In recent years, many Arkansas football fans have begun to suffer from “battered Hog syndrome” after years of mediocrity. In the NIL era, some of the Razorback faithful have almost leaned into the misery of seemingly being a “poverty program” compared to their Power Four peers.
Schools like Virginia Tech, which beat out Arkansas in the James Franklin sweepstakes, have announced hundreds of millions of dollars in athletics budget boosts. Utah, too, just announced a half-billion dollar athletics partnership with a private equity firm. Most of Arkansas’ SEC foes have been making it rain in the transfer portal.