-Mart?

Is it because so much drama has happened since the week before Thanksgiving that Arkansas fans just need some space?

Is it because bowl games truly no longer matter beyond getting in a little extra practice toward next season?

Is it because the opponent is Kansas and no one is even sure the Jayhawks play football?

The answer is all of the above. 

Fans are down on Razorback football and in full basketball mode right now. They don't want to be drug down with all the baggage Sam Pittman's team is carrying right now while conference play kicks off for Eric Musselman's team of Supermen on the same day.

Fans are kind of over it at this point and are making that clear with their pocketbooks and taps of their cell phone screens.

Memphis is the part of the trip to Nashville that travelers dread, so few people are looking forward to a night in "Grind City." 

To top it all off, a city next to the largest river in the United States has no water because of a water main break and won't have any until well after Razorback fans leave. Downtown hotels are reportedly not allowing guests to check in as of this writing.

As for Kansas, their own fans don't even want to follow them to Memphis or even online. Their football team has 113,000 followers on Twitter, the lowest of any Power Five school we've linked to in social media posts over the past two seasons.

That's roughly 10 percent of what the Jayhawks basketball team has following it. Not 10 percent less, 10 percent total.

Of course, that's a part of America that is usually heavier on Facebook users. Things might be more even there.

It is technically closer. The men's basketball team has 400,000 followers on Facebook as opposed to the 92,000 who follow the football team, so only 4.35 times larger there.

To put that in perspective, Mississippi State, which has arguably the smallest fan base as far as overall population in the SEC, has 302,000 followers on Twitter and 202,000 on Facebook.

Even Vanderbilt, which is rarely on television and plays home games in an empty stadium has over 100,000 followers on Facebook.

You know those highlight recaps for football games that are so easy to find on YouTube? Check and see how easy it is to find one of Kansas football, much less an entire season's worth to do research on this Jayhawks team.

They are like ghosts. Some people believe they exist, but what little proof that's out there is so sketchy, it's hard to be certain it's real.

So all that adds up to a single question.

What will be the final order in terms of viewership for the following games?

Arkansas football vs. Kansas in the Liberty Bowl (ESPN/fuboTV, Wed. 4:30 p.m.)

No. 9 Arkansas men's basketball at LSU (ESPN 2/fuboTV, Wed. 8 p.m.)

No. 17 Arkansas women's basketball vs. Kim Mulkey's No. 10 LSU Tigers (ESPN 2/fuboTV, Thurs. 6 p.m.)

The fact that there is legitimate thought to be had about the order other than that the men's basketball game would go in the top spot says enough about the lack of interest in the Liberty Bowl.

The Arkansas spring game could be thrown in for good measure and the bowl game might still finish fourth. 

But that's just where things are at the moment. Razorback football and the Arkansas fans have gone to the separate rooms in the house for some time to cool off.

They'll all meet back downstairs after a few months, just in time to break the ice once again over talk of spring practice.

Until then, enjoy the SEC stretch of college basketball and stay out of downtown Memphis.

HOGS FEED:

PORTA POTTIES INCONVENIENT, BUT NOT CHILD TRAUMATIZING LIKE WAR MEMORIAL USED TO BE

JUSTICE HILL WAS ALWAYS DESTINED TO BE ON COURT WITH MUSSELMAN, RAZORBACKS CHASING SEC TITLE

STATEMENT BY LIBERTY BOWL LEFT LEGAL WIGGLE ROOM IN REGARD TO FANS

WHAT'S REALLY AT STAKE IN WEDNESDAY'S LIBERTY BOWL GAME AGAINST KANSAS?

WITH WILL WADE'S RIC FLAIR STYLE PERSONA GONE, PLAYING LSU BASKETBALL JUST NOT AS FUN

RAZORBACKS' NUMBERS BETTER WHEN QUARTERBACK KJ JEFFERSON DOESN'T RUN AS MUCH

THE NIGHT A 19-YEAR-OLD ARKANSAS BOY COVERED THE LIBERTY BOWL WITH ELVIS PRESLEY

PREPARE FOR HEART OF BOWL SEASON WITH HILARIOUS VIDEO RECAP OF EACH WEEK

ARKANSAS FEATURED IN ANNUAL "WONDERFUL LIFE" PARODY

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS FUN AT THE EXPENSE OF THE TEXAS LONGHORNS

TOP RAZORBACK SIGNEE HAS NFL EXPERIENCE UNDER HIS BELT

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS: ARKANSAS VS. UNC-ASHVILLE HAD PLENTY TO SEE

HOW DOES LIBERTY BOWL LINE-UP COMPARE TO OPENER VS. CINCINNATI?

WHAT ARE THE RAZORBACKS GETTING IN ANTONIO GRIER, JR?

PITTMAN, KIFFIN, FISHER SHARE SAME NIL VIEWS DESPITE COMING FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

WORRY ALL YOU WANT, BUT NICK SMITH'S SITUATION MIGHT BE GAME-TO-GAME FOR A LONG TIME

NOTHING TO INDICATE SMITH MISSING ASHVILLE GAME TIED TO WHAT HAPPENED AGAINST BRADLEY

RAZORBACKS WILL HAVE TO GO IT ALONE IN QUEST FOR NO. 1 SEED

HOGS' SAM PITTMAN ON WHY RELYING ON PLANE TRACKERS CAN GET PRETTY RISKY FOR FANS

RAZORBACK FOOTBALL HAS GOTTEN UGLY AND IT MAY GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER

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