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Louisiana-Monroe Preview: Rebound In The Rock

September 3, 2008 by Walking on Sunshine 

After averting a near disaster last week in Fayetteville, the Hogs roll into Little Rock this week to face the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

Despite the fourth quarter heroics last Saturday, the 28-24 come-from-behind win over Western Illinois definitely served as a reality check for Razorback fans watching this freshman-laden team.

Jamar Love (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)The Warhawks, led by former UA assistant Charlie Weatherbie (sixth year, 21-38), had their troubles last week as well in a 34-0 loss to Auburn.  Despite returning 15 starters, ULM managed just 220 total yards of offense (2 of 18 on third-down conversions) and allowed Auburn to rush for over 300 yards.

On offense, senior quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster is the undisputed leader.  Against the Tigers, Lancaster accounted for 169 of the team’s 220 yards (20-of-38 passing).

Eight of Lancaster’s 20 completions went to tight end Zeek Zacharie, a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection.  The ground game is anchored by sophomore running back Frank Goodin, who only managed 54 yards against Auburn.

ULM jumped into the national spotlight last season after stunning Alabama 21-14 in Tuscaloosa.  The Warhawks were 24-point underdogs going into that contest, but took advantage of four Crimson Tide turnovers to secure the win.  Afterwards, Nick Saban famously likened the loss to “catastrophic events” like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.  The early line for this Saturday’s game has Arkansas favored by 13 1/2 points.

Part of the festivities around Saturday’s game will mark the 60th Anniversary of War Memorial Stadium.  Several former Arkansas players who played in the first game back in 1948 will be in attendance and will be recognized during the ceremonies.  A new, fancy statue will be dedicated soon on the West side, as well.  Wonder what that cost?

The game is the first pay-per-view event of the Jeff Long era.  Asking price: $34.95.  For those complaining about the cost, gimme a break.  A single game ticket is $45, so it’s not unreasonable if you look at it that way.

If we hope to make any noise this year, the Hogs have got to be able to stop the run better than they did last week.  Getting off blocks and gap responsibility seem to be points of emphasis this week by Coach Petrino and staff.  Hopefully we’ll see improvement and it’ll be a good day in ‘The Rock.’

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7 Responses to “Louisiana-Monroe Preview: Rebound In The Rock”

  1. OwassoHog on September 3rd, 2008 9:06 am

    Some of us believe that $45 is too high so I’m not sure that I’d equate these two - remember that this is ULM! ;-)

    Not to bring in the previous coach into the discussion once again… but, in order to pay for the new $2.8M coach, ticket prices rose $10 per game. In case nobody noticed, the stands were not full last Saturday. With a new coach and all of the excitement around this (even knowing the cupboards are somewhat empty), I would have expected the stadium to be overflowing. It wasn’t… why? Ticket prices have eliminated some of these folks.

    For those that are wondering how we are paying for Bobby… 70,000 tickets with a $10 surcharge across 5 games equals $3.5M in revenue. Wow!, we got Bobby with change left over and we haven’t even added in the Little Rock games yet!

    I think the RazorBloggers missed this story.

    Just so folks don’t get the wrong message… this was mostly tongue-in-cheek but I do think that ticket prices did impact the attendance. It would be interesting to see the rate of increase over the last few years but I probably don’t want to know what it was.

  2. Hog Fan in TX on September 3rd, 2008 12:54 pm

    Owasso, the Hogs have some of the lowest ticket prices in the SEC - just be glad we’re not in the Big 12 conference - conference games are 80-90 a ticket.

    I’m going to the Texas game in Austin and face value is $80 for a non conference game - to me that’s high.

    Looking at the demographic of Arkansas fan base vs the folks that actually come to games and support the foundation, I seriously doubt a $10 increase impacts the attendance by more than a few hundred. What impacts attendance is the success and excitment the program creates and scheduling quality opponents.

    I also think your correlation of ticket prices to coaches salary is wrong. The coaches salary is a relatively small percentage of the overall athletic budget for the Razorbacks. Remember, there is revenue from advertising, merchandise, bowl appearances, TV, etc. that supports the overall program. It’s also strange to express dissatisfaction on coaches salary given our conference and the University’s desire to build an elite, national championship caliber team. You can’t do that with a cheap, no name coach. You gotta get a name and you gotta pay. I couldn’t be more excited about the future, I finally think we have a legitimate shot given Petrino’s system, discipline, recruiting success, and drive to have nothing less than championships.

  3. GonzoHog on September 3rd, 2008 1:11 pm

    I’m ok with the ticket prices, but I think the main reason we were a few thousand short of a sellout, had to do more with who we were playing. People that just aren’t that interested in watching the Hogs play WIU, will weed out those kind of tickets, to regain some of thier money back, and wait for the big ones, like ‘Bama and Florida. I bought 3 tickets for myself and 2 sons over a month ago, for $30 apiece. You would still think though, with all the excitement in the air, with the new regime and all, and all of the hype around the Freshmen, that the first game would’ve been different.

  4. 10KHog on September 3rd, 2008 2:22 pm

    The only seats I saw that weren’t filled were the Indoor Club seats on the East Side. That was a dumb idea that has never taken off and won’t ever take off unless we’re ranked in the top 10 or maybe even not until we are National Champions… what’s wrong with removing the windows and putting them at the back of the seating section so the folks are still outside, but are under something and can hear the sounds of the stadium… those seats would sell out fast.

    I’m available for consulting if the Razorback Foundation ever needs help. Our tickets are the same price as Kentucky’s… so I think we’re OK. People need to look around at other major stadiums’ prices and they will quickly realize Razorback Stadium is about on par for the course… not too low and not too high.

  5. OwassoHog on September 3rd, 2008 2:33 pm

    Don’t get me wrong… Bobby has probably earned the $2.8M based upon others. My point is that we may have overpriced based upon demand. I realize that this was a weaker team but how does the attendance compare with last year’s Troy attendance?

    As for the relationship between the increase in ticket price and Bobby goes, I think there is a direct relationship there… but also, continuing to pay or the pay-out for Houston, previous payouts for Nolan, and then Stan, normal inflation increases… there are a bunch of other factors. Also, timing - is it better for Long to increase the price now being new and bringing us in line with others within the SEC. Personally, I don’t buy into the argument that this is a good reason to raise prices… take a look at the NBA, NFL, MBL, and NHL… they are pricing themselves out of the common fan.

    Anybody have stats on the ticket prices over the last 10 years? Just my thoughts here.

  6. Walking on Sunshine on September 3rd, 2008 3:15 pm

    Not about ULM game, but since you asked….stats on Arkansas Football ticket prices, how they compare to other SEC schools, when they were last raised (2004) can be found here:

    http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/217991/

  7. Thursday Trough « Hawg Blawg on September 4th, 2008 2:25 pm

    [...] week!) so we’ve got predictions (Razorbloggers & Slophouse) and previews (Hog Blog & Razorbloggers). Here’s a look at Freshman WR Greg Childs. Willy Robinson says the Defense is growing up. [...]