Like a lot of Arkansas Razorback faithful, Jeff Albritton starts his morning by tuning into 103.7 the Buzz to hear the latest yammerings of David Bazzel and Roger Scott.
The show is a staple in SEC country, syndicated out from Little Rock and occasionally broadcast from inside of a Hogg’s Meat Market. As you might imagine, the bread-and-butter topics include Razorback football, and whatever else might be on the mind of the football-crazed audience: the next tailgate for example.
So that is why during this week’s show, as Albritton tuned in, the callers sounded an alarm about the tailgating prospects of a trip to Provo.
“Somebody was calling in and I heard them [saying], ‘What are they going to do?” Albritton recalled. “Do they even serve Coca-Cola products in the stadium? I would hope that they would. I mean, what would they serve? Water and milk. That can’t be right. So like, some people are just kind of out there, I guess.”
As BYU welcomes Arkansas to Provo this week — as just the second time an SEC team has visited the Cougars — it will be a culture clash off the field. But Arkansas fans, known for making a sport out of tailgating and drinking, won’t have the usual SEC scene available to them.
“There’s no alcohol allowed anywhere on campus,” a BYU police department spokesperson said. “And we do have [one] lot designated for tailgating.”
So, for the beer-loving, tailgating-seeking Hog fans, this will be a different kind of experience.
“It’s definitely gonna be a big culture difference,” said Brian Cooper, another fan making the trip. “SEC people tailgating, I am drinking whiskey and beer all morning getting ready for the game. Now [we are going to] BYU and everything that comes with that. It’s gonna be a big, big difference.”
He then added that he might just have to, “bring some flasks and hope for the best.”
Other tailgating fan bases have come into Provo in the past and found creative ways to mesh their traditions with BYU’s rules. Wisconsin famously visited town in 2017 and the two bars in Provo nearly tripled their revenue.
“I don’t really have any expectations,” Albritton said, who is making the trip along with about 2,300 other expected Arkansas fans. “... I think it will be kind of interesting just to see how they do football. Or a football Saturday in Utah.”
Typically, in the SEC, Arkansas fans described the tailgating scene as a party. Albritton noted that people come the night before the game to set up tents and all the supplies needed for grilling and smoking meats. Of course, the stash of alcohol is also there on hand.
Then, regardless of the kickoff time, the fans will converge on the tailgating scene at 8 a.m. for a full day of eating, drinking and getting ready for kickoff.
For SEC games, the party travels too. People hitch their smokers to the car and set up shop around the conference.
“There’s hundreds of the people out there that have just waited all week to get out there and hang out all day long,” Albritton said.
That won’t be the case this week. Some Arkansas fans are reworking their game plans. The Arkansas fan base is looking at this game as an experience, according to Cooper. The Hogs don’t travel out of the south much and fans want to see Utah.
Fans have rented AirBnBs and plan on walking around to see what BYU is about. So, they know it won’t be a traditional tailgate.
That doesn’t mean everyone plans to alter their own traditions.
“Arkansas fans will figure out a way to sneak it into their tailgate in a red solo cup,” Rick Bawiec said ”They will cover up their stuff to try to still have it somehow.”
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