Texas and Tennessee
Looking back at the 2024 Arkansas football season through the prism of Lucero
Greetings from Morocco.
By an accident of birth, I missed the final game of the season for the Arkansas Razorback football team. I was at a Royal Banquet in Marrakech where my little brother was a guest of the Royal Prince of Morocco. The Royal Banquet is one of the few places on earth where cell phones, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes are not allowed. Apparently, they really don’t like selfies with the Royalty here. Our phones were confiscated before entering the ruins/dining hall. I couldn’t even get updates. Or more precisely I couldn’t ask anyone around me for updates because Total Wireless doesn’t travel to Marrakech.
While my brother, Jeff, was at the Royal Table, hobnobbing with the likes of Sean Penn and Patricia Arquette, I was making time with the sister of some Italian filmmaker at the kids’ table and wondering if I should have splurged on a tuxedo shirt one step above Men’s Wearhouse. Overall though, I think I got the better end of the deal as far as seating arrangements go.
The first update I got Arkansas was leading 14 -7 in the third quarter. So far, so good. Unfortunately, after two double espressos at the hotel bar, some small talk with some very attractive French women and a great chappie from Sydney I staggered back to the hotel room to pass out. I checked the final score and found out we got Arkansas’d one last time and the Hogs fumbled away the final game of the season.
Before the game I sent a message to my nephew instructing him to watch the game in the lucky plastic Hog hat. I see now he failed me and the Natural State.
As some of you may know, my older brother’s band, Lucero, has been around for about 25 years. Roughly my entire adult life. I can mark seminal events in my life by his albums. I decided to apply the Lucero songbook to the 2024 Arkansas Razorback football team’s season. Some of these are pretty deep cuts but there will be a Spotify playlist at the end.
Mom, 1372 Overton Park (2009). Arkansas 70 – UAPB 0, War Memorial Stadium
“Mama, your boys might make some mistakes”
Arkansas showed up and looked like the greatest team ever against an overmatched UAPB team. The main thing we learned in this game was that coaching staffs can agree to ten minute quarters in the case of a blowout. I really had no idea. And on this night the Arkansas Razorbacks made no mistakes. Mom is the one song that must be included on any Lucero playlist. In a sea of songs about hard living and broken hearts this is perhaps the most personal song my older brother has ever written. The song still breaks me up a little every time I hear it and think about visiting my mother’s parents. Any mention of Pine Bluff makes me wander back into memories of the magnolia trees in the front yard of the house where my mother was raised in Altheimer, a little town on the outskirts of Pine Bluff.
Tears Don’t Matter Much, That Much Further West (2003). Oklahoma State 39 – Arkansas 31, 2OT, Boone Pickens Stadium
“My tears don't matter much, they don't matter much”
My Central High School basketball coach Oliver Fitzpatrick was fond of saying, “Woulda, Shoulda Catsh*t, Peanut Butter”, in response to any excuse. Verbal or non-verbal. And that is all I could think of as Arkansas gave away its first real game of the season with a spate of unforced errors. According to ESPN Arkansas went into the 4th quarter of the game with a more than 80% chance of winning the game. Instead of leaving Stillwater with a victory over a then top 25 ranked team, Arkansas provided the one high point of the season for a miserable Oklahoma State team that failed to qualify for a bowl game. Any chance Arkansas had to have a special season disappeared with this game for the 2024 Razorbacks. And all the tears after that game didn’t matter much.
Buy A Little Time, Should’ve Learned By Now (2023). Arkansas 37 – UAB 27, Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
“Looking like another long shot, but we been through it all before”
Unlike the first cupcake game of the season against UAPB, Arkansas struggled to put away the Trent Dilfer coached UAB team. In what would be something of a theme for the 2024 Razorbacks the team immediately dug itself into a hole and fell behind 17-3 five minutes into the second quarter. As the head Hog himself said as he went into halftime trailing by 7, “We oughta be thumping this team.” The Hogs managed to turn it around in the second half and bought themselves a little time to get better before league play started.
