Not long ago it was written the biggest game on the University of Arkansas' football schedule this fall could be week No. 2 when the Razorbacks travel to Ole Miss to open SEC play.
Over the course of the next couple of days, some Hog fans -- a sum total of two -- asked how anyone could not consider the first game the most important.
In a lot of cases, that would be a very good question.
In this instance, a more suitable question is whether someone at Portland State had something on Jeff Long when he was the athletic director at the UA.
Perhaps Long was cited for jaywalking while in Portland, Ore., which is one of the things known about Portland State -- it is in Portland, which is famous for Powell's City of Books, a humongous bookstore.
Make no mistake, 123 days from today when the Vikings come to Fayetteville, the Razorbacks will be more than ready to hit someone who isn't a Hog. The Vikings will have every intention of hitting back well enough to prove something.
Yet, this game will not be confused with playing a team from the SEC.
Portland State may be an outstanding academic institution and a welcomed part of the local community, but the closest it gets to the SEC is that the Vikings have five players from the SEC footprint -- four from Florida and one from football powerhouse Phenix City, Ala.
They do have 17 starters back from a team that was 4-7 and 3-5 in the Big Sky, which is an FCS conference.
They also lay claim to one of the biggest football players in the country in John Krahn, who stands 6-10 and 410 pounds. He's an offensive lineman newcomer out of junior college.
The Vikings used two quarterbacks last season, Davis Alexander and Jalani Eason, who are both juniors. Alexander got the majority of the snaps.
Head Coach Bruce Barnum, no known relation to P.T., likes a balanced offense, and the Vikings ran for 2,137 yards last season and passed for 2,193.
Apparently when they get close to the end zone, they like to run. They scored 23 touchdowns rushing and 14 passing.
Barnum's first team in 2015 recorded his only winning season, and that year they logged 4,394 miles on bus rides to games and back. They are not expected to bus 2,040 miles to Fayetteville.
He probably is expected to win a few more games this season after going 7-26 since that first year.
It might take Steve Spurrier to get the Vikings to an overall winning record. They are 349-393-10 since 1947.
Again, they do have 17 starters back, which is expected to be a good thing.
Among their distinguished alumni, according to the website Ranker, is No. 1 Sara Jean Underwood, a former Playboy model who dated Ryan Seacrest.
What does that have to do with the season opener for both teams? Not a thing, just found it interesting on a slow spring day.
Jerry Glanville coached there after leaving the NFL, and he is scheduled to become the defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay XFL team next year when the league kicks off.
You have to go further back than Glanville to find a coach with a winning record at Portland State. That was Tim Walsh, who was 90-68 in 14 seasons. He is the head coach at Cal Poly now.
No matter, the Razorbacks Nation will turn out in force with hearts full of hope for the start of another season, although Chad Morris is going to need at least one more good recruiting class before he's really competitive.
Ole Miss remains the most important game on the Razorbacks' schedule this season.
Sports on 04/30/2019