Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema still really hates Auburn

Bret Bielema riled up Arkansas fans with some hostile words about rival Auburn.

This week marked the beginning of football season for many in the state of Arkansas as head coach Bret Bielema hosted a kickoff dinner in Springdale to preview the upcoming season.

Bielema mentioned in his address to donors and supporters that Arkansas wasn’t the program he wanted it to be until they could beat Alabama. Then followed that up by breaking down each game this season on the 2015 schedule.

Then the bomb landed, via Al.com:

"“Probably doesn’t need to be said in here how much I hate Auburn,” Bielema said."

Far be it from Bielema to keep his opinions to himself especially in a setting where he’s the focus of the spotlight. Needless to say the Auburn game on October 24th in Fayetteville, Arkansas just got a lot more interesting.

The focal point of the “hate” stems from the back-and-forth debate about hurry-up offenses and the safety risks endured by the players that became a huge debate over the course of the 2013 season. Then throw in some odd occurrences over the course of the last two games(’13 & ’14) and one could conclude that despite the facade put on by the coaches in public there’s a deep dislike for one another.

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Going into the 2013 game Malzahn stated the references to the injuries related to hurry-up offenses were a “joke” followed by coach Bielema quickly firing back “I’m not a comedian.” Fast forward to the week of the game in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Bielema voiced concerns over not receiving complete game film from Auburn stating that he felt the coaching staff of Auburn purposely omitted it’s two-point conversion play sets. That omission by Bielema was considered by many to be a violation of SEC policy when discussing matters of game film.

Whether policies were violated or not what ensued during the game caused an outright frenzy among the Arkansas fan base. Linebacker Anthony Swain caught the attention of the ESPN analysts when he looked to the sideline and fell to the ground grasping his knee in true professional soccer dramatization. This occurred right after Swain tackled Arkansas tight end Austin Tate who just picked up seven yards to get a first down off of the same play in question that was left out of the Auburn film study.

In 2014 coach Bielema was quoted in saying at SEC Media Days “The greatest thing I’ve learned in life is you respect the opposite of what you believe in,” in reaction to how Malzahn’s system is run and the success it has had. Yet, in the spring SEC meetings Bielema followed up the “respect” comment with “I can’t say that we’re breaking bread together and going to dinner when we can, but I’m not throwing bread and rocks at him.”

His last comment is probably a more accurate statement of how the coaches viewed one another in 2014 prior to the season but that changed as the Razorbacks went on the road to play Auburn on the plains.

If you haven’t heard of “elevatorgate” by now then you should probably research it. There are some pretty funny conspiracy theories out there on message boards. Basically the elevator system at Jordan-Hare Stadium failed to work for the Arkansas coaching staff at halftime which kept the Arkansas staff from meeting with players at the half to make any adjustments. Auburn then pulled away in the second half holding Arkansas to only 51 total yards of offense after being tied 21-21 at the half.

Going into this 2015 season both Arkansas and Auburn are ranked in the AP preseason poll at No. 18 and No. 6 respectively. Despite losing star running back Jonathan Williams the Razorbacks look to take a step forward in the western division. Auburn will look to chase the SEC western division title with the addition of new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and the solid play of Jeremy Johnson.

Needless to say, the expectations are high for both teams so when the Auburn Tigers march into D.W.R Stadium on October 24th this could very well be a headliner game featuring two top ranked teams destined for a head-on collision with a rivalry-type atmosphere to boot.

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