Ruby’s Road Trip: Visiting and Reviewing Arkansas

After sitting through four hours of the most frustrating football I’ve ever seen, it’s hard to find anything positive to say. But, I’m reviewing Fayetteville, not Ole Miss Rebels football.

This was my first time traveling to Arkansas. Before this, I had heard from several people that Fayetteville was second only Oxford. I would be lying if I said that I believed it prior to this road trip. No disrespect to Arkansas, but it’s Arkansas - I wasn’t expecting a whole lot.

But, I freaking loved Fayetteville.

It was one of the very coolest college towns I have ever been in. It feels a lot like Oxford, though there is something that feels more modern, while still staying true to its southern roots. Oxford will always be No. 1, but it lacks a few necessities which Fayetteville makes up. It's a bigger town with a large airport and a Target! There are some really cool buildings and hiking trails. I was a big fan of these things as someone who enjoys the outdoors and buying knick-knacks for $1-$5.

As a current student at Ole Miss, I couldn’t help but to picture myself going to school there instead. The campus was beautiful, it definitely had the southern charm with a slight spin on the more typical red brick buildings everywhere.

While there are lots of reasons I would choose Ole Miss if I had the chance all over again, the main reason why I would refuse to be a Razorback is because of the hills. The. Never. Ending. Many. Hills.

My legs would probably end up looking like Saquon Barkley’s, but I have honestly never seen anything like it in my life. In order to get to the stadium alone, you have to walk down eight flights of steep stairs. (Which also means you're walking back up them.)

Overall, Razorback Stadium wasn’t anything to write home about, however. I liked the layout of the stadium, but the food wasn’t great and the chants were even worse. I was understanding though. It’s hard to cheer for a Landshark, but way harder to get behind cheering for a pig.

Also, scalding hot take incoming... I am a very big fan of the 25% capacity stadiums. I bought tickets at the very top and just waited for the comfortable season ticket holder chairs to remain vacant. All of a sudden I am in $300 seats watching the Rebs absolutely blow.

While the choices were slim, the best part of the game is when an Ole Miss fan sitting in front of me started yelling at Felipe Franks. Franks was warming up in the middle of the third quarter, and this man (who was wearing his mask on his head) kept taunting him and saying “throw a pick.” Right before Franks went back into the game, he came up to the guy and started taunting him right back. Felipe made the mistake of saying “watch this.” In that very drive, Arkansas fumbled the ball. In the next drive, Franks threw an interception. If it weren’t for Ole Miss’ six interceptions, I would have loved it even more.

I was very impressed with the restaurants in Fayetteville. There was a lot of options, and they all were fantastic. I would drive to Arkansas right now to have breakfast at Prelude again. It was so amazing. If you ever find yourself there, order the biscuits and gravy and the milk and cereal pancake. They’re fantastic, please Prelude add an Oxford division ASAP.

So far this season, Fayetteville is my favorite by leaps and bounds over Lexington. There was live music, people yelling about the democrats, food trucks, and football. Even though the Rebs came out with a loss, I would do it all over again. I’m looking forward to next year when we beat Arkansas and I don’t have to listen to them “call the hogs.”

Editor’s note: Ruby will be making a couple more road trips before the end of the season, where should she go? What restaurants are worth a try? Should the Cup actually make her sleep in her car? Comment below with the best suggestions for our roving student reporter.