Better Than This, Lucero (2001). Arkansas 24 – Auburn 14, Jordan Hare Stadium
“And it really don't get any better than this”
An early Lucero song for an early Arkansas SEC road win. Arkansas beat a team with an easy to dislike coach, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze, and his brand-new starting QB, Hank Brown. Before the game Brown said, and I quote, “I love when the competition level is raised, that’s when I’m playing my best. I’m excited for SEC play and I’m excited to dominate Arkansas.” Three first half interceptions later Brown returned to the bench where he started the season and allowed me to steal one of my favorite jokes about quarterbacks. As I said at the time, it doesn’t get any better than this for a team. Or so I thought.
Texas and Tennessee, Texas and Tennessee (2009). Arkansas 17 – Texas A&M 21, AT&T Stadium
“Baby, don't you talk no more, that look is loud enough.”
This song is for the next two games of the Razorbacks season, Texas A&M and Tennessee. The last game of the Southwest Classic between the Hogs and Aggies at Jerry World ended in disappointment once again. Despite having nearly 100 more yards of total offense, three turnovers doomed the Hogs to another loss in Arlington. SEC Shorts nailed the rivalry with their line, “Yeah, we [the Aggies] play in Arlington. They [the Razorbacks] play close, we think we’re going to lose then we win. It’s not that hard.” Arkansas has managed one win in the last 10 tries in Arlington. Thank God the series moves back to home and home games for the foreseeable future.
I Can Get Us Out of Here Tonight, Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers (2009). Arkansas 19 – Tennessee 14, Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
“I might not be the one, but that's alright, I can get us outta here tonight”
One of Lucero’s most optimistic songs for the most optimistic moment for the Hogs the since the Bobby Petrino Era. I can also imagine backup QB Malachi Singleton saying these words to the offense prior to marching the team downfield for the go-ahead game winning touchdown over a top 5 Tennessee team. After Malachi waltzed into the end zone with 1:17 left in the game every Arkansas fan feared Arkansas would blow another game it should win. But for once, the Razorbacks held on and came away with a probable job saving victory for Sam Pittman. This win allowed me to really explore the studio space and compare Tennessee’s ungracious coach to Buc-ee’s. For a short time, all was right in the world.
Nights Like These, Tennessee (2002) Arkansas 10 – LSU 24, Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
“She had a weakness for writers, and I, I was never that good at the words anyways”
The Razorbacks’ worst night game of the season gets Lucero’s most popular song per Spotify. Arkansas showed up flat and was never really in the game. The game was over almost before it started. Arkansas failed to put up any semblance of fight after the biggest win of the Sam Pittman era. The Razorbacks put on a dismal performance against a LSU team that turned out to be only pretty good in front of a baffled and dismayed Fayetteville crowd. “Nights Like these make me sleep all day”, indeed.
Last Night in Town, Nobody’s Darlings (2005). Arkansas 58 – Mississippi State 25, Davis Wade Stadium
“Four more years of fighting' 'til they're done with me”
Arkansas freshman running back sensation Braylen Russell showed up and showed out in his first career start. Russell became the first freshman to rush for 175 or more yards since Darren McFadden ran for 187 against South Carolina on Nov. 5, 2005. Heady company for the Benton native. Four more years of Russell (well really three, or possibly two at this point) is one reason for optimism in the Great State of Arkansas. Now the Mississippi State defense was awful, but if Russell stays healthy and keeps his head on straight, I think the true freshman has a chance to be one of the greatest running backs in the history of the program.
Kiss The Bottle, The Attic Tapes (2000). Arkansas 31 – Ole Miss 63, Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“We hit concrete, we were born into this mess”
This game doesn’t deserve a Lucero song, but this is a great early Jawbreaker cover by the band. The Ole Miss game wasn’t even as close as the score would indicate. An awful performance against a coach trying to run up the score. Thinking about this game still makes me throw up in my mouth a little. The less said about this game the better.
This column got a little bit away from me. I decided to break it into two parts. Part two to follow later this week. Playlist in progress here.
