New North End Zone even impressive to us old-timers

The new North End Zone facility is not quite complete, but it’s certainly completed for game day, which comes Saturday when the Hogs host Eastern Illinois.

“I was blown away on Tuesday,” Morris said. “I had seen all of the pictures, but the pictures did not do it justice.”

It even features a new rock that is in the middle of the walkway where players will come through the fans to get to the field.

Having seen many of the more impressive places around college football I was curious to see this one, but wanted to know what some other old-timers thought.

Nobody has been around more than Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis.

“There is not a better game day locker room around the country,” he said during his press conference Monday afternoon. “It was impressive, more so than I anticipated.”

For Chavis to be impressed is probably difficult, I’m guessing. Old defensive guys are not easily impressed.

But he had a secondary motive.

“It’s going to help us in recruiting,” he said. “You have to have great facilities to recruit.”

It was the same reasoning Frank Broyles used back in 1973 with key donors to get the original North End Zone facility built. Until then it was a place for kids to watch games on a grass hill.

It made a difference. Using drawings of the original facility, Broyles hit the recruiting trail and started rounding up players.

Broyles stockpiled the Hogs with players he used to win a Southwest Conference title in 1975 and Lou Holtz combined with for a 45-12-2 record between 1975-79. Nearly half of those losses came in Broyles’ final season in 1976 with a 5-5-1 record.

At that time, the North End Zone facility in Fayetteville was the only one of it’s kind in college football. It was more impressive after being built than just the blueprints and drawings.

A lot of teams started adding the indoor workout parts and it kept going from there.

Now, dang near everybody has these palaces that are as much for recruiting as providing a cushy place for high-roller fans to sit.

“It was done right,” Chavis said. “It’s big time.”

Chavis doesn’t need anyone to remind him that having big time facilities means you better have big time teams. His defense is going to be critical for that.

The SEC veteran doesn’t sound too concerned with his starters, but knows to win ballgames it’s about the depth. There will be players coming on and off the field almost every play.

That’s due in large part to the trend of up-tempo offenses.

“Let’s be real, if you play up tempo, it’s all about the number of snaps,” Chavis said. “You can’t play well for two and a half quarters. If you don’t keep your players rested, the fourth quarter gets away from you.”

That’s what happened so many times to Hog fans over the past couple of years.

Last year, for example, the Razorbacks lost these games in the fourth quarter:

• Against TCU the Hogs trailed just 14-7 heading into the fourth period before the Frogs pulled away to a 28-7 win.

• Against Texas A&M, Arkansas was out-scored 19-15 in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime where they failed for the third time in the last four years to score against the Aggies in OT and lost, 50-43.

• Against LSU, the Hogs trailed 13-10 late in the third quarter before falling, 33-10.

• Against Mississippi State, the Razorbacks led 21-14 heading into the final four minutes of the game and lost 28-21. Yes, they gave up 14 points in the final four minutes.

• Against Missouri, the Hogs gave up a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ate up 4:55 of the final five minutes to lose 48-45 in Bret Bielema’s last game.

That’s five losses that it’s realistic to think the Hogs should have won two of them and could have won three or even four.

Of course, that would mean Chavis and Chad Morris aren’t here.

It will be different this year and not just with the fabulous new look of the stadium.

Hog fans are just hoping the play on the field is equally eye-popping.