This week, the Commodores will be traveling to Fayetteville, Ark., to face off against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. Just as the University of Arkansas can be considered steeped in tradition and history, so too can their stadium, Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Located on the Arkansas campus, the stadium has been around since 1938. This stadium has seen just about everything in its 72-year history, from a 24-year period of having an AstroTurf field — it was restored to natural grass for the 1994 season — to hosting the “Game of the Century,” a nail-biting matchup between the then-No.1 Texas Longhorns and then-No.2 Arkansas. Arkansas ended up blowing a 14-0 lead in the fourth quarter, falling to the Longhorns 15-14, and we can only hope Vanderbilt can muster up some of the same magic this Saturday.
Donald W. Reynolds Stadium was always big enough to hang with the great American football stadiums, but it really joined the big boys in 2001, when it was expanded to hold a capacity of 76,000 fans; 8,000 temporary bleacher seats have since been added to the upper deck.
Other improvements included the then-largest-ever Smartvision LED screen to show the score and highlights to everybody in attendance. While it may not be as intimidating as “The Swamp” or Bryant-Denny Stadium, Donald W. Reynolds is not to be trifled with and should be a foreboding arena for Vanderbilt to go into this Saturday.
Tailgating is fairly unique in Fayetteville. Unlike Florida or Alabama, the crowds are not condensed into one area. There are people scattered among areas like the Pit, the Bud Walton lot, the parking lot by Baum, the area by Fayetteville High School or in the heart of the tailgating scene, the Gardens. Comparable to the Grove at the University of Mississippi, tailgating here is free and has been rapidly improving from the weak scene it used to be. Arkansas used to be the joke of the SEC when compared to schools like LSU or the University of Georgia, but it seems as if their students and alumni have taught themselves how to party in the last 10 years.
Having residential neighborhoods surround the campus was once detrimental on game days, but now, some of these houses — especially the ones on Dickson Street — have become a lot more happening on Saturdays. While it is definitely incomparable to our tailgating or some of the more prestigious SEC game day spots, Arkansas has come a long way, and it seems as if it will only get better in the years to come.
The Razorbacks play a few home games each year at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark., and there are some fans that want all of the home games to be played there. Tailgating is believed to be better there, but because the stadium is so far from campus, the games have more of an “NFL feel.”
Reynolds Stadium is the home of Razorbacks football, and it is where the Commodores will be squaring up this Saturday. War Memorial might have the big game feel, but you cannot go wrong with the tradition and history in Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
