re: Arkansas rivalry is a thing

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When I started spending time in Arky for work years back, I discovered how much must of their fans hate LSU. I just laughed it off and said “in my experience, LSU fans just don’t think of you guys much.”

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No shite the game matters. There’s been a lot of classic games between the two programs but the hatred is absolutely one sided.

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THIS^

They hate us. Most current Arkansas fans don’t even know why -- they’ve just been told, as children, generation after generation, that LSU is evil.

The grudge is ancient, dating from the Cotton Bowl of Jan. 1, 1966
For the 1965 season, Arkansas was the defending [mythical] National Champion, having won the MNC for 1964.
By January 1, 1966, they were riding a 22-game winning streak, and had the nation’s best scoring offense (32 ppg), and were ranked 2nd in the nation.
LSU entered the game with a record of 7-3 (3-3 SEC), ranked 8th in the SEC, and unranked nationally.

Arkansas scored a touchdown on their opening drive.
LSU’s Joe LaBruzzo scored twice in the first half, on runs of one and three yards.
Neither team scored in the second half. Final: LSU, 14-7

LSU’s Cotton Bowl upset of Arkansas ended their last hopes of repeating as MNC’s -- and, at the time, caused their football program a great deal of national embarrassment
They have hated us ever since, and have considered LSU to be their most intense rival.
Arkansas fans circle the game on their calendars the way LSU fans circle Alabama.
LSU, on the other hand, has never taken much notice of Arky, except during Game Week, and has never considered them to be a rival -- just a team that seems to always play above its head against LSU. They are, otherwise, dismissed as inconsequential -- and rightly so.

The Golden Boot
In an attempt to confect a rivalry where none really existed (and perhaps bring in more money), the Golden Boot Trophy (created by ex-Arky linebacker David Bazzel) was first awarded after the 1996 game.

Knowledgeable LSU fans understand that the trophy is a failed attempt to artificially create animosity (unlike, for example, the Old Oaken Bucket), and that (at least, down here), nobody really cares about that trophy -- Arkansas is just another game.