Arkansas Preparing For Oklahoma State's Home Field Advantage
Home-field advantage is something every sports team at any level desires to have. Fans rallying behind a program can give a team a serious boost against their opponent. This is exactly what Oklahoma State needs on Saturday as they take on the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Cowboys winning the Big 12/SEC battle could be a huge resume booster while raising confidence in Stillwater during non-conference play. Playing an SEC team, a battle in the trenches will ensue and Oklahoma State will have to be sharp to win the contest. Having a rowdy crowd could help the team's defense and team capture momentum, though.
In fact, Arkansas and head coach Sam Pittman are preparing for a hostile environment in Boone Pickens Stadium, as they're practicing with loud noise to simulate the environment they'll be playing in.
“Really, to be honest with you, the greatest advantage that home teams have is how raucous, how loud is their crowd,” Pittman said. “So we’ve been cranking it up quite a bit. To be honest with you, we did that as well, we did it five practices in camp knowing that we need to eliminate that potential problem. So we had five going in before the last two days of understanding communication and what we need to do — helmet, (offensive coordinator) Bobby (Petrino) to (quarterback) Taylen (Green), as well as Taylen to the team."
Helmet communication certainly helps quarterbacks be less rattled by the noise, but it still certainly impacts a team. It adds pressure on an opposing team, and it gives something the home team can rally behind.
Arkansas has been preparing for the noise Oklahoma State fans can bring, though, and they don't expect it to impact their production too much.
“I feel like we’re a very confident team in handling the noise," Pittman continued. "Certainly, we didn’t just wait and start this week, so we did it before so I think that just goes into our confidence about handling the noise of the crowd on Saturday morning.”
For Cowboys fans, this is a challenge. They'll want to impact the Razorbacks and the game however they can. The two programs should provide a fun, close game and the fans have an opportunity to create a fun atmosphere around it.
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KADE KIMBLE
Kade is a strategic communications student at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, where he also minors in Sports Management. He has been covering the Oklahoma City Thunder with InsidetheThunder.com since the 2022 season after having followed the team since its early days.